Xavier School finds home in Nuvali

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala Land will hold the groundbreaking of the new Xavier School in the heart of Nuvali, Ayala Land’s 1,750-hectare sustainable eco-community in Laguna, tomorrow, March 14.

Xavier School, the reputable Jesuit school for the Filipino-Chinese, will be the first educational institution to find home in Nuvali.

In partnership with Ayala Land Inc., Xavier School decided to put up another campus in Nuvali following the Greenhills, San Juan City facility in order to cater to the growing number of students and to provide the Xavier education to more scholars.

Ayala Land and the Jose Yulo family, Ayala Land’s partner in Nuvali, donated 15 hectares of prime land for the new site and a large chunk of the building construction cost.

The groundbreaking ceremony — to be graced by executives, alumni, and parents of Xavier School and Nuvali — will commence at 9 a.m. and will feature a symbolic time capsule-laying, groundbreaking, dove release, and tree planting. Lunch follows.

Ayala Land assistant vice president and Nuvali general manager Jun Bisnar said it is important to form an academic center in the Nuvali community.

“We are creating a new environment, which will eventually become the new regional center located south of Makati City. Putting up an educational institution is an essential component for such an eco-community to succeed,” he explains. “Xavier School will provide high-quality education for people in the area, especially for Chinese-Filipino families, who don’t have to travel all the way to Manila in order to attend a good school.” 

In line with Nuvali’s goal to build a community that strongly promotes environmental and social responsibility, Xavier School’s campus and core curriculum will also focus on grooming students to become good stewards of the planet.

“Our mission is to form leaders for tomorrow, and certainly the world will increasingly need leaders who understand and know how to deal with issues about the environment,” says Xavier School director Fr. Johnny Go.

“Xavier School’s campus will be designed to offer a complete learning environment where students learn not only from elders and experts, but also from peers, and from actual experience,” he adds.

The layout of the school grounds will cover three to four buildings that will house state-of-the-art classrooms for primary, middle, and secondary levels. Other facilities included in the master plan are high-end sports facilities like a gymnasium, basketball courts, swimming pool, and football fields. There will also be an IT-equipped multi-purpose hall, auditorium, and library. The new Xavier School will apply a co-divisional model wherein boys and girls will be educated separately but will have ample opportunities for interaction.

“When the building was being designed, they incorporated traditional Chinese elements that promote harmony and focused on the dragon as a design theme. For the Chinese, it’s a very important symbol of prosperity and luck and if you look at the map of Nuvali, it is shaped like a standing dragon,” Bisnar says. “Coincidentally, Xavier School Nuvali will open its doors on June 2012, which in the Chinese calendar, is the year of the dragon.

For details, visit www.nuvalievoliving.com, or call or SMS 0917-5-ASK-NUV (275-688).