August - September 2015

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86 Aug-Sep15
LIFE&FAMILY
A Safe Port
For a school with only 165 students, The Harbour
School has made some big waves in education,
locally and internationally. With more and more
parents seeing the benefits that this tiny school
has to offer, the time has come for them to expand.
When you hear that a school has its own yacht, you imagine
an elite (read: wealthy) establishment, full of airs and graces.
What you see when you walk into the current campus of The
Harbour School could not be further from that image. It’s bright
and colourful, and, above all else, welcoming. With students’
work on display everywhere and lots of different spaces for
learning, it feels more like a think-tank or creative hub than a
traditional school.
The yacht, aka The Black Dolphin, is an integral part of
the school’s marine sciences programme, and its overall
commitment to environmental education. It’s a commitment
that drives much of what the school does, including the
renovation of the planned new campus at Ap Lei Chau.
Since opening eight years ago, The Harbour School has
gradually grown in size, and shows no signs of stopping. It
started to outgrow the current Kennedy Town campus and,
over a year ago, the school administrators began the process
of bidding for a new site.
After finding the perfect location – an old school building
on Ap Lei Chau – they went through the laborious process
of applying to the EDB, competing with a number of other
schools for the site. Happily, The Harbour School was recently
selected by the EDB to receive the campus, and renovations
are due to begin soon.
Head of School, Dr Jadis Blurton, describes the current
state of the new site as “old, tired, and sad”. But for those who
have dreamt of expanding The Harbour School for some time,
it presents the perfect opportunity to build the ideal school.
Dr Blurton says the aim is to make the campus “very child-
friendly and child-focused, with lots of cool spaces for kids”.
With proposed features like an indoor forest, a two-storey
library, and an open-plan lounge for students, teachers
and parents (Dr Blurton says, “think Google HQ!”), the new
campus will stay true to the school’s “eco” ethos and will be
LEED-certified as a green school at the highest level. This
was a conscious choice by the school’s board, though Dr
Blurton says it was also driven by the students themselves:
“They’re incredibly socially conscious and very attuned to that
kind of thing. They never would’ve forgiven us if we hadn’t
made it as eco-friendly as possible.” Rather than hiding the
school’s green features in the walls, the children will be able to
participate in reducing the school’s impact on the environment
in a number of visible and obvious ways.
When Dr Blurton announced to the student body that the
school had been chosen to receive the campus at Ap Lei
Chau, someone was filming the student’s response. Their
reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and quite moving. This
is a school that has already achieved a great deal, despite
the limited space they’ve had available. With more space,
a custom-made campus, and such a passionate school
community, you have to wonder what amazing things are on
the horizon for The Harbour School.
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