Kellett School Strategic Report 2022

FOREWORD

FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Reading this Strategic Update recapping what the school did in 2021-22, I wondered if I was reading the right issue. It was the third year in a row being heavily affected by tight Covid restrictions, a hard year for everyone, and yet the amazing Kellett staff under the expert guidance of Mark Steed and the Senior Management Team continued to innovate and deliver relentlessly on the School’s Strategic Priorities.

Please take some time to read this brochure. I hope it will leave you proud, as it did with me, of being part of this special school that is Kellett.

Kind regards,

Silvia Pezzini Chairperson of the Board of Governors

OVERVIEW

FROM THE PRINCIPAL & CEO

2021-22 was perhaps the most challenging of academic years in terms of the impact of Covid for Kellett and indeed Hong Kong. Spring was particularly difficult and proved too much for some families who departed for overseas. Fortunately, we were afforded an almost full Summer Term of in-person lessons, and since then things have gradually become more normal month-on-month.

Despite this backdrop Kellett continued, as we have sought to do throughout the pandemic, to maintain focus on the future, moving forward apace with improvements and enhancements in a number of strategic areas, guided by our aim of equipping each and every student with a love of learning and confidence for life. In particular, efforts have centred on evolving our educational offering to ensure we are equipping our students with the right mindset and skills to enable them to thrive - today and tomorrow.

Kellett is in the fortunate position of having some of the very best GCSE and A-level results of any British International School in the world. Having this secure base in place enables us to place a greater emphasis on other important aspects of an education: fostering wellbeing, developing life-skills and developing wider talents. Strategic priorities in terms of the curriculum have included the introduction of public speaking and of innovation lessons, which build important skills such as resilience, problem-solving, project management and being a team player. Innovation is now taught in the Prep Schools broadening the range of what we have available to our younger students.

Alongside our focus on 21st century style education, the combination of our pastoral care and ‘Positively Kellett’ wellbeing initiative remains core, helping our students develop a robust emotional skill set, as well as an appreciation of the importance of social responsibility, equipping them to lead rich, rewarding lives.

Our commitment to an education beyond the classroom has stepped up as we come out of Covid. Our investment in sport over the past two years is beginning to bear fruit as our teams have seen great success with Kellett consistently winning on football, netball and rugby pitches around Hong Kong. Furthermore, under the guidance of our newly-appointed Director of Expressive Arts, it has been good to see the musical, dramatic and cultural life of the school picking up again.

Despite Covid making us feel, at times, as if time has stood still, I am proud to be able to say that Kellett has left no time wasted. Strategic priorities remained where they should, at the forefront and dynamic, even whilst day-to-day challenges sought to distract us. As a School we are collectively emerging from the ‘Covid years’ stronger in mind and body, and better prepared than ever before for what lies ahead.

Thank you to each and every member of our community - students, teachers, support staff, parents/caregivers, our alumni – for supporting us and making this possible. We are a school that constantly strives for incremental improvements year-on-year, and this can only be achieved with a strong sense of community at its core, we are fortunate at Kellett to have that in abundance, which is great for those we seek to educate and the ongoing success of the school.

Mark Steed Principal & CEO

INTRODUCTION

Each year in this document we set out to check we have made good the commitments of the year before. As such, it holds us accountable and creates a record of all we have achieved. At Kellett, a school seeking constant progress and improvement, we believe these checks and balances are vital.

In yet another year of challenge related to the Covid pandemic, this update reminds us of all that has progressed and where we continue to strive for unrealised gains

ACHIEVING PERSONAL EXCELLENCE

LANGUAGES

Following a review of languages in the Prep School a new and bespoke Mandarin as a second language curriculum has been introduced aimed at students with a Mandarin speaking background. In addition, a decision was taken to fade out French in the Prep Schools. New for the upcoming year a change of teaching time is to be introduced with 40mins x 4 lesson per week from Reception to Year 6.

In Senior, following on from a range of developments reported last year, Latin is offered from Year 8 and our Home Language scheme continues to grow (Portuguese, Japanese, French, Chinese as a first language, Chinese as a second language were all taken in 2021-22 as extra qualifications). Following the implementation of a native Mandarin stream in the Prep, Senior will be updating the advanced Chinese curriculum in the coming year.

