Harrow International School Beijing is a private school located in Chaoyang District, Beijing. It was established and gained its license to operate in China in 2005 in association with Harrow School and Harrow International School, Bangkok. The school currently has over 1000 students, both boys and girls, representing 38 different nationalities, ranging from 3 to 18 years of age. The school follows and enriches the National Curriculum of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of teaching staff are recruited from the United Kingdom. The founding headmaster was Mr Matthew Benjamin Farthing. Recruited as part of the Senior Management Team that established Harrow International School in Bangkok in 1997, he had special responsibility to oversee the developing curriculum and ensure that academic standards were maintained. Harrow Beijing is a coeducational day school that initially taught pupils from age 11, unlike its namesake in the United Kingdom, which only teaches boys, is a boarding school, and begins instruction when its students are 13. Jehangir S. Pocha of The New York Times said that Harrow, which uses English as its instructional language, has "a wider approach to education" than traditional Chinese schools and it is one of several private schools that is attractive to Chinese parents who have "means who are looking to turn their children into global citizens".
History
Harrow Beijing opened in 2005. It was the second British-style public school to open in China, after Dulwich College, which had opened a branch in Shanghai in 2004 and a branch in Beijing in 2005. It was the second international Harrow school to open, after Harrow International School, Bangkok. As of 2 December 2006 Harrow Beijing had 150 students. Matthew Benjamin Farthing, the headmaster, said in 2006 that during the school's first year, most of the children were expatriates. These included those from the United Kingdom and what he described as "countries familiar with the value of a Harrow education". That year he said "but in two years I expect things will be different".
Affiliations
Harrow International School Beijing is operated by a private company, Harrow Asia Limited. Harrow Asia Limited also operates Harrow International School, Bangkok. Both schools operate under a license granted by Harrow School in London. Close ties exist between the schools, with teacher and pupil exchanges, interviews held at Harrow School, and day-to-day co-operation between staff. Harrow International School Beijing shares governors with Harrow School and they regularly visit the school. In 2006, Harrow International School gained accreditation from the Council of International Schools. Harrow International School Beijing is also a member of the Federation of British International Schools in South East Asia and East Asia. Harrow International School Beijing is fully accredited by all the British Examinations Authorities including Edexcel, CIE, AQA and OCR.
Operations and structure
Harrow International School Beijing is divided into four phases of progression: The Pre-Prep Phase includes students from Early Years to Year 5. Pre-Prep follows a form based curriculum with specialist teaching in Mandarin, PE, music and art. The Preparatory Phase includes students from Year 6 to Year 8. The teaching within this phase of the school increases subjects taught by specialist teachers until every subject is taught this way. Senior School comprises students from Year 9 to Year 11. Students within this phase continue to take every subject until Year 10 when they focus on those they are taking for their GCSEs in Year 11. Sixth Form comprises the two oldest year groups in the school. Sixth formers study for the GCE 'A’ Levels. Since 2005 every student graduating the Sixth Form has gone to university. In 2010 46% of students achieved A* or A grade at 'A’ Level. In 2015 the tuition for the year was 200,000 renminbi. China Daily ranked Harrow Beijing as the 7th most expensive private school in Beijing.
Houses
The house system was introduced in 2008, and is modelled on the Houses of Harrow School. There are six houses at Harrow International School Beijing, consisting of three boy houses and three girl houses :
Each house is led by a teacher called the Head of House. All students from Pre-School to the Upper Sixth are enrolled in the houses. The houses compete in a number of competitions and activities held throughout the year to win house trophies. The houses are very involved in local community and charity work and this has been their main focus. Each house has one representative in each year group, elected by the students in the year group. They help the house captains to arrange activities and lead the houses. The house events turn leadership into actions and help the students to develop various skills.
Campus
The school is located in Hegezhuang Village, Cuigezhuang Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. It is located halfway between Shunyi and Downtown Beijing. Before April 2013, the school was split between two campuses. The old Lower School was based in Grassetown, Tongzhou, located in the countryside around Shunyi, Beijing. The Preparatory Phase occupied a separate building on the Lower School campus. The old Upper School was located in Anzhen Xili, near the Beijing Olympic Stadium. It occupied the site of a former Chinese primary school in Chaoyang District, central Beijing. It had been extensively refurbished and extended to provide a modern learning environment. In April 2013 the school moved to a new, purpose-built, combined campus in Hegezhuang, Chaoyang District.
