We at Britannia StudyLink have long held the view that Hong Kong parents should not view preparatory schools as solely a golden ticket to success in Common Entrance Examinations.
Prep schools also pave the way for a lifetime of discovery as well as valuable social, linguistic and cultural development.
Data from the Independent Schools Council in recent years has proved that Hong Kong families are lagging behind when it comes to sending their children to British prep schools.
Indeed, it has been shown that only 1.3 percent of the total number of Hong Kong pupils in the UK attend prep schools.
Britannia is seeking to reverse this trend and the education group’s cooperation with UK prep schools is thriving. One prep/pre-prep school due to visit Hong Kong on May 19 is the co-educational Windlesham House, which is located in the glorious South Downs National Park in West Sussex.
Established in 1837, Windlesham was originally the first boys’ prep school in the UK.
In 1967, it also became the first IAPS (Independent Association of Prep Schools) school. This association has around 650 of the world’s leading prep schools in its membership.
Windlesham has 360 pupils on its roll (around 310 pupils in the 7-13 prep school and roughly 50 pupils in the 4-7 pre-prep section).
This is an excellent number and the vibrant and close-knit culture at the school is patently evident.
Windlesham is undoubtedly top class in terms of academics and helping pupils enter prestigious secondary schools, yet the school has a great deal in its locker to ensure that children have fun whilst learning and during recreation.
Children become fully engaged in sports, music, classroom activities and performing arts in the impressive Malden Family Theatre. An extensive selection of more than 60 extracurricular activities also keeps children on their toes, whilst they also revel in taking time out to play in the fields and trees in the school grounds.
Satisfaction and collaboration is the name of the game at Windlesham. The many tournaments on offer serve to desensitize children to losing and this can only serve to stand them in good stead at secondary school and later in life.
That said, children are motivated to work harder so that losing does not repeat itself.
In terms of leavers’ destinations, Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Sevenoaks and Winchester are among the schools which pupils move on to.
Mabel Chan is a principal consultant at Britannia StudyLink.
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Original Article:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=182581&story_id=47325157&d_str=20170509&fc=14&sid=16