MANDARIN

SPORT

Kellett continued to make inroads in its ambitious plan to be the leading school in Hong Kong and Asia for its sporting provision and performance. We now have Heads of Sport leading a games/CoCurricular programme like no other in Hong Kong. Our Heads of Sport in our major sports, football, sevens rugby, netball, basketball and swimming, are supported by well-qualified and committed specialist coaches for Years 3-13 games lessons. The through-school programme is enriched in Years 10-13 by our SportEX (sports & exercise) programme during games lessons where students can elect different sports, including StrongFit, badminton, water polo, dance, boxercise, athletics and yoga.

“Through the games programme, I have enjoyed be ing able to develop my skills with specialist support in a range of sports I wouldn’t usually play, such as rug by. I really enjoyed being able to train and play with my teammates during games and fixtures.”

Emma, Y11 Team Captain

STUDENT PORTFOLIOS

Every student at Kellett School has the opportunity and responsibility to maintain a digital Student Portfolio during their time as part of our community. The Student Portfolio is a platform for students to curate their proudest achievements both in lessons and as part of the wider Kellett community.

Students are encouraged to reflect regularly on their learning and upload evidence to each of the four sectors of the Kellett Learner Profile. The Student Portfolio plays a valuable role in ‘one to one’ conversations between a student and their Form Tutor. Additionally, the Student Portfolios are used during Student Learning Conferences allowing students to engage in evidence-based discussions about their work with their parents or guardians.

STUDENT PRESENTING HER PORTFOLIO AT SENIOR SCHOOL OPEN EVENING

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR LEARNING SUCCESS

In KLB Prep each class is equipped to cater for a range of learning styles, providing students with a choice to stand, sit on a soft seat, at a desk or outside the main classroom. In addition, ‘pop up’ classrooms have been introduced into the atrium.

Student pods introduced in the Senior School common areas have been a big hit with students. They can book the pods themselves for quiet study time. The Senior Quiet Room is now available to those seeking a quiet contemplative area to ground themselves, have a brief meditation session or follow a guided yoga activity.

The planned wider redevelopment of PFL has been put on hold given the impact of Covid. This will be reviewed by the Board to determine an optimal time. In the meantime, PFL Prep have converted office space into an ASN classroom providing more effective teaching spaces. The 8th Floor is being converted into an Innovation Hub, with the flexible space facilitating group work, along with flexible working spaces including pods in other areas of the school.

In addition, thanks to parent donations to K2, PFL are planning an allotment on the roof for some more outdoor learning opportunities, whilst KLB are bringing the outside in, with a refresh of the Reception covered area to include a bike track and plant growing area. At Senior plans are afoot to introduce some micro-farming on the Sky Pitch.

“I am able to focus more. I can get distracted in a busy class room so having the choice to work outside (alone) or in a breakout room helps me.”

Iris, KLB Prep

“Changing my work environment allows me to think from a different perspective and gives me inspiration.”

Rahi, KLB Prep

SCHOLARSHIPS

Home learning once again interfered with the Scholar’s programme, but we were better prepared for it and used the time to build a scale model of Kellett’s KLB Campus in Minecraft using the school plans, maths and creativity to get to the (nearly) finished product. This can then be used by Admissions to share with younger students who haven’t been able to see the campus. The Scholar’s team won the Hong Kong round of the Ethics Olympiad and helped to train the Y6 KLB team, who also won.

We have received approval from the Rube Goldberg Organisation in the US to become an organising school for a competition, that will be organised by the Scholars. We also have plans for a paper aeroplane design and distance competition. When we are not working on these projects, we plan to analyse the art market and paint something each for sale on an online gallery, replicate a psychological experiment on honesty and produce some award-winning Haikus.

Discussions are ongoing with regards to expanding scholarships to cover subjects such as Sports, Music, Drama and Art, as well as extending to other year groups.

BUILDING TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

EXPRESSIVE ARTS

As highlighted in the last update, Expressive Arts was always intended to be a strategic focus following efforts put into developing our sports offering. Covid has undoubtedly slowed things down, however no time was lost in putting in the building blocks to strengthen this important aspect of the school curriculum and community.

A new Director of Music completed a revamp of the Senior music curriculum, with an increased emphasis on the use of music tech software and practical application of skills in the classroom. With a view to raising standards, students audition for roles in Sinfonia (orchestra), and section leaders have been appointed with a more structured approach to teaching orchestral techniques. The introduction of the Young Musicians Development Programme offers students access to workshops and masterclasses with professional musicians and trips to hear live music and a new Rock School has brought in a systematic approach to developing bands.

In Media, technology across the department has been significantly enhanced to give students access to cutting edge spaces and tools, including multicam for live chroma keying, drones, livestreaming, podcasting and recording.

