The official launch of Harrow Haikou International School. (Photo by Hu Liqi/hinews.cn)

On September 21st, the 450-year-old Harrow International Schools in the United Kingdom held Harrow Haikou Education Seminar in Haikou and officially announced its launch in Haikou Jiangdong New District. At the seminar, it was informed that the Harrow Haikou International School and Harrow Innovation Leadership Academies were scheduled to open at the same time in September 2020. The two schools will offer 1,800 degrees, covering students from kindergarten to high school.

Since 2018, Hainan has continued to vigorously implement talents introductions for domestic and foreign talents, and solidly promoted the construction of Hainan Pilot Free Trade Zone and the free trade port. Harrow Haikou will provide strong support for the introduction of talents in Hainan, and promote the internationalization of education and the competitiveness of urban development in Haikou City.

The official launch of Harrow Haikou International School. (Photo by Hu Liqi/hinews.cn)

At present, Harrow Haikou project covers an area of nearly 100,000 square meters. Two full-time and boarding schools covering kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school and high school will be built, which are expected to be established in March 2020. The first phase of project plans to open a full-time education facing from kindergarten to junior high school (2-13 years old), and then will gradually become a full-time boarding school from kindergarten to high school (2-18 years old).

According to the person in charge of Harrow Haikou, the compulsory education stage of Harrow Innovation Leadership Academies will implement the China national curriculum with the supplement of the British curriculum standards. English will be the main teaching language of the schools. Subjects, including moral education, Chinese, history, geography and others, will be taught in Chinese. English, mathematics, science, physics, chemistry, biology, information technology and other subjects will be taught in English. Music, art, and sports will be taught in English by a Chinese-foreign teachers joint team.

The official launch of Harrow Haikou International School. (Photo by Hu Liqi/hinews.cn)

The person in charge said that the schools have started the recruitment of teachers. Schools' faculty sources mainly include recruiting in-service mature teachers from the UK, cultivating teachers from faculty base, and transferring core teachers through the school system. Meanwhile, Harrow Schools will also recruit a group of teachers in China. These teachers are mainly assistant teachers for the foreign teachers. They will teach Chinese in order to help students in lower grades adapt to English teaching as soon as possible.

In terms of boarding, the Harrow Haikou International School will adapt the Harrow International Schools boarding system to enable students from all over the world who have different cultural backgrounds to live together and learn from each other, which may help them to build the sense of  belonging, social skills and independence.