In 1932, Madam Tsang Chor-hang founded Yew Chung International School (YCIS) in Hong Kong. During the 80^thanniversary of YCIS, eight years ago, the concept of Founder’s Day was born. Now, on the first Friday after the October holiday each year, the schools across the entire YCIS and Yew Wah International Education Schools (YWIES) global network join together for Founder’s Day to commemorate and honour Madam Tsang.

This year’s celebrations on October 9 highlighted YCIS Shanghai’s 27th anniversary. Students, teachers, and staff enjoyed marking the occasion together, celebrating the 88 years of progressive and international education that the organisation has provided. YCIS Shanghai students, teachers, and staff were connected digitally to their peers in each of the Yew Chung-Yew Wah network schools across China and the world via a live stream ceremony and video messages.

It was a day full of wonderful community-building activities, with students and staff demonstrating their commitment to our school’s spirit. From ECE to Year 13, all students on YCIS Shanghai’s five campuses in Pudong and Puxi took part. With activities including sports such as football, vortex, archery, cricket, golf, and ultimate frisbee, as well as dance-a-thons, sports quizzes, and art activities with the YCIS Pudong Artist-in-Residence, there was plenty to keep students active and motivated throughout the day. Students donned their house colours and competed to earn house points. During the breaks, there was food and refreshments, including special cupcakes.

Celebrations like Founder’s Day at YCIS Pudong bring the entire YCIS Shanghai family together, and the digital links to our YCIS and YWIES schools in China and beyond enable this connection to extend to across our whole global network. We are proud of our school and all that we have achieved together as a community.  On Founder’s Day we truly are YCIS Connected. Happy Founder’s Day 2020, everyone!

Written by: Andy Clapperton, Head of Learning

At YCIS Pudong we seek to raise globally competent leaders who aspire to, and act for, a better world. We place great value on student leadership, and we are very pleased to announce that Alexandra Saw and Oufan Li have been selected from an exceptionally strong pool of applicants as this year’s Head Prefects. They will be joined by Hayley Chu, Kevin Du, Ann Huang, Mary Liu, Florence Tse, Troy Wu and Elena Yu, and they look set to work as a formidable team of prefects.

And as we seek to develop the role of our student leaders and enable them to maximise their impact, we are also launching a more connected vision for student leadership. That is, we are seeking a more visible and sustainable model for an aspirational, inspirational and action-oriented Student Leadership Team.

Each of the prefects will be responsible for a portfolio, which celebrates and builds upon much of the great work our student leaders have been doing over recent years, bringing them together with clearly structured roles. These portfolios are:

• House Spirit
• Service Learning
• Climate Action
• Learning Leaders
• Student Council

With clearly designated portfolios, our prefects will focus on working towards key goals for their area, developing a project that will have a positive impact on the YCIS community and at the same time help showcase their leadership qualities in university applications. Prefects will also be assigned a teacher coach to be able explore ideas and give pointers to help them problem solve.

We are extremely excited about the potential impact this structure will have and are very much looking forward to seeing our students at the forefront of school events and developments moving forward.

I applied for the role of Head Prefect because I was very interested in leadership opportunities, especially one such as this where I can collaborate with others to bring about change around the school.

I‘m really excited to be a part of the transition into the new prefect/student leadership system, and hope that this will allow us prefects to have more of a presence around the school community. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can spark meaningful changes and events in the future. -Oufan

I applied for the role of head prefect as I wanted to utilise the Prefect platform to enact positive change within our school community and our greater Shanghai community. I believe the Prefect team has a lot of promise and I wanted to use this potential to spearhead some meaningful activities that will create the changes we want to see in the world.

