Well-being is critical to our lives and growth as human beings. This is a key concept underlying everything we do at YCIS. For us, well-being is all-encompassing. It includes a person’s physical, emotional and social health. It also includes the well-being of the community as a whole.
Of course, our core business is children’s learning. But we know that people learn best when they are happy, emotionally safe and secure, physically energized, and participate in a thriving, growing community. At YCIS, therefore, our true core business is the growth and development of children in all aspects of their lives.
Our Student Well-being Programme has been developed extensively over the past number of years. We have a year-long Well-being curriculum with specific focuses such as emotional well-being, friendships, difference and diversity, digital citizenship, bodies and relationships, and resourcefulness. Children learn about these during Well-being lessons, circle time and class meetings. But really the learning is in everything we do. We say that every interaction is a Well-being lesson; teachers pay attention during the spontaneous interactions and facilitate learning in the moment.
We run a Mindfulness Programme, with students having instruction and practice with mindfulness techniques in guided lessons, small groups and assemblies. Continued mindfulness training at home is something we often promote when parents ask us how they can help their children, and we provide possible resources which connect with what children have learned in school, such as breathing or meditative exercises.
Of course, physical fitness is just as important as social and emotional well-being. We take a lot of pride in our fitness programme. We have our regular PE lessons. These focus on basic movement skills and functional body strength and flexibility as well as beginning to develop the hand-eye coordination and ball skills needed for specific sports. As in all of our lessons, good teamwork and collaboration as a means for success is continuously reinforced. Ours is the only Primary school in Shanghai to give our students opportunities to compete in all the Junior-level CISSA sports, from Touch Rugby to Badminton, from Table Tennis to Cross-Country Running.
With our own competition-ready swimming pool at Ronghua Campus, our swim programme has developed rapidly. We now give lessons to all Primary students, and next year these will expand even more. Our swim team has grown massively, both in size and skill. We are competing in ACAMIS and local meets, and our swimmers are smashing personal bests at each meet with many medals and race placements as well. Most importantly, they are learning about determination and perseverance in their training.
Just before the Qing Ming holiday, students and teachers organized a Well-being Week. Each day had a focus: Mindful Monday, with mindfulness activities; Talking Tuesday, with opportunities to talk with children in and outside normal peer groups; WiFi-free Wednesday, encouraging everyone to go tech-free for the day; Thoughtful Thursday, with activities meant to inspire thoughtfulness; and Fitness Friday, with hourly fitness activities. Then the week after this was followed by three days of Sports Days. Children participated in their four Houses to compete, but also to communicate and collaborate, to cheer each other on, develop team spirit, and of course have fun with fitness.
Primary Vice Principal – Jim WILCOX