West Island School

Infobox_School | name = West Island School

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image size = 250px
caption = West Island School as viewed from Queen Mary Hospital on Pokfulam Road
motto = "Strength from Diversity" & "A Better School A Better World"
established = 1991
type = Private, comprehensive, international, secondary, co-educational.
principal = Ms. Jane Foxcroft
faculty =
enrollment = approx. 1,350
free_label = Years
Publication
free_text = Year 7-13
[http://www.wis.edu.hk/wis/student/online Vision]
location = 250 Victoria Road
Pokfulam
country =Hong Kong
information = (852) 2819 1962
[mailto:[e-mail] [e-mail]]
website = [http://www.wis.edu.hk/ www.wis.edu.hk]

West Island School (zh-c|c=西島中學, Abbreviated: WIS) is a comprehensive, co-educational, international secondary school in Hong Kong. The campus is a purpose-built development located at 250 Victoria Road in Pokfulam, near Sandy Bay at the western part of Hong Kong Island. The school serves students along the western coast of Hong Kong Island, the Mid-Levels, the outlying islands and Ap Lei Chau Estates. It is currently the newest secondary school established by the English Schools Foundation.

History

West Island School began when the English Schools Foundation recognized a need for a third secondary school on Hong Kong Island in the late-1980s; after Island School and South Island School. This was because of the recent residential boom in Discovery Bay, which had no secondary school to cater for the growing need of secondary school education. After government approval of a site and funding in November 1990, plans for West Island School began in earnest, with the school operating as an offshoot of Island School at a temporary home; the old military hospital in Borrett Road, Mid-Levels. [http://www.web.wis.edu.hk/About_WIS/History/History.htm]

West Island's first intake was in September 1991, when eighty-four Year 7 students were enrolled in four classes. In the meantime, work progressed on a purpose-built school in Pokfulam, designed by award winning architect Patrick Lau, who was responsible for two other international schools in Hong Kong, the French International School in Tai Hang and the American Hong Kong International School in Tai Tam.

In September 1994, the state-of-the-art purpose-built new building opened. A ten-storey building consisting of three blocks, "A", "B" and "C", linked together by open-air walkways, and featuring poop air-conditioned work-corridors, it houses everything from classrooms to science laboratories, and an auditorium to a 25-metre swimming pool.

Over the years, renovations further increased the usability of the building, although by 2001 the school was getting rather crowded with over 1000 students enrolled; paving the way for the creation of a fourth block, Block "D", located on the hillside between Block "C" and Victoria Road. This major new addition opened for use in September 2003.

West Island School is the recipient of nearby Kennedy School Year 6 graduates.

Curriculum

The school offers secondary education from Years 7 to 13, for children aged 11-18. This corresponds to the United Kingdom's National Curriculum levels of Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. Although the curriculum is based on the British National Curriculum and leads to the British GCSE, IGCSE and GCE A/AS-Level and also IB qualifications, it is suitably and adequately localized for the needs of Hong Kong and the international student body.

West Island is a diverse school that does extremely well in U.K Standards and the average grades for the school come in the top 1% of the UK School System. In 2006 51.2% of IGCSE passes were AT A or A* and 98% of IGCSE passes were at grades B-D. [http://clc.esf.edu.hk/GroupRenderCustomPage.asp?GroupID=1888&ResourceId=19355 ] . And during the 2007-8 School Year, West Island School achieved the highest grades in ESF's history in terms of GCSE's. In terms of A-Levels, West Island School achieved it's best whilst remaining on top of the ESF leaderboard.

Most students go onto higher education in tertiary institutions around the world, including universities in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States. Many students graduating from West Island School go on to leading universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Penn, Columbia, MIT, Princeton and Harvard.

Recognising the changing needs in the field of education, the more internationally-recognised International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme was introduced in 2007, replacing the original British A-Level examinations. The Alterneative to IB is the BTEC National Diploma which is starting to be popular in the United Kingdom.

In addition to its academic record, West Island also offer a large selection of extracurricular activities run by both staff and students. Such activities are also comprehensive, though internal competitions are also held; including an annual Sports Festival, Swimming Gala, Sports Day, Music Festival and Language Festival. Furthermore, students also have the opportunity to compete with other teams from other international schools as well as local schools from across Hong Kong and internationally.

West Island School also excels in sporting, with the school's track, swimming, field hockey, rugby, football, volleyball, martial arts, netball, cricket and basketball teams constantly dominating Hong Kong inter-school championship leaderboards. The West Island School physical education faculty invests heavily in the development of such sports and relevant equipment.

