Hegezhuang Campus

The Harrow Advanced Performer concert at the Steinway Concert Hall in Beijing was held on 16th of April. We were very proud to present our accomplished musicians, performing great masterpieces by Chopin, Piazzolla, Schumann, Enescu and V. Monti. The evening was particularly special as it was a celebration of Jerry Z’s A-Level Music performance and an opportunity to highlight our talented Harrow Beijing musicians. We would like to congratulate Jerry Z, George S, Sophia L, Linn L and Muqi Y on their outstanding performances at the concert. Mrs Richards, Music teacher at Harrow Beijing said: 'Many people mistakenly think to play an instrument at such a high level is just a talent or a gift, and it is easy for talented or gifted musicians to play the piano or any other instrument. But we all know that it is not just about talent… more important is hard work, hours and hours, weeks and weeks, months and months and many years of constant practice and dedication. Musical performance is a great skill, and I hope all our students, even if they don’t choose to become professional musicians, can transfer the many skills and values acquired in musical performance to every aspect of their lives.' It is our wish to hold this concert annually, and we would like to express our thanks and appreciation to the Steinway Hall for providing us with this wonderful venue and supporting our young musicians.

To celebrate Harrow’s 450th Anniversary, the whole school recently undertook a series of activities united by the theme of Service. Students were inspired to actively connect themselves closely with the wider community and give back to society through what they learned. Contributing to community has always been one of the key features of a Harrow Beijing education and indeed that of Harrow London. The school provides students with a wide range of opportunities inside and outside school to help them develop their social skills. We hope our students contribute to and ultimately lead a better world supported by our core values of courage, honour, humility and fellowship.

In late January, five of our Year 12 students participated in the UK Chemistry Olympiad, a high-level competition that tests students on their chemistry knowledge and reasoning skills at post A-Level difficulty. Simon W, our Year 13 student who achieved a Gold Certificate in last year’s competition, and who is set to begin his Chemistry studies at Oxford University next year, ran a student led LSA to prepare this year’s participants for the competition. 8,668 students globally from 750 schools took part. All of our entrants achieved an award certificate. Linda L – Gold Hudson Z – Silver Vovo N – Bronze Fred J – Bronze Devin L – Bronze Linda’s score ranked her at 13th place overall globally! Congratulations to all five participants and also thank you to Simon for doing an excellent job in preparing them so effectively. We provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and explore beyond the curriculum. 'These kinds of competition offer students the opportunity to push themselves beyond the curriculum and allow them to both demonstrate enhanced knowledge and paint a picture of students that have grit and determination.  I encourage more students to take up these opportunities when they arise,' Head of Chemistry Mr Mawson said.

Harrow Beijing Lower School students were excited to have their first House Music competition in three years on 1 April. It was a very exciting and rewarding day!         The theme of this year was 'Perseverance'. It was wonderful to see this quality of our school community being celebrated in such an enthusiastic manner. The Houses were all accompanied by a live band consisting of staff and students and it was great to see our Upper School students involved as both audience members and musicians. The winners on the day were Curie with their version of 'The Greatest' but the excitement from both audience and participants was evident in all the performances. Congratulations to Curie and well done to all the staff and students who contributed to such a wonderful event!

Recently, Harrow Beijing held its annual Harrow Ducker, in which all the teachers and students stepped outdoors to enjoy the warmth and vitality of a beautiful Spring day. In accordance with the 450th anniversary and as a historic tradition that originated from Harrow London, Harrow Beijing has adopted this event and adapted it to our setting whilst still honoring our schools heritage. The running race allows teachers and students to join hands to welcome challenges, strengthen their physical health and willpower while on the run. Congratulations to all the participants as we look forward to many more Harrow Duckers!

