Part B — Admissions & Enrollment Policies (B.1–B.12)

Purpose. Governs who may be admitted, how, and by whom, across PYP, MYP, DP and HCP.

1. Eligibility. Open to applicants of any nationality, culture, or belief, subject to age-appropriate placement and the school's capacity to serve the student well (B.6). HIS complies with national education law on enrollment (A.14).
2. Age placement. Students are placed by age cohort as of the cut-off date published annually. Placement outside cohort is exceptional, requires Division Principal approval, and is decided in the child's developmental interest, not for competitive advantage.
3. Entry points. Principal entry at K, G6, and G11 (DP/HCP); other grades as places exist. G12 entry is normally not accepted (IB/HCP continuity), except for transfers within IB World Schools.
4. Process. Application → records review → age-appropriate assessment and student visit day → family interview → decision. Every applicant family receives the same process; assessments are described honestly in advance; no preparation industry is rewarded — tasks are designed to show disposition, not coaching.
5. The family interview is a two-way examination of fit: the school explains the sandbox — mastery requirements, internships, houses, the Parent Code (R.2) — and verifies the family genuinely wants this model, not merely a prestigious school.
6. Decision authority. Admissions Committee (Director of Admissions, Division Principal, and a Head Coach) recommends; Head of School decides. No individual — including board members and owners — may admit a student outside this process.
7. Communication. Decisions are final for the cycle and reasons are not negotiated (R.2 §5), though the school explains its process on request. Unsuccessful applicants may reapply at the next entry point.
8. Records. Admissions data is handled under O.1 and destroyed on the published schedule for unsuccessful applicants.

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Purpose. Defines what "fit with the sandbox" means, so selection is consistent and auditable.

Every applicant is assessed on four weighted domains, by grade-appropriate means:

1. Learning readiness — literacy, numeracy, and conceptual reasoning appropriate to the entry grade; capacity to access a rigorous bilingual IB program (with B.5 support where applicable).
2. Doer disposition — the heart of HIS selection: curiosity, agency, persistence, and evidence of making and trying — projects, collections, ventures, performances, things built or attempted, however small. In young children: play, questions, and independence. We admit children who do, or plainly want to.
3. Character indicators — kindness, honesty, and response to difficulty, observed in the visit day and referenced in prior-school reports.
4. Family partnership — understanding of and commitment to the model: the five parent commitments (R.2), the mastery and internship requirements, the house system's permanence.

Rubric discipline. Each domain is scored on a published internal rubric by at least two assessors; scores and notes are recorded; the Committee decides on the whole picture, with domain 2 weighted highest from G6 upward. Not criteria: nationality, religion, finances (need-blind), donor status, and connections. Siblings and staff children receive priority consideration (B.4) but must meet the same criteria.

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Purpose. Governs the legal relationship between HIS and the family.

1. The contract. Admission becomes enrollment on signature of the Enrollment Contract and payment of the enrollment deposit. The contract incorporates by reference: the Student Code (F.1), the Parent Code & Partnership Agreement (R.2), the Tuition & Fees Policy (N.1), and the current Handbooks. Signing enrolls the family, not only the child.
2. Conditions. Enrollment may be conditional (B.11 probationary terms, B.5 language support plans, B.6 support plans); conditions are written, time-bound, and reviewed as stated.
3. Re-enrollment is annual and not automatic in name but presumed in practice: offered each spring except where (a) fees are unpaid (N.8), (b) a support plan review concludes the school can no longer serve the student well (B.6), (c) partnership has broken down under R.2 §7, or (d) discipline outcomes under F.3 apply. Non-renewal for (b)–(d) requires Head of School decision, written reasons, and the R.5 appeal channel.
4. Accuracy. The contract is void where obtained by materially false information (health, custody, records, identity); withdrawal in such cases follows B.10 with N.2 refund terms.

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1. Qualified applicants without places are offered the waitlist, ordered by admission criteria (B.2), not by application date or deposits. Waitlist position is not disclosed numerically; families receive honest estimates.
2. Priority consideration (a tie-break among qualified applicants, never a waiver of criteria) is given in order to: (a) siblings of enrolled students; (b) children of HIS staff; (c) returning families and children of alumni; (d) applicants whose entry restores gender or cohort balance.
3. Waitlists expire at each season's end; families reconfirm interest to remain.
4. No payment, gift, or relationship moves a waitlist position (M.14, A.16). Any attempt is recorded and may disqualify the application.

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1. HIS admits promising students whose English (or other instruction-language) proficiency is still developing, where assessment shows they can reach curriculum access within a defined support period.
2. Applicants are assessed with age-appropriate language instruments; results feed an EAL support plan (E.8): intensity, duration, review dates, and any conditional-enrollment terms (B.3).
3. Capacity honesty: each division admits EAL learners only up to the support capacity that lets every child succeed; beyond that, applicants are advised to the waitlist rather than set up to struggle.
4. From G10 entry upward, proficiency requirements rise (DP/HCP access); the school states plainly when a student's language runway is too short for the diploma years and advises alternatives.
5. Mother tongue is treated as an asset throughout (C.1); EAL status never affects house assignment, program access, or the doer-disposition assessment, which may be conducted in the child's strongest language where feasible.