The introduction of public speaking lessons, LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art), in the past year proved a huge success and as a result there are plans to expand to other year groups. Exam results were outstanding with 89% of the Y8 cohort achieving a Grade 3 Distinction (81 students) and 87% at Grade 6 level in Y12.

A Director of Expressive Arts has been appointed for this academic year who will further develop our offering across all years. A full review of the Expressive Arts programme across the whole school will take place; analysing student performance, our Peripatetic Programme, uptake, curricular and ECA provision, events, staffing, budgets and policies.

MINI-MBA

Post-Covid and with a new member of staff leading the programme, the Mini-MBA is evolving into a finished product.

Students begin the course by taking part in the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition. This is a three-month competition which challenges students to design an investment strategy and portfolio for a specific client, using a real-time stock tracker and a fictional capital investment of $100,000. Students will work in teams to produce deliverables, including a Midterm and Final report which will be sent to Wharton. During that period, individual tasks will ask the students to use technical and fundamental analysis and create a presentation on their “stock picks”.

The IE Business School in Madrid and Kellett’s strategic alliance has seen the creation of a “Start-up lab”. Students will experience a total of 20 live lectures with IE lecturers, combining business theory with a start-up process. Teams will be created by common interests and goals and will be tasked with taking their idea to the finished product/service. Successful groups will have the chance to receive seed money to start the business up. University credit can be achieved for those applying to the USA. Deliverables from this element of the course are: Business Plan, presentation and individual reflection essay.

“It’s made me think about my current spending and future financial needs. I discovered that stock investment is accessi ble to everyone, even young people like me, and can create wealth and passive income. Within the lessons it is great to have less exam pressure and work more in teams, develop ing skills often ignored by ordinary subjects.”

Charlotte, Year 12

TECHNOLOGY

Digital Technologies continue to thrive across both Prep and Senior schools. Our team of Digital Technology Leads have expanded, bringing new and innovative uses of technology across the whole school, while maintaining a continued drive to ensure both the safety and wellbeing of our community.

Efforts are ongoing to attain the ISO global standard of Data Protection. To further improve our digital security, we have subscribed to National Online Safety, providing an opportunity for growth across the whole community, including parents and governors.

In the Prep Schools, the 1:1 iPad programme has continued in years Y1-6 allowing convenient access during lessons, with devices managed by the school to ensure security and distribution of educational apps. Weekly Digital Skills lessons have been introduced in Years 5 & 6, with the skills taught being utilised in Innovation classes. In addition, Digital Citizenship (online safety) is delivered through Positively Kellett.

The Senior School has begun to integrate the iPad into Year 7. This has already seen great results, by offering flexible interactions with the environments the students find themselves in.

INNOVATION

Innovation was launched to Years 7 & 8, enabling students to participate in a range of projects with their peers, working in teams to solve problems. Projects included; building a vertical greenhouse, soft robotics and camera traps.

Owing to the success of the subject, Innovation has subsequently been expanded to weekly session for Years 5 – 9, with an Innovation Lead now in post in the Prep Schools. Some new projects include; designing and building a prototype craft to climb a cable and soldering electronic components to create modules of an electronic musical instrument, a synthesizer.

The innovation team in the Senior School are creating an exciting curriculum for a non-GCSE in Year 10, combined with Oceanography for 2023-24. Students enrolling in the course will need to utilise all the skills that they have developed in Innovation lessons, along with self-motivation and resilience to research, design, plan, build, test and evaluate a project of their choosing over the space of two years of study.

DEVELOPING A GLOBAL OUTLOOK

BOX OF HOPE AT KOWLOON BAY PREP

GLOBAL OUTLOOK WEEK

Owing to obstacles to overseas travel Global Outlook Week turned its focus closer to home for Compassion in Hong Kong. The week focused on sensitively raising awareness of the plight of those people who have been displaced from their home country and are living as refugees or asylumseekers in Hong Kong and globally. This focus was chosen to support our bursaries programme and Kellett Outreach. Supported by NGO partners, Africa Center, Justice Centre, UNHCR and Crossroads Foundation, the students undertook a huge range of learning activities from cultural immersion through dance, cooking and art, a Refugee Run simulation, VR Refugee Camp tour and a tour of Chungking mansions. The week also included our Inaugural Kellett Elliott Lecture for our wider community exploring related issues.

