education
school trip
Hong Kong Adventist Academy Rebecca Simpson visits the Adventist private school in Sai Kung.
what’s called value education - how to apply and understand values in life. In high school we have ethics – how Christian values can be applied in life.”
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estled on a shared campus in Sai Kung, is Hong Kong’s only private Adventist school, Hong Kong Adventist Academy (HKAA). Opened in 2011, the school is led by a veteran Hong Kong educator and offers its 130 pupils a values-based education. Students learn via the Griggs program, and the first HKAA graduate is due to finish school in the summer of 2017. HKAA is still finding its feet but it could be the beginning of something special for the Adventist community in Asia. Leveraging the Adventist network The Adventist community supports, and is supported by, a network of learning and community institutions in Hong Kong. These include two hospitals and the Sam Yuk schools which are partly government funded. The Hong Kong Adventist Academy is unique in this ecosystem as it is an entirely private school funded by school fees with the support of the Adventist community. HKAA shares a spacious campus with Hong Kong Adventist College, a private program affiliated with Andrews University, the flagship university of the Adventist Church. This affords students the opportunity to join the campus in reception and continue on to finish their tertiary studies in the same place. However, as many parents would know,
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not all students are interested in a continued education in Hong Kong, most want to fly the nest and head overseas. With this in mind, graduating HKAA students are issued with the Griggs Diploma which is recognised by Maryland State, and will open up opportunities at universities in Europe and America. Dr. Frank Tam, Principal at HKAA, explains that the system is similar to that taught at the American International School, students are awarded an SAT score and a GPA. “The first HKAA batch graduate next summer - with one student. She came to the school from Costa Rica, she has a very good GPA and her English is at the 7.5 level already. She is ready to go to a UK university, I hope she will apply to a top university.” Dr. Tam explains that the school plans to help students with university applications and he has high academic hopes for HKAA students. While the school is offering an Adventist education, they are accepting non-Adventist students. “We accept students of all faiths and even those with no religious background,” says Dr. Tam. “We call this a mission school, we try to use the school as a means of spreading gospel to the students. However, we don’t do it in an indoctrinating way. We have a solid religious curriculum in our school. In elementary school we tell bible stories and sing songs in religion classes. In middle school we do
A small community with plans for growth HKAA opened in 2011 and remains a small and growing community that offers an all-through education. In 2015/16 the student body was 130 students and for the 2016/17 school year that number will jump to 170. In August, a newly renovated separate building will house the reception students. The school has capacity for 300 children in 31 classrooms and is now offering places in all school years, except the final year of school. The school is working towards a 10 year plan to have a full school with two classes per year level. Students come from all over the world to attend HKAA including a large population of Korean children, many Japanese and USA students, as well as some from Australia and Central and Southern America. 40% of students are from local Hong Kong or Mainland Chinese families. This means the playground language can swing between English and Mandarin. Experience at the helm Dr. Frank Tam joined HKAA as principal in 2014 and brings an extensive wealth of knowledge about education in Hong Kong to the school. Some families may remember Dr. Tam from his time as principal at Sam Yuk Secondary School in Tai Po. Teachers in Hong Kong may also have encountered Dr. Tam if they trained at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where he taught teacher training. Dr. Tam remains a