Faculty and staff began the new school year last week with an All School Gathering, where we honored long-serving employees and discussed priorities for the coming year.    

As school gets underway, you could not fail to have noticed that the Beijing Olympic Games are in full swing.  This is truly a historic time to be in Hong Kong and China.  Please take this opportunity to educate your children on the “Olympic Spirit” of mutual understanding, tolerance, friendship, solidarity and fair play.  

A cornerstone of our school's program is a belief in nurturing and encouraging students to stretch themselves and achieve their full potential.  We want to instil in each student a passion for learning.  Please read our mission statement and student learning results to understand some of the values important to us.  HKIS provides an outstanding, well-rounded education for young hearts and minds, and is strongly supported in this endeavor by a trusting community that cares.  We owe much of our success to the hard work and commitment of our faculty and staff.  

I am excited and enthusiastic about the year ahead.  As I begin my fourth year as Head of School, I pledge that our students and their education and welfare will always be at the center of what we do and our top concern.  Claire and I look forward to connecting with as many members of our community as possible in the coming months.  My office is located on the 6^th floor of the Middle School, Tai Tam Campus; please drop in when you have time.

HKIS welcomes David J. Condon as its new Associate Head of School next month. DJ, as he is known, was until recently Secondary School Principal at International School Yangon in Myanmar. Prior to Myanmar, DJ was at Taipei American School for eight years, holding a variety of roles including K-12 Principal for Curriculum, Research, and Program Development and Director of Curriculum and Professional Development. Earlier in his career he taught in the Netherlands and in Florida.

DJ is an outstanding educator with the right combination of skills, experience, and personality to help ensure excellence across-the-board in all our programs. He has a deep educational grounding in secondary and elementary education as well as extensive experience in international education and an understanding of Asian cultures, including Hong Kong and Chinese cultures.

DJ is strongly supportive of our school's mission and is excited about our educational and other initiatives designed to support our students' learning.

DJ and his wife, Catherine Ventura, have three grown children (two at the University of Minnesota). Catherine is a teacher and an accomplished artist.