Academic
1. What curriculum is offered by Harrow Hong Kong Children School, Shenzhen Qianhai?
Harrow Hong Kong Children School, Shenzhen Qianhai has adopted the authentic Hong Kong curriculum approved and administered by the EDB of Hong Kong as the curriculum for its early years (Pre-K to K3, integrated with the AISL Harrow Early Years Curriculum), primary years (G1-G6) and junior secondary years (G7-G9). For the senior secondary years, the school will offer a two-pathway programme for the students to choose from in accordance with their own academic competencies and aspirations, leveraging the strengths of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) pathway, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) pathway, empowering the students with the flexibility and breadth of their education choices under the programme, which will ultimately lead to competitive applications to higher education institutions in the Hong Kong SAR, China mainland and overseas. Throughout the school years from kindergarten to senior secondary, Harrow Hong Kong Children School will provide robust Harrow-style super curriculum and co-curriculum activities for holistic education of the students.
2. What is HKDSE Curriculum?
For senior secondary years, Harrow Hong Kong Children School offers Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) as one of the two pathways for the students to choose from, with the other pathway being International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). Following the DSE pathway, students take four core subjects (Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Citizenship & Social Development), plus two to three elective subjects from Category A Senior Secondary subjects; Category B Applied Learning subjects or Category C Other Language subjects in the HKDSE. Depending on students’ academic competencies and aspirations, Category A subjects the School can offer include Biology, Business Accounting & Financial Studies, Chemistry, Chinese Literature, Literature in English, Chinese History, Economics, Geography, History, Information & Communication Technology, Music, Physics, and Visual Arts; and Category C subjects the School can offer include French, German and Spanish. Upon completion of their senior secondary education, students will take the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), which is a qualification recognized for undergraduate admissions into universities in the Hong Kong SAR, China mainland and overseas.
3. What is/are the main languages of instruction?
In Harrow Hong Kong Children School, we will expose students to and guide them to acquire proficiency in two written languages of English and Chinese (in both simplified and traditional characters) and three spoken languages (English, Putonghua and Cantonese) according to the School’s language policy of biliteracy and trilingualism.
4. How do you ensure the quality of teaching in lessons?
All AISL Harrow Schools operate in compliance with the framework of Harrow Standards. There is a robust system for internal and external Quality Assurance (QA).
All AISL Harrow schools, including Harrow Hong Kong Children School, are evaluated periodically the British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection. This is the most rigorous process the school can undertake for external evaluation and is founded on the inspection system employed in England.
Internal QA comprises a twice annual review of school performance against the Harrow Standards by a team comprised of experienced school inspectors representing Harrow UK and AISL Harrow. Lying at the heart of this QA mechanism is teachers’ accountability as a team member contributing towards regular lesson co-planning and subject panel meetings, classroom teaching observation and post-observation discussion, evaluation of assessment design and assessment data, etc. as parts of the staff appraisal process.
Each ASIL Harrow school, including Harrow Hong Kong Children School, will have in place an effective QA system for self-evaluating performance against the Harrow Standards, monitoring the quality of teaching, curriculum and student attainment and progress.
5. How do you support student’s English language learning?
AISL Harrow have established an approach to English language acquisition that has proved successful for the last 25 years. This comprises:
- Establishing a rigorous framework for assessing student proficiency that is benchmarked against international standards, setting high expectations for student progress
- Implementing AISL specific approaches for supporting the development of listening, speaking, phonics, reading and writing
- Integrating English language development across all areas of the core and supplementary curriculum
- Affording target input that is based on specific levels of student proficiency and readiness so that the experience is personalised (the Grade 1-9 English curriculum in the School will be differentiated with varying levels of challenging learning objectives to facilitate personalized learning with intermediate goals)
In Harrow Hong Kong Children School, all English language teachers are native-English speaking professionals. This strength combined with the regular use of verbal and written English on campus to provide an English-strong learning environment. Especially in kindergarten and junior primary levels, students’ multiple intelligences in non-language domains (like kinesthetic and musical-rhythmic) will be utilized to enhance their English learning.
