Tan Yifan

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WHITTLE School & Studios vice principal Jonny Franks believes that the newly issued Qianhai plan has strengthened his confidence to live and work in the area. He told Shenzhen Daily on Friday that Qianhai is “a wonderful place to live” and “it’s a pleasure to be right at the heart of that [new development phase] in Qianhai.”

Franks left the leadership of the top-ranking girls’ school Wycombe Abbey School in England and joined Whittle School & Studio in Mawan area two years ago. Franks said his team has taken advantage of Qianhai and manage to enroll about 1,000 students so far, with all foreign teachers returned despite the pandemic.

“We love to be where we are in Qianhai. It seems like the most exciting part of Shenzhen. It’s a really innovative, modern, progressive area with all sorts of government directives to make it grow quickly and impressively,” said Franks. “I think it’s going to be one of the most exciting places over the next five to 10 years. We will see an explosion of international schools, which will attract workers from all over the world to come and settle in Shenzhen, particularly in Qianhai and we will have the chance to educate their children.”

Frank said the school has balanced between the Chinese national curriculum and practices from other education systems around the world. “Our teaching curriculum is in line with the national curriculum but also includes some additional skills and competences, especially in the areas of project-based learning,” he said.

The Whittle School & Studios opened in 2019 with 700 students enrolled in the first school year.