schools planned by Government.

Principal Bernard Beacroft told The Royal Gazette that the school may never be able to compete with the widespread technology that will be offered at the upcoming senior secondary schools, Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy.

But Mr. Beacroft, who is retiring at the end of the month, said the private school -- which opted out of the public school system after it was slated to become a middle school -- had many other advantages.

"Our advantage is that we are a semi-rural and secluded school,'' Mr.

Beacroft noted. "It has good security and it has a strong reputation for discipline, good learning, and the other schools will have to match that.

"State of the art schools by themselves won't do it. You have to have good staff and good management. Fighting and drug problems are minor at Warwick Academy. The school offers a viable alternative to the state-of-the-art buildings that are emerging and they still have to prove themselves.'' However, Mr. Beacroft admitted that Warwick had construction plans of its own.

The school plans to build a new wing for primary students next year.

The construction will be part of the private school's extensive plans to accommodate an expected 750 student-population by the year 2000.

"The present campus is just about coping with 580 students,'' Mr. Beacroft said. "So in the next 18 months we intend to have a new primary wing built that will accommodate all children in primary one, two, and three.'' Plans for the primary wing, which are before the Planning Department, will see the entire car parking arrangements on the eastern side of the school changed to provide more recreational space for the children and a separate entrance and exit for traffic flow.

The development is expected to cost some $2.5 million.

Warwick Academy also has plans for a new gymnasium, music suite, and improved library by the year 2000.

Mr. Beacroft said the school board was beginning a fund raising campaign for the projects.

However, the veteran educator stressed that Warwick Academy's primary focus had to be the ability of the teaching staff and the curriculum.

"We have to make sure that we teach well,'' he said. "We also have to have an up-to-date curriculum.'' Warwick Academy has based its curriculum on the UK national curriculum which leads to the General Certificate of Secondary Education or GCSE.

The GCSE replaced the General Certificate of Education `O' Level which required students to be very literate, Mr. Beacroft said.

"It was very knowledge based,'' he added. "The GCSE is much more skills based and concepts based. So exams test students' skills and concepts.'' For example, Mr. Beacroft explained, the four basic skills that will be stressed in English or any other language course for students from age five will be listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

"In history, students needed to know the facts of the past,'' he added. "But now they are tested much more on causes and consequences of people's actions.

They're invited to be empathetic.

"We think it is a much more modern exam.'' Mr. Beacroft also noted the UK curriculum stressed the importance of information technology.

"At Warwick Academy we are working hard to introduce information technology across the board from age five,'' he said. "We have created a computer lab and have converted the library into a multi-media centre. And our aim is to get two to four computers in every classroom. All of these are networked so that we can have Internet.

"The school needs to get its information technology properly integrated across the curriculum.'' Reflecting on his nine years with the school, Mr. Beacroft said: "It has been a tremendous challenge and opportunity. It has been an experience that was novel and unique.

"I don't know of anybody that has changed a public school to a completely private school without so much as a manual. We have managed by the seat of our pants. But our projections have proved to be right. At the moment we are receiving a lot of public support.'' Mr. Beacroft said he believed that many parents sent their children to Warwick Academy because of the ethos of the school.

"The school represents a very well-ordered and disciplined and stable environment for students and many parents want that for their children and are prepared to pay for it,'' he noted.

"In the last 20 to 30 years, the school has become not only a well-integrated school racially, the school almost mirrors the community in its components.'' After 40 years in education, Mr. Beacroft plans to try what he has always wanted to do -- travel writing.

"I have a great interest in America, particularly its history and geography,'' he disclosed. "I would like to write something on places that interest me there.'' Bernard Beacroft