6. How exactly does the school design personalised learning for each student?
Personalisation takes place in the classroom through precise and varied learning opportunities designed to support and challenge individual students. This is assisted by having small class sizes and multiple adults available to support learning. Furthermore, students follow a pathway through secondary education that allows students to follow passions and interests in order to best prepare them for life beyond school. Personalisation also extends to pastoral care in which the House System provides a framework of adults and student mentors to assist the emotional, social and personal development of students. This takes place through formal lessons introducing knowledge and practical approaches to managing wellbeing and social development alongside promoting the Harrow values. Close personal tutoring also provides specific guidance and support to students to assist in achieving learning, personal and developmental goals. Personal passions, interests and talents are further promoted through a broad set of co-curricular activities (CCA), super-curricular activities (SCA) and Elite sports and performance programmes.
7. Will Harrow Hong Kong Children School adopt House System?
Yes. It will follow the House system of AISL Harrow Schools which is an essential part of our programme.
Pathway to Secondary and University
1. Is it possible for my child to apply to a university in Mainland China/HK?
Harrow Hong Kong Children School students taking the HKDSE examination can apply to universities in Hong Kong, and those in Mainland China via the ‘Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions’.
2. If my child wants to apply for university overseas, will the school be able to support him/her? Does your school have a University Counselling Team?
Harrow Hong Kong Children School’s Life Planning Education Team (which conducts counselling for students for purposes wider than university admission) will provide personalised support to students contemplating admission into overseas universities earliest from Grade 7 onwards, in areas including deepened understanding of self, exploration of senior secondary and university streams of study and career, goal-setting and self-management of studies, CCA/ECA and leadership development, etc.
BOARDING
1. Do you provide a boarding service, and if yes, for which year groups?
Yes, we do. Students of G4 and above are eligible for our boarding services. The boarding services will be available from the Academic Year 2024/2025 and onwards.
2. How many boarding places does the school offer?
For the Academic Year 2023/2024, boarding will not be competitive as long as the applying student has such need and is suitable for boarding. Boarding will be expanded after the secondary division is opened in 2024/25, and can reach the maximum number of 218 boarders when Grade 12 is opened.
3. Is it compulsory for my child to be in boarding? What does your boarding programme offer?
No. Boarding is not compulsory. But a Harrow Boarding experience, a Harrow tradition inherited for hundreds of years, will greatly add to the student’s learning experiences at Harrow. When applying for boarding, there will be a choice between boarding on weekdays (Mon-Fri) and full-time boarding (except during long holidays such as National Day, Chinese New Year & Winter and Summer vacation.
The boarding programme includes House-based whole-person development experiences, development of self-management skills, enrichment in English living environment, support for parent-child communication during boarding days, and additional involvement in CCA/ECA.
ADMISSIONS
1. What is the size of the classroom and the teachers to children ratio?
For kindergarten, each classroom needs to accommodate a lot of student activities and its size is approximately 130 square metre. For G1 and above, the classroom size is approximately 60 square metre.
For kindergarten the teachers to children ratio will range from 1:8 in Pre-K Nursery to 1:9-12 in K1-K3.
2. What Chinese/English level will be required to be admitted?
Depending on the level of admission being sought, the successful applicant must demonstrate a sufficient level of proficiency in Chinese (in either Putonghua or Cantonese, or both) and English to access the curriculum, especially in terms of reading and listening. In general, the higher the admission level is towards senior primary and secondary Grades, the greater weighting in English proficiency applies because of the increasing intensity of English-medium teaching towards HKDSE/IBDP.
OTHERS
1. What is EAL Programme?
The AISL Harrow EAL programme is beneficial to both existing and prospective students in developing their English Language proficiency, prior to enrolling at the start of the new academic year. It will help children to develop the confidence they need to practice learning English, improve outcomes instil a love of learning. All successful applicants are encouraged to undertake the AISL Harrow EAL programme so that they can make progress in areas of English listening, speaking, reading and writing.
2. Does the School offer school bus services to the students? How will be services be arranged? Will the services be compulsory? How will the routes be decided?
Yes, we do offer school bus services to our students, such services are not compulsory. Based on our students’ home addresses, different school bus routes will be arranged to cover most of our students’ daily commute requirements.
As mentioned above, the school bus routes are determined based on enrolled students’ residential addresses, therefore the final school bus routes will be finalised in June or July 2023 when most students have confirmed their addresses and use of such service, we will keep the parents/enrolled students well informed.
3. What kind of catering services does the School provide?
Food quality, variety and the balance of nutrition is of great importance to us. We have carefully selected an international partner through a stringent tendering process with a thorough reference check to provide catering service to HKCS; we will provide a set meal service to ensure a balanced diet for our students.
