In November 2017, Government of Hangzhou Yuhang District, The United RDFZ Group of Schools/The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, King’s College School, Wimbledon and Dipont Education Group jointly held the opening ceremony of RDFZ King’s College School. RDFZ’s mission to provide differentiated education for the development of each student together with the holistic educational philosophy at King’s underpin the ethos of our school. RDFZ King’s College School Hangzhou strives to educate Chinese and international pupils aged 3-18 years old to be well-rounded, innovative and collaborative individuals, capable of appreciating their own, and others’, cultures and traditions. They will understand the importance of a world view and an international perspective in order to make a positive contribution to society in the future.

This is our original vision when establishing this school, and we never dare to forget it despite the lapse of time.

In the agreement, the school’s name was decided to be RDFZ King‘s College School Hangzhou. Since then, the name had been with us for 4 years. These 4 words mean to all our students, parents and staff an education utopia, a spiritual home and a place to raise our dreams.

In May 2021, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued a document entitled The Opinions on Standardizing the Development of Private Compulsory Education. It requires that the name of private compulsory education schools should not contain certain words including China, Chinese, National, World or Global; ‘should not contain names or abbreviations of public schools’; ‘should not contain transliterated words, names of foreign countries or places’; ‘should not contain proper names of foreign education institutions’, etc.

Thus, we have to say goodbye to the name of ‘RDFZ King’s College School’, a name that has accompanied us for 4 years, and to embrace a new school name.

After full consultation with our partners RDFZ and KCS, the school board decided after careful consideration a new school name, and it has been approved by the authority. Our School’s name, previously “RDFZ King’s College School”, now is officially “Hangzhou Dipont School of Arts and Science”.

Hangzhou Dipont School of Arts and Science

In this rapidly progressing modern campus, nearly 1500 students and hundreds of Chinese and foreign teachers are bringing the ideal of “A learning community, aspiring to excellence” into reality. The four parties’ cooperative school running model has achieved remarkable results. The curriculum system based on China’s national curriculum and integrating the world’s advanced teaching methods is being fully implemented. The CCAs for the purpose of exploring potential and personalised education provides a stage for every student to understand themselves and develop their expertise.

The integration of Chinese moral education and pastoral care system make the campus as warm as a family: our class of 2020 and 2021, all the graduates successfully entered the world’s top universities and started their next journey in life, the ship of the school, under the care and guidance of four big hands, has completed its first milestone from start-up to maturity.

The new name signifies enterprise, innovation and high aspirations; at the same time, we have not forgotten our original intention, drawing on the essence of ” Holistic Education” of King’s College School and the philosophy of ” provide differentiated education for the development of each student together ” of RDFZ School, and will continue to promote quality education, promote The school will continue to promote quality education, foster the holistic and personalized development of students, cultivate high moral character and lay the foundation for their lifelong development, which is the profound meaning of “Arts and Science”.

Changing of the name won’t affect us in getting strong support from RDFZ and KCS in advanced education ideas, school management, teaching and academic development, teacher recruitment and training, curriculum and subject construction, student activity and cultivation, student development and evaluation, as well as school culture construction. In one word, though the name has changed, the essence of cooperation remains the same.

Dipont Education Group

Now let’s talk about Dipont. Our parents should be familiar with Dipont:

Rooted in China and connected with the world, since the 1990s, the Dipont Education Group has been focusing on introducing modern education resources to China, exploring the integration of Eastern and Western education, and building the bridge for cultural exchanges between Chinese and overseas schools as well as the bridge for opportunities for Chinese students.

Inspired by China’s education reform and opening-up at the beginning of this century, Dipont began to introduce, localize and implement international curriculum programs at Chinese upper schools in an innovative way. Through 20 years of pioneering and persevering efforts, we’ve developed a unique path of holistic education supported by cutting-edge international education resources and the integration of successful Chinese and international education practices. We’ve won confidence from, and formed partnership with nearly 30 famous upper schools in China; we’ve established more than 30 international curriculum centers, delivering all three mainstream international curriculum programs, namely, A-level, IB and AP courses; we’ve helped to pave the way for over 30,000 Chinese upper school students towards their dreams.

With years of experience in international education and in serving Chinese families, and with the advantage of a full team of nearly 1000 Chinese and expat educators, Dipont has formed partnership with the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, No. 2 High School of ECNU, Nanjing Foreign Language School and King’s College London, to work on the successful establishment of four innovative K-12 schools in Hangzhou, Wuxi, Kunshan and Chengdu since 2013. These four schools are not a copy of our partner schools, but re-creation after absorbing all the modern education ideas. Each one of them was born out of the traditions of Chinese and foreign elite schools. With Dipont’s rich experience in education innovation, we integrate the essence of Eastern and Western education, and make the utmost efforts to create an inclusive environment for holistic education, cultivating young leaders with global vision for China’s future.

About “Arts and Science”

“Arts and Sciences” refers specifically to “Holistic Education”. Liberal arts and science education have a long history, beginning in ancient Greece and developing into a broad field of study encompassing the humanities, arts, social sciences and natural science disciplines.

We hope that the Arts and Sciences curriculum will help students build critical thinking, communication skills and problem-solving abilities.

The opening of RDFZ King’s College School, Hangzhou in September 2018 marks the first milestone of when our vision came into reality, embarking on a brand new journey.

RDFZ King’s College School Hangzhou was born from Dipont’s decades-long exploration in practicing international education in China. Its origin derives from our persistence in creating rich and diverse education experience for Chinese families, and from our firm goal to make Chinese kids learned scholars with virtues.

Today, let us bid farewell to the old school name; meanwhile, let us have confidence that we stand on the cutting edge of education innovation, and we are leading our school to embrace a new future.

The new name, representing our legacy and innovation, is now officially Hangzhou Dipont School of Arts and Science. And we expect that: A learning community aspiring to excellence.

School Board of RDFZ King’s College School

School Board of Hangzhou Dipont School of Arts and Science

August 31st, 2022