It is with tremendous sadness that we share the news that ICHK’s founding Head of School Roy White, has passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in Mozambique.

Our school’s debt to Roy is incalculable. The simple fact is that, without Roy’s initial enthusiasm, energy, determination, and insight, ICHK Secondary would not exist in its current, or indeed any, form. The challenges that Roy faced and overcame in establishing our school would have defeated any lesser person and his success stands as testimony to his selfless, impassioned dedication to education, a cause in which he believed with all his heart and soul. We know of no one more committed to the transformative potential of education than Roy and no one more skilful in ensuring that this potential be realised in action.

Roy was appointed as Head of ICHK in 2008, after the campus at Sha Tau Kok was awarded to the school’s original sponsoring body. His brief was deceptively straightforward - develop a school that,​ ​in​ ​feel​ ​and​ ​philosophy,​ ​matched​ ​the​ ​visions​ ​of​ its​ ​primary feeders;​ ​small,​ ​student​ ​centred,​ ​community​ ​focused, and dedicated to the holistic development of young learners as fully-rounded persons of character.

Yet the obstacles to completion were great. There was a campus to renovate, a staff to appoint, government regulations to meet, a board to recruit, a curriculum to develop, policies to write, and countless other jobs involved with the setting up of a school. There was very little money and parents needed to be convinced to take a leap of faith, sending their children to a new school, with no track record, in the most far-flung north-eastern corner of the New Territories. To Sha Tau Kok, a sleepy fishing village, remote and unfashionable, lost among the hills along the Chinese border.

But Roy thrived on challenge; obstacles were always a provocation to thought, never a source of frustration. He rolled up his sleeves, drew up his check-list, sorted his priorities, and got down to work.

ICHK opened on time the following August and, over the next several years, Roy worked tirelessly to establish it​ ​as​ ​a​ ​reputable,​ vital ​concern,​​​ suffused with energy and purpose, ​leading it ​through​ ​CIE,​ ​IBO​ ​and​ CIS​ ​accreditation,​ ​so​ ​that​ ​the​ ​administrative hallmarks of​ ​a​ bona​ ​fide​ ​international​ ​secondary​ ​school​ ​were​ ​fully​ ​in​ ​place.

However it was not administrative staging-posts that motivated Roy. He was impelled always by what he saw as the sacred vocation of teaching, of leading and inspiring young people, and believed above all else that, for students to be happy and confident, they must develop a sense of belonging to something unique and special. He relished the work that was involved in shaping a school’s vision and culture and, the sure sign of a strong and confident leader, he surrounded himself with thoughtful people, who shared his commitment to holistic education - many of whom remain at ICHK to this day.

Roy’s true legacy in education is that he blazed a path to betterment that others followed, inspired by his vision and energy, emboldened by his strength and fortitude.

ICHK is Roy’s legacy. All of us at ICHK are deeply indebted to him; we feel his loss deeply and mourn his passing, which comes far too soon.

Our thoughts are with his wife Angela and his daughter Lia.