Hegezhuang Campus

This year Harrow Beijing held its first ever Lower School and Upper School Performing Arts Week. A grand celebration of the talented performers in our school! Throughout the week,each morning as pupils arrived at school, they enjoyed Lower School and Upper School musicians playing in the main reception.700 parents attended a variety of performances from LAMDA Musical Theatre to The Shakespeare Festival.There were 14 exciting events held and staff and students were fully involved and immersed in the joy of performing arts. Art Exhibition The Performing Arts Week started with the art exhibition themed 'In the Name of Art', displaying the talents and creative thoughts of  Harrow Beijing GCSE and A Level students in various forms of artistic endeavour. Shakespeare Festival The annual Shakespeare Festival is one of the highlight events at Harrow Beijing. The students brilliantly performed the world's classic plays, showing their talent and skills in performance, language and literature. Rock Band Harrow Beijing students rocked the campus with powerful music! Our teachers also turned into drummers, electric guitarists and singers and in doing so gave our students quite a few surprises! Music Assembly The music ambassadors of Harrow Beijing planned and hosted a Prep and Senior Phase assembly to showcase our students’ talents in instruments, dance and  LAMDA performances. They delivered an audio-visual feast to the audience. Oracy Festival Public speaking is a necessary skill to succeed. Harrow alumni such as British Prime Minister Mr Winston Churchill made inspiring speeches at crucial moments in history. In the oracy festival, Harrow Beijing students delivered English speeches in a Harrovian manner. 'The week was a full team effort from Drama, Dance, Music and LAMDA. A huge thank you for everyone's efforts to make the week a wonderful experience!' --Mrs Danielle Byrne   Director of Performing Arts At Harrow Beijing, students have a stage to exercise and present themselves every day, which allows them to become more confident in the most natural way possible. From classroom presentations, group activities, extracurricular activities and student clubs to House competitions, music and drama performances, art exhibitions, international sports competitions, charity and community service… Harrow Beijing offers students a wide range of opportunities to grow and discover their potential. We are proud to see that confidence, independence, humility, friendship, courage and leadership have become characteristics of Harrow Beijing students. They are also the embodiment of Harrow Beijing's development of holistic education as a core value. We believe that the comprehensive development of academic and social skills can help students prepare for the challenges of the future.

This week, the Harrow Beijing Art Department enjoyed greatly the annual art exhibition this year entitled,'In the Name of Art'.  It showcased the great art works by our GCSE and A Level students. The exhibition themed 'In the Name of Art', displays the talents and creative thoughts of  Harrow Beijing GCSE and A Level students in various forms of artistic creation, including painting, sculpture, installation art, video projections as well as many others. 'Our title for the exhibition is 'In the Name of Art'. This highlights the main facets of an art student: the ability to critically view and interpret their world and further develop it into personalized artworks. This requires a growth mindset and our students have worked hard in order to fulfil this key component of the GCSE and A Level programme. We want them to take this forward in their new endeavours and to top universities around the world. ' --Ms Letitia Evans-Minto   Upper School Head of Art 'The exhibition is very much about sharing and celebrating the incredible talent of these remarkable students, and enjoying and appreciating as art lovers the exceptionally fine work that they have produced. It is also a celebration of the incredibly strong and vibrant arts culture that exists and is continuing to grow at Harrow Beijing.' --Mr Thomas Nolan   Head of Upper School 'Visual art is a key component of us as humans and our experience in the world. Art reflects the world for the time in which we live. As a result, it helps us understand our history, culture and lives as well as the experience of others through the pieces of work they have produced. This gives students an opportunity to express themselves, learn fine motor skills as well as presentation skills through the outcomes of their work.' --Mr Aidan Bryan   Upper School Director of Studies Harrow Beijing helps art students to study in the world’s top art schools Harrow Beijing encourages art-loving students to develop their professional talents and prepare them for further studies at the world's top art schools through a globally recognized international curriculum and personalized university application guidance. This year, our graduates recieved offers from the world's top art schools such as Rhode Island School of Design,The New School, Art Center College of Design, Pratt Institute-Main, Courtauld Institute of Art, the University of London and the University of the Arts London to study Illustration, Art and Design, Fashion and Textile, Game Design, Architecture, Product Design and many other popular majors. Achieve the simultaneous development of artistic skills and cultural ability Harrow Beijing students can choose not only art subjects in A Level courses, but also other liberal arts and science subjects to achieve the simultaneous development of artistic skills and cultural ability and to expand the possibility of future development. Our teachers will also assess objectives in keeping with the key components of what universities are looking for, and help students develop necessary skills in terms of idea development, material exploration, sketchbook layout and presentation as well as other aspects through one-to-one tutoring and group work so as to fully prepare for university applications and future learning. How can an art education benefit you? 