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1. HIS welcomes learning diversity within an honest boundary: we admit every student we can serve well, and no student we cannot — admission without adequate support is not inclusion (C.4, A.16).
2. Families must disclose known assessments, diagnoses, and support histories; the school treats disclosure as partnership, never as automatic disqualification, and non-disclosure as a B.3 §4 matter.
3. The Learning Support team reviews every flagged application: required accommodations, staffing, and whether the full HIS program — including mastery, labs, and internships in later years — is accessible with reasonable adjustment.
4. Admission may carry a written Individual Support Plan with review dates (B.3 §2). The plan travels into the ISDP (E.17) at enrollment.
5. Capacity limits per cohort are set annually and published to the admissions team; when reached, the school says so honestly rather than diluting support.
6. Refusals on capacity-to-serve grounds are made by the Head of School, in writing, with the evidence summarized; families may use R.5.

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1. Mid-year entry is accepted where places exist and transition is in the child's interest; the bar rises with grade (IB continuity, mastery progression, house integration).
2. Placement follows records review and assessment (B.1 §4 compressed); transfer credit and programme placement (MYP year, DP subjects, HCP pathway) are decided by the Division Principal with the relevant coordinators.
3. Into DP/HCP (G11–12): entry after the first term of G11 is normally refused; IB World School transfers are placed per IB transfer rules; HCP entry follows C.42.
4. Every mid-year entrant receives a structured landing: assigned house immediately (B.12), a Head Coach conference within two weeks, a buddy from their house, and an initial ISDP within the first term (E.17).
5. DP ↔ HCP movement for enrolled students follows C.42 windows and is a placement decision, not an admissions decision.

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1. HIS sponsors student visas and residence permits where national law allows, and complies fully with immigration law and reporting duties (A.14).
2. The school verifies guardianship arrangements for any student not living with a parent; students under [age set by national law and school policy] must live with a parent or an approved guardian; guardianship arrangements are safeguarding-checked (J.1) and recorded.
3. Families bear visa costs unless contracted otherwise; the school provides documentation promptly and honestly — it will not misstate enrollment facts for immigration purposes under any circumstances.
4. Enrollment ends automatically where a student loses the legal right to reside, subject to the school's duty to assist the family's remediation efforts first.
5. International families receive the R.11 language-access services through admissions and enrollment.

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Principle. Money should not decide who gets the sandbox. Admissions is need-blind (B.1); aid and scholarships are decided after admission, by a separate committee, against separate criteria.

1. Need-based Financial Aid — for admitted families who cannot pay full fees: means-tested by documented assessment; awards from partial to [maximum]% of tuition; renewed annually on re-verification; confidential to the Aid Committee (never visible to coaches or admissions).
2. Merit Scholarships — for demonstrated excellence in academics, arts, sport, or entrepreneurship: awarded on published criteria by the Scholarship Committee; carry named obligations (good standing under F.1, participation expectations); reviewed annually.
3. A family may hold both; combined awards are capped at [cap]%.
4. Funding and governance. Aid and scholarship funds are managed under FIN discipline (N.11, FIN-02 equivalent: sourcing, allocation, audit); donors may fund scholarships but never select recipients (N.5).
5. Dignity. Aid status is confidential; aided students are indistinguishable in every school experience — trips, equipment, internships, house life. Any program cost that would exclude an aided student is covered by the fund.
6. Misrepresentation of financial circumstances ends the award and is a B.3 §4 matter.

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1. Families withdraw by written notice per the Enrollment Contract notice period; fee consequences follow N.2.
2. Every withdrawal receives an exit interview — the school learns from every family that leaves — and an exit record distinguishing: relocation, fit, dissatisfaction, non-renewal, disciplinary.
3. Records and transcripts are transferred promptly under O.2; no transcript is withheld except as N.8 lawfully permits.
4. The school assists onward placement honestly (references reflect the record as it is — M.4 §1).
5. Withdrawn students remain members of their house (T.6) and may rejoin HIS through B.7 with priority consideration (B.4 §2c).

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1. Probationary enrollment is a defined trial with support, not a trap: used where the Committee sees strong promise with a specific, resolvable risk (academic gap, language runway, behavioral history, mid-year landing).
2. Terms are written into the contract (B.3 §2): the specific expectations, the support the school will provide, the review dates (normally one and two terms), and the evidence that will be weighed.
3. The student's Head Coach owns the probation plan inside the ISDP; the family receives progress updates at each review.
4. Outcomes at review: confirmation (the norm), extension (once, with revised support), or non-confirmation — a Head of School decision with written reasons, N.2 refund terms, and R.5 appeal.
5. Probationary status is confidential, invisible to peers, and carries full membership of everything — house, programs, teams — throughout.

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1. Every student is assigned to one of the eight houses — Buhu, Tsen, Khavt, Maza, Irve, Khant, Tsa, Yang — at enrollment, before the first day. Assignment is for life (T.2): it survives withdrawal, re-entry, and graduation.
2. Method: balanced random draw within cohort, adjusted only for: (a) siblings and children of alumni join the family house by default (family may opt for the draw — the choice, once made, is final); (b) cohort balance across houses.
3. Nothing else influences assignment: not preference, payment, status, ability, or nationality (A.16). Houses must be equal in everything but color and animal.
4. Assignment is revealed as a rite of welcome — each new student is inducted by their house at the opening ceremony, greeted by housemates and their Head of House.
5. Reassignment does not exist. In rare welfare cases (e.g., a safeguarding conflict inside a house), accommodations are made within the house structure (different mentor, different competition group), not by transfer; a transfer would break the promise the system makes to every member. Exceptional cases go to the Head of School, whose written decision is final.

Part B is reviewed annually before the admissions season opens, by the Director of Admissions with the Division Principals and the Aid Committee chair; B.9 changes require Board approval. Published summaries for families appear in the admissions materials and Parent Handbook (R.1); this document is authoritative. Where a translation is provided, the English version prevails.

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