Educational Excellence Is in Our Nature

Harrow International School Appi Japan offers a unique learning environment.

Japan is a wondrous country with a wide variety of stunning landscapes that change dramatically from season to season, providing residents with an array of ways to experience them.

Harrow Appi is a new school located in the beautiful mountains of Iwate Prefecture that puts this natural beauty at center stage. When it opens in August 2022, it will provide its students with a variety of challenging, adventurous and one-of-a-kind co-curricular activities, complementing the school’s world-renowned academic focus. The full-boarding school is set in one of Japan’s premier ski resorts and offers a 36-hole golf course, mountain bike and running trails, 18 tennis courts and its own indoor swimming pool.

Seasonal Pursuits
Winter is just one of four beautiful seasons that Japan and Harrow Appi enjoy. Whether students are experiencing snow for the first time, are keen snowboarders or highly competitive ski racers—or simply enjoy spectacular star-filled winter nights—Appi’s white season offers something for everyone.

Mirroring the approach of the acclaimed Harrow School in the UK, Harrow Appi provides a carefully curated balance of academic challenges and physical endeavors. Not only does the school offer a holistic education, but it gives students access to dedicated and talented teachers as well as a challenging outdoor program that includes skiing, mountain biking, expeditioning and other winter sports.

An alpine race academy caters to elite skiers and snowboarders, with snowshoeing and winter mountaineering challenges available for the more adventurous. Ski lifts are just a short distance from the campus, and all students, no matter their experience, are taught how to safely travel in the snow country, including avalanche awareness training.

One-of-a-Kind Educational Setting
However, the surroundings offer more than just recreation. The white season program—set in Appi—is central to the educational development of well-rounded students. Stepping away from digital devices develops behaviors and attributes in young people that are transferable and highly valued in adult life: resilience, creative problem solving, communication, respect, compassion, teamwork and a sense of one’s place in the world. As an added benefit, all Harrow Appi students will develop a lifelong affinity for the great outdoors. For instance, a rite of passage for sixth formers is to climb Mount Iwate, camp overnight and ski or snowboard down the following morning.

Harrow students will also be able to enjoy the beauty of the green season, which runs from April to October. Surrounding woodlands and hills will give students a chance to take part in hiking and mountain biking activities—not to mention fishing and regular visits to a local farm. The green season also gives students even better opportunities to enjoy the wonderful weather and the summer facilities of the resort.

Advanced Curriculum
Learning at Harrow Appi is diverse. The school has tailored the curriculum to take full advantage of the uplifting natural surroundings and utilizes the unique learning approaches that can be implemented in this environment. Students at Harrow Appi will take lessons both in the classroom and in nature. This gives science students, for example, immediate access to the natural world. They can conduct experiments outdoors and observe natural phenomena first hand: lakeside habitats, astronomical study or the forces involved in skiing. Creative students, inspired by the environment, can produce extraordinary works of visual art, music, dance and drama.

Whether they’re studying physics or skiing atop fresh snow, young learners will pursue academic excellence at the same time they develop a profound connection to nature and adventurous sporting pursuits. This unique combination prepares Harrow Appi students to become well-rounded, intelligent and insightful future leaders.