'Learning Art at Harrow Beijing helps me to express my perception to the world in a more dynamic way. It gives me more artistic insights and i think in a more contemporary and creative way. I like art because because it gives me opportunities to not just observe but to respond to what's around me.' said by A Level student Arina L. 'The Art education at Harrow Beijing allows me to understand and learn the techniques necessary to express my ideas through art and overcome complex emotions. A formal art education also gives me the tools necessary to apply to art universities in the future, expanding my options.'  said by GCSE student Natalia A.

There are many important turning points in life, such as choosing a school, choosing a major, choosing a career and starting a business. Different choices impact our future lives in different ways. Learning at school is just a stage of a life journey. In this golden time of growth, which lays the foundation for the future, Harrow Beijing is committed to helping students to achieve academic excellence through quality education that integrates the world's advanced educational practices into a Harrow Education. At the same time, we guide our students to make correct choices, develop their ability to judge independently and persevere in taking responsibility for their own choices. This will have a profound impact on the rest of their lives. Let's watch a video interview with Harrow Beijing graduate Harrison Y who has been accepted to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and get to know how Harrow Beijing helped him make the correct choice and choose the future direction.

At Harrow Beijing, we offer a range of drama programmes and performing opportunities for students from Early Years to Year 13. The annual Lower School musical 'Three Little Pigs' ended up with a great success last week. The wonderful performances once again demonstrated the talents and efforts of Harrow students and made a deep impression on the audience. The Lower School Production of Roald Dahl’s The Three Little Pigs is a musical version based of one of the poems from Roald Dahl’s much-loved collection of Revolting Rhymes. It’s not the same old story, but it is a classic tale with a twist. Lower School children enjoyed the charm of world literature through the musical, and made the characters more vivid with their interpretation. 'This play let me know the story of 'Three Little Pigs' again and helped established a new vision of it.'- Ray W, Year 6 'I cooperated with students from different year groups in this performance. I made many new friends.'- Sylvia X, Year 5 During the preparation for the production, students learned valuable skills: Understanding of the Script - To perform a character vividly requires not only a skilled recitation of the script, but also a deep understanding of the storyline and language. Creativity - Had the opportunity to create and design the sets, costumes, and props. The Creation and Expression of the Role - Learned to use body, expression and language to create a distinct character. Teamwork & Communication - Communicated and cooperated with other classmates to create a perfect scene together. Playbill Cover Competition Children participated in the playbill cover competition which not only drew on their infinite imagination, but also integrated their understanding of the play and increased their sense of participation. Some students' works： Background Design In the Lower School Production Design LSA, students studied set design and were inspired by the patterns they found all around them. They took photos to document the patterns and designs that they felt fit into 'The Three Little Pigs'. Costume Design The children 'dressed' the characters in costumes of their own design. They used colors and painting to give characters lively images. 'Overall, The Three Little Pigs production was a fun and educational event that benefited students in many ways. It was a hands-on learning experience in the creation of a dramatic production. It helped the students build confidence in front of an audience, improved their public speaking skills, and helped them build resilience and a belief in themselves.' ——Ms Katie Aldrich       Lower School Specialist Drama Teacher       Director of Lower School Production 'Three Little Pigs' Get skills in drama: Lower School students have Drama class once a week and have the chance through LAMDA and other Drama related LSA's to take their skills further. Lower School Drama focuses on using drama to build skills that students will use in all aspects of their life, such as language, teamwork, observation, focus, vocal development and more. Through play-based drama exercises and hands-on projects like make-up design, character creation, puppets and more students build skills that make them well-rounded learners.