I am excited to work with a group of equally passionate people to sow the seeds for growth through the various projects we will carry out. My hope is that we build a solid and effective platform for future students to use to enact change.  – Alex

Written by: Year 3-4 Student Council Teachers

The Primary Student Council is a fantastic opportunity that provides students with the chance to develop their leadership skills, both within the group and across the school. Being a member of the Student Council helps you develop key skills that are important now and in the future. Some of those key skills are:

Confidence: Being trusted by your classmates to make good decisions;
Humility: Being able to make mistakes and learn from these;
Resilience: Learning from experience and using hard times as a way of embracing future challenges;
Communication: Being versatile in working with others and being open-minded. Being able to value the opinion of others and communicating in a positive way.

These are just some of the key skills necessary to become good leaders, which our Student Council members will have the opportunity to develop through this year.

Last year the Year 3 – 4 Student Council were lucky enough to be involved with hosting a competition for the design of new Helping Hand award certificates, designing and sharing Christmas cards to the YCIS community and supporting the Giving Tree and the Christmas tree lighting. On top of this, we started to think of new initiatives for improving the school community. These opportunities allowed the students to improve their communication and leadership skills as well as develop personal confidence and take responsibility for improving YCIS.

This year, the students appointed have shown that they are:

• Organised
• Prepared
• Responsible
• Good team players
• Want to improve leadership skills
• Have a passion to help others.

Last week, Students in Year 3 and 4 who were interested in joining Student Council delivered a variety of wonderful presentations,explaining why they wanted to be elected. We heard lots of innovative ideas about how Year 3 and 4 would support and develop the school, and each student showed us what would make them the perfect candidate for Student Council. After some very close voting, two students from each class were selected to represent their year level. The new Student Council will introduce themselves at our upcoming assembly.

We are really excited to begin our meetings and set in motion our plans for the upcoming year.

Written by: Matthew Grady, IB Coordinator, Colin Gallagher, Primary EAL teacher

At YCIS Pudong we seek to raise globally competent leaders who aspire to, and act for, a better world. We place great value on student leadership, and we are very pleased to announce that we have finalized the selection of our Student Council for the 2020-21 Academic Year. We recently held student council elections which we open to students in Years 5-13. This involved each candidate preparing and giving a 2-minute speech in Homeroom explaining their suitability for the role and what they could contribute to the school. Members of the homeroom then voted on one student each to represent their Homeroom on the student council.  We would like to congratulate all the students who participated in these elections gaining valuable communication experience and confidence.

Many excellent speeches were given, making the final appointments difficult given the quality of the candidates. Homeroom tutors were impressed by the quality of speeches and enthusiasm from those who participated. We would also like to say a big well done to students who were selected.

Our student council this year will be led by Student Council President Elena Yu in Year 13 and we are very confident that under her leadership the council will have a positive impact in representing the student voice and having a big impact on the YCIS Pudongcommunity with their initiatives. We are also very excited to see the students develop their leadership qualities, which will also help them showcase such qualities with future college and university applications.

Written by: Skylah-Rose Stuurman, Year 10 student 

When I began attending YCIS Pudong in August of 2015, I was open to many opportunities of developing leadership skills.

The first being student council. I ran for student council representative when I was in Year 6 and got the position. I found it exciting to work with my fellow classmates and teachers to contribute to better changes for our school.

I ran again in Year 7 and fortunately got the chance to work alongside the secondary students. It was a great chance to hear what these students had to say, their opinions, what their input was. I look up to these upper secondary students and value their opinions.

In Year 8, I decided to run once again as my class representative. Unfortunately, I didn’t get elected but I saw this in a positive light. I thought of running for something bigger, maybe student council president? As I was contemplating whether I wanted to go for something or not, the position for house captain was advertised.

By that time, I was starting Year 9 and House Captain sounded great. To help with house events, to motivate students to try their best and have fun, to work with the other house captains and contribute by supervising and helping house events and activities. It all sounded great to me. Luckily for me, many of these skills I had developed when I was a part of student council. Applying my experience in a new context was an advantage.

    

I wrote my speech to convince my peers and teachers as to why I would be a suitable fit for lower secondary house captain. I was ecstatic to find out I got the position! After hearing the news, I wanted to prove to my house that I was capable and that I wouldn’t let them down.

