Clear priorities for new head of Invictus
As she settles into her new role as Head of Invictus School in Hong Kong, Julia Woo can draw on an abundance of relevant experience when it comes to assessing plans and priorities.
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Formerly a senior official with Singapore’s Ministry of Education where she oversaw the running of more than 10 well-regarded schools, she is understandably excited by the latest challenge and brings a clear vision of how to inspire excellence, promote holistic learning, and build a strong sense of community among students, teachers, parents and other key stakeholders.
“Overall, our mission is very simple,” says Woo, who earlier in her career served as principal of two schools in Singapore where she successfully increased enrolment and pioneered innovations. “It is to prepare students for today’s ‘VUCA’ world, which is a characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. That means giving them not only the knowledge they need, but also the soft skills and social and emotional competencies.”
This approach reflects Woo’s firm belief in the importance of nurturing well-rounded individuals with the personal qualities and self-confidence to make the right choices. And it will inform her decisions as she guides the school, which was founded in 2019, into a post-pandemic era which promises new opportunities for sports, drama, volunteering, group projects, team competitions and international exchanges.
“We aim to lay a very strong foundation, and that starts in the kindergarten and primary years,” says Woo, noting that Invictus offers a “through-train” system taking children all the way up to Year 13 in secondary. “We follow a spiral curriculum which progressively adds breadth and depth and is also in line with the school’s objective of providing a quality, affordable education which sets high standards and lets students explore their potential.”
Building our Students at Invictus Secondary School
There are two main campuses, with kindergarten and primary classes in Tseung Kwan O and secondary in Chai Wan, where pupils do IGCSEs and A-Levels, using the Cambridge programme. This choice has proven popular and effective, with the qualifications recognised by universities everywhere and the option available in Year 12 to do enquiry-based research which goes beyond the usual subject areas.
The curriculum allows for a smooth transition from primary to secondary school and has standardised exams along the way to ensure core competencies and proficiencies. It also offers a wide range of STEM and arts subjects at higher levels and is known for its academic rigour.
“We are mindful that our senior students are competing with others globally for places at universities,” Woo says. “Our approach is to prepare them to be the best they can be, so they have a competitive edge when making those choices.”
To that end, the concept of going beyond the classroom, to give exposure in other ways, is one that Woo is particularly keen to develop. She views it as an essential element in holistic education where learning comes in many forms and connects what’s learnt in the classroom to real-world issues.
“I have already seen that our students have a lot of potential; they are very teachable and open to learning; they have talents and strengths we can tap,” she says. “But one key area where I think we can do more is in developing leadership and communication skills. We can make our students more confident in themselves and more forthcoming. We want to encourage them to take leadership of their own learning and pursue things they are passionate about.”
Doing that will become much easier as pandemic-related restrictions become a thing of the past and post Covid, Invictus wants to offer a diverse range of co-curricular activities, or CCAs, from the Arts to Sport, and cognitive domain.
Besides the fun aspect, the lasting benefits of all such activities are readily apparent. They teach life lessons and have a positive impact on physical and mental well-being. And, by encouraging interaction between children from different backgrounds and age groups, they help to hone social skills, self-awareness and much else.
In future, there may also be regular exchanges, five-day immersion programmes and sports competitions with the other Invictus schools already up and running in Singapore, mainland China, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, as a good way of making students more globally savvy and knowledgeable.
“I’m very passionate about making a difference for staff and students and parents,” Woo says. “In particular, I know it is very important to build a good relationship with parents who entrust their children to us and want to see them succeed. We listen to feedback received from parents because it is a great source of ideas on ways for us to keep improving. We have good teachers who are caring, always give their best, and want to take the school to another level.”