Harrow Innovation Leadership Academy (ILA) Hengqin has opened on 2nd Yiwen Road in Novotown Phase II with more than 200 Grade 1-7 students present for ceremonies Feb 22 and 23. Another seven schools will open in Hengqin later this year and seven more are to be ready in 2022.

The academy covers 48,000 sqm (12 acres). It will eventually enroll 1,300 students in bilingual education spanning kindergarten to high school, 310 who may apply for accommodations if above Grade 4. 

Harrow ILA Zhuhai [Photo courtesy Harrow ILA Hengqin]

The faculty will be held to the same standards as the British Harrow School, while the curriculum will center on China's Nine-Year Compulsory Education Syllabus. A dozen extracurricular activities will also be available, as will publicly commended care of students, said Claire Adby, founding president of Harrow ILA Zhuhai.

Established in London in 1572, Harrow School is one of the most prestigious private schools in Britain. Among its graduates were former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

The school is expected to further increase Hengqin's internationalized education level, and its attractiveness to high-end talents. It will deepen Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao education cooperation, and bolster Hengqin as an international education demonstration zone in the Greater Bay Area, declared a local Party Working Committee official.

Hengqin currently is home to more than 5,500 students at nine schools. New schools include the Free Trade Zone Kindergarten; Shizimen, Free Trade Zone, and Ziqi primary schools; Huafa Yung Wing School; and Huafa Yung Wing Senior High School. They will open in the second half of this year, offering public education for an additional 810 kindergarteners and 5,400 primary students and private education for 2,844 students.

Moreover, another seven public primary and secondary schools will be put into use by 2022 to enroll a further 3,540 students. Hengqin and Macao will also develop integrated education projects to promote exchanges and cooperation in elementary education.