[3][4] In 1964, a Hong Kong-based committee of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) first submitted a proposal to have the school built.

[5] The Repulse Bay Lutheran Church and School Project conducted a survey of Americans in July 1964.

The results showed the majority of respondents were in favor of establishing an American school, with 100 new families anticipated to arrive each year.

[6] In 1965, the Board of Missions of the LCMS and the Hong Kong Education Department approved a land grant and loan for the construction of the school.

[6] With the establishment of regional headquarters of the Dow Chemical Company and Pan Am in Hong Kong, a number of American families arrived in 1966.

[7] In April 1966, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the first permanent school building in Repulse Bay, with a capacity for 630 pupils.

In 2013, HKIS announced that lower primary students would move to the Tai Tam campus starting in the 2014–2015 school year.

Offices and support staff rooms were retrofitted into classrooms, with space in the Middle School being turned over to Lower Primary.

Work began in 2014, with the new campus featuring an indoor swimming pool, auditorium, gymnasium, learning spaces, and housing.

The Upper Primary school received major renovations with all classrooms increasing in size and including art, science, and Design Garage rooms, a Chinese Cultural Center, cafeteria, multiple purpose sports room, and two-story indoor place area.

For the 2023/24 academic year, there were over 2,800 students from over 40 different nationalities, and 500 faculty and staff who occupied the two separate campuses of HKIS.

They must also meet the various requirements in fine arts, religion, American history, Asian studies, physical education, and wellness.

Middle school students in G6 cannot enroll in electives but can still choose among strings, band, and choir for the required musical topic.

The High School band also travels to various countries for the APAC Festival, where students work with composers such as Robert W. Smith to put on a full-length concert in a few days.

Every year, the Madrigal Singers perform at the American Club's tree-lighting ceremony and the Rugby Sevens, and the Middle School choir sends a contingent to AMIS festivals around the world every year, in locations such as Kuala Lumpur (2012), Jakarta (2010), Scotland (2009), and Paris (2010).

Classes at the introductory level are more structured, with students gaining more freedom in project direction as they progress in the curriculum.

In the past three years alone, HKIS' HS and MS have produced many shows, including Into the Woods Jr., The Apple Tree, Aida, The Crucible, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr., and The Bald Soprano.

In 1994, John Haibrook of South China Morning Post described the Tai Tam campus as "reminiscent of a classy, overgrown Italian villa", and that it had an "isolated location".