Selecting an appropriate school for your children

The independent landscape

Hong Kong parents have an enormous choice of schools to select from for their children, including many offering the best of local and international education. In our guide, we have included fee-paying schools in the independent sector.

Traditionally, more exclusive fee-paying schools have been dominated by international and English Schools Foundation schools, for which there is strong and growing demand from both expatriate and local parents. But these are joined by an increasingly vibrant local private sector, including schools operating under the private independent school scheme and the Direct Subsidy Scheme. These join other more traditional local private schools.

International schools

International schools come in many shapes. They give children access to major education systems around the world, including Canadian, American, British, Australian, Korean, Japanese, French and German. An increasing number are truly international rather than national, offering the popular International Baccalaureate programmes. Others offer specialist alternatives, such as the Montessori approach.

The major national schools, such as the Canadian International and Australian International, were created by their national communities in Hong Kong, with government support in the form of land and low-interest loans. Others are run by missionary organisations, such as the International Christian School and Hong Kong International School. Some were created by private individuals or foundations who believed there was a strong need for the new type of schools they wanted to create - Yew Chung International School, Hong Kong International Montessori School and Hong Kong Academy Primary School are three such examples. Others are more commercial.