Sharing the Same Roots, Strengthening Connections
Harrow Hongkong and Harrow Haikou not only share the same spirit and heritage,
but are also closely connected and linked within the Harrow family.
As Harrow Haikou enters its fifth year of steady growth,
with the theme of Connected & Coherence,
we invited Mrs Ann Haydon, Head of Harrow Hongkong,
to come to Haikou to discuss with parents the positive impact of a Harrow education on their children's lives through a sharing session full of wisdom and expectations.
We hope that this in-depth communication will bring you unexpected benefits.
Mrs Ann Haydon
Headmistress of Harrow Hongkong
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She is the first woman to lead a Harrow School and was named in King Charles III’s New Years Honours List for 2024 in recognition of her services to education.
As a leading educator, Ms Haydon is committed to getting the very best out of young people and preparing them for top universities across the world.
What impressed you the most during the visit? Could you use 3 keywords to give a summary?
Today I've been here meeting people, parents and staff, I've had the most wonderful time. The school is alive and active and bursting with energy and enthusiasm. I'd say that it's truly aspirational and living out our motto, Educational Excellence for Life and Leadership.
I would say it's a school that cares for each individual within it.
I would say that the school is engaging and inspiring.
The young people I've met have been truly delightful, very keen to talk about their aspirations for the future studies, their involvement with the community, and their involvement in houses.
What came shining through was the relationships between the pupils and the staff. The children spoke very highly of their teachers and all the staff here at Harrow Haikou, they appreciate they are receiving high-quality teaching which enables them to learn, to progress and to achieve. It's a very special feature of this wonderful school.
Harrow Hongkong has experienced a significant development under your leadership over the past 7 years, what are the key factors that led the school to this great stage of excellence?
I'm very proud of what we've achieved at Harrow Hongkong, like Harrow Haikou our school is an amazing community, and we have a focus on high expectations. And I often say that excellence is my only pursuit, and I want our pupils to aspire to be the best they can be, whether that's academically, whether that's in music, drama, sport, or debating, whichever is their pursuit or interest, I want them to be the very best they can be. I also want them to be the best people they can be, so that they will go out into the world as future leaders.
They are the superwomen and supermen of tomorrow. I want to make sure that they can contribute positively to their families, their workplace, their communities, the country in which they are living, and the world at large. We have a focus on caring for the individual and wanting to get the very best out of each and every one of them.
I often say that we only have visible children at Harrow Hongkong, those children to know and know that they are known by their teachers, by all the staff that we have at the school, and we see our job as giving them opportunities, opportunities to perform, to be the best they can be.
So I think that focus on excellence, that focus on aspiration, that focus on caring for the individual and encouraging people to always be the best they can be is what has led to our success. But it's more than that. We have bright, motivated young people who are interesting and interested, they want to do well. We have supportive parents, and we have high-capability teachers, and that combination means our children go on to do great things.
This is the fifth year of Harrow Haikou, very similar to the year you took over Harrow Hongkong in 2017, does the visit of Harrow Haikou remind you in some way of the past of Harrow Hongkong?
It's been fascinating visiting Harrow Haikou which has been established for five years now. As I mentioned earlier, I arrived here when it was a building site. So it's been somewhat of a flashback that I've had thinking about what my own school was like back in 2017.
What moves me most is that this school has built a unique spiritual core.As I've mentioned, the children have been truly delightful, courteous, polite, keen to speak to me, engage, ask me questions, tell me about their lives here at Haikou, what they enjoy, most subjects that they are studying, and it was exactly the same when I joined Harrow Hongkong eight years ago.
There was that real sense of purpose in the school and energy which was tangible.
I can see the school going for strengths to strengths, and I can see that the foundations are laid here for a very successful future. There are so many similarities with us, the children, the parents, staff, all working together, wanting the same best outcome for our young people. When I look back, I will watch the progress of the school of great interest.
Looking back to 1988, starting from a teacher of geography to a Head of Harrow Hongkong, how do you see the essence of British education and Harrow education, how can they help to better prepare students for the changing future?
I joined the teaching profession many, many years ago, back in the late 80s, I've had the most incredible career. And I'm now in my 18th year of headship, and I love my job. I often say I have the best job in the world. I can't think of anything better than being with young people.
I'm a great believer in British education. British education is in my DNA, and I believe that schools like Harrow have a focus, as I've mentioned earlier, on excellence, on aspiration, but it's much more than that. It's about a holistic education.
We of course, want to get very high academic results, but we also want our pupils to be good people. We want them to have a moral code and to understand the rights and wrongs of having tech, to be able to think creatively, to work collaboratively, to think strategically, and to have digital literacy. We want them to be team players and leaders. We want them to be solution-focused, and we want them to be flexible. And those qualities are more important than ever in the fast-paced technological world that we live in and the global world.
