ASJ is the first school for HK and Macao students in the Greater Bay Area, we are neither a state school nor an international school. We cannot be simply classified as a Hong Kong school as well. Our students came from diverse backgrounds, their past learning experiences came vastly different from each other - not everyone started learning English in K2 years.

We provide 15 years of continuous education with a consistent framework and syllabus, but an unified English framework and syllabus cannot satisfy the need of all students from different entry level, we need to make learning English clear and approachable for them right from the beginning.

Our English placement framework aims to provide multiple solutions to enhance the English learning experience parents with different needs.

When a new student is enrolled to the PYP department, the English subject group will conduct a comprehensive assessment for the student, in order to have better understanding of the student’s English language abilities from all aspects. The assessment will cover listening, speaking, reading and writing evaluations. After that, the student will be assigned to the English learning group formed by other students with similar language abilities based on their performances during the language assessment. We made sure that students in each English learning group are around the same age so no one would have trouble fitting in.

English learning groups within the same age group would share the same syllabus, and the contents delivered to each group during English activities would vary according to the fundamental needs of its students. 

For students who are weak in foundation or lacking of English exposure, our activity design focuses on providing learning challenges with appropriate difficulty, so they can learn and through completing activities and tasks while maintaining high morale and interests in English language.

For students with average English abilities of their age group, our activity design focuses on enhancing their understanding and mastery of the language skills in a second language context. They would be exposed to the use of English language in multiple living contexts, making interdisciplinary associations between English and other subjects, so they do not just learn English, but learn everything in English.

For students who are exceptional in English language, we aim to guide them to explore the endless possibilities of English language and beyond. They will extend their minds and reach out to the other aspects of language, such as literature and history, seeking the beauty and origin of the language itself, and hopefully extend that passion to other languages as well.

Every semester, students from all learning groups will be assessed together and then reassigned to learning groups according to their latest performances. We encourage students to always explore more besides regular school curriculum, and we hope that such exploration would reflect in their learning journey for the years to come.