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We conduct a face-to-face assessment in English in order to ensure that your child will be successful when enrolled at Stamford. Our assessments focus on speaking, listening and reading and are considered in conjunction with previous school reports and a teacher recommendation by our review committee. The assessment is designed to be as relaxed as possible and offers an opportunity for us to meet your child, get to know him/her better as well as answer any questions he/she may have about life as a Stamford student.

For mid-year entry, you will receive your result in 7 days. For August entry you will receive the result in February upon confirmation of spaces available for the academic year.

Stamford gives admissions priority in the following circumstances:

1. Child nominated by Platinum Corporate Debenture
2. Child nominated by Standard Plus Corporate Debenture
3. Child nominated by Standard Corporate Debenture
4. Child nominated by Individual Debenture holder
5. Siblings of existing students attending Stamford
6. U.S. citizens
7. Students who have attended other Cognita schools including Woodland
8. All others

Stamford offers both individual and corporate debentures. Debentures help students gain admission priority over other applicants for limited spaces. Debenture holders are exempt from paying a capital levy.

The Capital Levy is a mandatory fee for children who are admitted to Stamford without a debenture. 

If, for any reason, parents cancel their acceptance of a place before the student starts at Stamford, the Capital Levy and tuition fee offset will not be refunded. For students who have already started, Tuition Fees paid in advance may be refunded provided sufficient notice (3 months) has been given.

Once a student is confirmed and admitted to Stamford American School Hong Kong for an academic year, deferrals to a subsequent semester or academic year are not permitted; families wishing to defer must reapply and receive a new offer for the following academic year, and all previously paid fees will be forfeited, except for debenture holders, who will be treated as withdrawals and receive refunds in accordance with their signed agreements.

Stamford uses an American standards-based curriculum, based on the rigorous and proven American Education Reaches Out (AERO) and Common Core Plus standards. Students can also pursue the IB Diploma Programme.

• English Language Arts
• Modern Language (Mandarin or Spanish)
• Humanities
• Science
• Mathematics
• STEMinn
• Visual Arts
• Drama
• Music
• Physical and Health Education
• Social-Emotional Learning

Pre-primary children don’t receive any homework during the first semester, although we encourage daily reading for all our students. Throughout the remainder of their time at Stamford children receive homework that is an extension of the learning in class. The goal of homework is to be purposeful in its goal to enrich learning. This means there is no set time requirement per day, however, as children move onto secondary school the following guidelines are a good representation of the average:

Grade 6 – 70 minutes            Grade 8 – 90 minutes        Grade 10 – 110 minutes

Grade 7 – 80 minutes            Grade 9 – 100 minutes     Grades 11-12 – 120 minutes

Summative assessments occur typically after a unit of learning and are meant to assess a student’s progress with learning that has recently happened. Assessments can take on different forms, some will be short quizzes, projects, presentations and other opportunities to demonstrate knowledge.

Daily, for 40 minutes.

The levels of Chinese and Spanish are dependant on the levels of our student intake, we have up to 4 levels per grade from true beginner to native proficiency. After initial level testing, students are grouped by level and grade during the world language block.

The bilingual program aims for students to be able to read, write, and communicate orally in both Mandarin and English. Students learn both languages through their core subjects which include STEMinn and other inquiry focused levels. This program is for parents who want their children to achieve their highest possible fluency in both languages.

No, the program is only available in the elementary section at Stamford. The middle and high school curriculum includes a range of specialty subjects which require the core language focus to be English. Students will still receive daily world language instruction in these grades.

English and Mandarin

Students in the bilingual program receive Mandarin instruction during the daily world language lessons in order to fully support their Mandarin language development skills. Therefore, they are unable to also select Spanish as a language option.

Our Mandarin curriculum follows our highly-successful Stamford Singapore curriculum which is taught using simplified characters.

At Stamford, we believe that there are great learning opportunities also outside the classroom. Beginning at pre-primary, students go on half-day excursions to experience nature and explore the world outside the classroom. As students progress through Stamford to upper elementary and beyond they will join our camp experiences. Throughout the year, students also visit local parks and fields as part of the PE curriculum and for team-building activities.

Stamford is developing our basketball, swimming and soccer/football teams. We actively participate in competitive opportunities with other schools whenever possible.

Stamford has a musical ensemble that performs concerts twice a year. We also support students in the arts with our twice-yearly musical performances, private instrument program and our wide variety of CCA’s that focus on drama, visual and performing arts as well as integrating these subjects into the core curriculum.

Students engage in a variety of charity projects throughout the year, some examples of this are beach clean-ups, performances at local elderly centers as well as fundraising activities. In grades 9 and 10 these activities are formalized in the curriculum as part of the Award for Young People as outlined in our curriculum guide.

Graduation and Post Graduate Information

The Stamford curriculum is rigorous and broad and balanced.  To prepare students for life beyond our doors, teachers incorporate a variety of hands-on projects and a diverse range of subjects. Upon graduation, students receive a Stamford American High School Diploma and the option of the IBDP, both accepted at top universities around the world. 

Students can choose to participate in the IB Diploma Programme which begins from Grade 11 until graduation in Grade 12. Students not in the IB Diploma program will continue to study the rigorous Stamford curriculum.

We offer three graduating pathways. All of our graduation pathways include a Stamford American High School Diploma which is recognized in countries around the world. Some students seeking additional challenge may choose to pursue the International Baccalaureate ‘Course’ qualification or the International Baccalaureate ‘Diploma’ qualification, which both have their own unique set of requirements.

Stamford currently offers the American Diploma and IBDP, we are currently exploring additional internship and other university course link options for our students.

Stamford Hong Kong currently only has students enrolled in Grade 11 this academic year, therefore we have no graduation statistics. However, we follow the curriculum of our sister school Stamford Singapore where 90% of students were accepted to their first or second choice university. Students from the class of 2021 will be attending universities and colleges in 18 different countries, across 5 different continents such as Northwestern University (US), University College London (UK), University of Toronto (CA), Australia National University (AU) and the Nanyang Technological University (SG).

Our student support team includes in-school nurses, counselors and our Student Welfare and Safety Principal all who provide additional care on our campus.

Our EAL or English as an additional language support, aid student learning in a variety of forms. It can occur in-class with the homeroom teacher or by one of our EAL specialists through in class push-in our pull-out support one on one or in small groups.

Stamford uses a personalized learning approach to support both, students with a variety of talents and challenges. When support from the homeroom teacher is not sufficient, we offer subject-specific support.