ITS Consultant: What would you say are the advantages for IB Diploma students at ICHK?
Doug Kane: ICHK offers space - room to breathe! We also offer genuine leadership opportunities in a small, caring community context. The classes are conducted in a calming green environment which is conducive to learning and we offer small classes which leads to a high ratio of teachers to students and better support both pastorally and academically.
Our 4 strategic directions are part of our strength and uniqueness – our priority is that our students should thrive, that their feelings of well-being are paramount and connected intimately with their sense of connectedness, an understanding that they are plugged into a wider, caring community. We aspire to foster the best teaching – teaching that is in tune with the students’ own thinking thinking and which is informed by a genuine culture of collaboration. Our students benefit directly from this milieu.
Doug Kane: There are a series of days and evenings which commence in Year 11. Our own Handbook for prospective parents is available via our website and distributed during the seminars and open days. All parents have ‘real time’ access to the daily life of school and communication channels are open at all times via Gibbon, our bespoke Virtual Learning Environment. We make sure parents and students are aware of the rewards and the benefits of the IB Diploma. Our teachers are dedicated, creative and innovative and they are the backbone behind the programme. Parents and students benefit widely from this.
At ICHK, all students learn that effort, commitment, perseverance and resilience, rather than intelligence or talent, lead to high achievement and success in life.
ITS Consultant: What would you say is the overall key focus at ICHK?
Doug Kane: As mentioned previously, our goal is to develop ‘Thriving Students’. We want to make sure our students are resilient and reflective learners and thinkers; young adults who can generate creative ideas above and beyond our uniquely innovative curriculum.
ITS Consultant: Tell us more about you innovative programmes.
We have developed inventive courses including Human Technologies, Enrichment and Flow, Digital Creativity and Visual Thinking, Big History, and Creativity and Art. These have all been specially designed to help students discover and develop vital skills including communication, leadership, team mindedness and problem solving. They form part of a comprehensive academic programme which includes the UK National Curriculum, IGCSEs, and the IB Diploma Programme.
ITS Consultant: What is offered beyond the curriculum?
Doug Kane: Beyond the curriculum, sporting and non-academic achievements are broad and a huge portfolio of extra-curricular activities enriches education and exposes students to new interests that may become passions for life. We believe, that to develop confident, responsible and well-rounded citizens, students must be involved in a diverse range of activities which get them in touch with themselves as all-round people and not just thinking machines, hence the place for hiking, sailing, cycling and other outdoor opportunities.
ITS Consultant: Tell us more about your students’ achievements, their choice of universities and IB Diploma scores?
Doug Kane: We are particularly proud of the fact that our first 2 cohorts of IB Diploma students achieved points scores that allowed almost every individual to take up their first choice of university. This is an excellent measure of success and a great testament to the focus and hard work of both students and staff. The university destinations include some of the most prestigious in the world – St Martin’s College of Art, Warwick and Melbourne Universities to name only a few – and it is clear that admissions officers appreciate the particular talents and experiences that our students bring. Raw Diploma scores are well above world averages but do not tell the whole story of individual personal bests and what the world of education calls ‘value added’ measures; by these measures ICHK clearly serves its students well.
To learn more visit www.ichk.edu.hk.
Address:
60 Sha Tau Kok Road,
Shek Chung Au, Sha Tau Kok,
New Territories
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.