I think what's important about an education at Harrow is that whether you're studying in Haikou or Hongkong, in Beijing or Bangkok, in Shenzhen or Shanghai. We are united by our core values - Courage, Honour, Humility and Fellowship, and those values are at the core of what we do and what drives us going forward, and they shape our lives. They encourage our young people to take risks and be innovative, to be humble and to acknowledge that at times, we make mistakes and that we learn from those mistakes, that we work together, we do the right thing, and whether that's in the classroom or whether it's when we're involved in service outside the classroom.
Today, we've got the Ducker going on here at Harrow Haikou. It's a tradition that comes from Harrow, London, It's a wonderful community event, which is a very special part of the Harrow education. It's about being together, having a community, and doing something for others, all of which are part of a British education. It's not just about those academic results, it's about much more. It's finding out where your talents lie. We often hear people talking about talented programmes. I believe that every child is talented. We want to find what their talents are, to nurture them, to grow them so that they will go out and be exceptional young men and young women in the future.
I think British education is also about manners. It prepares students to be polite, well-mannered and friendly. I believe that those who are kind to others are the ones who really stand out. My motto at Harrow Hongkong is “to be kind”.
I often quote Maya Angelou, who said,
it's not what you say, it's not what you do, it's how you make people feel.
My students come from all over the world, and when they graduate they go in different directions, but wherever they are, I am sure that they will continue to use the kindness they have developed at Harrow to make a positive impact.
AISL Harrow is a growing group of schools, what do you see as the main benefits to students of being part of a network of schools?
Being part of this community has tremendous advantages for our students and staff. AISL Harrow has built the AISL Academy for our teachers, staff, and parents and provides continuous professional development training for our teachers to help them grow professionally and use that expertise in the classroom. AISL is totally committed to ensuring that our teachers received high-quality professional development.
As well as providing professional support to the teaching staff, the Academy also offers a variety of masterclasses for our parents. It's not easy being a parent. It's one of the most challenging jobs that any of us will ever have in our lives. AISL recognise this and are committed to supporting parents as part of the Academy.
We also have our programmes through AISL and Outdoors (AO), where we can run summer camps, winter camps, and university tours to the UK the US, and other parts of China. Outdoor activities will develop the children's language skills, both in Chinese and Chinese culture, in English, and may also allow them to participate in STEM projects or enterprise programmes. As part of this group, our students can participate in a wide variety of activities.
We have various events such as inter-school poetry competitions, sustainability-themed competitions and teacher exchange programmes.
There are so many benefits to being part of the group as head teachers of the Harrow schools, we get together regularly, and we share our expertise and practice, so we can all benefit from what's going on across our group of schools so that together we can be far more powerful and give our pupils the great experience. We have a strong sense of belonging, not just to our school, but also as part of AISL Harrow, where all Harrow schools are united in many ways.
You had lunch with some of our students at the canteen, which dish did you find most tasty?
I have to say that my favourite was the egg tart. I am rather partial to egg tarts. I have tasted egg tarts in many parts of China and in Hongkong. And last night, the egg tart I tasted in the dining room here at Harrow Haikou was one of the best. It was warm, creamy and very tasty. Today, when I was going on a tour, I had a wonderful tour from Celine and Austin, and they were telling me about the pizzas, which you were rather famous for here. The pizzas were delicious that I had for lunch today. So I've got a good idea to take back to HongKong that we need a pizza oven. I'm sure when I tell our pupils, they will be quite envious, and they'll be encouraging us to follow suit.
What did you like to say to our students as you talk to them during lunchtime?
Firstly, you are amazing. I am so happy to meet you. My message is, work hard and be the best you can be, always aim high and draw on the support around you. You've got wonderful people here.
You can do amazing things with your parents, teachers and friends. I often say you wear the Bluers, and you have the Harrow badge on your shirt which represents our values, and even if one day you take them off and leave school for higher education, university and then work, always keep those values engraved in your heart and remember what you have been taught, and it will inspire and guide you in the future.
The essence of communication is the exchange of information.
Inviting people with educational wisdom to the school brings experience and vision.
We believe that Harrow Haikou, which is in its fifth year, will also be able to lead students to unexpected and magical places.
As a member of the AISL Harrow Group, the mutual support between Harrow School in the UK and our sister schools in Asia is an important cornerstone of our determination to move forward.
We will soon be welcoming another fantastic Head of Harrow School for a site visit. So, stay tuned for more information!
*Please scan the QR code to book your place
for 7th Dec. Eealy Years Open Day