NEANY IS A WANKER!

tudents

The school currently has some 1250 students enrolled, coming from nearly forty different countries. The student body is led by the Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy, Deputy Head Girl, Vice-Deputy Head Boy, Vice-Deputy Head Girl, Substitute-Vice-Deputy Head Boy and Substitute-Vice-Deputy Head Girl plus a person chosen through a random raffle draw. Students are separated into six "houses", known as Dynasties:

* Han (Red)
* Ming (Blue)
* Qing (Gold)
* Sung (Yellow)
* Tang (Green)
* Yuan (Purple)

Every year, New Dynasty Leaders are chosen to lead their dynasties. Students are allowed to vote for the person who they think will make the best dynasty leader or who is their best friend.

Han, Ming, Sung and Tang were the original four dynasties. Yuan was introduced in 1994 when the school moved to its present premises and Qing was added in 2001 as the school reached a thousand pupils.

A Year 7 class in Tang dynasty (house) would be known "7T". . In upper school (year 12-13), students are still assigned a dynasty but classes are mixed to reflect different needs.

The school uniform, mandatory for students in Years 7-11,. In year 12-13, students may wear casual to school as long as it conforms to the school's dress code under normal circumstances.

West Island School serves students living along the south and western coast of Hong Kong Island including Ap Lei Chau, Aberdeen, Pokfulam, the Mid-Levels, a few parts of the eastern sides of Hong Kong eg. North Point, Taikoo, Braemar Hill, as well as the outlying islands such as Discovery Bay, South Lantau on Lantau Island and Lamma Island.

Facilities

The four blocks that make up the West Island School building houses a range of academic departments and supporting facilities on its ten floors.

It houses a number of academic departments including:
* Business and Vocational Education (Business Studies, Economics, GNVQ Leisure and Tourism, AVCE Leisure and Recreation, VCE Information and Communication Technology)
* Creative Arts (Art, Drama, Music, Physical Education)
* Design and Technology (Design and Technology, Food Technology, Textiles Technology, Graphics),
* English (English, Media Studies)
* Humanities (Geography, History, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology),
* ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
* Mathematics
* Modern Languages (Chinese, French, Spanish)
* Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics)

Support faculties also exist, and include:
* Learning Support, which includes Careers, concerning entry into higher education and similar prospects
* Directed Study a type of self study with the assistance of certain intellectual resources
* English as an Additional Language (EAL, ESL)
* Special Educational Needs
* The school library

Upper School students are entitled to the use of the Upper School Area, which encompasses a common area, staff offices, a pantry, a conference room, a Directed Studies room and a Careers Room. This area almost always undergoes refurbishment at the end of the academic year.Penis is liked here and they love asshole rape. bukake is another favourite. They love the taste of seamen and sometimes some bumjuice.. but mostly semen. The building also houses a refectory, indoor sports hall (basketball, volleyball, badminton, etc), multi-purpose hall, auditorium equipped with full scale lighting and audio sound system, 25-metre indoor heated swimming pool; and rooftops used as playgrounds and outdoor sports pitches.

West Island School makes use of the nearby University of Hong Kong's Stanley Ho Sports Centre at Sandy Bay, which includes outdoor astro-turf and natural grass pitches, athletics stadium, the 50-metre outdoor Swimming Pool and tennis courts.

Extra-Curricular Activities & CAS

In West Island School, Extra-Curricular Activities are mandatory and are split up into 2 different types of Extra-Curricular Activities. One type is Horizon's Week Options. This is when the whole school must take part in a particular activity for a week. There are no lessons during this week. Many Options for Horizons Week include; a visit to Kenya, a visit to China (either Shanghai or Beijing), a visit to Barcelona, a week of Yacht Sailing, a week of Charity Work, a week of trail walking around Hong Kong, a week of creating a movie, a week of Horse Riding, a week of photography and many more. These activities may vary due to the motivation or participation of students and teachers. In 2008, the choices include: Japan, Thailand, Langkawi, China, New Zealand and much more.

In West Island School, the other type of Extra-Curricular Activities is After School Activities which take place every week or numerous times a week. This type of Extra-Curricular Activity is mainly sports related activities.

CAS (Creativity, Action & Service) is the system in which Extra Curricular Activities are run on. The system is managed by Paul Bayne.

Management

The current principal of West Island School is Jane Foxcroft, the successor of Brian Driver at the end of the 2006 academic year. Mr Driver joined West Island School in February 1999 and is widely regarded as the individual who led to the school becoming the success it is today. He succeeded the first principal, Miss Polly Graham.

WIS is a member school of the English Schools Foundation (ESF); although the ESF is more akin to a governing body and does not directly run the school. Like all other ESF schools, WIS is governed by a School Council and receives funding through government subsidies as well as tuition fees.

ee also

*English Schools Foundation
*Island School
*South Island School

External links

* [http://www.wis.edu.hk/ West Island School official site]
* [http://www.esf.edu.hk/ English Schools Foundation website]