FOUR DECADES OF EXPANSION AND VISION
The island at the entrance of the new High School was designed as a traditional Oriental garden with rock, water, and plants. mixture – some from the east and some from the west. Planted near the bamboo is a Canadian Maple from the class of 2003, in honor of Myles Berry, a High School junior, who died while still a student here. The same class donated the “Senior Rock”. Adds Handrich, “the legacy of the Class of 2003 is a strong statement on the island.” The Oriental theme extends to the pond. Handrich recalls that at first there were no fish, “but Oriental gardens frequently have koi (Japanese carp) and some of our Chinese staff thought they were important. So in the mid-1990s, we acquired some. The koi are now a part of the HKIS scene – and lots of folks like to watch them. They even come up now and let you pet them, and they are certainly prolific breeders.” The atrium is another area which attracts attention. It was part of the architectural design and has become a gathering place to escape sun or the rain.
The 1990s The decade had just turned, when again, due to enrollment pressures, the question of expansion was the main topic of discussion and soon became the HKIS Expansion Project. In a 1991 briefing paper for the Secretary for Education and Manpower entitled, Completing the Vision of Hong Kong International School; An Overview of Expansion Plans, these goals were outlined: • Short term: To use Kennedy Road School to relieve the current shortage of American school places in elementary grades. • Long term: To erect a new building for lower secondary grades in Tai Tam near our high school which, with correlated changes throughout the school, will raise capacity in all grades and increase schoolwide enrollment… And to enhance further the educational program of HKIS by adding a reception class and by incorporating needed facilities through renovations to existing buildings. The first step was to eliminate the chronic shortage of Elementary School places. Seen as the most acute problem, the waiting lists for entry were causing friction, but there was nothing that could be done since the Elementary School was the smallest HKIS facility. The problem was exacerbated by a general shortage of places in other international schools. To relieve this immediate shortage of early education places, HKIS opened their Early Childhood Center in interim quarters, courtesy of the Hong Kong Government. This was in the former Kennedy Junior School on Kennedy Road, Mid-Levels, an English Schools Foundation institution which had moved to Pokfulam. The Center was dedicated on September 12, 1991 and, at a snap of the scissors, waiting lists for the little ones
HKIS Early Childhood Center at Kennedy Road.
disappeared. The ECC served 150 students, aged four through seven years. The Repulse Bay Elementary School campus enrolled 200 students, aged 5-7 years. At the ceremony, Y. T. Li, Director of Education asserted: “I cannot emphasize too much the important role being played by the Hong Kong International School in the provision of education for children of the international community of Hong Kong.”
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