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Malvern College Pre-School Announces the Strategic Expansion of its Hong Kong Network of Schools with a New Campus on Hong Kong Island in 2019

Malvern College Hong Kong today announced plans for a brand new, 250 pupil capacity, state of the art Pre-School in Island West. Malvern College Pre-School Island West is scheduled to welcome its first pupils in September 2019. Admissions are now open for children aged 2-5 years and the school advises prospective parents to register their interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

“Malvern College Pre-School Island West not only offers young children an opportunity to thrive and grow in the Malvern way, it also marks another milestone in the strategic development of Malvern College’s network of schools. Our new Pre-School is located in the heart of Hong Kong Island in a neighborhood that celebrates cultural diversity, and which has a rich heritage, reflecting some of the key attributes of Malvern College itself. We feel this location enables us to foster a vibrant, nurturing learning environment for our students which will ultimately pave the way for them to become global citizens of the future.” said Ms. Jacqueline So, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Malvern College (Asia Pacific).

As with other members of Malvern family, Malvern College Pre-School Island West, will adopt the United Kingdom’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), a highly innovative curriculum founded upon educationally-harnessed play where learning takes place through both structured and free play. The emphasis is on active, play-based learning balanced complemented with child-initiated and adult-led activities. Making children’s learning outcomes visible to their parents is always a top priority at Malvern. This is done through digital learning portfolios, weekly newsletters, regular assessment/ observations, and parent-teacher conferences. As one parent comments, “Malvern College Pre-School provides a great learning environment and is teaching my boy to be creative, and resilient as well as to be a critical thinker. We also love the Forest School; it’s the most valuable learning experience a child can ever get in Hong Kong.”

As with other members of Malvern family, Malvern College Pre-School Island West, will adopt the United Kingdom’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), a highly innovative curriculum founded upon educationally-harnessed play where learning takes place through both structured and free play. The emphasis is on active, play-based learning balanced complemented with child-initiated and adult-led activities. Making children’s learning outcomes visible to their parents is always a top priority at Malvern. This is done through digital learning portfolios, weekly newsletters, regular assessment/ observations, and parent-teacher conferences. As one parent comments, “Malvern College Pre-School provides a great learning environment and is teaching my boy to be creative, and resilient as well as to be a critical thinker. We also love the Forest School; it’s the most valuable learning experience a child can ever get in Hong Kong.”

Looking forward, Malvern College Pre-School will continue to extend curriculum boundaries to take the school to a higher level. “Our internal quality assurance process has three important elements, which are designed to closely follow the quality assurance standards set by Malvern College International and as well as the standards and expectations set by the Education Bureau and Child Care Centre. Our school also has a comprehensive Performance Management system which continually tracks our professional standards and goals. Externally, we have set a new independent inspection done twice yearly. This inspection will look at all areas of our operation and give us focused feedback on our performance and areas for improvement.” said Mrs. Jacqueline McNalty, the founding principal of Malvern College Pre-School.

“To align with the Malvern Qualities, we feel that it is important to introduce life education to our children at a young age. Malvern College Pre-School will be the first kindergarten in Hong Kong to do this. Our school has invited Ms. Huang Hsin-wen, the founder and director of Story Mommy – an organization dedicated to promote life education – to come to Hong Kong. The concept is to integrate the essence of life education with children’s favourite stories and themes. We feel that only when our children know the meaning and values of their lives would they be able to conquer the challenges and stress they encounter. To top off, our successful Forest School programme over the last year, we have effectively used artificial intelligence as a teaching tool in our pre-school. We are currently developing our own interactive robot which will be capable of integrating more educational resources into a classroom setting.”, added Mrs. McNalty.

Malvern College Pre-School Island West will follow in the footsteps of the school’s Kowloon site by ensuring that a multi-sensory experience at the centre of its architectural design. Creating a stimulating environment in which children are able to learn through engaging more than one sense at a time is paramount. Great attention is being paid to the choice of construction materials used throughout the school to ensure a variety of textures and elements of nature are present with building. The school believes this way of learning not only improves creativity and communication, but also opens up children’s ‘dictionary of sensory experience’ to enable them to understand and perform with greater ease.

“To complement the forward-looking approach to education at Malvern College Pre-School Hong Kong, the core values which have been passed down from Malvern College, the Pre-School’s parent institution in the UK, remain. Whilst the school strives for academic excellence, it is also proud to offer a holistic education. It is this approach which we believe sets Malvern College Pre-School Hong Kong apart from many of its competitors. As the Malvern College family develops in the future with more schools in Hong Kong, Mainland China and in other parts of Asia, we are confident that we will maintain our tight-knit community, one that provides an innovative education of outstanding quality and which prepares children to top-flight schools in the next stage of their education the world over.”, said Ms. So.

January 2019