For 2022 Global Outlook was again Hong Kong-based with a rich variety of activities, offering students more choice than ever before, all linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. From coral conservation to rock band to mountain biking there was something for everyone, with very positive student feedback post-event.

Planning is underway for next year’s provision which will be a hybrid offering of Hong Kong-based programmes building upon the success of GO Week 2022, alongside a small range of multiyear overseas trips.

SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainably Kellett is a whole school focus. We are fortunate to have students and staff who are passionate about this cause. Our collaborative aim goes beyond reducing our own impact on the environment, we strive to be a beacon school for sustainability, inspiring others to follow.

Efforts in the Senior School focus on achieving the all-important, Sustainable Development Goals. The goals are explicitly taught in a range of subject lessons, with the aim of ensuring all students have an understanding of the global goals and how they link to so many aspects of our education, our lives and worldwide issues.

Our Eco-School Committee of students is working towards the first Green Flag accreditation for a Hong Kong school. This committee is carrying out curriculum audits, surveys, and more.

During the academic year Sodexo, our catering partner, began using the Orca to deal with our food waste. General recycling continued and our partnership with Retykle for Pre-Loved Uniform commenced. In addition, Solar panels were installed on the rooftop of KLB Campus and the LED replacement programme continued. The community thoroughly enjoyed the Elliott Lecture and discussion with Craig Foster, of the worldacclaimed documentary My Octopus Teacher.

In the upcoming year an exciting coral regeneration project is planned along with an oceanography course in the Senior School, along with a greater focus on the SDGs, including each House having an SDG of special focus for advocacy and related fundraising activities.

My family and I are always grateful for what Kellett has done for our children. There’s no doubt that it is having a positive and powerful impact on our children’s learning journey. We hope that more students can benefit from a Kellett Bursary. As Nelson Mandela said, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.

Parent of current Bursary Students

ENTRANCE BURSARIES

We were once again fortunate that some substantial individual donations meant we could continue to offer bursaries despite not having any community fundraising events as a result of Covid. We are most grateful as it has meant we have been able to continue to offer two Entrance Bursary places each year, as planned, and remain on our way to raise HK$26m by our 50th anniversary in 2026. The students on bursaries continue to thrive and despite no fundraising events we used the year to focus on educating our community on the importance of being able to offer bursary places. With no overseas trips for Global Outlook Week possible we seized the opportunity to have many of the elements within the week focussed on the challenge facing the refugee and asylum community in Hong Kong. Many related activities were laid on for students in all years, including Prep, meanwhile parents were invited to attend the Elliott Lecture on the issue. The discussion amongst our inspiring panellists was very well received and has done much to increase the community’s understanding of the need for and impact of bursaries.

In the year ahead it is hoped that we can return to more proactive community fundraising activities, including the much-delayed Giving Day and a Kellett Charity Ball, both for the AMD Fund.

KELLETT OUTREACH

Despite a great deal of preparation Kellett Outreach was sadly unable to launch in 2021-22 as a result of Covid restrictions. Time was not wasted with detailed plans drawn up for an exciting programme of educational provision and Kellett Outreach launched successfully in September 2022.

Future plans include developing relationships further with NGOs to better engage their expertise, and online training provided by Kellett Staff for parents of Outreach students. Efforts continue to secure corporate sponsorship to support Kellett Outreach so that the pilot programme can become sustainable.

ALUMNI

Our alumni network has now surpassed 1000 registered Old Kellettonians despite Covid restrictions making in-person gatherings impossible. Efforts have continued to engage our younger alumni. We are delighted to have two recent graduates of the school join Friends of Kellett as Governors to help in those efforts.

To aid staff recruitment and engagement of alumni staff, an online termly discussion on educational matters, known as LinKed, has been established for current, former and incoming staff. The intention is to provide opportunities for staff, both in Kellett and other educational establishments, to share ideas and best practice. The popular sessions covered student wellbeing and CPD, with more online discussions planned for the year ahead.

As Covid restrictions subside around the world, efforts to organise in-person engagement with alumni will come to the fore, including social gatherings as well as career advice for our students from OKs in a diverse range of sectors and professions.

CULTIVATING WELLBEING

WELLBEING OF STUDENTS

Student wellbeing continues to be one of our highest priorities and informs all our decisionmaking. At Kellett our approach to wellbeing incorporates two important aspects. The first is pastoral care provided by teachers and tutors, and supported by our dedicated Wellbeing Team, including counsellors and nurses. The second is Positively Kellett which focuses on equipping our students with the tools to be able to handle the stresses and challenges of life.

