The Hongkongers studying for free in Britain's state boarding schools
A high-quality education, and all there is to pay is the costs of boarding. Plus students pay less to go on to university. All you need is a British or European passport
Phoebe Hung Ching-laam has the kind of school life that reads like the plot of an Enid Blyton novel. For the past four years she has been a boarder at Sexey's School: a 124-year-old institution set in picturesque countryside close to a working watermill in Somerset, southwest England.
The school boasts a mix of old and new buildings, sports facilities that include a cricket pavilion, modern information and communications technology suites and a drama studio, plus a purpose-built sixth form block.
Phoebe loves it there and, despite being a long flight away from her parents in Tseung Kwan O, she has thrived and made friends from all over the world. She is head girl for boarders.
The school has a good academic record with 90 per cent of its students going on to university. It was also recently voted one of the 22 best state secondary schools out of 3,000 in Britain by magazine in its annual state schools guide.
But what makes Phoebe's school life more interesting is that education at Sexey's costs her parents nothing. All they pay is a boarding fee of about HK$110,000 a year - only slightly more than a secondary place at an ESF school in Hong Kong and about one third the cost of most independent boarding schools in Britain.
As an added bonus, when Phoebe finishes her A-levels this term, her time at Sexey's School will qualify her for a place at a university in England as a home student. This will mean her university fees will be about £9,000 (HK$110,000) a year, much less than those paid by her peers from schools in Hong Kong who are charged an overseas student rate.
