education
New school ties Harrow International School in Hong Kong is this year’s new bug. Sai Kung checks out the venerable British public school’s latest campus. On the surface, it’s nothing new. Pressed trousers, navy skirts, school ties, book bags, pencil cases, and laughter – business as usual at a place like Harrow International School in Hong Kong. Except that HIS:HK did not exist until a month ago. Its campus is gorgeous – a 400,000 sq ft site nestled between mountain and harbour in a beautiful location near Tuen Mun. Its main building is modelled on the Georgian proportions of the Royal Crescent in Bath, England. It's a grand structure that cradles football fields and tennis courts and is large enough to house facilities for more than 400 boarders, a full teaching staff, and classroom facilities for about 1,500 students. As Head Master Mel Mrowiec writes in an open letter on the school’s website, “Our aim is for Harrow International to enhance the educational choice available to parents in Hong Kong and to become a leading, prestigious, internationally recognised day and boarding school under the Harrow name.” By all accounts, Harrow in Hong Kong should succeed with flying colours. It has two successful Asian sibling institutions in Bangkok and Beijing.
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In this year’s A-Level examinations, 20 per cent of Harrow International School Bangkok students scored A* and 50 per cent scored A*-A; at Harrow in Beijing, 16 per cent scored A* and 46 per cent scored A* -A. And last year at Harrow School for boys – the more than 400-year-old London public school that lends the Asian schools its name – 72 per cent of A-Level students received A* or A, with 30.7 per cent achieving A*. It’s a familiar story to Jennifer Chung, general manager at ITS Educational Services. Although this is the school’s first year, she says the Harrow International School system has a powerful reputation for producing inquisitive and intelligent young leaders. “There’s an expectation of high academics because of its strong ties with other international schools in the Harrow system,” she says. “But at the end of the day, [HIS:HK] is a new school and nobody is sure that it’ll be able to deliver 100 per cent of its academic expectations.” Ruth Benny, head girl at school placement firm Top Schools, agrees. “It’s unproven and untested,” she says simply. She feels HIS:HK needs to operate for three to five years to establish a track record.
It’s a fact of which Harrow administrators are acutely aware. Every educator at the school, including Head Master Mrowiec, has a degree from a respected university – including the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong – and many years’ experience at a similar school. (Mrowiec studied at Oxford University and was deputy head master at Harrow School in London prior to his appointment.) All of the school’s foreign language teachers are native speakers of that language. It is an English-medium school that follow Britain’s National Curriculum. This means students take IGCSEs and A-Levels – dreaded exams in their own right – instead of the International Baccalaureate (IB) now typically offered at Hong Kong’s international schools. It offers both boarding or day-school attendance. Jennifer Chung says it best: “It’s popular because of its brand name, but it’s all wait and see at this point.” Harrow International School in Hong Kong opened on September 3, offering education from reception through sixth form. For details, visit www.harrowschool.hk.
