ESF Beacon Hill School Review
Beacon Hill School is one of two founding schools in the English Schools Foundation (ESF) group, with 50 years’ experience in delivering a primary education to students living in Kowloon Tong. Founded in 1967, this inclusive school is an International Baccalaureate primary school with an impressive SEN programme.
Beacon Hill School has a student population of 540 five to eleven-year-olds from countries including Hong Kong, UK, Australia, Canada, India, and the US. The majority of Year 6 students transfer to ESF’s King George V secondary school, which is less than 5km away.
In line with all ESF primary schools, Beacon Hill School follows the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). All subjects – English, maths, social studies, science, and the arts – are taught within the context of the IB Programme of Inquiry. This road map for education looks at Who We Are, Where We Are in Place and Time, How We Express Ourselves, How the World Works, How We Organise Ourselves, and Sharing the Planet. As well as daily Chinese lessons, the school’s curriculum has a very healthy dose of technology, creative arts, and PE. In terms of technology, students study virtual reality art creation, 3D printing, and coding, and there’s a 1:1 Chrome books programme for students in Years 3 to 6.
Beacon Hill School is one of ESF’s leading schools in terms of SEN provision. Programmes for students with moderate special educational needs include a Perceptual Motor Programme, Social Thinking, Friends for Life, B2-Social/Emotional tracking system, Fine Motor, and individualised sensory programmes.
The school has a small campus with a well-equipped seven-storey building, and it was recently renovated with specialist facilities including a drama studio, music rooms, learning technologies room, art room, and library. It has an active Parent Teacher Association and School Council, and the school says,
“Central to the life of the school, is the positive community spirit and the strong partnerships with parents.”
Admission and fees
As with all ESF schools, parents must live within the catchment area of Beacon Hill School. This includes the areas from west side of Nathan Road from Tsim Sha Tsui to Boundary Street excluding areas south-west of Cherry Street and Ferry Street (except The Hermitage), the area north of Boundary Street, including Kowloon Tong and Caldecott Road. Extending westward along the Lung Cheung Highway including Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun.
The ESF sets standard fees for all its primary schools, which is HKD 111,200 for Years 1 to 3 and HKD 93,900 for Years 4 to 6. There is also a one-off non-refundable capital levy (NCL) which starts at HKD 38,000 in Year 1 and reduces to HKD 28,000 in Year 6.
While ESF schools are not as cheap as they used to be, following the phase out of government subsidies from 2016, they still offer a more affordable education when compared to most international schools in Hong Kong. The ESF will see the withdrawal of its annual HKD 283 million subsidy from the government over the next 13 years. In 2018-19, all year groups except Years 1 to 3 will continue to be subsidised by the government; this helps to explain why Years 1 to 3 fees are higher than Years 4 to 6.
A full review will be posted shortly.
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