The first semester was full of meetings on what that year looked like in terms of events, although, sadly, the majority of those plans were canceled due to COVID-19. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t have chances to collaborate with house leaders and captains.

Now that we are back in school and finished with online learning, I am looking forward to what this year has in store. Especially the new rules and health and safety conditions that we have to follow. This year is going to be different but I’m sure that we’ll find a way around it and have fun while doing so.

Written by: Roseline Yang, Parent Relations Officer

As we learn to navigate in this ‘new normal’, slowly but surely, we get to explore the beauty and power of our school network: various members of our school community work in partnership, and believe in the same vision, mission, principles and practices laid out by our founder, Madam Tsang Chor-hang.

Our annual Founder’s Day and yearly big celebrations are just some of the few visible examples:

• At every Founder’s Day since its creation for the 80^thanniversary, all schools get to connect through their online streaming to celebrate this one day of celebration.

• At the 85^thanniversary and YCIS Shanghai 25^thanniversary, Yew Chung & Yew Wah (YCYW) Teachers in Shanghai got to connect through a professional development in-service day and YCIS Pudong students got to connect with Yew Wah school students through a day of sports activities at Yew Wah Lingang. Since then, PE teachers have explored this avenue to play with one another for friendly competition and it was a natural choice to continue to do so during this ‘new normal’ where sports games between schools have been avoided – except for sister schools in Shanghai, who follow the same proceduresof health safety.

 

• That same 85^thanniversary was also the opportunity to make our community members aware of our school’s motto ‘Aligns with Love and Charity’ through the Seeds of Hope Project in the Philippines. The ‘Seeds of Hope’ concept was born out of the overwhelming tragedy of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, where all Yew Chung International Schools (YCIS) responded wholeheartedly to the humanitarian needs resulting from that devastating earthquake.

This year, for the 88^thanniversary, the team of Artist-in-Residence located across all the Yew Chung and Yew Wah schools came up with this incredible idea to connect all campuses and every member of our school community through artworks on a 30×30 cm paper.  Using the colours of our school theycreated a virtual art gallery showcasing everyone’s contribution to this effort.

Usually included as a one-day-art activity during Founder’s Day, this year, the project started one month before the event and culminated with the collective art activity for Primary students.

It was fantastic to see how our YCIS Pudong Artist-In-Residence Ms. Haruka Ostley involved her two sons to create a motivating video to encourage every member of the community to join and reflect upon the theme of ‘Move It, Move It – How we can move our body, mind and spirit to stay healthy and positive during this worldwide pandemic’.

 

• With the help of ECE class teachers, Ms Ostley got ECE students to do a painting on the floor having them explore the movements of their bodies as they were paint brushing using blue, red and white colours.
• In all Primary Art Classes, Ms. Ostley showed different techniques and let the students explore the theme while, during recess and lunchtime, at Century Park Campus, the students could explore the topic and create their artwork during recess break times.

• At home, some parents used this ‘call for artwork’opportunity to have a meaningful and fun family activity with their children.

Don’t miss the next opportunity for parents and children to connect through the ECE & Primary Book Week! The focus of this year is ‘Picture Book Biographies’ and the theme is ‘Good Books, Great Lives’. This year, our teacher librarian Ms. Tania Jordan has opened this activity to all Primary students and parents who would like to join as well! We are eager to see all your submissions!

As the school year unfolds, we wish to let you know that we are continuing to look at the opportunities for parents to explore and benefit from the network and resources of our school network:

• Our YCYW network connected with each other to be able to support each other to better support parents, and shared with online workshops organized by their campuses, as well as workshops organized by their community partners, mainly from clinics and hospitals. We hope that we will soon be able to share with you activities happening with other campuses.
• YCIS Shanghai has built strong relationships with ourcommunity partners. As the first international school in Shanghai, it was quite a great surprise to not only be offered a very thorough insurance coverage for students at the beginning of the school year but also recently when our school leaders were able to provide, within one day, a solution for parents who wanted to access to hospitals offering the influenza vaccine shot (at a time where all private and public hospitals were already fully booked with more than 2000-3000 people in their waiting lists).

