As scores of public-sector secondary schools prepare to switch more classes over to the medium of English in September, a growing band of independent schools have adopted a challenging bilingual approach - teaching in both Putonghua and English.
Leading the trend is the Independent Schools Foundation Academy in Pok Fu Lam, which was set up in 2003 by a group of prominent academics and scientists - including celebrated Nobel Laureate Dr Charles Kao Kuen - with the aim of providing top-flight independent education in Hong Kong with Chinese characteristics.
At ISF Academy, children as young as four are plunged into classes taught entirely in Putonghua, and 70 per cent of subjects are taught in the language for the first three years of primary school, with the remainder in English.
By the start of secondary school, the languages of instruction are reversed and students then have to sink or swim in English across 70 per cent of subjects - everything except Chinese language and culture. In Grade Nine and 10, English is used for 80 per cent of subjects.
The school offers the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and in September will launch the IB Diploma, which devotes a third of curriculum time to language learning, and offers a wide range of first and second language options.
Frances Wong, chairwoman and founding member of the Independent Schools Foundation, said they set out to create a school with a 'balanced' bilingual programme to meet demand from Hong Kong parents for an alternative to international schools and studying abroad.