User:Gnoserif/Harrow International School Beijing

Harrow International School Beijing was established and gained its license to operate in China in 2005 in association with Harrow School (London, UK) and Harrow International School, Bangkok. The School currently has about 420 students, both boys and girls, representing 38 different nationalities, ranging from 3 to 18 years of age. The School follows and enriches the National Curriculum of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of teaching staff are recruited from the United Kingdom. The founding and current headmaster is Mr Matthew Benjamin Farthing. Recruited as part of the Senior Management Team that established Harrow International School in Bangkok in 1997, he had special responsibility to oversee the developing curriculum and ensure that academic standards were maintained.

Affiliations
Harrow International School Beijing is operated by a private company, Harrow Asia Limited. Harrow Asia Limited also operates Harrow International School, Bangkok.

Both Schools operate under a license granted by Harrow School in London. Close ties exist between the Schools with teacher and pupil exchanges, interviews held at Harrow School, and day-to-day cooperation between staff. Harrow International School Beijing shares governors with Harrow School and they regularly visit the School.

In 2006, Harrow International School gained accreditation from the Council of International Schools (CIS). Harrow International School Beijing is also a member of the Federation Of British International Schools in South East Asia and East Asia (FOBISSEA). Harrow International School Beijing is fully accredited by all the British Examinations Authorities including Edexcel, CIE, AQA and OCR.

Structure
Harrow International School Beijing is divided into 4 phases of progression:

The Pre-Prep Phase includes students from Early Years (age 3) to Year 4 (age 8-9). Pre-Prep follows a form based curriculum with specialist teaching in Mandarin, PE, Music and Art.

The Preparatory Phase includes students from Year 5 (age 9-10) to Year 7 (age 11-12). The teaching within this phase of the school increases subjects taught by specialist teachers until every subject is taught this way.

Senior School comprises students from Year 8 (age 12-13) to Year 11 (age 15-16). Students within this phase continue to take every subject until Year 9 when they focus on those they are taking for their GCSEs in Year 11.

Sixth Form comprises the two oldest year groups (age 17-18) in the school. Sixth formers study for the GCE ‘A’ Levels. Since 2005 every student graduating the Sixth Form has gone to university. In 2010 46% of students achieved A* or A grade at ‘A’ Level.

Houses
The House System was introduced in 2008. The House System is modelled on the Houses of Harrow School. There are four houses at Harrow International School Beijing;


 * Churchill (yellow) - named after Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, Old Harrovian.
 * Curie (green) - named after Marie Curie, Nobel Prize winning chemist and physicist.
 * Ju Ching (red) - named after the mother of Daniel Chiu, founder of Harrow International School Beijing.
 * Kong Zi (blue) - named after Confucius (Kong Zi), Chinese philosopher.

Each House is led by a teacher called the Head of House. All students from Pre-School (age 3) to the Upper Sixth (age 18) are enrolled in the Houses. The Houses compete in a number of competitions and activities held throughout the year in order to win House trophies. The Houses are very involved in local community and charity work and this has been their main focus.

House Cup Winners 2009

Upper School: Churchill - Lower School: Kong Zi

The Campus
The Lower School is based in Grassetown, located in the countryside around Shunyi, Beijing. The campus offers large open spaces, including its own eco-farm, and all new equipment. The Preparatory Phase occupies a separate building on the Lower School campus. The Upper School occupies the site of a former Chinese primary school in Chaoyang District, central Beijing. It has been extensively refurbished and extended to provide a modern learning environment including new classrooms, music practice rooms, science and ICT laboratories, multi-purpose sports hall and library.

The School will be moving to a combined (Lower School and Upper School) campus in Hegezhuang, Chaoyang District in 2012.