Wycombe Abbey School Hong Kong prioritises English and Chinese language learning

Wycombe Abbey School Hong Kong opened its doors in 2019 with an exciting new co-educational school that offers a quintessentially British independent education for primary aged children. The school provides a proven holistic education which is complemented by a curriculum that combines the national curriculum for England and Wales with an extensive Chinese language syllabus drawn from the Chinese national curriculum. This dynamic combination prepares its pupils to excel when they join the finest secondary schools around the world.

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The school emphasises on a broad education that includes 14 primary subjects and learning outside of conventional classroom settings including drama, music, art, science, physical education, iSTEAM and a wide range of carefully selected extracurricular enrichment activities to widen pupils’ curiosity and interests.

The teaching methods, experience and heritage enable the school to offer an education for each individual pupil that balances academic rigor with an integrated focus on mental and physical well-being. Providing pupils with an immersive academic environment encouraging critical thinking through project-based applications, working on the belief that well-balanced and confident pupils prove to enjoy successful careers in later life.

The heritage of Wycombe Abbey

Wycombe Abbey was founded on the day of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, September 23, 1896, by Miss Frances Dove, later Dame Frances, an educational trailblazer who promoted equal opportunities for girls in the Victorian age. Since then, Wycombe Abbey has become one of the leading independent boarding schools in the United Kingdom, consistently ranked number one for academic results at A-Level. The school prides itself on providing a learning environment where intellectual curiosity can flourish.

Wycombe Abbey has been at the forefront of British academic excellence for the last 120 years. Approximately one third of their graduates receive offers of places at Oxford or Cambridge each year, with others going on to Russell Group universities in the United Kingdom and top universities in the USA such as Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Stanford.

Bespoke curriculum

The Wycombe Abbey curriculum has been specifically designed to provide primary aged children with an approach to teaching and learning that combines the best from the British and Hong Kong primary education systems, ensuring that pupils are ideally prepared for the next steps in their schooling.

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Pupils develop total fluency in English and access a curriculum which is built around the core components of the internationally renowned national curriculum for England and Wales. At the same time, the school ensures pupils have a firm grounding in the Chinese language and culture through its exceptional Chinese curriculum.

In addition to core primary subjects of English, Chinese and mathematics, Wycombe Abbey provides a diverse and varied programme of experiences and extra-curricular activities for every child. Highlighted by the modern facilities and themed specialist classrooms at Wycombe Abbey School Hong Kong, pupils have the opportunity to experience an inspiring choice of different activities, from individual and team sports to creative arts, music, chess, cookery, drama, Dance, iSTEAM and much more, in an exciting range of teams, clubs and societies.

Bilingual education

Chinese language learning is an integral part of the daily class schedule for all Wycombe Abbey Hong Kong pupils. Putonghua is the medium of instruction for all Chinese lessons. Students are taught primarily to read and write in simplified characters, with exposure to traditional characters through lessons in calligraphy, voluntary supplementary reading lessons, and a variety of extra-curricular activities. The school offers curriculum streams for both native speaking and non-native speaking groups, differentiated within classes to provide an immersive environment promoting Chinese culture. The curriculum design is based on the Chinese national curriculum, while our authentic curriculum materials are sourced from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan to ensure a variety and balance of Chinese language and culture.

A holistic approach to teaching

Wycombe Abbey Schools teaching approach can be summarised as being collaborative and personalised. It is sensitive to the individual needs of each pupil, providing learning materials that are appropriately challenging, as well as rich and varied in content. Supported by small class sizes and low pupil to teacher ratio (12:1), each lesson encourages interaction and dialogue. To ensure that all learning objectives are clearly understood by each pupil, teachers make productive use of instructional time to match and carefully stretch the abilities of each child in every lesson. Pupils spend plenty of time in collaborative learning situations, as this builds a sense of responsibility and teamwork, through pupils actively engaging in challenges together.

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The teacher-pupil and pupil–peer relationships are characterised by warmth and respect. Encouraging children to be sociable and cooperative with each other in all their interactions, and pupils develop the attributes of care and empathy. The school ensures the physical and emotional welfare of all pupils, meaning your child is safe, happy, involved in their work and empowered to perform to their full potential.