• Many of our parents and teachers have been living in Shanghai for several years and they have established their own networks, having beeninvolved in the community for a long time. Within the expats’ world, we are connected through Shanghai Mamas and Community Centre Shanghai not only throughour staff, but also through active and key leaders who also happen to be parents of  Not to mention the Fortune 500 corporations where various parents of our school work at a director’s level, that offered one-week internships in the past to the students for their Year 10 Job Shadow Programme.

With the arrival of the Director of Institutional Advancement for YCYW schools in China last year, we have been able to see more and more clearly the power of our network, that is made of people that really care about the education of the children, the impact of their role in our community and the growth of our school network.

There is still so much to unravel and I wish that you can join in this quest of discovery of these incredible stories and share them with us too! Always feel free to share them to shareyourstorypd@sh.ycef.comand contact me at: rpcp.parentrelations@sh.ycef.com if you want to connect or help!

All the weavings of individual threads from one to another creates new things. It is so inspiring to see that by connecting with like-minded parents and alumni among Yew Chung Yew Wah school network, we can make a big difference. Our YCYW Alumni Shanghai Chapter organises regional wide sports events, helps schools that need a voice and provide input and support to new teachers’ training. Our parents go even further. We have Yew Wah parents that sponsor YCYW regional event, and YCIS Pudong and Puxi parents that join hands to support new school initiatives. Connections create opportunity for our community members to give and to receive, and that is very powerful.  – Rachel Zhao, Director of Institutional Advancement (China)

Since I joined the school in 2016, three human qualities have been fascinating me about the people of this network – and this is not only limited to our parents’ community:

• The use of individual’s network of influence to give a positive impact on the Chinese & Expat communities and even to other countries, which are not necessarily their home countries.
• The involvement in the education of the students and the discretion about their profession, level of expertise and position.
• The commitment and love that some parents have kept with YCIS to the point that even if their child had graduated or moved to other schools, they still donate on the behalf of our school. This is how the ‘Heart to Heart’ charity has continued to receive full-heart surgery donations on behalf of YCIS. –  Roseline Yang, Parent Relations Officer (YCIS Pudong)

Written by: Melissa Shaw, Primary Coordinator

While Kian Ji is not new to YCIS, we welcome her in her new role as School Business Manager at YCIS Pudong. She will be working as part of the Senior Leadership Team and in close partnership with our Co-Principals. Let’s welcome Kian to our school community and find out a little more about her!

Firstly, congratulations on your recent appointment to the YCIS Pudong School Leadership Team (SLT) as School Business Manager! What attracted you to your new role?

Thank you! It’s the people and the community here that attracted me the most. Although I am very new to the role, I have known the Pudong team here for a long time through my Admissions experience.

Can you tell us a bit more about the role and how this aligns with the Co-Principals to form the SLT?

The School Business Manager’s role is to work closely together with the Co-Principals to allow high-quality teaching and learning to take place while ensuring that the school will continue to improve and strive for excellence. Both eastern and western perspectives, as well as academic and non-academic aspects are taken into consideration, benefitting our students.

What do you hope to achieve as the School Business Manager at YCIS Pudong?

My top priority is to support the school’s operation and ensure the health and safety of our children and staff. Despite the challenge brought by COVID, I have been amazed by how our teachers and staff have come together, making tremendous efforts to put procedures in place for a successful year.

Credits go to our amazing parents and students as well, who have shown the school a great extent of understanding, support and collaboration. Without them, the Health and Safety procedures would have been mission impossible.  

Can you tell us about your previous roles at YCIS in the Admissions Team? You must have met lots of YCIS families already over the years!

Working in the Admissions team over 12 years has truly been a blessing. The team has accompanied nearly 10,000 families in their enrollment journey with YCIS Shanghai. Many of them stay connected with us even after graduation. At YCIS, we believe finding the right school for children is a big decision to make and we want parents to have an authentic experience to inform their decisions. This is very well supported by the school’s Mission, Principles and Practices.

