Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiolá, the new Jesuit secondary school in Timor Leste, is on track to open as scheduled on January 15, with its first batch of students in Year 7.
On December 15, 79 boys and girls were informed they were successful in their application to the school. They had undergone a three-stage selection process that began in August.
The students will use the first of three blocks of classrooms that are part of Phase One of the construction of Instituto de Educação Jesuíta. Also part of Phase One are teaching facilities, the entrance and road leading into the institute, and accommodation for the Jesuit community and staff of the school, which are located at Montserrat and Cardoner, both about ½ km away from the school site.
A recent review of the combined property in Kasait that is available to the Jesuits and the needs of the education project resulted in the decision to have the Jesuit community live in one of the buildings in Montserrat, a hilltop property overlooking the valley where Instituto de Educação Jesuíta is located.
The buildings that comprise Montserrat were developed by Fr Ruedi Hofmann SJ to be the site of Casa Produção Audiovisual (CPA). The project was interrupted by his death in 2008, and what was built at the time had fallen into a bad state of repair. Renovation and construction work in recent months have made it possible for the first community of four Jesuits to move into their new residence on December 15, 2012.
The staff accommodation will also be ready in time to house the staff for the first intake of students. They will reside in Cardoner, which comprises the 10 houses constructed by Fr Ruedi for staff workers of CPA, which also needed to be repaired and renovation for habitation.