As one of the world's top universities, the University of Oxford has extremely strict admission standards. It is widely recognised that applicants to Oxbridge need to go through an interview with a designated college in order to be accepted into the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world. As the number of applicants to Oxford has risen in recent years, the acceptance rate has fallen and the difficulty of getting an interview has increased. Year 13 Vovo N was invited to interview at St Anne's College, Oriel College and Pembroke College, Oxford. After five rounds of interviews, he was finally offered a place at Oxford. University of Oxford, Chemistry 'The interview is a great challenge for every student applying to University of Oxford. I tried to relax during the interviews and regarded them as opportunities to communicate with the professors. Harrow Beijing has provided me with several mock interviews to help me prepare. I think the mock interview with Dr. Gabb and Mr. Byrne helped me a lot ,' Vovo said. Compared to top US universities, Oxbridge puts more emphasis on applicants' depth of understanding of their major. Vovo shared some of his insights into Chemistry as well as the broader discipline of natural science. 'Many people hold with the stereotype that Chemistry is not particularly math-oriented. They might think that it’s not a typical science subject. I think that is completely wrong and I perceive Chemistry as a very experimental and theoretical discipline. The more advanced parts of Chemistry are tightly linked with Mathematics, for example, the branch of Computational Chemistry requires expertise in maths and programming. In the field of natural sciences, Physics can be used to describe facts objectively, Biology is a larger and more convoluted subject, whereas Chemistry, I have always regarded it as an art. Using Physics to do Chemistry might be accurate but would kill creativity and invention. There are many overlaps between the field of Physics and Chemistry, but each subject has distinct focuses and values and I like those of chemistry more,' Vovo shared. Vovo also published a paper titled “A View on electrochemical methods of Determining β- Blockers by Utilizing Carbon-Based Electrodes”, which has been accepted by the 2nd International Conference on Materials Chemistry and Environmental Engineering (CONF-MCEE 2022). It will be published in conference proceedings and submitted to Engineering Village (EI Inspec), Scopus, Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI), and other databases for indexing. In the Six Form students study A-Levels. Students study 3 or 4 subjects which they currently choose from the following: Art and Design, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Design and Technology, Drama and Theatre Studies, Economics, English Language & Literature, Geography, History, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Media Studies, Music, Psychology, Spanish, Physics and Computing. Compared with other international curriculum systems, A-Levels provide more professional and in-depth knowledge, which can better connected with university courses. Vovo chose Chemistry, Physics and Further Mathematics for his A-Level courses, which enabled him to focus more on the fields he was interested in and to gain a deep understanding of the subject knowledge, thus standing out from the other University of Oxford applicants. Vovo also shared how he utilized the resources in and out of Harrow Beijing to delve deep into Chemistry:   'I read some college-level textbooks, such as Organic Chemistry by Jonathan Clayden, A Guidebook to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry by Peter Sykes, and Physical Chemistry by Peter Atkins. This allowed me to have a deeper understanding of some chemical concepts and made my thinking more flexible. I also read research papers on natural science and philosophy to broaden my horizons. Teachers at Harrow were very happy to answer the questions I had on the college-level textbooks. I also took part in the Chemistry Club LSA, where the teacher would instruct us to do some chemistry experiments,' Vovo said. Harrow Beijing has a strong science teaching team, which not only teaches students subject knowledge, but also pays more attention to the cultivation of relevant skills, and helps students develop initiative, independence and cooperative spirit in learning. Every year many Harrow Beijing graduates are admitted to Ivy League universities in the US or Russell Group universities in the UK to study science-related subjects such as electrical engineering, chemistry, astrophysics or medicine. ‘I really like the vibe and atmosphere at Harrow Beijing. I feel relaxed and enjoy learning at school with congenial friends,’ Vovo mentioned. Harrow Beijing's core values of courage, honor, humility and fellowship are embedded in every day of teaching and are deeply rooted in every Harrovian. Our students will encounter good mentors and friends at Harrow Beijing and these will become a more valuable asset in the future. Vovo advised younger Harrow students to figure out their area of interest and determine the major they would like to pursue in college sooner rather than later. He hopes they can maintain their hunger for knowledge.

