Happy Year of the Monkey! In the Chinese horoscope, the monkey is a significant animal symbolising intelligence and fast learning. For those international staff who have not yet done so, be sure to read ‘Journey to the West,’ the famous tale of the Monkey King Sun Wukong or one of the four great classic Chinese novels. It is available in abbreviated, comic or TV format for those with less time for reading!
Over the Chinese New Year holiday, I was fortunate to have had the chance to visit the Arctic Circle in Sweden. Out in a remote snowbound settlement where residents survive harsh winters eating moose they hunted in the autumn, I was amazed to find people of all ages speaking English perfectly. When I asked an older man skiing beside me with his dog where he learnt his English, he answered: ‘In school, of course, from a young age!’
His words reminded me that we all have the capacity for language learning, and that young children can indeed learn several languages to high proficiency even if their parents do not speak these languages, as shown by the experience of countries as different as Sweden, Switzerland and Singapore. While Chinese and English are very different languages, our students’ brains are more than capable of handling both if they start early enough. It is worth remembering that the challenge we have is not so much a lack of student capacity as a lack of truly bilingual adults to serve as their role models!
As always, the New Year is a time for reflection and resolutions on self-improvement. In that spirit, I would like to share several resolutions for YK Pao School in its journey to becoming a world-class school:
Pursuing even greater academic rigour: While universities do want well-rounded students, the greatest priority of admissions officers from the top universities is enrolling students with outstanding academic credentials, not simply those who score well in standardised tests and exams but those with the ability to engage thoughtfully with challenging material, construct logical arguments, synthesise and make connections. These are the skills we need to focus on developing in all of our students and subject areas.
Organising ourselves more effectively: As a much larger school than we were just a few years ago, we also need to adapt our organisational structures. The Board is currently in the process of reviewing our leadership structures in order to clarify and improve decision-making and management. Further news will be announced on these changes over the upcoming months.
Communicating what we are doing and why: it only takes a short conversation with our students to find out that many wonderful things are happening at Pao School, but sometimes we fail to articulate the ‘how’ and the ‘why.’ One of the areas we will be focusing on this year is improving how we communicate our curriculum, our approach and our vision for the school’s educational programme.
I wish you all a healthy, happy and successful New Year!
Philip Sohmen
Co-founder and Deputy Chairman of the Board
