An authentic UK primary education at Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong

With Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong set to open next year, a piece of the UK’s education heritage dating back to the 16th century, will be transplanted to 21st century Tseung Kwan O. Founded by Royal Charter in 1552, Shrewsbury School is one of the original nine "Great Schools" of Britain.

The first Shrewsbury school in Asia opened in Bangkok in 2002 and offers primary and secondary education. However, the Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong will cater for children between the ages of three and 11 only.

Speaking at an event held at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum on March 22 to officially launch this latest addition to the local education scene, Stephen Holroyd, Director of Schools for Shrewsbury International Asia, says this decision was made after carefully weighing up the options for the 6950 square-metre plot in Tseung Kwan O.

“We love the location and during our due diligence, came to the conclusion that the best possible use of the site was as a specialist primary school. Of course, as others have done we could have presented a bid for a narrower through school from three to eighteen, However, all of our experience in both UK and international education led us to developing a specialist primary school.”

Holroyd adds that all school facilities were specially designed for different year groups to support a co-curriculum that includes sport, music, drama, dance and gymnastics. “At Shrewsbury Hong Kong, our Aquatics Centre, Music School, Centre of Excellence for Gymnastics and Dance Studio have all been shaped around primary age children.”

Though the government is now forecasting the current shortfall in international primary school places in Hong Kong will turn into a significant oversupply within the next five years, the school has reported that interest from parents has been so strong it has added two more information days to those previously planned.

Holroyd was joined on stage by Sir David Lees, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, and by the new school’s principal, Ben Keeling. All three speakers stressed their intention of ensuring the values and standards of teaching at the Hong Kong school matched those of the historic British one, while also reflecting the culture it will be operating in.