The Harbour School

The Harbour School is dedicated to providing a comprehensive, integrated education that builds on a strong foundation of basic skills to develop a global cultural literacy in an atmosphere of kindness, flexibility, respect and individualism. THS adopts a customized approach that celebrates individual strengths while addressing weaknesses, accepting children as complex individuals with differing needs, goals, personalities, and backgrounds.

An idea whose time has come

THS is a relatively new, very small, non-profit international school operating in Hong Kong since the fall of 2007 with a mainstream curriculum and a different approach: very small classes and a hands-on, project-based program. THS attempts to help all children learn to overcome their weaknesses and use their strengths to succeed academically, socially and emotionally. While all of the children in the mainstream classes have average or above-average global intelligence, many of them have specific areas of learning difficulty (e.g., with handwriting, reading, math, attention or social skills). THS strives to educate all children by treating them as individuals with distinct learning styles. Many children at The Harbour School are “dual-identified”: They are intellectually gifted in some areas, with a specific learning or attention deficit disorder. At THS, we make an attempt to customize our classes to the unique style, needs, abilities and skills of each child. To do this, we maintain small class sizes, a very strong learning support department, individual and small-group programming, and a customized educational program.

Meeting the Needs of Hong Kong families

THS serves a vital and unique role offering a much-needed alternative to families whose children may need special educational intervention. In Hong Kong, several good programs exist for children with severe or global developmental difficulties but international schools with long waiting lists have little incentive to enroll students who do not have such severe or global developmental difficulties but nonetheless may be “fragile” or who may require an unusual amount of attention. This includes children with specific learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia) or social/emotional problems (e.g., children who are very shy, overly active, emotionally fragile, or socially inept). Similarly, many good schools are available for children with no areas of academic or behavioral difficulty.

THS fills a significant and vital gap, providing services for those “fragile” children who do not thrive in (or cannot get accepted to) other English-language schools because of their special educational needs, but who do not have a level of need that would qualify them for more intensive services for students with severe or global developmental difficulties and for whom these programs would not be appropriate in any case. THS, because it has very small classes, a high teacher: student ratio, and an excellent Learning Support Department, is well positioned to accept these children and offer them an excellent mainstream or advanced education.

Students who for one reason or another (academic, social or emotional) do not “fit” in other Hong Kong schools, or who may have been rejected when seeking admission to other Hong Kong schools, are growing and thriving educationally and emotionally at THS. Several of our students have attention disorders (ADHD or ADD) that cause them to fail or become disruptive in a large classroom. At THS, these children are doing extremely well in small, engaged classes with a high teacher: student ratio. The success of the school’s approach can be measured by the ever-increasing demand for student placement.

Of the students currently enrolled in THS, 13 are Chinese or mixed Chinese. Other students are from USA, Canada, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Turkey, Japan, the Philippines, Spain, France, Holland and Bangladesh. THS has 3 students with global delays. In mainstream classrooms, the remaining children with average functioning in most areas may have specific problems with reading (dyslexia), handwriting (dysgraphia), dyscalculia (math), selective mutism (social anxiety), language or social functioning.

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