The ability of students to continuously learn and grow is not something that can be achieved overnight. They need to be acquired over a period of time through practice and refinement. Centered around this issue, Harrow Haikou has consistently been committed to providing students with diverse and well-rounded practical opportunities beyond academics through various collaborative approaches. When it comes to high-frequency words on the Harrow Haikou campus, partner is undoubtedly one of them.
Since Mr. Wells Olly assumed the role of headmaster, the concept of learning partnerships has extended from Extracurricular Activity time to after-school hours and is even expanding into Saturdays. Through the collaboration of partners, the school actively fosters an educational environment characterised by harmony in diversity and mutual growth. By offering a wealth of practical activities, campus life has become more engaging, meaningful, free, and joyful.
Innovative Collaboration: Enhancing Educational Resources at Harrow Haikou
Finding suitable international educational resources for students has always been a challenge for Harrow Haikou. The collaboration between the ‘Harrow Community’ and ‘Friends of Harrow’ has helped us build a new model of mutual coexistence. They not only support us in continuously addressing external resource challenges but also foster a more proactive and open home-school partnership, setting us apart from all other schools in Hainan.
Harrow Haikou offers a diverse range of activities, including sailing, horseback riding, tennis, graded ABRSM examination preparation, and charitable projects. Many educational and practical resources that are scarce on the island are continuously sought out and recommended to the school through the assistance of parents. In this context, the resources provided by parents themselves no longer have a simple cooperative or service-oriented relationship with the school.
Instead, this relationship has evolved into a deeper alliance aimed at jointly seeking the well-being of students and the development of the school. Within this multifaceted partnership, the relationships between teachers and students, home and school, parents and children, and the broader community are all integrated. Together, we oversee, operate, and grow in unison.
Diverse Extracurricular Offerings: Balancing Opportunity and Management
Harrow Haikou has established connections with dozens of extracurricular course providers, who offer a wide range of paid Extracurricular Activity (EA) and After School Activities (ASA) courses to Harrow Haikou students. In addition, teachers within the school provide a substantial number of free EA, as well as free daily after-school English courses taught by both Chinese and international teachers, and library courses.
According to our latest statistics, in the first semester of the 2024-2025 academic year alone, the school offered a total of 140 paid one-to-many and one-to-one EA, ASA, and Peri courses, as well as116 free EA courses provided by school. With such a large number of courses, all these pose a significant challenge to the school’s ability to strike a balance in terms of curriculum management.
Cultivating Partnerships: A Values-Driven Approach to Extracurricular Excellence
Differentiated operation then serves as a pivotal starting point for Harrow Haikou’s approach to managing relationships. Harrow’s core values of Courage, Honour, Humility, and Fellowship guide us in fostering an innovative spirit, focusing on the details to create a culture of partnerships that is fair, equal, rules-abiding, and mutually respectful.
Harrow Haikou actively provides fair opportunities for all vendors to showcase themselves, such as through the Extracurricular Activity Carnival and Open Day, which are designed to help families and students gain a comprehensive understanding of the courses and, in turn, to inspire their desire to experience and learn.
Due to differentiated operations as well as robust course management support, the courses offered by Harrow Haikou’s third-party providers are increasingly becoming a strong complement to the school’s core academic courses. One third-party badminton course provider publicly praised on his social media, saying “Harrow Haikou is a benchmark for international schools! The faculty, facilities, and educational philosophy are all first-class.”
Innovative STEM Partnership: Harrow Haikou’s Kits Car Project
With the joint negotiation and support of the Chinese Principal and Headmaster of Harrow Haikou, the Kits Car project, a collaboration between Harrow Haikou and a local university, was officially launched in the week before last Christmas. A dedicated team composed of university professors and mechanics has been working with Harrow to provide weekend activity support and technical services for students. This project aims to enhance students’ practical knowledge and skills in the field of automotive engineering and enrich the weekend life of seven-day boarding students.
To address the situation, Head of School Mr. Olly Wells established a dedicated course support team, which included Dr. Sancho, an expert in the school’s physics curriculum, bilingual teachers, the course safety management officer, and administrative support staff.
Olly also personally participated in the course supervision process. The school course team took a multifaceted approach. They provided positive guidance to the students and coordinated with the course provider to develop an improved curriculum plan. Additionally, they specially approved the purchase of additional assembly components to increase the students’ hands-on experience.
In this journey of exploration and growth, the construction of a community of growth between partners and students undoubtedly adds infinite power and warmth to this journey. Education is not merely the imparting of knowledge, but also the touching of souls, the shaping of character, and the brilliant outcome through mutual support among partners.
