Timeline of Events

The timeline below highlights some of the major decisions that have been made and ends with key dates for the future.

23 Aug 2022 All staff and students are back at Borrett Road.

15 Aug 2022 Teachers start work at the campus and preparing for teaching and learning.

8 Aug 2022 Support staff move into the campus and start unpacking and setting up the school.

17 May 2022 Series of inspections continuing at Borrett Road following inspection completion of fire and water services

18 Mar 2022 More spaces coming in shape at Borrett Road

11 Feb 2022 Removal of the external scaffolding at Borrett Road

26 Jan 2022 The dismantlement of bamboo scaffolding begins at Borrett Road

8 Dec 2021 Topping out ceremony held at Borrett Road site, celebrating the second major milestone in completing the superstructure of the new campus.

24 Nov 2020 Superstructure work started at the Site

23 Nov 2020 Excavation and piling work completed

24 Oct 2019 Excavation and piling work started at Borrett Road

23 Oct 2019 Groundbreaking Ceremony at Borrett Road, marking the next milestone of the project.

30 Sep 2019 Demolition finished at Borrett Road.

19 Jun 2019 Heavy demolition work begins at Borrett Road.

17 Dec 2018 Demolition soft work begins at Borrett Road.

14 Dec 2018 The ESF announce that the ESF Board and the EDB have approved a contractor.

10th Jan 2018 First day at the new Sha Tin campuses.

14th Dec 2017 Island School leaves Borrett Road.

Jul 2017 At the Shatin District Council (Education & Welfare Committee) meeting, 4 July, ESF secured final support for Island School to decant to two campuses in Shatin Wai and Tai Wai while the buildings on Borrett Road are redeveloped. Refurbishment work at the sites starts.

Jan 2017 Decant team focus on working with EDB to progress through the Legislative Council (Legco) approval process.

Dec 2016 Three new decant managers appointed. Teachers: Andrea Walsh, Paul Bentham, Kate Sommerville.

Nov 2016. EDB have ongoing discussions with the relevant district councils to confirm the sites to be allocated to ESF.

Oct 2016 Belinda Greer, ESF Chief Executive Officer, announces that the ESF Island School redevelopment project has now secured Category B+ status, a major step forward that Island School have been waiting for since 2014. This means that the HK Government has confirmed their support for the project, including decanting arrangements and funding a portion of the costs.

Aug 2016 Finalise plans for the redeveloped building at Borrett Road.

Jun 2016 Finalise refurbishment plans for the decant schools to ensure work starts as soon as confirmation is received from EDB.

Apr 2016 A travel survey looking at different options for students and staff to get to Sha Tin Wai and Tai Wai was conducted. The results show that most students plan to get to the new schools via MTR. It takes 30 to 36 minutes to travel from Central to Tai Wai or Sha Tin Wai MTR stations.

Oct 2015 Curriculum leaders and senior staff drew up timetables and wellbeing plans to be used at the decant sites. Department teams plan how they will ensure excellence in teaching and learning.

Feb 2015 to Jun 2016 Staff, parents and students representatives visited the decant sites.

May 2014 Full parent survey conducted with Island School and all partner primary schools. Parents were asked for their opinion on what to prioritise during the decant process and to raise any concerns that they might have at this early stage.

Jan 2014 Architects appointed – Thomas Chow (TCA) and Schmidt Hammer & Lassen (SHL). Both firms met with teachers to understand the school’s requirements for 21st Century learning and the refurbishments necessary at the decant.

Dec 2013 The decant (move to temporary location) planning process started including communicating the plans to everyone within the Island School community.

Oct 2013 The search settled on two sites offered by the EDB, one in Sha Tin Wai and the other in Tai Wai. Both are large – large enough to accommodate half of Island School with large classrooms and with good transport links. These sites are the best of the sites offered. EDB made it clear that there were no further sites to offer to ESF, and so these sites were provisionally allocated to Island School.

Spring to Summer 2013 ESF and Island School worked with the Education Bureau (EDB) to find a possible temporary site for the whole school while the Borrett Road buildings are being redeveloped. A total of 12 sites were considered among which only one primary school site on Hong Kong Island was available but it was too small. Other sites were in unacceptable locations such as Tseung Kwan O. Some others were in a poor state of repair.

Summer 2012 It was decided that rebuilding sections of the school while other parts are preserved for normal school activities was not feasible as school life on a building site, for the period of redevelopment, seven to ten years, was deemed unacceptable.

Spring 2012 ESF reached an agreement with the Government on the phasing out of the subvention, which included an agreement to subsidise the redevelopment of Island School. Additional funds needed will be supplied by ESF.

2006 ESF and Island School met with the Education Bureau to talk about options and funding for the redevelopment of Island School.

Future Dates

Aug 2022 Target date for Island School to move into the new building at Borrett Road.