After over 6 months of hard work in rehearsals, this year’s Upper School Production of ‘Annie’ was performed last week. The students and Performing Arts staff have been working relentlessly since the beginning of the academic year to produce the musical and what a hit it was! Annie follows the story of an orphan from New York City who is taken in by a wealthy billionaire businessman Mr Oliver Warbucks. They go on a journey to find Annie’s birth parents, a journey filled with twists and turns. The talent showcased within the production was outstanding. Year 8 Tiantian X played the role of Annie. Her delicate singing voice stirred the heart as she sung the iconic songs 'Maybe' and 'Tomorrow'. Year 9 Lamont C as Oliver Warbucks supported her performance excellently and allowed for a lovely energy between the two on stage. This was counteracted by the wonderfully loud and brash performance from Noor D B who played Miss Hannigan, Annie's nasty orphanage manager. Each and every performer shone on the stage with a highlight being the iconic ‘Hard Knock Life’ singing and dance scene. As with all productions, there was not just hard work performed on stage by the cast. They were supported by an equally talented showband. Led by Mr Russell Grant, and consisting of a mixture of students and staff, they pulled out a show-stopping performance. Backstage, a team of students worked relentlessly to perform expertly planned set changes, being supported by an array of staff including Mr Thomas Minns, Ms Sana Shaikh, Ms Leanne Kingston, and Mr Daniel Maloney. Their maneuvering of the fantastic moveable set flats, which were designed and built by students, was well timed and planned. The marketing for the event was also taken on by a team of students led by Mrs Danielle Byrne who had been planning their advertising campaign and merchandise sales since September. Students and staff have been able to purchase Annie water bottles, necklaces and T-shirts to keep as a memento of the event with all profits going to ‘Bread of Life’ charity. Overall, the event was a wonderfully collaborative event which brought the whole school community together after nearly 3 years with no large-scale performances. Mrs Shaunna Minns, who directed the show said, ‘Being able to finally perform such a big showcase was a wonderful achievement and a great opportunity for the students. Each and every student and member of staff involved with the production should be immensely proud of what they have achieved.’

Four Year 11 students Rachel B, Emma L, Christina W, and Maria X recently took part in the IHBB (the International History Bee and Bowl) and achieved great success coming in second in China. This means they have progressed to the next round, which is for teams from all over Asia. The four young historians consolidated and expanded their knowledge in the competition. Significantly, they also deepened their relationships through teamwork and enjoyed making progress collaboratively. 'We divided the specification into several different sections so each of us could focus on one of them. We taught each other about the content so each of us would be able to have an opportunity to answer the questions in the contest.', said the student.