You’ve been at YCIS Shanghai for 12 years! What has kept you working with this organisation for so long?

When your personal belief and values are in line with the work you do, you tend to lose track of time!

What have been your most memorable moments during your time at the school?

There have been so many! When families tell me how much they love the school and they are glad they chose the right place for their child; when kids see me on campus and call out to me; when I see students on stage for graduation ceremonies and the memories of their first day of school flash back.  

What do you like to do in your spare time when not at school?

I enjoy spending quality time with my family, especially with my 7-year-old son, reading books together, playing sports, or even just some chatting can be so much fun.

Can you tell us something interesting about you that people probably don’t know (a skill or hidden talent)?

Hmmm I have cats at home since I was 10 years old and am learning skiing at the moment.

What are your hopes and dreams for the academic year ahead?

This year our theme is YCIS Connected. I want to ensure that everybody in our school community stays connected through our school news and updates. My hope is that we can enhance home and school partnership and communication.

Written by: Janelle Garrett (Lower Secondary Coordinator) and Ann Huang ’21

Ann Huang ’21 joined YCIS Pudong half-way through Year 6, as a shy, but determined and hard-working EAL student. Through her time at YCIS, Ann has found ways to connect her learning in both English and Chinese to tackle complex global issues, extending her sphere of influence, and expanding her network of friends all over the world. Currently in Year 13, Ann reflects on her different experiences at YCIS Pudong and how they connect and come together to make her who she is today as she prepares her university applications and considers creative ways to connect her passions in the future.

When Ann was asked, “what words do you think of when you think of your experience at YCIS?” she claimed a few words weren’t enough, because all of it is connected and makes her who she is today. Here are some of her takes on the connections she’s made in her learning journey at YCIS Pudong and why it matters.

Belonging Matters.

YCIS is inclusive, safe and friendly. It is a happy environment. Teachers push you here, but because you’re safe, you’re more comfortable taking risks that you need to learn and grow. I think this is taken for granted by many students. But if you’re in a learning environment where you don’t feel included and safe, you won’t develop the relationships that nurture and extend you or connect with passions that define you. There is a lot of power in feeling like you belong.

Inquire more.

I love that my curiosity and inquiry is continuously encouraged by teachers and classmates. The curriculum itself (especially the IB) is hard and makes you think, wonder, question and helps you develop research skills to go deeper. Also, being an international community, we are exposed and encouraged to consider so many other perspectives, it makes ideas that much more fascinating, and helps you see how knowledge is connected in different ways.

Public Speaking and presentation are skills that can and should be improved with practice.

At YCIS, in a class we present regularly to our classmates and others. We learn how to make our case and be challenged. Through this, I was able to develop my speaking, get feedback on presentations, and became a much better public speaker than I would have if left to my own introverted comfort zone. Now, I’m confident speaking up, whether it is approaching a teacher or someone I don’t know, or addressing groups of people in class, in assemblies, or on webinars, in workshops, etc.

Fun with friends makes the learning journey more meaningful.

My favorite times at YCIS have been the fun moments with friends, classmates, and teachers outside of class that made school matter that much more. I loved our EOTC trips each year from Xi’an in Year 7 to Thailand last year before the lockdown. Each of these deepened our connection as we shared experiences and became more real with each other. I’ve also loved the fun moments I’ve had being part of clubs and teams—hiking, camping and being outdoors with Duke of Edinburgh trips, exploring Shanghai with the Photography Club, and even playing Touch Rugby a few years ago. Even though I’m not much of an athlete, I’m glad I had the fun of a team sports experience and getting to compete with other schools.

Do more of what makes you happy.

Making music at YCIS has been part of my happy place since I sheepishly joined Sinfonia after getting a very late start playing violin in Year 7 (most of my friends had been playing since they were much younger). But Mr. Adgemis and other musicians always make me feel welcome and like I have a place. I’m not the best musician, but I love making music with others and the connection I feel when we play together. Everyone should get a chance to be in a band!

