Principal’s Message

Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Friends of WIS,

At the end of our annual Horizons week it’s important we take a moment to consider the benefits of such a week. Years ago, I remember the first principal, who created the concept of Horizons Week, having a moment of doubt and considering scrapping the week totally in favour of a normal school week of lessons. Her concern, as I remember, was the enormous workload that the week gave to teachers and support staff, and at the time, perhaps not enough genuine outcomes for student learning. As you can imagine both staff and students were aghast at the idea of losing the week and that very moment acted as a catalyst for real improvement.

As the current principal, I have also looked closely at what we do and can offer in the years of leadership here. Our teaching staff is incredibly committed to the concept of Horizons Week as they see firsthand, students changing or developing new skills. The IB philosophy underpins our approach to the week with a variety of CAS focuses for students to engage within and we have moved to a decision to ensure we promote environmental awareness by only travelling and working in Asia and not beyond.  This also aids students in getting to know their area of the world locally. As I write on this Friday, many overseas trips have not yet returned; staff have given very generously of their time into the weekend to ensure trips have maximum impact.

As like other years, we have around two thirds of students remaining in Hong Kong and a third going overseas. Our overseas experiences have become a more genuine commitment by the school to certain projects or organisations we can see value in – not just for local people in the areas, but most importantly they teach our students core values in a safe setting. Service in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines are deepening as long-term projects, and for most of them fundraising and commitment from students beyond the week involved is expected.

In Hong Kong we have looked to make Year 7, a week of action at our well-established Lantau experience and Year 8, a week of creativity this year, to further build on CAS skills. From Year 9, students can choose more widely and add service to their broadening experiences as well as other action and creativity events.

This year, we have also used the week, where the school itself is a little quieter, to invite some primary students to see some of the creative outcomes from students in Year 8. As I write, this morning students are preparing to showcase their work in Art, Programming, Poetry, Film creation and Storytelling. Students in Music Legend are preparing a performance for their audience mid-morning, and students working with Faust are polishing their drama production which Kennedy school students will witness this afternoon.

So do talk to your child about what they learned this week; a new skill, a new perspective, a new understanding of the world perhaps?

Yours,

Jane