From 9 to 12 May, Lower School Personal Development Week activities were in full swing! Pickling and planting, STEAM themed activities, water sports, painting, orienteering, archery......, There were a lot of ways to learn through onsite and offsite activities at Harrow Beijing! Let's take a look at the wonderful PD Week at Harrow Beijing Lower School！ Year 2 Year 2 students making their own STEAM themed game parks Exploring the fascinating world of Science and Technology through robotics,  lego car and soap making DIY chocolate lollipops Year 3 & 4 Painting Opera Masks and playing Go Games to experience traditional Chinese Culture Learning to make sushi, pizza and becoming a gourmet for a day Year 5 Experiencing archery, action training, and Caribbean art Lower School students from all year groups also enjoyed a variety of sports and aquatics activities, to inject full vitality into campus life! Ms. Sarah Davey-Head of Lower School : ‘Our PD week activities have challenged our students to try something new, work with their peers and to demonstrate their broad subject knowledge in differing contexts. There were many creative opportunities as well as fun to be had during the week. Staff were so impressed with the confidence and can-do attitudes displayed by the students during the week and the staff enjoyed joining in on the activities with the students. It’s a hugely beneficial week for the students where they are able to learn outside the classroom by linking their learning to real world experiences.’ Offsite activities are extensions of the school education and provide students with excellent opportunities to get out into the wider world. During the PD Week, Harrow Beijing provided opportunities for our students to participate in various off-campus projects that extended their learning radius, helping students challenge themselves, and developing their team spirit and leadership. 1-Organic Farm Trip Year 2 and Year 3 students came to the organic farm and learnt about how this helps the world around us. They planted sweet potatoes, pickled vegetables, learnt about animal farming, fed the animals and finally cooked sweet potatoes. 2-Cool Watersports Year 4 and Year 5 students went to the Olympic Rowing Park and took part in sailing, kayaking, and stand-up paddle boarding activities. During the day, students were grouped together for games and tried their hand at a variety of different watersports, before finishing the day with some competitive raft building and relays. 3-Jungle Flight and Orienteering Activities Year 4 students completed a Jungle Flight high ropes course at Chestnut Valley. They took part in orienteering activities and completed a Leave No Trace workshop. 4-Survival Training Year 5 students came to Shimenshan for survival training. The games deepened the sense of trust with their peers, and also promoted the development of communication skills and problem solving skills. Holistic education is vital at Harrow Beijing. We hope to bring excellent experiences to our students through rich and high-quality activities to support their knowledge exploration and ability development in and out of the classroom, and to master the life skills necessary for the future world.

Last week, Lower School held their Sports Day event, with students from all year groups at Pre Prep level competing for House glory in both individual and team challenges. The Pre Prep students demonstrated exceptional sporting skills in the competition and were exemplary in demonstrating the spirit of collaboration and teamwork in the House team events. The games also attracted many parents who watched and cheered enthusiastically for the children. The exciting, competitive atmosphere and nature of the event is always a great opportunity for parents to witness the personal development and growth of their children across a range of areas, including in our Core Values of Harrow Beijing: Courage, Honour, Humility and Fellowship. 1.Sprint 2.Fill the Water Pipe 3.Relay 4.Turbo Javelin 5.Team Challenge Congratulations to the winners! In sporting competition, Courage helps children to strive for victory in the face of adversity.  Honour encourages all participants to have the highest possible personal standards. Humility allows students to recognize that one’s self is a work in progress and thus to accept failure bravely and confidently where appropriate.  Fellowship is demonstrated both in team events where students build constructive relationships and support each other fully, but also during solo sports where all members of the school community encourage each other to thrive and do well.  Without doubt, sport is filled with examples of leadership but also develops a range of positive life skills and values, which is the reason why Harrow Beijing focuses on cultivating students' sports skills, offering a huge variety of opportunities to compete and develop.

