From a single Kowloon site to four campuses in a decade

Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong opened in September 2014, moving into a vacated government school building in Lam Tin, Kowloon, and completely renovating it. Before the doors opened, demand was already strong: by March 2014, more than 500 students had applied for places and over 1,000 candidates from various nationalities had applied for teaching positions. The school launched as part of Nord Anglia Education, the premium international schools group that had relocated its global headquarters to Hong Kong two years earlier as it expanded across Asia.

Origins

Nord Anglia Education was founded in 1972 by Kevin McNeany to teach English as a foreign language, and by 2008 had sold its nursery operations to focus exclusively on international schools. Its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange took place in March 2014, the same month NAIS Hong Kong was preparing to open. The Hong Kong school was one of the group's flagship openings in Asia, designed from the start as a through-train institution running from Early Years to the IB Diploma.

Growth and Campus Expansion

The school opened with a founding cohort of fewer than 500 students at the Lam Tin campus. Within a year it had expanded: a dedicated Early Years campus opened in Sai Kung in 2015, freeing the Lam Tin site to focus on Primary and Secondary learners. Renovations to Lam Tin later added a new five-storey building, six classrooms, a science lab, and a rooftop sports pitch.

In 2021, the school announced and opened a third campus, a standalone Secondary site at 19 Yuet Wah Street, Kwun Tong, taking over the former premises of Delia School of Canada (East Kowloon). The Kwun Tong campus brought dedicated secondary facilities including an Innovation Centre and a Juilliard Performing Arts Centre. By its tenth anniversary in 2024, the school had grown from fewer than 500 founding students to close to 1,600, spread across communities representing more than 40 nationalities.

A fourth site is now under way. In November 2025, the school announced a Sixth Form Centre at 11 Wan Hoi Street, Hung Hom, due to open in August 2026. The centre will sit alongside the established IB Diploma Programme to offer A Levels for the first time, giving post-16 students a choice of senior pathway. A new Sixth Form Scholarship Programme will accompany the launch.

Curriculum and Accreditation

The school follows the English National Curriculum from Early Years through Key Stage 3, leads students through IGCSEs in Years 10 and 11, and then into the IB Diploma Programme in Years 12 and 13. From August 2026, A Levels join the post-16 offering at the new Hung Hom centre. Languages on offer at IGCSE and IB level include French, Spanish, and Chinese.

NAIS Hong Kong holds accreditation from British Schools Overseas (BSO), the Council of British International Schools (COBIS), the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA), the International Baccalaureate Organisation, and Cambridge International Examinations. In its BSO inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in March 2017, the school was awarded the top grade of excellent, with inspectors noting strong creativity in the arts, numeracy development, and a high level of science understanding from an early age.

Three institutional collaborations distinguish the academic programme. Nord Anglia's partnership with MIT provides project-based STEAM challenges designed by MIT postgraduates and faculty. The Juilliard-Nord Anglia Performing Arts Programme places students in front of Juilliard performers and teaching artists through workshops, masterclasses, and a music curriculum built around twelve repertoire categories. A third partnership with UNICEF feeds into the school's global citizenship work. These collaborations run across all year groups and campuses.

Results and Leadership

The school's first IB cohort, in 2021, achieved an average score of 36.3 against a global average of around 29, with a 100% diploma pass rate. In the same year, 100% of IGCSE candidates were awarded five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths, with 48% of grades at A* or A. In 2022 and 2023, 100% of graduates received offers from their first-choice university, with destinations including Imperial College London, UCL, the University of Hong Kong, and the National University of Singapore.

Tim Richardson became Principal in August 2025, having previously led the British School of Guangzhou, another Nord Anglia school, for three years. He trained at Exeter University, taught in Dubai, and held senior leadership roles across IB and National Curriculum schools in the Middle East before joining NAIS Hong Kong. In January 2026, the school was named Secondary School of the Year at the Ritzy Hong Kong Education Awards for the fourth consecutive year, with Richardson also named Head of School of the Year.

The current roll stands at around 1,500 students across the three operating campuses, with the student-to-teacher ratio of 11:1 maintained across all sites. The school serves ages three to eighteen, with the Hung Hom Sixth Form Centre set to extend provision further when it opens in August 2026.

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