Playtimes HK Magazine October 2017 Issue | Page 23

news
An Enthusiastic Education
Tara Jenkins takes a tour of the new Nord Anglia Early Years campus in Tai Tam
B
rian Cooklin, Principal of Nord
Anglia International School, is
telling a funny anecdote about
a child whose parents threaten
to keep him away from school if he
misbehaves at home. “The threat of not
going to school is worse than having his
laptop taken away!” Cooklin chuckles.
While most of us might struggle with the
concept of being barred from school as a
punishment, a glimpse into Nord Anglia’s
progressive approach to education just
might change our minds. Here’s a school
that actively strives to make learning fun,
and puts an individual child’s needs and
confidence firmly front and centre. Add the
extensive Nord Anglia network that allows
children and staff to interact with their
counterparts in different parts of the globe
(46 schools across 17 countries), and it’s a
compelling proposition.
Nord Anglia students can communicate
with children all over the world to find
out what it’s really like living in the Swiss
Alps, for example, or collaborate to
produce a global recipe book, or link into
the world-renowned Juilliard School (the
music curriculum has been designed in
collaboration with the school). In older
years, there are residential trips and
exchanges too. It’s all exciting, forward-
thinking stuff, but the school is built on a
bedrock philosophy of individualised
learning. “Our expectation is that a
teacher will know each child as a
person as quickly as possible, and
that individualised knowledge drives
the success of the school,” explains
Cooklin. “It works. Parents always say
they’re amazed at how much progress
their child has made in the last six or
twelve months”.
Part of that progress is the building
of confidence, and that’s the idea
behind using specialist teachers in art,
music, drama, PE and Mandarin from the
very early years - they circulate between
the primary/secondary campus at Lam
Tin, to the new Early Years campuses at
Tai Tam and Sai Kung. “Those subjects
do something special for children in terms
of building confidence, and that’s key to
success,” says Cooklin. “If you’re having
trouble with maths, but in drama you’ve
had your confidence built, it definitely
enhances your chances elsewhere. You
feel better about yourself, and realise you
can do things, and you can do them well”.
This ethos and approach is very much
in evidence at the newly-opened Early
Years campus in Tai Tam; a brand new,
light filled 21,000 sq feet of space on
two floors of Redhill Plaza. The school
has been thoughtfully designed to allow
children from all years (aged three to five)
to come together in a central area, but
each year group has a designated space,
and there are individual areas assigned to
activities such as music, art, gross motor
skills, Lego construction, scooter park,
and water & sand play. A well-stocked
music room has piano and keyboards;
the cookery area has both adult and
child-sized counters and stools, and
the attractive library has flower-shaped
banquettes and private crawl spaces
for children to curl up and immerse
themselves in books. “The librarian has
just done a Masters in the ‘game-ification
of books’, explains Sarah Harley, Assistant
Principal. “She turns books into games,
which is especially good for boys, because
it’s harder to get them to read!”
It’s clear Cooklin and Harley have put
a great deal of thought into creating just
the right environment and opportunities
for little people. Every classroom has a
child’s-height interactive smart TV; the
technology is brand new, so children can
scan items on the TV (the next generation
whiteboard) to individual ipads, and vice
versa, to share work with their classmates.
Teachers update a blog every day within
year groups so parents can see what’s
happening in the classroom, and as
soon as children join the school they
become part of a House system which,
Cooklin explains, also acts as a mentoring
scheme. “There’s always at least one
teacher in the school that knows your child
and if there’s an issue, we can pick up
early doors. That support network is there,
right from the beginning, the whole way up
to public exams”.
With 41 years experience of teaching
and an infectious enthusiasm for
educating, Cooklin thinks it’s positive that
today’s parents have more choice when it
comes to schooling in Hong Kong. “The
driving force for our school is the quality
of teaching and learning, built around
the framework of our ‘Be Ambitious’
philosophy. Yes, it’s important to have
resources and facilities, but at the end of
the day you and your child have to have
a gut feeling it’s the school for you”. With
a large department for additional support
needs, a recent excellence grade in all
categories by the Independent Schools
Inspection and a palpable sense of
exuberant community, it just might be right
for your child.
October 2017
21