After more than seven months of intensive preparation and polishing, the Harrow Beijing Upper School annual musical finally came to a live audience, with the production of 'Guys and Dolls' being a resounding success! Both students and teaching staff delivered an outstanding audio-visual feast to the audience of more than 700 people with performances almost comparable to professional actors! Broadway Musical at Harrow Beijing 'Guys and Dolls' is a classic 1950 Broadway musical, revolving around a gambler's legendary experience and develops an up-and-down storyline, incorporating love, friendship and other plot lines. Guys and Dolls spawned hits like 'If I Were a Bell,' 'Luck Be a Lady,' and 'You're Rockin’ the Boat.' With catchy songs, memorable characters, and a humorous plot, it has become a true classic of American musical theater. As a lot of the action takes place in the ‘Hot Box’ piano Jazz Club in the musical, the Harrow Beijing Theatre was transformed to a jazz cabaret venue, making the audience feel truly immersed in the experience. Collaborate to Create a High Level of all English Stage Production (Enjoy the video produced by Harrow TV to go behind the scenes of ‘Guys and Dolls’.) 'Guys and Dolls' has been in preparation since September of 2022. Over 110 Harrow Beijing students took on a variety of roles such as actors, orchestra, dancers, set design, lighting & sound designers, stage crew, lighting & sound technicians, bar tenders, Maître D’s and marketing. Students were involved out front and behind the scenes, no matter whether the roles were big or small, working together towards the final outcome. The student marketing team designed beautiful merchandise such as branded hoodies, tote bags, pins and t-shirts. The Harrow values of 'courage, honor, humility and fellowship' have been fully and perfectly demonstrated by our students as part of this immense production. Teachers from the Performing Arts, Music and Drama departments of Harrow Beijing also worked together to guide students from different professional perspectives. 'They are in great shape, but there is always more. You can't ever relax until it's over. I hope our students can be their best and enjoy every moment of participation,' Mrs Danielle Byrne, Director of Performing Arts and China LAMDA Representative said. On the day of the performance, Harrow Beijing students impressed the audience with their fluent English dialogues, the reappearance of the characters and the magnificent stage performance, and finally presented a high-level English musical that lived up to our expectations. Become the Excellence of Role Models ‘This year, the play looked for elder cast members from Year 11 to Year 13. It demonstrates a sense of responsibility and maturity to younger students and it fosters a culture of positivity,' Mrs Bryne said. During the preparation of the performance, the Year 13 students gave full play to their leadership and talents. Apple W was the assistant director, Leah W, the student lead for set design and Noor B the dance captain. The Year 13 Graduation team and ‘Bread of Life’ bakery organised and prepared show-themed snacks such as ‘Mindy’s Cheesecakes’. Noor B added ‘One of the great things about the show is that it provides chances for us to work with others and learn from different people. Some younger students are really interested in working as a team with students from the senior phase and we learned a lot from prep phase as well.’ Harrow Beijing Drama Education Drama education, which integrates language and literature, performing arts, music and other comprehensive literacy learning, is one of the highlights of a Harrow Beijing education. Harrow Beijing offers drama courses and a variety of extra-curricular activities, providing students with a wide range of opportunities to experience the charm of drama, gain knowledge & expression skills, and build confidence. We are proud to have been a Centre of LAMDA Excellence since 2014,  entering over 3,570 Harrow students for examinations during that time. We are offering a full suite of courses for students in every year group in the LSA program and in Year 12 and 13 Electives.  The courses available are in Acting, Speaking in Public, Prose and Poetry, Musical Theatre, The Shakespeare Qualification and The LAMDA Pcert Diploma. Mrs Danielle Bryne-Director of Performing Arts and China LAMDA Representative: "I would like to extend my thanks to the staff and student teams for their commitment. The incredible cast and crew worked tirelessly through weekends and into evenings to bring this production to the Harrow Beijing community. My sincere thanks to the parents of all involved who have supported the show. The organisation and creative planning of this year's production has truly been a team effort."

