School Progress Report: A Promising Start!

Feb 28, 2025

Welcome to the Year of the Snake!

After the celebration of our twin ‘new years’ in January, the business of the new year has begun in earnest. Our graduating class, the Class of 2025, is now counting down the final weeks of their school education, as they prepare for the all-important International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme examinations, scheduled for May. All other grades have resumed normal classes at the start of the second semester of the 2024-25 Academic Year. The full spectrum of co-curricular and experiential learning programs are also in operation.

As has already been shared with the ISF community during January, we started 2025 with good news regarding our re-accreditation. In what was a remarkably brief process, both the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), endorsed ISF to retain its accredited status in the final week of 2024. As such, we have achieved an important set of institutional landmark objectives: a new service agreement with the Hong Kong Government, retention of international accreditation, and the publication of a new five-year strategic plan. Together, these form an essential tri-partite foundation that will shape the direction of ISF over the next five years and beyond. In different ways, each member of the ISF community has contributed to these accomplishments and should take pride in this very positive outcome.

The start of every calendar year is also a time of intensive activity on two operational fronts: university and college applications for the graduating class and teacher recruitment for the following academic year. On both counts, we find ourselves in a very ‘happy’ place.

The university and college offers for the 106 members of the Class of 2025 are both pleasing and very strong when compared to previous years. Collectively, members of the Class of 2025 have submitted 1,726 applications, of which 419 have been rewarded with an offer of enrolment. Currently, the United Kingdom is leading the way with 185 offers, but we expect this picture to change significantly from mid-March when institutions in the United States issue offers under ‘regular decision’ protocols. We received a record number of offers from the University of Oxford this year, with nearly half of those interviewed receiving an offer. These Oxford offers include invitations to study law, philosophy, music, and biology. There are many other offers from prestigious institutions of tertiary education, such as the University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Princeton University, Brown University, and the University of Chicago. As has been the case in recent years, a large number of offers are in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Our teachers are the driving force behind excellent academic outcomes. Passionate and professional, our teachers are the heart and soul of an ISF education. Retention of teaching talent, a key performance indicator at ISF, remains above our benchmark (95%). Attracting new talent to ISF, to replenish our talent pool or add new skills and capabilities, is an annual challenge undertaken by senior leadership. During the month of January, we attended four teacher recruitment job fairs in Australia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We have also been very active in direct recruiting through peer recommendation and ‘word of mouth’, with both avenues proving effective in recent years. Over three quarters of our new faculty hold advanced degrees in their chosen discipline.

As a part of our strategy to take a leading role in education in our region, ISF co-hosted the first international conference in Hong Kong with a focus on experiential learning. As one of only a handful of schools in the world accredited through the Association of Experiential Education (AEE), ISF, through its experiential education ‘arm’ – Bauhinia Experiential Learning Limited (BELL) – was ideally placed to partner with AEE in promoting and celebrating experiential education in Asia. With over 300 delegates in attendance, the conference featured a welcome banquet, inspiring keynote presentations, and dozens of workshops. Overall, the conference achieved its primary aim in raising awareness of experiential education.

At the forthcoming Head of School Coffee Morning, scheduled for Wednesday, 12 March, I will present a more detailed school progress report to the ISF community. This report will include our annual update on ISF finances and tuition fees. I look forward to seeing many of you at the coffee morning!

Finally, I am pleased to report that the incoming Head of School, Dr. Oliver Kramer, has arrived in Hong Kong, accompanied by wife and two children. Quite a few parents have asked me about opportunities to meet the new Head of School. At this time, the Board of Governors has asked for privacy to allow the family to settle-in to Hong Kong first.

Dr. Malcolm Pritchard

Head of School