From one Kowloon building to three campuses in a decade

As Playtimes reported on the school's tenth anniversary, Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong opened its first campus in September 2014, taking over an empty five-storey government school building in Lam Tin, Kowloon, and renovating it into a modern international school. It launched with fewer than 500 students. By 2024 that number had grown to nearly 1,600.

The school is part of Nord Anglia Education, a private international schools group founded in 1972 in northern England, whose name reflects those regional roots. The company opened its first international school, the British School of Warsaw, in 1992, and expanded sharply through Asia in the 2000s. By the time NAIS Hong Kong opened, the group was already publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with its operational headquarters relocated to Hong Kong in 2012 to support growth across China and Southeast Asia.

Three Campuses

The Lam Tin site initially served students from Early Years through to secondary. In 2015, a year after opening, the school added a dedicated Early Years campus in Sai Kung, in the New Territories, freeing Lam Tin to focus on Primary and Secondary learners. Subsequent renovations at Lam Tin added a new five-storey building, six further classrooms, a science laboratory, and a rooftop sports pitch.

The third campus arrived in August 2021. The school took over 19 Yuet Wah Street in Kwun Tong, formerly occupied by Delia School of Canada (East Kowloon), and opened it as a standalone Secondary campus for the 2021-22 academic year. The Sai Kung Early Years campus sits at 285 Hong Kin Road, Tui Min Hoi; the Primary campus remains at 11 On Tin Street, Lam Tin. Each campus is purpose-designed for its age group.

Curriculum and Accreditation

The school follows the English National Curriculum from Early Years through Key Stage 3, with the Early Years Foundation Stage delivered at Sai Kung. Secondary students sit Cambridge IGCSEs in Years 10 and 11, choosing from a subject range that includes Spanish, French, and Chinese alongside the core sciences, humanities, and creative arts. The Sixth Form pathway is the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, delivered at the Kwun Tong campus.

The school's first IB cohort, which graduated in 2021, achieved an average diploma score of 36.3 against a global average of around 33, with a 100% pass rate. One founding student scored 43 points. In the same year, every IGCSE candidate received five or more grades at A* to C, including English and Mathematics, with 48% of all results at A* or A.

NAIS Hong Kong holds accreditation from the British Schools Overseas inspectorate, the Council of British International Schools, the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, the International Baccalaureate Organisation, and the Cambridge International Examinations board. Its ISI inspection in March 2017, three years after opening, awarded the school the top grade of Excellent across its assessed areas, with inspectors noting strength in creative disciplines, science understanding, and students' independence and collaborative habits.

Global Partnerships and Present Day

Alongside the standard curriculum, the school draws on Nord Anglia's group-wide partnerships with MIT for STEM enrichment and The Juilliard School for performing arts. Students also participate in the group's Global Campus, which connects learners across more than 80 Nord Anglia schools in over 30 countries through joint challenges, online courses, and annual festivals in sport, music, STEAM, and Model United Nations.

The school community represents more than 40 nationalities. Every teacher holds UK Qualified Teacher Status or an internationally recognised equivalent. In 2022 and 2023, 100% of graduating students received offers from their first-choice universities, with destinations including Imperial College London, UCL, the University of Hong Kong, and the National University of Singapore. Current principal is Tim Richardson. The school has a maximum capacity of 2,000 students across its three campuses.

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