The Mastery Transcript journey is underway for our senior students, with ICHK one of only five schools in the world to offer the qualification.

We are very proud to unveil the new curriculum strand, as we push forward the boundaries of assessment.

It has been developed as a supplement to the IB Diploma, and is aimed at showcasing to universities and employers, the full range of strengths of our students as well-rounded, responsible, ethical people – those qualities that examinations just do not capture.

Pace with this new qualification is picking up tremendously, such is the interest that universities are showing in it – and we hope that the very first cohort of students ever to be awarded a Mastery Transcript will leave school this year.

We will be the first school in Hong Kong and one of only five globally, offering the qualification, which has been developed and structured to meet the provisions of the Mastery Transcript Consortium.

The aim is to value and recognise graduating students for all their attributes, capabilities, passions, achievements, and interests, not just for their academic abilities.

Students in Years 13 are already working towards the qualification as part of newly structured timetables, given the cancellation of IB examinations.

Their many contributions to school, including CAS activities, sporting endeavours, community service, other projects and activities over the past three years will be offered for consideration, as suggested by the credits shown in the image.

From August, the journey towards Mastery will begin in Years 10 and 11, when all students will be offered opportunities to become ‘journeymen’, through engagement with projects, activities, internships, and other learning experiences.

It is the culmination of an approach that we have been developing and refining for a number of years, through our innovations to timetable, curriculum and pedagogy. These include Free Learning, Human Technologies, Deep Learning and outdoor learning, all of which serve to offer our students more choice, more flexibility, different work practices and more opportunities to develop skills and attributes which are not addressed by examinations.

In the meantime we congratulate those Year 13 students who have seized the opportunity to work towards the qualification, demonstrating the resilience, commitment and organisational skills that we aim to develop in all our students. Already these students have completed eight credits, with another 33 in progress. Each student is working on their own plan, to allow them to complete the process of documenting their learning, and thus earning their desired credits. This process is being guided by a team of teachers, who are helping students to effectively use the time freed up by cancelled exams.