STUDENT BODY

Class numbers and size
There are many large international schools in Hong Kong, and the intended vision of Hong Kong Academy was to offer an educational alternative by providing a small school environment. At full size, it is planned that there will be two classes at each year level. The pre-kindergarten classes, denominated K3 and K4, have a maximum of 14 and 16 children respectively. From kindergarten on, classes have a maximum of 18 children. In rare cases, the school has admitted up to twenty students in a class when a student was known to be leaving during the course of the year or when there was only one class on the year level. At present, there are two classes in each of the grades from K3 to Year 4 and one class each in Years 5, 6, and 7. It is the school’s intention to add a Year 8 class in academic 2007-08. The school is also conducting a study to determine the feasibility of the school continuing all the way to grade 12. Over time, remaining growth will come from addition of second classes in the older grades and the filling of classes to their maximum of 14, 16 or 18 students.

*All charts reflect enrollment for academic 2005-06

Diversity
The school puts a premium on diversity. This goal is administered largely through the admissions process. In instances where the number of applications exceed available spaces, the school gives first consideration to those students and families that add ethnic, national, cultural, religious, linguistic, academic, or other dimensions to the school population. These determinations frequently do not correspond with nationality.

*For the purpose of this data, nationality was determined by the primary passport of the student indicated by parents on the student’s initial application.

As a school rooted in the local community, it has been a long-standing goal to attract a larger number of local Hong Kong Chinese students. This objective has proven challenging since local families place a high priority on the so-called “through train”, i.e., schools that provide K-12 education (It would be difficult for a local child to pursue an international style primary education and then matriculate into the local system for secondary school). Another barrier is financial. To address this problem and in order to make high quality education available to a wider local audience, the school has established a scholarship fund that is earmarked for lower income families. An area to be addressed is that the benchmarks for entitlement to financial aid have not yet been established. Accordingly, at present, students at Hong Kong Academy are predominantly, if not exclusively, from high-income families. It is presumed that a material percentage of families enjoy expatriate compensation packages that cover their school fees.

Gender
Gender balance is of particular concern in a small school such as Hong Kong Academy in order to assure viable social groups for all students. At certain grade levels in certain years, it has been difficult to maintain the desired balance, and there have been instances where class spaces have been held open, awaiting applications for children that would achieve the desired balance.

ESOL
Likewise, the school is committed to educating children whose first language is other than English and children with special educational needs. To insure that there would be sufficient first language models for ESOL students and thus accelerate their mastery of English, the school has limited its non-native speakers to no more than four per class. Where a child’s English skills are limited, the total number of ESOL students in that class would likely be fewer.

Special Educational Needs
To the best of its ability and resources, the school enrolls students with special educational needs, learning differences, and physical disabilities. The principal considerations in admitting children with special needs are that:
-the school has a high degree of confidence that it is able to meet the student’s academic, social and emotional needs
-those needs can be met largely, if not exclusively, in a mainstream environment with differentiation and support of the teacher and special needs personnel in the classroom
-the child’s learning differences and needs do not impede achievement of the overall learning objectives of the class
-there is a high degree of parental support for the school’s program.
Experience and anecdotal information indicate that the school has made room for children with significant learning differences who would not be accepted by other international schools in the community. While the school strongly advocates an inclusive approach for the education of all children, it recognizes that there may be times when, in the interests of the student and the class, short-term interventions outside the regular classroom may be more effective in meeting some special needs. In academic 2005-06 the school made significant additions to its staff to address the needs of its students with learning differences. There are now a full-time learning support teacher, part-time speech and occupational therapists, and a consulting clinical psychologist. The school takes pride in the fact that, as reflected in the parent survey, there is widespread community support for its inclusive approach.