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Case Study: Harrow International School, Shanghai
Shanghai, China
Location: Shanghai, China
School Type: British Curriculum International School
Focus: Supporting EAL learners with independent learning and revision
Courses: Cambridge IGCSE PE and Edexcel A-Level PE
Harrow International School Shanghai is part of the prestigious Harrow family of schools, a network of 11 Harrow-branded schools across Asia, offering a British-style education for students aged 18 months to 18 years. Following the English National Curriculum, pupils progress from the Early Years through to A-Levels in Sixth Form.
The school combines academic excellence with a strong focus on character development and leadership, guided by Harrow's core values of Courage, Honour, Humility and Fellowship, preparing students to become confident, compassionate and globally minded leaders.
Supporting PE in an international learning environment
"The feedback from my students is that they do like it!"
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
At Harrow International School Shanghai, PE sits alongside a broad academic curriculum where students are encouraged to pursue ambitious pathways and achieve highly across a range of subjects.
For the Director of Sport, Kit Wapshott, one of the challenges of delivering qualification PE is ensuring that students can access and engage with complex theoretical content while learning in an environment where English is not always their first language.
With students studying both Cambridge IGCSE PE and Edexcel A-Level PE, the department required a tool that could support learning beyond the classroom while promoting independent learning that suited individual student needs.
"I'd previously used The EverLearner at my school back in England as well, so I knew the benefits of having something that is online and through a computer can help those with English as an additional language. It gives them that little bit of time, but also the ability to translate what's on the page, and I suppose get support that way through their learning."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
For Kit and his PE and sport department, accessibility wasn't simply about convenience. It was about giving every student the opportunity to engage with challenging content and learn with confidence.
Enabling students to learn at their own pace
One of the biggest advantages of The EverLearner has been the flexibility it offers for students when engaging with PE and Sport theory content.
In any PE lesson, students absorb information at different speeds, which is even more apparent when classrooms include students from diverse linguistic backgrounds, like Harrow International School in Shanghai with 80% Mandarin-speaking learners.
By allowing students to revisit videos, review content and complete tasks independently, the platform provides a learning experience that’s adaptable, rather than forcing or assuming every child progresses at the same pace.
As noted by Kit:
"I've got some that will finish in minutes and I've got some that will finish in 20 minutes."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
This flexibility allows students to take ownership of their learning while ensuring that no one is left behind. The ability to return to content whenever they need has also been significantly effective during that key time between PE lessons.
"They're able to review what they've done before, but they don't have it still in front of them. I think it does help solidify and consolidate the learning that they do in lessons."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
Rather than relying solely on classroom notes or memory, students have access to a structured revision environment that supports their long-term understanding.
Building stronger learning habits beyond the classroom
Kit and his PE department uses The EverLearner in a variety of ways, including homework, preparation activities and independent revision.
By assigning content before practical lessons, students arrive with a stronger understanding of the concepts they'll be applying in class. This helps maximise lesson time and creates opportunities for more meaningful discussion and application.
"I'll use it for checkpoint assessments at the end of every topic. That would be done in class or if we finish a lesson, then that might be a finisher activity. Likewise, if we decide to flip the learning, then they might have a video and then a ‘Test Yourself’ before a lesson, so that they can go into the practical being prepared."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
This approach has helped create a stronger connection between theory and practice, encouraging students to see PE as an academic subject as well as a practical one.
For many learners, it also helps develop valuable independent study habits that benefit them beyond PE.
Saving valuable teacher time
Like many teachers, Kit understands the challenge of balancing teaching, assessment, planning and extracurricular commitments.
One of the most immediate benefits of the platform has been the reduction in marking workload, allowing staff to spend more time supporting students and less time processing routine assessment tasks.
"When I do use it for homework, it saves a massive amount on marking. You know, it is done straight away, I can see it in real time and because I set quite a high pass mark for it."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
The platform's self-marking activities and automated feedback provide students with immediate responses while giving teachers clear visibility of engagement and progress. This has created greater accountability for students while reducing administrative burden for staff.
"The students know that they have to reach that pass mark and they'll keep on doing it until they do. So, it gives them the opportunity to keep accountability on them."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
With this fast and accurate feedback, students can quickly identify areas for their own improvement.
Supporting parents, reporting and student progress
The EverLearner has also become a useful tool during reporting periods and parent conversations by providing Kit and his team with live student data, allowing for more informed discussions about student engagement, effort and progress.
"It's very visual with parents."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
This user experience makes it easier for PE and sport teachers to communicate learning journeys and provide evidence-based updates to families.
"I have the progress from the dashboard and live data in front of me at parents' evenings and when writing reports. It's just their child and the class average, which can really make a point, either positive or negative, to them at a parent's evening where they can see it straight away."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
It’s great for parents by offering greater transparency about their child’s learning and it’s ideal for teachers, as it provides another layer of confidence when discussing student performance and development.
Assessment support for qualification PE
As examination season approaches, the department increasingly uses The EverLearner's revision resources to help students focus their assessment preparation effectively.
For Kit, the ‘Hot Topics’ resources have been particularly valuable.
"It's certainly very good for me because it saves me time. I used to spend hours before this going through the papers myself and working out what was likely, so it's nice to have it done for you. It is very useful."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
Previously, identifying likely areas of focus involved significant time analysing specifications, reviewing past papers and making professional judgements about what students needed to prioritise.
Now much of that groundwork has already been completed, which means PE and sport educators like Kit can spend more time helping students apply knowledge and refine exam technique rather than preparing revision materials from scratch.
The wider impact of sport in education
For Kit, qualification PE is about far more than preparing students for exams. It is about highlighting PE and sport as a subject that develops scientific understanding, analytical thinking and transferable skills that support a wide range of future pathways.
"Sports science is everywhere. The message that I try to give those that are sitting on the fence is the amount of other subjects it supports: whether it's biology (with the anatomy and physiology), whether it's physics (with the biology and mechanics), whether it’s history (with the history of sports) or business and economics (with globalisation and commercialisation of sports). There are so many subjects that it supports."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
In an international school environment where students often pursue highly competitive university destinations, Kit is passionate about challenging misconceptions surrounding PE as an academic subject, especially this example about a former student:
"I'm able to say, “Look, a couple of years ago, I had a girl, she went to Harvard and she did A-Level PE.” It isn't a limiter."
Kit Wapshott
Director of Sport
For Harrow International School Shanghai, The EverLearner has become an important part of supporting students on that journey, helping them build confidence, deepen understanding and engage more fully with qualification PE.