At the heart of YK Pao School’s mission are connections to the wider world. In its first decade, Pao School has established a reputation as an innovator that is drawing interest from educators from around the world.
The school has hosted seven university presidents from around the world, including from the University of Oxford, McGill University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Smith College, Purdue University, as well as dozens of other leading educators.
Earlier last month, Pao School welcomed Dan Murphy, executive director of Harvard University’s Fairbank Centre for Chinese Studies. Mr Murphy, a veteran of US-Chinese cultural and intellectual exchanges, was impressed with Pao School’s unique approach. His visit followed that of Harvard University economics professor Richard Cooper last year.
Recently, a delegation including former Vice Chancellor of Nottingham University Sir David Greenaway, his wife Lady Susan Greenaway and Professor Chris Rudd, provost of the University of Nottingham Ningbo, also visited Pao School's Primary campus. The delegation, which also included University of Nottingham Ningbo administrators Jessica Li and Naomi Chang, met with the school's leadership team, toured the Primary campus and sat down for a candid discussion with five Year 5 students.
The Vice Chancellor was impressed with Pao School's whole-person approach to education, noting that the school offers an excellent balance of traditional academic subjects, the arts, athletics and other co-curricular activities. Lady Susan, an artist and educator, lauded Pao School for ensuring that the arts have a prominent role in its curriculum, even as some schools elsewhere make cuts in their arts programs. She was also impressed with Pao School art teachers’ dedication, noting that they not only cultivated students' creativity and artistic skills, but also their ability to plan, discuss and reflect on their work.
In their meeting with the University of Nottingham educators, Pao School students touched upon some of the character values and traits they learn at school. One Year 5 student named Jasmine said:
Resilience is one of the important character traits taught at Pao School. Learning about resilience goes beyond the classroom, and we've become more resilient in part thanks to regular swimming practice. We practice swimming strokes again and again, until we get them right.
The conversation also highlighted Pao School's immersive bilingual educational environment. Students said that they speak mostly Chinese at home, but both Chinese and English on campus. Pao students' superb English ability made a deep impression on Sir David and Lady Susan, particularly given that English is the students' second language. They praised the students' ability to reflect on why and how they are learning, a key component of the Pao School curriculum.
Pao School’s links to the global education community extend beyond conversations like these. Every year, the school sends students and faculty abroad for exchanges with schools in the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia. In only a decade since it opened, Pao School has built a reputation and visibility among top universities. The School's unique educational philosophy and its reputation as one of China’s leading schools has not only been affirmed by our distinguished visitors but also by the top acceptances at leading universities around the world by the Class of 2017, our first graduating class.
Pao School looks forward to welcoming other leaders in global education,
starting with the first annual Global Education Forum in late March.