In the beautiful spring sunshine and breeze, the highly anticipated  Upper School Sports Day kicked off! Traditional sports vs. Fun team sports.The students run, leap and sweat heartily. Show off your individual sports skills and in doing so fight for the honor of  your House! Physical education has always been a very important part of an all round education at Harrow Beijing. Sports activities are integrated into the daily life of Harrow students. We are  committed to helping our students develop their core motor skills, team spirit and social and emotional management skills in collaboration with teachers and other students. The participants displayed their strength in various sports. In the 800 meter race, the students tried their best to show their speed and endurance. Their performance in long jump, high jump, shot put, javelin and discus also showed athletes' strength and skills, and was greeted with the cheers of the parents and teachers watching the competition. In addition to the traditional athletics events, the teachers also designed many novel and interesting competitions, such as the bucket relay, yoga football, "carrying water" race, the tug-of-war and many more. These projects not only test the students' athletic ability, but also demonstrate their intelligence and teamwork spirit. These energetic sports promote the friendship and communication between students and make everyone understand and respect each other more. Congratulations to Churchill House! “Honor and determination often rest with us Churchillians. Throughout this Sports Day, our House spirit was demonstrated thoroughly to the other Houses. This experience has fortified the bonds between each individual in Churchill. Only when the solidarity among each member in our House is as firm as a rock, can we achieve the ultimate success. Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to every Churchillian in our House ”. ——Vovo and Shirley, Churchill “Sports Day is a much loved event in the school calendar. It provides an excellent opportunity for each House to promote House spirit and demonstrate the Harrow core values. Song Qing Ling did exceptionally well in all of the events throughout the day because they challenged themselves to try their very best, even in the events they were not so familiar with or  skilled at, and for that we are extremely proud of everyone. Excellent work Song Qing Ling and huge congratulations to all of the medal winners! Let's keep it up! ” ——Amy and Arina, Song Qing Ling “Sports Day was the perfect event to unite the House as a whole and promote House spirit. It was pleasing to see everyone giving it their best shot and the sense of achievement when individuals received medals for their outstanding performances. I want to express gratitude to all staff that helped make  this come together. It truly was a precious experience,  especially after quite a challenging period for everybody.” ——Adrien, Ju Ching Chu “Sports Day of 2023 went amazingly well. It is fabulous to see the enthusiasm from students and teachers in participating in various activities, especially after such a lengthy lockdown. This year, we have continued with the Harrow traditions, we are encouraged to take part in regular sports events such as the high jump and 800 meters run, as well as novelty sports  that were also welcomed by students. Throughout the day, teams from each House demonstrated excellent co-operation and brought several highlights with their incredible performances. It is a wonderful opportunity to boost students' sportsmanship and one of the many truly unforgettable  experiences for me at Harrow.” ——Christina, Kong Zi “The Sports Day this year is not only fun as usual but also special and memorable for myself and our fellow Year 13 students since this would be our last at Harrow. As a member of the Curie House. We have demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm and incredible House spirit, giving remarkable performances and actively engaging in events so that we came second overall. But regardless of the result, I would like to genuinely appreciate the effort of all for leaving me with such wonderful memories.” ——Sally and Apple, Curie Each student exemplified Harrow's core values: courage, honor, humility, and fellowship in the sports day. We hope that in the future study and life, students can take this positive sportsmanship, for their own life to create a better future.