Lessons for life

Swire has long focused on giving back to the communities where its businesses operate, and there is no better illustration of this than in the many educational opportunities the Group offers to young people. Taikoo Primary School, which celebrated its 102nd anniversary earlier this year, is the epitome of Swire’s commitment to education. In this edition of Swire News, we explore Swire’s evolving partnership with Taikoo Primary School, and how today the Group’s commitment to the school it founded over a century ago is stronger than ever.

Taikoo Primary School is located in Quarry Bay, in Hong Kong’s Eastern District – an area that still retains very strong links to Swire. The school was established in 1923 to cater for the needs of Swire’s employees at Taikoo Dockyard and Taikoo Sugar Refinery. “At that time, it was recognised that we needed to provide education for the children of our staff,” says Richard Sell, Chairman of the Swire Group Philanthropy Council and Chair of the Taikoo Primary School Sponsoring Body Board.

Since those early days, the school has been through several changes. In 1947, it became an aided primary school – which is to say government-funded, with additional financial support from Swire. In 1966, Swire donated land and paid half the construction costs for a new school building and in 2002, the school moved again into a new campus financed and developed by Swire Properties. In recent years, the school has undergone various reforms to help it keep up with the times and ensure it continues to strive for excellence. “Today, we are as committed as ever to supporting the school and ensuring it offers a progressive educational environment that meets the changing needs of the community it serves,” says Richard.

Taikoo Primary School is the only school in Hong Kong that has a listed company or conglomerate acting as its School Sponsoring Body. This unique distinction means that Swire, which, since 2007, has overseen the school’s Incorporated Management Committee (“IMC”) – the equivalent to the school board – is essentially responsible for governance. Swire’s influence is both tangible and intangible. On top of the government funding received by the school, the Group contributes a sum each year that, for the past decade, has been used primarily for language-related staffing, thereby enhancing English and Putonghua taught at the school. Swire’s operating companies also enrich the overall learning experience by linking the curriculum with real-life learning to offer its young students early exposure to life skills through Swire’s wide range of businesses.

Today, Taikoo Primary School provides all-round education for some 650 children aged between six and 12, while following an expansive curriculum. It continues to be sought-after by parents, and the application volume has nearly doubled over the past two years. So just how does the relationship between Taikoo Primary School and Swire work in practical terms, and how is it helping to enrich educational opportunities for students at the school?

Transformation through governance

Tina Chan, who is Group Head of Philanthropy at John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Limited and who also holds the position of School Supervisor on the IMC, explains: “The Incorporated Management Committee comprises senior staff from across the Swire Group, who apply via an internal selection process, and are keen to bring new energy and invaluable insights. The IMC’s core responsibilities include approving budgets and hiring staff, as well as providing advice to ensure the school runs smoothly. Its members have expertise in finance, public relations, digital skills and more.

“Taikoo Primary School represents the culmination of Swire’s commitment to our communities, our values and business expertise, all brought together in an educational setting. You can see how elements such as excellence, endeavour and continuity are fully reflected in how we govern the school. We also enhance the learning environment through connections to our businesses and people.” It is this link with the Group that gives the school’s educational offerings a real-world edge.

Implementing 'positive education'

When it comes to children’s mental wellbeing, Taikoo Primary School walks the talk through “positive education”, which influences everything from its policies to every corner of the campus, including hardware, sports, timetable and curriculum, and experiential learning. And it’s not just the students who feel it; teachers and parents benefit too, via teacher training programmes and workshops designed for parents. The “positive education” approach is guided by the concept of “positive psychology”, so as to foster character strengths, resilience, positive emotions and wellbeing, alongside academic achievement. Ms Ip Bik Kwan, well-known in Hong Kong as an advocate for positive education and innovation within education, became the school’s Principal in 2023. “Surveys show that when we focus on wellbeing, the students genuinely enjoy their time at school,” she says.

A day-to-day example of “positive education” in action is the school’s timetable, which has been modified to accommodate more time for holistic development. Every afternoon, homework tutorial lessons are held, with the goal of guiding students to do homework in a smarter way, while providing incentives for those who finish homework early. These studious individuals can then choose to play their favourite sports or undertake activities that are of especial interest to them.

The high quality of the school’s educational offerings and its numerous facilities are well-regarded in the community it serves. They include the library’s reading programme “Build Reading Culture” funded by the Swire Trust, and a room dedicated to STEAM education (an integrated teaching approach covering science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics) that features elements of robotics and artificial intelligence. A key aspect of Taikoo Primary School is the belief that children should be equipped with the life skills to cope with the future, to overcome challenges and to solve problems.

A recent initiative concerns activities during summer holidays. Traditionally, students are required to complete stacks of workbooks over summer. But last year the school replaced this with a self-directed learning project, allowing students to showcase their learning in their preferred format. This year’s summer activity drew on Swire’s strong commitment to marine conservation. The Swire Trust provided students with a list of NGO partners with which it engages on marine issues, and they were encouraged to visit the Swire Marine Discovery Centre at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, as well as the Swire Institute of Marine Science on the Cape D’Aguilar peninsula. These activities aim to equip children with unique insights into marine conservation and help to shape attitudes for the future, by encouraging them to form their own views on real-world issues as they grow.

“These are all examples of how we are striving to create a positive, innovative and creative learning environment where children can flourish,” says Tina.

First glimpses into business

Students also benefit from Swire’s governance because of the opportunities they have to gain an understanding of the wider world, with the support of the Group’s operating companies. In collaboration with Cathay Pacific, for example, students discovered more about the relationship between food and health, as well as customer service, through interactive learning and games conducted in a simulated cabin. At Taikoo Place’s Taikoo Square, students learned about Swire Properties’ commitment to building a community where humans and nature can co‑exist, via a biodiversity nature tour and painting class. During another class, the children visited the Group’s EAST Hong Kong hotel, where they learned to bake cookies, practise table manners, and hone their English. And at Vogue Laundry, students took part in an experiential learning workshop that focused on identifying different types of clothing materials and learning about stain removal techniques, and they even took part in a school uniform folding competition.

“By collaborating with Swire companies, not only are we sowing the first seeds of real-world knowledge, we are also strengthening that sense of ‘positive education’, which brings huge benefits not just to the children, but to their teachers and even parents,” says Principal Ip.

Lessons for the future

Swire will continue to deepen its support for the school. “More and more,” says Tina, “we will introduce innovative, smart elements across every single subject. We will also encourage more emphasis on mental as well as physical wellness, so that every child is well catered for and can achieve their very best.”

There is also a focus on developing the teaching staff, highlighted by the recent Education for Sustainable Development programme designed by Swire Trust’s NGO partner, Ednovators. Several of the school’s educators took part, and were trained in cross-curricular teaching on marine conservation. This course was complemented by an immersive storytelling programme run by the National Geographic Society, that further enhanced the teachers’ pedagogical toolkit. School staff have also participated in leadership skills training provided by Swire Group operating companies and the Swire Trust, with some teachers even taking study trips abroad. These initiatives have helped ensure that Taikoo Primary School has motivated teaching staff who bring best-in-class teaching skills to the daily curriculum.

A final word from Richard Sell: “Our efforts reaffirm our commitment to the school and demonstrate how we are providing for the generations to come. We want to ensure that our businesses have a direct impact on the communities which form the bedrock of our success. Taikoo Primary School is a key embodiment of our values and our ongoing commitment to the community. I’m looking forward to seeing how the school develops further as it continues to innovate and to evolve.”