Keystone Academy of

Beijing

Welcome to Keystone Academy. First, our name says a great deal about who we are and what we are doing. We know that a keystone is the central piece of an archway. It brings the two sides of the arch together, bears their weight, and makes the entire structure stable and durable. Our major “keystone” fuses the best of Chinese pedagogy and practice with the best of the American boarding school tradition. We have added to this a curricular base drawn from the global education movement and its insights. The result is a powerful combination, academically excellent and educationally innovative. Second, we have other distinctive “keystones.” Our classes will be small, 18 in the elementary years and around 14 from grade 6 upwards. Although all our younger students in the primary division will be day students, most students in the middle and high schools will be full boarders. Here they will learn to live together and to develop true character in a residential setting notable for its care and compassion. Their teachers will live on campus with them, and teach and guide them around the clock. Keystone Academy will be a partner with significant boarding schools around the world, most particularly the East Coast of the United States, where a number of our senior administrators have served in leadership positions over many years. We shall create a world-class boarding school right here in Beijing. Full immersion in bilingual education, Chinese and English, is a “keystone” for the younger grades, yielding more to English as the students mature. Our school will prepare Chinese students for fine colleges and universities in America and other English-speaking countries. When they leave Keystone Academy, they will be fluent in at least two languages, and they will be proud ambassadors for their country. Running through all years of the curriculum is The Chinese Thread that focuses on Chinese history, culture, and identity. We shall also attract a small, but significant group of non-Chinese students who wish to gain an understanding, through their schooling, of the glorious language, rich legacy and proud future of China.