Hong Kong
Hong Kong's A Level Revival Takes Shape as Two Schools Open Sixth Forms
Nord Anglia and Kellett have each launched dedicated post-16 campuses this term, offering A Levels as a serious alternative to the long-dominant IB Diploma. The openings reflect a broader shift in how international families in the city think about sixth-form choices.
Two of Hong Kong's most prominent British-curriculum schools opened standalone sixth-form centres this August, adding new A Level pathways to a city whose post-16 landscape has long been shaped by the IB Diploma. Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong moved its upper school to a dedicated building in Hung Hom, while Kellett School launched a new facility at The Bay Hub in Kowloon Bay. Both are now taking Year 12 students, according to WhichSchoolAdvisor.
The case for A Levels
The moves reflect a quiet but growing reassessment of the IB Diploma among international school families. A Levels allow students to specialise in three or four subjects, offering greater depth than the IB's six-subject model with its extended essay, theory of knowledge, and service requirements. For students targeting specialist university programmes, particularly in the United Kingdom, the depth of A Level study is increasingly seen as a competitive advantage, and operators are responding to that signal.
Nord Anglia's principal Tim Richardson said the new offer gave "students even greater flexibility to choose the pathway that matches their strengths, goals and preferred university destinations." The school is now the only institution in Hong Kong to offer the IB Diploma, A Levels, and BTEC vocational qualifications on a single sixth-form campus, a combination with no direct precedent in the city.
Kellett's track record
Kellett School has offered A Levels for several years and its results are well-established: 60.6 percent of grades in 2025 were A* or A, across 81 sitting students. The new Bay Hub centre on Kai Cheung Road, adjacent to the school's existing Kowloon Bay campus, holds up to 240 students, giving the school room to expand its sixth-form intake meaningfully for the first time.
The simultaneous opening of two dedicated A Level centres adds real supply to a post-16 market that had, until recently, been overwhelmingly IB-facing. Whether the revival holds will depend in part on how Hong Kong universities and multinational employers respond to A Level candidates in competition with IB peers. In the short term, families in the city have a genuine and well-resourced choice between the two pathways for the first time.