South Island School, Hong Kong: Profile
CEEB Code: 670732
I.B. Code: 003258
UCAS Code: 47522
Contact Information
Address
50 Nam Fung Road
Aberdeen
Hong Kong
The School
South Island School was established in 1977 and is one of five
secondary schools operated by the English Schools Foundation. It is
an international school of approximately 1500 students from over 30
nationalities, of whom 350 are in the Senior School (Years 12 and 13),
the equivalent of grades 11 and 12. South Island School is
comprehensive, admitting students without regard to ability, race or
religion: English is the language of instruction and competence in
English is the sole criterion for admission.
Staff / Faculty
Tel: (852) 25559313
Fax: (852) 25538811
Website: www.sis.edu.hk
Principal
All staff hold a minimum of bachelor degree and UK or equivalent
teaching qualification: most are experienced teachers recruited directly
from the UK, Australia or Canada. All staff receive ongoing
professional development while employed by the English Schools
Foundation.
Mr. Graham Silverthorne
Curriculum
H.E. Counsellors
Mr. Martin Campion
martincampion@hotmail.com
Miss Lauren Sharman
Students enter this school at age 11, after six years of primary
education. In Years 7 to 9, students follow a compulsory core
curriculum that includes English, Mathematics, Science, Chinese, a
European Language, Design Technology, Information Technology,
History, Geography, Religious Studies, Physical Education, Art,
Music and Drama. This is based on the U.K. National Curriculum,
suitably adapted to our international context.
lsharman@mail.sis.edu.hk
Accreditation
South Island School is an IB
World School.
We are accredited by the
Council of International
Schools (CIS) and the
Western Association of
Schools and Colleges
(WASC).
We are international
members of the UK
Department for Education
and Skills (DfES).
In Years 10 and 11, students normally follow 8 or 9 courses that are
externally assessed through the UK based GCSE or IGCSE public
examinations. All students take a compulsory core of English
Language, English Literature, Mathematics and Coordinated Science
(Bio/Chem/Phys) Double Award. In addition to these, students choose
four options, normally including at least one modern foreign language,
one humanity/social science and one design/arts subject.
Detailed course descriptions are available on examination board
websites www.edexcel.org.uk for GCSE and http://www.edexcelinternational.org/home for IGCSE.
In Years 12 and 13, nearly all students embark upon the full
International Baccalaureate Diploma programme with six subjects;
three of which are studied at Standard level and three at Higher level.
Students working towards the diploma must also complete modules in
Theory of Knowledge, Creativity-Action-Service and an Extended
Essay on a topic of their choice. A small number of students may
pursue the ESF Advanced Diploma that has a more vocational
emphasis while preserving the breadth and rigour of the IB Diploma.
In addition all students follow a programme in Personal and Social
Education and a course in Sport and Leisure, neither of which are
examined. Further information on the IB Diploma programme is
provided at http://www.ibo.org/diploma/recognition/guide/slideb.cfm .
In addition to the qualifications outlined above, students intending to apply to the USA also take SAT
Reasoning and Subject Tests. Experience shows that the unfamiliar nature and content of US tests mean
that many of our students may not achieve results consistent with their potential. In particular, the
differences between the idioms of British and American English can result in lower verbal scores than we
might expect.
Otherwise, our examination results tend to be excellent, a reflection of the high academic ability and
motivation of our students, over 95% of whom proceed to higher education, mainly in the UK, North
America, Australia and Hong Kong.
Unlike some schools, we do not issue class ranks, grade point averages or percentile scores. However,
apart from formal examination results, we also issue a transcript of grades. It is not easy to provide exact
parallels with other education systems: however, the following table indicates the proportion of students
who achieve certain grades at GCSE level in the whole of the UK and at this school. The second table
compares the performance of our last IB cohort against world averages.
GCSE
U.K.
South Island School
A*
7.5%
25%
A
15%
27%
A-C
69%
95%
IB Diploma Points
The World
South Island School
40 and above
5.5%
9.9%
35 and above
21.7%
43.1%
Mean Score
29.5
33.7
As indicated, the majority of our students achieve high levels of academic success: they also benefit from
a very full range of extra-curricular and leadership opportunities offered by an involved and enthusiastic
staff. We believe that their education at this school provides a solid foundation for intellectual and
personal growth at university and beyond, as well as a multi-cultural perspective that they will carry with
them for life.
Graham Silverthorne
Principal
The following are some of the more selective Final Destinations of the Classes of 2009 and 2010.
USA
UK
CANADA
Harvard
Stanford
Cornell
UPenn
Barnard
Georgetown
Chicago
NYU
Emory
UC Berkeley
Cambridge
UCL
Imperial
LSE
Bristol
Durham
Warwick
Edinburgh
Manchester
Nottingham
Mc Gill
Toronto
UBC
HONG KONG
HKU
HKUST
Chinese U of HK
HK Poly U