Qatar Airways in partnership with Orbital Education from United Kingdom officially opened Oryx International School located on Al Nahda School Street near the Old  Airport Road here yesterday.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker and the Chairman of Orbital Education Kevin McNeany, in the presence of British ambassador Ajay Sharma, officially inaugurated the school, which has been established for the children of Qatar Airways staff members.
The school started its first term in January this year and currently has more than 80 students enrolled for primary education, from Foundation to Grade VI.
“With Oryx International School, we have a unique education facility located right here at the pulse of the airline, close to our headquarters. We are working hand-in-hand with world class education experts and have assembled a 5-star team so that we can offer the very best start to our pupils,” Al-Baker told the audience, comprising parents of the students, the school staff members, and other guests.
“We are very pleased with the Oryx International School and we are certain that the discipline required to succeed will reflect the principles and ethics we hold true at Qatar Airways,” he added.  
This, he said, is the first phase of the project and that they plan to have a bigger and more extensive education facility in the next phase. The bigger facility will be up and running before mid-2018, according to al-Baker.
Spanning an area of over 40,000 square metres, the new state-of-the-art school in Bin Hamour will accommodate 2,300 students and have over 180 staff members, offering world class facilities including a fully-equipped auditorium and an 11,200 square metre playground, “big enough to park three of our big liners at one time,” said al-Baker.
“We will start work on it in February next year and the school will start operations by May 2018. Like everything else at Qatar Airways, we do everything at the highest speed,” he added. He wished the staff of Oryx International School a great success on their learning journey.
British ambassador Ajay Sharma praised the partnership between Qatar Airways and Orbital Education. “To me this is a most fitting partnership, as both organisations have a reputation for excellence – excellence in the services that they provide,” said the British ambassador.
“I hope that Britain’s involvement in education in Qatar will continue to grow. It is important to us in the UK. Why? Because this is the way we can work with Qatar on implementation of its very ambitious National Vision 2030,” Sharma added.  
He said education is the way to ensure that future generations of people living in Qatar feel the same way about the UK as the older generations do. Education is something that UK has a reputation for being the best at.
In his speech, Kevin McNeany, the Orbital Chairman, detailed the journey of Oryx International School in becoming a reality.
“We have worked at great pace and with some worthy contributions from our partners and supporters. We were able build and start the school within just five months of launching our plans,” McNeany told the audience.
Speaking to Community, Jarlath Madine, the principal of Oryx International School, said that they are catering to students from Foundation to Grade VI. Currently, they have 81 students, with the capacity to teach 300.
 “There are kind of two projects. The first stage is called the Oryx Minor, which is a primary school that delivers a British curriculum. The second stage is Oryx Major. It would be another school with the capacity of over 2,000 students and it would start in 2018,” said Madine.
“All the three groups are working together makes it stand out. It means that we have a very good school with experienced staff, all qualified in the British system, we have the backing of Orbital system, who have had 10 years of history of owning schools all over the world and we have got the support of our children’s parents,” said the principal, explaining what makes the school special.
Students of 31 nationalities are studying at the school. “We have got small numbers of everybody,” said the principal.