Pursue your passion.

The community at YCIS has provided opportunities and encouraged me as I’ve tried to address environmental issues—my passion. As a result, I’ve been able to raise awareness and advocate for meaningful changes, and make an impact, even if it is small. I became passionate about environmental issues in Year 9 as a class representative on the Eco-Committee. In Year 10, with Global Issues Network (GIN), together with several classmates, we created the Stop Single Use Shanghai Project, something we could do in our daily lives and in our school to make a significant impact. It was great to gain momentum to see something actually happen. From presenting to the School Leadership Team to getting a beverage dispenser in the cafeteria to make our campus single use plastic free to leading workshops and collaborating with students from other international schools through the GIN Asia and One Voice conferences and networks, it has been a powerful lesson in advocacy and connection.

Be inspired by and inspire others.

As a student prefect in charge of the Climate Action portfolio, I’ve implemented a project groups model that is much more efficient to empower others to maximize our impact and develop leaders. I was inspired by my participation in World Youth Talks—an environmental forum with students from international schools all over the world—Brazil, Spain, Mexico, India, China, US, Ghana, Colombia, Switzerland, and more. Ms. Garrett introduced me to the group and helped me connect during e-Learning in March 2020.  It was so exciting to be CONNECTED and collaborating with people that have the same passions that I do. It was great to see how interlinked all of our situations are, despite different unique situations in each country. It was even more amazing that I could do this during lockdown from my apartment in Shanghai—when so many of my projects, plans, and passions had been put on hold.

Connection is powerful.

There is power in connecting and being able to work together towards a common purpose. During the Covid19 lockdown, I was not coping really well. I felt I was falling down a bottomless chasm, despite trying all of my coping strategies, even reaching out to the school counselor. Being part of the World Youth Talks helped me and showed me the power of connecting with others, especially in difficult times. I realized how even if you’re an introvert like me, you still need that human connection. I also realized I wasn’t alone in my struggles—others were struggling with mental health in quarantine as well.

Speak up.It’s not just about you, it’s about us.

I ‘ve thought a lot about the stigma around certain issues, like mental health, and why like many others, I don’t want to talk about it publicly. Stigma contributes to more people suffering in silence, so I’m trying to be purposeful to try to talk about it more openly. It is important to let other people know that they aren’t alone. In fact, through the One Voice network, I’m now connecting with other international students in Shanghai collaborating on issues around mental health.

Languages connect learning.

I love reading in both English and Chinese. Through books I’ve traveled to places I’ve never been and think and see the world in ways I wouldn’t. When I was learning English in EAL, it was reading that made me interested and made me want to have a deeper understanding of the context, and eventually made things click. I love studying Chinese Literature and Language too, understanding the historical and cultural context, analysing the richness of language and devices used to communicate, understanding the background of the writer, it is really cool. As a Chinese person, I think it is important to continue learning and thinking intellectually in my language. It helps me feel fully Chinese, while still also feeling fully international. Thinking about ideas in different languages helps allows you to know and understand things differently, making connections from perspectives.

Knowledge is interconnected and so is our future.

One thing this year taught us is that the future is uncertain. One thing I’m sure of is that my future lies somewhere in connecting all of this knowledge and doing something for the common good. I’m applying to universities both in the US and the UK. At YCIS, I’ve focused a lot of my studies on business and economics and environmental science. In university, I want to pursue an interdisciplinary degree like Global Studies or International Relations because I want to have a more holistic understanding of complex global issues. I’m interested in how political and social factors impact markets, because this can help determine informed social entrepreneurship and creative solutions around sustainability. I’m interested in the interconnectedness of it all.

Tackling global problems from Covid-19 to Climate Change requires connecting knowledge and harnessing the power of our connections with each other so we can all act together. Ann wants us all to keep in mind, “Small actions make an impact when they are connected with others.”