Having been brought up with an American public education, Ms. Teresa Tung, Secondary School Principal of Hong Kong Academy (HKA), feels the linear idea of success through education is out of sync with the modern world, and in preparing students for the future, schools have to look at how to help children become more flexible and adaptive.
As a through-train IB School, HKA focuses on providing transdisciplinary skills for students. This starts from Pre-K to primary and secondary school through the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) respectively. The IB curriculum dovetails with the school’s objective of providing a holistic education to ensure students have opportunities to develop as empathetic, open-minded and healthy risk takers. For example, their robust co-curricular programmes for performing arts and sports complement their academic programmes in producing more well-rounded individuals.
Carly Buntin, Primary School Assistant Principal and PYP co-ordinator at HKA, believes that a holistic education helps students become “principled, caring, flexible communicators who can work with a variety of others but can also apply themselves to learning new things each year”. Aside from academics, the school recognizes the importance of supporting students’ wellbeing. Being a community school, teachers get to know and understand their students as individuals. Recognizing the importance of a trusting relationship between students and teachers, it provides protection for young people and responds to their needs. The school also works with parents and offers workshops to help support their child’s wellbeing.
Lucas Simpson and Minnie Davis are happy to share their experience studying at HKA. Davis is impressed with the school’s concern for their wellbeing with teachers making sure they are not overloaded with school work, while Simpson feels at ease knowing that each and every HKA student receives close attention from the staff body.
While supporting students on their academic endeavours and wellbeing, HKA also aims to nurture them to become global citizens. In addition to the HKA Diploma and IBDP that students graduate with, the school offers the Global Citizenship Diploma (GCD), a portfolio-based programme that allows students to demonstrate their community engagement. “HKA is one of only eight international schools across the world that offers this diploma,” Tung notes. Davis and Simpson also share their experience of being a part of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, a social support group that host various workshops to educate people, including staff members, on how to handle these sensitive topics. As a musician, Simpson also participates in HKA’s many concerts and performances, showcasing his passion for the performing arts and charity. He has found it a rewarding and memorable experience to use his skills for a good cause.
For Hong Kong Academy, their mission is to nurture students to be not only flexible and adaptive learners, but also global citizens who are open-minded, compassionate about others, and motivated to make a difference. They focus on having a diverse community and being supportive towards the wellbeing of students.
As Buntin, an educator and a parent herself, puts it, “Apart from providing a holistic education and helping students with their well being, you also strive for them to become a global citizen, whose passion drives them to find out more about how they can make a difference, and then actually act on what they’ve learned.”