PASTORAL

A House system has been introduced into the Preps, with Boars, Cobras, Dolphins and Eagles, battling it out for points. This has led to more leadership opportunities for Year 6 students with each of the four houses having a House Captain, Deputy and Sports Captain.

Feel Good Fridays (FGF) continue to be a huge success in the Prep schools last year. In the year ahead, we have increased the amount of FGFs and better aligned these with the senior school. FGFs are introduced through weekly assemblies to ensure that children have a deeper understanding of the events to follow.

In the year ahead, there will be increased counselling provision in response to the pastoral team’s recognition that students need further opportunities to check-in with our school nurses/ counsellors.

In line with the senior school policy, both preps completed a Behaviour Policy review. The new policy and guidelines for staff and students has been well-received and can be visibly seen around both campuses. Training for teaching assistants has been provided and assemblies delivered to roll out the new behaviour guidelines.

In Senior Feel Good Fridays were reviewed and it was widely noted by parents, students and staff that they missed the frequency of them. As such, they were re-developed to have wider meaning by sharing learning beyond FGF through tutor sessions.

16 staff were trained (from the 3 schools and admin) in Mental Health First Aid, with a further 16 members of staff being trained in 2022-23 to further support our school community. Students will also receive training, with some becoming Peer Mentors who will wear purple badges so students can easily identify and approach them if they are feeling worried or anxious. Our trained students will be able to listen in the first instance and signpost them to the appropriate adult.

In the year ahead, tutoring capacity will be increased, with 56 tutors, who each support a maximum of 14 students to ensure that every student is seen, heard and feels valued. Tutor group time is 20 minutes in length, each morning, in addition to more regular 1:1 meetings between tutors and students. 1:1 meetings are focused on academic progress, wellbeing, student concerns, if appropriate, and their Kellett Portfolio. In addition, a weekly check will be introduced through a google form, to help mitigate issues and facilitate a proactive approach to safeguarding our students’ mental health and wellbeing.

POSITIVELY KELLETT

Whole school student wellbeing monitoring is in place with standardised tools: the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Senior, the Me & My Feelings questionnaire (MMF) in Prep. Both questionnaires are completed twice a year.

The last year has seen the integration of Global Citizenship into Positively Kellett at the Senior School, both the contents and in terms of the timetable. At the Sixth Form level a bespoke focus-on-life-skills programme was developed, with research support from Dr Judy Blaine. This is now being taught, with a research study running alongside to test for effectiveness.

A review of how students join and leave Kellett, resulted in lessons on international mobility being integrated into Positively Kellett to ensure we were looking after those students who were left behind.

A separate teaching scheme has been purchased for the Prep Schools to sit next to our bespoke Positively Kellett programme. This scheme ensures we cover all UK standards and can therefore provide more specific lessons on Relationships and Health.

WELLBEING OF STAFF

During 2021-22 we continued to provide staff access to counselling services and carried out regular surveys checking in on staff. We also carried out a whole school staff wellbeing survey in March, given the continuing challenges faced due to Covid and the stringent social distancing measures invoked by the Hong Kong Government. During the period of school closure and home learning in Term Two, we enabled staff to work remotely where practical to help manage mental wellbeing and received very positive feedback as a result.

The focus of the Staff Consultative Group (SCG) changed emphasis so that there is more of an opportunity to implement staff-led wellbeing initiatives, and as we look ahead, this is slowly taking shape, with staff social gatherings being organised as a result. The use of the school gym, swimming pool and fitness classes have also been re-introduced. Representatives from the SCG will also take forward the use of the BUPA Wellness Programme, as the opportunity for the provision of on-site services was curtailed last year due to Covid measures.

We re-ran the staff wellbeing survey at the end of September and will benchmark results against the first survey. This will enable further opportunities to consider the outcomes and introduce any further wellbeing measures as a result.

CONCLUSION

Despite the disruptions caused by Covid in 2021-22 Kellett continued to drive through enhancements to the holistic teaching and learning for all age groups, aimed at preparing students for the ever-changing world beyond the school gates. This Strategic Report evidences those improvements, which are all the more remarkable given that much of the year was shadowed by stints of home learning and restrictive social distancing policies. Our whole community can look back with pride on all that has been achieved, and with confidence that our students are receiving the very best educational preparation for their futures.

As a school, we commit to updating the parent body at regular intervals across the year and welcome feedback at any point via development@kellettschool.com or directly to the Board via board@kellettschool.com.