Southern District Hong Kong
The ISF Academy

Thank you for considering The ISF Academy.

Description

The ISF Academy offers a unique education in Hong Kong. It is an internationally accredited independent school offering a Chinese and English immersion education with a global perspective. Striking a balance between tradition and innovation, between East and West, The ISF Academy is a connected community of learners that is based on a vision of education where the power of ideas to shape lives is understood and respected, and where hope for a better, brighter future forms an essential driving force for learning. We believe that an excellent education reaches both the heart and the head, combining challenges and inspiration, offering a rich experience of the real world balanced with the security of a planned learning environment. Great learning charts the journey between aspiration and achievement, instills values and virtues, inspires courage and commitment, and draws wisdom from experience. An ISF education values, nurtures, and celebrates the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the human experience. ISF Academy students learn to embrace and exemplify the essential human values that form the philosophical foundation of our school: commitment, respect, benevolence, compassion, courtesy, integrity, harmony, balance and wisdom; these are the Eight Virtues + One. Our students and teachers put these values into practice each day, shaping our school culture, our personal interactions, our decisions and ideas. They are inquisitive about the world around them and their study programs are designed to encourage exploration, analysis, and reflection. ISF Academy students learn about our world from many different perspectives, and through a range of technologies, they gain not just knowledge, but also a practical framework of human values deeply rooted in Chinese culture. As the builders and shapers of tomorrow, our students are equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to make their own contribution to an interconnected global community. They speak more than one language, embrace technology, and move freely in both Chinese and Western cultural contexts. They are accomplished communicators whose voices are heard in our school and the community beyond, as observers, contributors, and leaders. They are also tolerant, kind, and loyal. The ISF Academy has a strong, future focused vision of education that is well grounded in traditional Chinese cultural values, where the world is a classroom, and learning is not constrained by differences of language and culture. The global perspective of each learner is also shaped by our unique curriculum, based on the solid foundation of the IB Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme and enhanced by our ISF Shuyuan Classics and Sciences courses. Experiential learning provides an essential 'real world' counterpoint to our demanding academic courses. Our commitment to The ISF Academy community is to work in partnership with each family to develop the individual potential of each child, to share the journey with its trials and challenges, and turn today's dreams into tomorrow's achievements. I am delighted that you are interested in our school and invite you to explore the distinctive education on offer at The ISF Academy through this website or in person at one of our open days. Dr. Malcolm Pritchard Head of School The ISF Academy

  • Day school tuition $25537 - $32253 USD
  • Grades for day school Pre-K/Reception -
    12th Grade/Year 13
  • Scholarships Available Yes
  • Number of Students 2069
  • Year founded 2003
  • Boarding school tuition No Information
  • Curricula Host Country's National, UK National, International Early Years
  • Type Co-ed

Admissions Information

Admissions Process

academy.isf.edu.hk/en/admissions/admissions-procedure/

  • Students can join after the academic year begins Yes

Academics

  • Assigns homework Yes
  • Use of technology in the classroom Yes
  • Language of instruction Mandarin, English
  • ELL support Yes
  • Gifted and talented student support Yes
  • Learning support Yes
  • Native English teachers Yes
  • Number of teaching staff 188

School Life

  • Bus service Yes
  • Sports teams available Yes
  • Pastoral Care Yes
  • Do students practice religion at the school No
  • Max class size 22
  • School provides lunch Yes
  • Uniform required Yes
  • Access to an educational psychologist Yes

Schools Facilities

The ISF Academy moved to its permanent campus in the tranquil and verdant setting of Pokfulam, in Hong Kong's Southern District, in August 2007. The ISF Academy is a leader in excellent, innovative bilingual and bicultural Chinese-English education in Hong Kong and the campus, built on a 13,152 square-meter site on Kong Sin Wan Road, Pokfulam, has been designed to reflect and reinforce the school's distinctive educational mission and approach. It is here where we offer the best independent education in Hong Kong, and the finest bilingual Chinese-English curriculum in the world. The Pokfulam campus houses The ISF Academy's Primary and Secondary Schools, while The ISF Pre-School is located on a separate campus in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong. SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT – NEW BUILDING FACILITIES November 2018 marks the completion of the school's Phase III extension works, covering the construction of the new Academic and Administration Block (‘A Block'), Center for Culture and Sports (‘C Block'), and the renovation of Charles Kao Square. Opened in August 2018, the Shuyuan Molecular Biology Laboratory – often referred to as ‘a university-grade research laboratory' – is equipped to conduct advanced scientific research projects on microbial plants and animal cells and to handle DNA and protein extraction analyses. ISF students have been engaging with molecular biotechnology since 2013. They have presented posters on research findings at international conferences, including the AGU International Conference, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Microbe conference, and World Equine Veterinary Association (WEVA) Congress, hoping to apply Molecular Biology to solve real-world problems, in fields such as medicine, food security and sustainability. We have upgraded the centrally located Charles Kao Square, connecting The Clifford C. F. Wong Secondary Library and Xu Li Shan Hu Shuyuan Library in the Secondary Building, into a fully enclosed, air-conditioned, tastefully furnished, and multi-functional space for all members of the ISF Community. In a mark of respect for the former ISF Principal, we created a memorial garden in C Block. The garden has been designed as a place of learning and research: it boasts over 20 different types of plants and shrubs that are either native or near native to Hong Kong; these plants are intended to attract native species of butterfly.


School Lunch

Our lunch vendor, Sodexho (HK) Limited, prepares food on campus. Menus are changed periodically and parents can choose to purchase monthly or daily meal plans. At present Sodexho (HK) has three menu choices available each day.