More than 400 Hong Kong parents have put their children's names down for the city's first international boarding school - months before building work is due to begin.
Plans for the campus of Harrow International School Hong Kong, which will be built on the site of a former military barracks in Tuen Mun, were unveiled yesterday at the British Consulate in Admiralty.
The school is being set up under a franchise agreement with Harrow School in Britain by Harrow International Management Services, which won a government tender for the site last year and is close to sealing a land grant.
Executive headmaster Mark Hensman, who is leading the project, said the school aimed to recruit 50 per cent of its 1,500 students from the territory - the maximum number permitted by the government - but had set no minimum quota for local students.
"An international school should reflect the culture of the local environment, so it is very important that we have a large number of Hong Kong students," he said. "Our ideal is 50:50.
"We have had nearly 400 registrations of interest to date - all from Hong Kong.
"We will be marketing the school from Indonesia to Korea and Japan and from the Philippines right across to possibly the Indian subcontinent."
Hensman said children aged seven and above would be selected using tests of English, maths and non-verbal reasoning and interviews from August next year. Younger children would be observed in play sessions for English ability and social skills.
The school would provide scholarships and bursaries for around 10 per cent of students. Scholarships would go to students with special or all-round ability in academic study, music or sport.
Plans for the 3.7-hectare campus feature a nine-storey building set around a football pitch, three tennis courts and one multi-purpose sports pitch. The HK$700 million building, which is being bankrolled by Hong Kong tycoon Daniel Chiu, will provide 33.3 square metres of space per student in a campus that is less than one-fortieth the size of its mother school in London.
The first phase of construction, due to be completed in 2012, also includes an indoor swimming pool, an underground sports centre and a housing block for 50 teachers. A performing arts centre and extra boarding house are due to be added later.
Students will be allocated to eight "houses" - following the traditional pastoral system of British independent schools - with each house occupying one floor. There will be 44 students to five staff per house, with separate wings for boys and girls.
Hensman said day students would also be allocated to houses for the school's extensive programme of extra-curricular activities and homework, on which students were required to spend two hours per day after lessons. The school's 100 teachers, who would have to live on campus, would be recruited mainly from the UK, he said.
Permanent secretary for education Raymond Wong Hung-chiu, who met with the Harrow team yesterday, said the school would "definitely" help to address the educational needs of expatriate families and attract overseas students to Hong Kong.
"We will continue to monitor the provision of international school places and take the necessary measures to meet the demand of the community," he said.
SCMP. Apr. 14, 2010.
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