Hong Kong Opens Two A Level Sixth Forms in a Single Term

Hong Kong's post-16 education market shifted noticeably when Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong and Kellett School both opened new sixth form centres in August 2026, according to Top Schools Admissions, marking a revival of the A Level qualification after years of near-total IB Diploma dominance in the city's international sector.

NAIS Hong Kong's new centre is housed in a commercial building in Hung Hom and is the first international school in the city to offer both A Levels and the IB Diploma within the same sixth form. Students in Years 12 and 13 can choose between the two pathways, with A Level students specialising in three or four subjects rather than the IB's broader, six-subject structure. A Sixth Form Scholarship Programme opened alongside the centre, offering tuition fee reductions of up to 50 percent for students demonstrating excellence in academics, sport, performing arts, and STEAM.

What the openings signal

The return of A Levels at scale reflects a broader shift that has gathered pace in recent years, as families from the United Kingdom and parts of South Asia have begun to question whether the IB Diploma suits every student equally. Deep subject specialisation appeals particularly to those targeting competitive university courses in medicine, law, and engineering, where admissions tutors increasingly value demonstrated focus alongside broad academic achievement.

Kellett's new sixth form occupies roughly 40,000 square feet at The Bay Hub on Kai Cheung Road in Kowloon Bay, connected to the existing campus by a footbridge. The dedicated facility can accommodate up to 240 students, who use it as their base and cross to the main campus for specialist lessons in science, art, music, and drama. The centre is part of the school's Vision 2035 programme, a long-term overhaul of its estate and academic offer.

The competitive context

Hong Kong's international school market has been recovering steadily after the sharp population outflows of 2021 and 2022. Demand from mainland Chinese families and from families returning to the city has tightened places at the most established British schools. In that context, the two sixth form launches are as much a retention play as a curriculum shift: schools that can offer a complete pathway from early years to Year 13 are harder to leave.

Neither school has published sixth form fees separately from its main schedule, but both are priced broadly in line with upper senior school tuition, placing the annual cost for a Year 12 place in the high six-figure range in Hong Kong dollars. Kellett's senior fees run to around HKD 210,000 a year; NAIS Hong Kong is positioned similarly. Whether the new sixth form places are drawing primarily internal pupils or new entrants from the wider Hong Kong market is a question both schools have so far declined to answer publicly. A broader question across the sector is whether other British-curriculum schools will feel compelled to follow before the end of the decade.