| Hong Kong International School | |
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Dedicating our minds to inquiry, our hearts to compassion, and our lives to service and global understanding.
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| Location | |
| Repulse Bay and Tai Tam, Hong Kong |
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| Information | |
| Type | Private Daylight |
| Established | 1966 |
| Head of school | Kevin M. Dunning |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Enrollment | Over 2,640 students |
| Color(s) | Burgundy(Red), White, Navy (Blue) |
| Mascot | Dragon |
| Affiliation | Christian Lutheran |
| High School Principal: | Patricia Klekamp |
| Middle School Principal | Paul Passamonte |
| Upper Primary Principal | Bruce Kelsh |
| Lower Primary Principal | Maya Nelson |
| Campus surroundings | Private Campus |
| Website | http://www.hkis.edu.hk/ |
Hong Kong International School (HKIS) is a prestigious international private school in Tai Tam and Repulse Bay, Hong Kong. Founded in 1966 by a group of Christian businessmen, HKIS spans from reception one to the twelfth grade. Its Lower and Upper Primary Divisions are located in Repulse Bay, and the Middle and High Schools are located in Tai Tam. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges has continuously accredited Hong Kong International School since 1971. The school was also selected by the Good Schools Guide International for review.[1] Additionally the school has been recently chosen as the top private international school in the Top 10 Private International Schools in Hong Kong list in the China Service Mall site.[2]
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Hong Kong International School was founded in September 1966, its first location consisting of makeshift premises including residential flats in Chung Hom Kok, housing 120 students. The founders were the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Hong Kong government and the American business community in Hong Kong. On 14 September 1967, HKIS opened the doors to a new campus in Repulse Bay and housed 630 multi-national students. HKIS continued to expand over time, which led to the creation of a second building in Repulse Bay, and finally an additional campus in Tai Tam. Lower Primary and Upper Primary remain in Repulse Bay while Middle School and High School are in Tai Tam. The school has just finished undergoing its fourth major infrastructure development plan at about on mid-2010 in the Middle School Campus, called the Middle School Annex.
The school is divided into four divisions, all co-educational: Lower Primary (Grades R1 and R2-Grades 1 and 2), Upper Primary (Grades 3-5), Middle School (Grades 6-8) and High School (Grades 9-12). The Lower Primary (LP) and Upper Primary (UP) are housed in the original building in Repulse Bay, while the Middle School (MS) and High School (HS) are in the newer building in Tai Tam.
In 2010, HKIS became a 1:1 (one laptop, one student) school, offering education in the traditional form and through technology. Every student from grade 5 upwards was equipped with an Apple MacBook Pro and younger students learn using a wide range of software on computers, iPod Touch, and iPads.
Each division of the school has its own administration, as well as a separate student government organization; the High School's is known as the Senate, he Middle School's is called the Student Leadership Team, and the Upper Primary's is called the Student Consul. The entire school is overseen by the Head of School, Kevin M. Dunning, who joined HKIS from Faith Lutheran school in Las Vegas, Nevada. Previous Acting Head of School, David J. Condon is now Headmaster at Canadian Academy, Kobe, Japan. Prior to Condon's tenure, the head of school was Richard Mueller, a former American Ambassador to Hong Kong.
As of 2011, over 2,640 students and 500 faculty and staff occupy the two separate campuses of HKIS. Four libraries house a total of 125,000 books, periodicals and technological resources.
The school follows an American-styled curriculum, offering various Advanced Placement courses and 3 foreign languages in Middle School and High School: French, Spanish and Chinese. Chinese language study is mandatory for R1-G5 students.
Students in the High School division are required to study interdisciplinary Humanities, United States History, Biblical Studies, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and also meet various requirements in Fine Arts, Information Technology, Asian Studies, and Physical Education & Health. As HKIS is affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), religious education is a compulsory element of the curriculum.
Independent Study and Senior Option, where students design their own coursework and present their studies to faculty advisors, are also offered.
HKIS' High School has an extensive fine arts program, offering numerous courses in the Performing and Visual arts. At least one arts credit is required for graduation, with at least one half-credit course in performance/studio arts and, if only the minimum requirement is met, a one half-credit fine arts survey course.
HKIS is a member of the Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS), which hosts honour festivals for students of international schools. Acceptance is highly competitive and HKIS' Middle School and High School bands, choirs, and strings programs have been well-represented at AMIS festivals since 2009. HKIS' high school has also hosted the annual Southeast Asia Honor Band Program, inviting several major schools from the region (i.e. Jakarta, Taipei) to participate. At these festivals, HKIS also provided three honor bands of its own: the Middle School band, the Junior Varsity band and a Varsity honor band. In 2005, the High School Wind Ensemble earned first place at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. The Middle School band performs twice annually: once publicly, often in Stanley or City Hall, and once privately, usually in the Middle School Gymnasium. Other instrumental programs include the Strings program, which performs twice a year. In 2010, they placed a respectable 1st in the Hong Kong Schools Interflow Music Festival, in addition to performing in Missouri, USA.
Finally, HKIS has various choirs: the Upper Primary choir of 60, several Middle School Choirs totalling over 100 singers, and three High School choirs with a total membership of 80. Every year, the Madrigal Singers perform at the American Club's tree-lighting ceremony, the Rugby Sevens, and the Middle School choir sends a contingent to AMIS festivals around the world every year, in locations such as Kuala Lumpur (2012), Jakarta (2010), Scotland (2009), and Paris (2010).
In the High School visual arts' program, there is a strong emphasis on socially conscientious art; students from the High School art program were invited in 2005 to participate in The Art Miles Mural Project, as well as the 100 People World Portrait Project (100People.org). The film program has also expanded in the past several years, now boasting the Tai Tam Virtual Film Festival, judged by industry professionals as well as media instructors throughout Hong Kong and the Asia region.
