Chess will be a co-curricular activity at Malvern College Hong Kong

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Today’s teachers must fight against media and computer games to get their student’s attention, and maintaining the interest of 40 young children for over an hour has become a challenge. But the humble game of chess, played on a simple black-and white chequered board, captivated the young children participating in a presentation and chess lesson organised by Malvern College Hong Kong, and kept their attention for over an hour on the 9th December 2017 in the Science Park.

The college, which is scheduled to open in 2018, invited prospective families to hear about the institution’s teaching philosophy. Largely following the ethos of Britain’s Malvern College, and offering a curriculum based on over 150 years of British boarding school experience, the elite school is developing a programme with a strong emphasis on whole-person development.

Families also learned about the beneficial effects of chess, a game which the school is planning to introduce as a compulsory co-curricular activity. “Educating the whole person is very important to me,” said Dr Robin Lister, founding headmaster of Malvern College Hong Kong. “Children have to work very hard to get good exam results. However, that is not enough for their happiness and future career development. We have to provide opportunities for them to fully develop their personality and character. Co-curricular activities, which put an emphasis on the child, are crucial to their development,” Lister said.

Malvern College, which has four Nobel prize winners among its alumni, will place an emphasis on science and maths. Although students’ chess abilities will not be marked, the school is researching how to incorporate the game into the maths curriculum. “There are great cross-overs [between maths and chess], so we will bring it into the maths curriculum wherever it is appropriate,” Lister said.