1960s - Preserving History with Eric Mache

Eric found his 'new' school to be very American and the kids and school culture quite different from his experience in the British system. He didn’t really fit in and found the 'laid back California attitude' unfamiliar. But, having learned photography from his father at a young age, and winning a Kodak-sponsored photo contest in the mid-60s, he decided he could contribute to student life at HKIS by documenting the school year and his classmates' lives from behind the camera lens. Little did he know this 'documenting' for the Orientale yearbook would eventually lead him to his eventual career path in filmmaking.

The impulse to chronicle is strong in Eric. He is a film editor, documentarian, actor, art director and long time illustrator having illustrated several books including “Rajac” which was printed in 7 different countries. Eric is based in New York and enjoys photography, music and art. In his professional life, he has restored films from the 1950s, mostly spaghetti westerns. He has also produced, written, and directed a documentary about legendary New York agent, Archer King, currently in post-production. In his spare time, he remains dedicated to HKIS, and has generously scanned boxes of old photos, letters and documents of HKIS for the Advancement Office in hopes of preserving the history of HKIS; his parents were instrumental to founding HKIS. We are grateful for his commitment and support of the school.

After the opening of the first campus in 1967, a second construction project began next to the existing building by drilling through a massive rockface. This was to be the new elementary school, which opened in September 1975 allowing for further expansion of the school.

Over a decade later in 1988, a brand new High School was built in the Red Hill area of Tai Tam, purpose-built for older students with facilities for sports, the arts, computing, and student services (counseling and library services). With the pressure of a growing demand for elementary international school spots in the early 1990’s, HKIS worked with the government to further expand their Tai Tam campus to include a dedicated Middle School on a piece of land adjacent to the High School. This allowed for grades 3-5 to move back to the original building (now the Upper Primary) and expand the capacity of the elementary school (now the Lower Primary) to accept more students for early education.

In 2006, a new Master Facilities Plan was developed, which included a redevelopment of the Lower Primary building, renovation of the Upper Primary, a Student Activity Center adjacent to the Middle School, and a makeover of the High School to include a state-of-the-art Performance Arts Center.

Over ten years later, the Repulse Bay phase is complete! Our youngest students enjoy a bespoke learning facility custom-built for play for the 4-8 year old. Our Upper Primary students learn and grow in a newly-renovated space that boasts spacious, flexible classrooms for inquiry-based learning.

As we move our focus to Tai Tam, the Power of Place has become our guiding light when it comes to learning from our environment. More than ever, our development projects must support the school’s world-class programming, designed to inspire students to have inquiring minds, compassionate hearts, and a passion for service to the community and to Hong Kong.