Students in both High School and Middle School are also able to participate in school plays and musicals, both backstage and onstage. In the past three years alone, HKIS' HS and MS have produced many shows, including Into the Woods Jr., Aida, Urinetown, The Crucible, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr.
Students are involved in many extracurricular activities, the diverse offerings including student government, various publications, social activism, athletics, forensics, Christian clubs, service clubs, and the performing arts.
Club involvement is considered an "integral aspect of the educational experience" at Hong Kong International School.[3] As of the 2007-2008 school year, HKIS High School has a total of 70 registered clubs, with an especially strong focus in community service. Students in the High School are able to form their own official clubs with the approval of the faculty and student government.
Junto, Hong Kong International School's High School student-run newspaper, is published monthly and uses an investigative journalism format to write stories about HKIS news and events. In 2010, many of the staff and editors of Junto attended Columbia University School of Journalism's prestigious summer student journalism intensive.
Ambrosia Magazine, currently in its 23rd volume, is an annually-published arts and literary magazine featuring poetry, prose, and artwork by members of the HKIS community. Every year, the publication names a Poet Laureate to honor the best poetry submission.
Chuan Long （傳龍） Magazine is Hong Kong International School's bilingual publication. Released regularly, the magazine features articles written both in English and Chinese, maintaining a focus on Asian culture.
The Chuan Long website is http://dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/hs/chuanlong
Orientale is Hong Kong International School's yearbook. High School Senior Year Graduates receive half a page to customize, with their own personal quote, portrait, description, and collage, and students get anywhere from 2-6 pages to have signed by friends, or customize however they like.
The main body of student government in the High School is the Student Senate, which consists of mostly elected student representatives and several faculty advisors. The High School annually elects an Executive Council, composed of the Presiding Officer, the Senator of Student Life, the Senator of Academics, the Senator of Service, the Senator of Public Relations, the Senator of Interim and Athletics, the Senator of Discipline, Senate Treasurer, and Senate Secretary. Additionally, each grade elects a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer to act as class representatives.
Football is the premier sport at HKIS. HKIS' mens Football (Soccer) Varsity team is currently the Division 1 Champion of the Hong Kong School Sports Federation (HKSSF). They first caught people's attention when they beat the reigning champion of the Jing-Ying Tournament, Tung Chi Ying and squandered their chances of winning a fifth successive Jing-Ying cup in 2009. Since then, the team has established itself as one of the best school teams in Hong Kong and are regular participants in elite competitions in Hong Kong.
The football team entered the HKSSF three years ago, in the 2005-2006 season as a Division 3 team. They swiftly moved up to the highest level of the competition in the following three years. They participate in three international tournaments in addition to local leagues and cups: the Far East DoDDS tournament, the Asian Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) tournament, and China Cup. In the 2008-2009 season, the varsity football team won the APAC tournament held in Shanghai and went on to extend an undefeated run in open play all the way till their last game in the 2009 Far East tournament held in Seoul, where they were runners-up to Christian Academy of Japan (CAJ) following a 1-0 defeat.
In 2009-2010 season, the HKIS A Grade football team won the HKSSF Division 1 league. Including the five games of the group stage, the semi finals and the finals, the team has scored 21 goals and conceded 3, winning all seven of them. In the semi-finals the boys thrashed DBS, the defending champion, with an astonishing score of 5:0. HKIS then played against KGV in a thrilling final that had to be won through penalty shootout. The score after full time was 0:0, with HKIS winning the penalty shootout with a score of 4:1. This is the first ever Division 1 title in Hong Kong local school league for HKIS.
The HKIS women's Varsity football team made HKIS history when in May 2010, they traveled to Kubasaki Marine Base in Okinawa, Japan for the Far East DoDDS tournament along with 11 other teams. The best rankings that HKIS had ever seen before this tournament was 7th of 12, but this year, the HKIS varsity girls took 4th of 12, a phenomenal result for HKIS. Also that year, HKIS soccer sweeped every division of China Cup and the men's and women's teams conquered at APAC. In 2011, China Cup took place in April at International School Beijing where the girls took home their 3rd consecutive win along with the Junior Varsity boys and girls teams.
HKIS hosts the annual Tai Tam Rugby Tens Tournament, in which rugby teams from across Asia participate. The winning team of the Tai Tam Tens is awarded the Fullerton Cup, which is named after former HKIS rugby player Jody Fullerton, who died in a tragic New Year's Eve accident in Lan Kwai Fong. HKIS Rugby is frequently invited to participate in tournaments hosted IASAS schools such as Singapore American School and International School Kuala Lumpur.
The HKIS Varsity Basketball team, which has been the premier sport since the inception of the school has without a doubt produced the greatest achievements as well as alumni. Star NBA player Joe Alexander of the Milwaukee Bucks fostered his talents on the middle school team.
During the 2006-2007 academic year, HKIS celebrated its 40th year anniversary. One of the biggest events included the 40th Anniversary Reunion held in Hong Kong during the long weekend of 15–19, June 2007.
The Middle School completed a new annex during the summers of 2009 overlooking Tai Tam Bay. The annex includes administrative offices, a boardroom, several new Modern Languages classrooms, and a flexible seminar/meeting space. The majority of these classrooms will be used to house the R1 classes during the school years 2012-2015.
In June 2011, HKIS announced that it would be redeveloping the Lower Primary school building in Repulse Bay. The project will require the Lower Primary students to move to a school building in Chai Wan for a period of three years. During the redevelopment, the old building will be leveled and a new state-of-the-art building created using the latest in educational research on the environments necessary to foster the best in early learning. The new Lower Primary school will re-open in August 2015. The new campus will feature an indoor swimming pool, large auditorium and gymnasium as well as indoor and outdoor learning spaces.