Capping the many fine offers our students have achieved, we are proud to announce that Year 13 Simon W has received an offer from University of Oxford to study Chemistry. ‘Be positive, curious and always persevere’, these are the three characteristics that Simon has chosen to describe himself. Indeed, these characteristics are embedded in his personality. Being admitted to Oxford was not a complete surprise to Simon as it is the result of continuous efforts for more than two years. Most Oxbridge candidates have outstanding academic results. To stand out among all these excellent students is not easy. • AS Grades: AAAA • A-Level Predictions: A*A*A*A* • Review article 'Collaboration between C-H activation and pericyclic reactions for constructing fused eight-membered and four-membered carbocycles' accepted by the 3rd International Conference on Applied Chemistry and Industrial Catalysis (ACIC 2021) and is to be published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series, as well as submitted for index in EI and SCOPUS. • Gold Certificate in the UK Chemistry Olympiad • Special Merit Award and Gold Award in the Canadian Chemistry Competition His excellent academic rersults put Simon on the starting line with other Oxford candidates. It was though his strong interest in and perseverance towards Chemistry that ultimately made him succesful. 'I think what really made me stand out among all candidates was my strong and constant interest in the chosen subject. The university saw my potential to thrive as a chemist. And strong problem-solving skills and the ability to deal with pressure were also crucial qualities that the professors found in me.' After finishing studying the A-Level Chemistry course at the end of Year 11, Simon chose to dig deeper by beginning to read some undergraduate level textbooks. From Zumdahl's 'Chemical Principles', Atkin's 'Physical Chemistry', Weller's 'Inorganic Chemistry' Keeler & Wothers' 'Why chemical reactions happen' to Clayden's 'Organic Chemistry', these books provided Simon with insights into various disciplines of chemistry and developed and further confirmed his interests in each field. ‘These books familiarized me with how chemists think, which helped me tremendously in succeeding in my Oxford interview,’ Simon said. Harrow offers the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) course, which is recognized by many leading universities all over the world, including Oxford. As a part of the EPQ course, a 5000-word essay and a 25-minute presentation are assessed. Completing the course with an A* prediction not only added more competitiveness to his university application but also confirmed his interest in science by revealing the fundamentals of scientific research and laid a solid foundation for for him to conduct academic research. 'Our history teacher Dr James Hill gave us extremely useful lectures on academic research skills. My supervisor, Mr Philip Mawson, Head of Chemistry, who helped me review my essay and presentation, and kindly offered dozens of hours of his free time to guide me through the lab work relevant to my research.' Simon said. The success is inseparable from the powerful ‘brain trust’ behind Simon. ‘Mr Damien Tomkins, my University and Careers Guidance Counsellor, supported me throughout my entire application process. Dr Thomas Hill, my current organic Chemistry teacher, who spent many years in Oxford as a student and a researcher, offered lots of his free time and conducted around 10 mock Oxford interviews for me. He’s also always keen and capable of answering all my undergraduate-level Chemistry questions.’ Simon said. Simon has been a House Prefect of Curie in school and had worked with his brilliant House Prefect team in leading a range of House events, including Sports Day, House Music, Chinese New Year Celebration and their unique House charity program. In the last few months, they’ve made astonishing achievements in carrying out all these House activities successfully helping other students to step into leadership roles and creating a sense of belonging in Curie. ‘I cannot emphasize enough the benefit of this experience in showing me where the responsibility of a leader lies and in the development of my leadership skills. There had been times when I was under extreme pressure. The Curie Six Form student body has been the most supportive community I’ve ever been in. I know this spirit will be popularized and passed on in the Harrow Beijing student community.’ Simon said.

Application results of universities have been gradually released and our Year 13 students have received offers from some of the world’s top universities including but not limited to University of Oxford, University of Manchester, University of Edinburgh and the University of Hong Kong. Harrow Beijing is committed to providing students with a solid foundation for their university studies through Excellence in Education. In addition to academic achievements, Harrow Beijing provides students with all-round development to discover their potential and find the right university for them and their pathway in life. University Offers 2022 UK & Ireland Durham University (2) Edge Hill University (2)     Kingston University (1)     Liverpool John Moores University (2) Manchester Metropolitan University (1)   Queen Mary University of London (1)   SOAS University of London (1) The University of Edinburgh (2) University of Bath (2)     University of Birmingham (1)     University of Bristol (2)     University of Glasgow (2)     University of Liverpool (1)     University of Manchester (8)     University of Oxford (1)     University of Southampton (3)     University of Stirling (2)     University of the Arts London (2)     University of Warwick (1)     University of York (1)     Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (1) Sheffield International College (1)     United States Pepperdine University (1)     Pratt Institute-Main (1)     Rutgers University-New Brunswick (1) Santa Clara University (1)     St. George's University, Grenada (1)     The Pennsylvania State University (1)     Tufts University (1)      Canada McGill University (1)     Memorial University of Newfoundland(1) University of Prince Edward Island (1) University of Toronto (5)     Western University (1)     Australia University of Sydney (1)     Greater China The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1)     The University of Hong Kong (2)     Other Countries in Asia King Mongkut's University Of Technology (SoA+D) (1)     We are very proud of the achievements of our Year 13 students. The application process has involved tremendous efforts from students, teachers and parents. We are very proud of students’ growth and leadership through this process. More offers on the way, we look forward to more good news!