Over the past 50 years ESF has built an enviable reputation for the quality of teaching and learning in our schools and for achieving positive outcomes for our students. Our success in meeting students’ needs, achieving remarkable results and nurturing students’ well-being has led to the growth of our family of schools to the 22 schools we have today, serving 17,500 students across Hong Kong. That growth would not have been possible without the trust and support of the families we serve, of the wider community and 50 years’ dedicated service by our teachers and staff. Above all, maintaining our parents’ confidence in the world-class quality of an ESF education has been, and will remain, key to our success.
As elsewhere in the world, the educational landscape in Hong Kong is rapidly changing, as is the wider social context. Providing a model of education that is relevant today and also prepares students for life in a rapidly changing world requires us to be agile and responsive to changing need. We have to discriminate between passing fashions and substantive changes. Over the last 50 years, the curriculum in ESF has evolved, in response to innovation in education and a better understanding of how best to meet our students’ needs. Our teachers today facilitate enquiry-based learning, focus on skills and make progressively more use of digital technologies. Importantly, we reflect continuously on how best to prepare our students to face a future, characterised by change and ambiguity with confidence. Through focusing on all students as individuals, responding to their unique talents and needs, we shall continue to develop ESF’s model of education.
ESF will build on the legacy of our first 50 years by inspiring futures for generations to come. We are immensely proud of our students, who graduate as independent, well-rounded individuals, confident to take their places in leading roles in Hong Kong and the wider world. We value our alumni who daily make their mark in the great universities of the world, in their professional and vocational careers, and through the significant contribution they make to society and to their communities.
This anniversary book captures the journey so far and marks ESF’s service to Hong Kong over the last 50 years.
The success of our future, like our past, depends upon the support of the wider ESF community. We will continue to engage widely and to refocus our work progressively, to ensure that our clearly defined sense of common purpose is directed towards enabling every student to be the best that they can be.
Building on this golden legacy, ESF can, and should have, the greatest confidence in its future.
Yours sincerely,
Belinda Greer
ESF Chief Executive Officer