Cities / Seoul / Calvin Manitoba International School
Calvin Manitoba International School
A new Songdo-based K to 12 school that opened in September 2023, running the Manitoba (Canada) provincial curriculum and leading to a Manitoba High School Diploma.
In brief
A new Songdo-based K to 12 school that opened in September 2023, running the Manitoba (Canada) provincial curriculum and leading to a Manitoba High School Diploma.
Calvin Manitoba is technically in Songdo, Incheon rather than central Seoul, on the second wave of international school openings in the IFEZ free economic zone. The school is run by the Greater Winnipeg Society for Christian Education, a Manitoba non-profit with a sixty year track record, and currently serves over 500 students with class sizes around 20 in kindergarten and up to 24 in the senior years.
Admissions are competitive in the way Korean parents expect for a new international school, with documents, recommendation letters, English and maths testing, and student plus parent interviews. The school markets straight at families targeting Canadian universities and points to early placements at Toronto and other top Canadian destinations. Independent parent voice is still thin given how recent the opening is, so a campus visit and conversations with current families matter more than the marketing.
Reviews
- The school operates in Songdo as a foreign educational institution running the Manitoba (Canada) curriculum, with graduation diplomas issued through Manitoba's education authority. Korean nationals can attend up to a 30 percent quota.
- Public review pool is essentially empty. The school's own listing carries no parent reviews. The school controls most online presence through its own video and social channels.
- The most substantive English-language commentary comes from staff. One ex-teacher described the principal as a complete jerk, and unverified individual posts allege misconduct issues at the school. These are staff-side complaints, not parent reviews, and the loader treats them as untrusted single-source allegations rather than themes.
- One teacher reported that universities accept CMIS transcripts and named Western, McGill and UBC as student destinations, framing the school as legitimate by Korean foreign-school designation.
- One ex-student noted the school previously operated as Canada Maple International School before rebranding to CMIS.
Considerations
- Curriculum and accreditation. Manitoba curriculum and diploma; recognised foreign educational institution in Korea.
- Online review presence. Almost no independent parent reviews; school presence dominated by its own channels.
- Staff-side commentary. Hagwon-blacklist forum carries staff complaints about leadership; signal is anecdotal and unverifiable.