Unity Day
As part of our bullying prevention program at YK Pao School this year, we celebrated Unity Week 2019. This was an opportunity for the Student Council to lead an initiative that brings the school together in kindness, diversity, and inclusion. Student volunteers made an orange bilingual Unity Pledge banner and signed the Unity Pledge to acknowledge that the school is united together. In addition, all the students and teachers wore orange clothes and gathered on the football pitch to symbolize their unity by making a Unity Circle. The colour orange was chosen because it is the colour of autumn, which is the season for bullying prevention week.
Global Perspectives Week
In early December, Global Perspectives Week was held in the Middle School. The campus was turned into a global village, featuring music from a different country each day. Every homeroom was busy decorating the classroom into their selected country, displaying national flags or creating presentations about different aspects of the countries’ culture. The school also held the Talent Show assembly and World Tour event, adding spirit and allowing the students to better learn about the culture and traditions of these countries. Through these multicultural experiences, the school hopes to instill a keen sense of ‘the world as a whole’ in the students, not only encouraging them to pass on the traditions of Chinese culture but also enabling them to understand the history, trends, challenges and opportunities of world development. In addition, Pao School strive to cultivate inclusiveness, empathy, far-sightedness and problem-solving skills in the students. These attributes will prepare them to contribution to the future peace and development of the world.
A Star Project
The A-Star project, founded by Year 11 students Aries, Happy and Shirley, won the 2nd prize in the Shanghai Senior High School Students Social Practice Competition (service learning category). In 2017, using their own research, they identified a project plan to provide an online English course for students in Hebei province by conducting one-on-one online teaching for one hour each weekend. After more than two years of hard work, the project has now developed into the fourth phase. The volunteer team has gone from 8 Pao School students to 100 volunteers from various international schools in Shanghai and even overseas schools. Selection and feedback mechanisms ensure quality in the teaching. Additionally, volunteers are raising funds in hopes of solving a small number of people's computer problems, and are also designing a website for everyone to donate English reading materials.
"We hope that A Star will bring better English learning opportunities and a global perspective to some places in China where the education system is not very sound. And we do hope our volunteers to cherish their educational opportunities through this experience."
Environmental protection
In April, Songjiang Campus introduced a series of campus environmental protection policies in order to build a sustainable campus ecological environment. These policies included garbage classification, the publicization of environmental protection guidance and activities to promote environmental protection. In October, Mr. Kong, an environmental protection expert, gave a lecture on ways to help the environment. On 26th November, an environmental protection activity was held at the High School, in order to help those living in the campus to better understand and implement the new green policies. Students participated in a throwing game, DIY green handcraft, a matching game and collected donations for environmental protection causes. Participants included students, teachers, environmental experts, and over 20 enthusiastic alumni parents.
In the furture, Pao School wants to develop a national reputation for excellence in debating. We have recently hired our first debating coach who is working with students during CCA time. Recently, Pao School students have participated in several regional tournaments and it was great to see their success:
In the NHSDLC Tournament,
In the Hangzhou Regional Competition:
Jonathan (Y10) performed exceptionally well to become the Champion for the Open Division in the High School Competition
Felix and Mary in Y8 also became Champions in the Middle School Competition
Jonathan, Felix and Mary were also given Top Speaker awards
In the Wuhan Regional Tournament:
Jenny (Y10) reached the quarter final and was given a Top Speaker award
In the NSDA Regional Championship,
In the Wuhan Regional Tournament:
Diego (Y9) and Melody (Y11) each achieved 1st place and 2nd place respectively in the Public Forum High School debate.
In the Xi'an Regional Tournament:
Ken (Y9) achieved 3rd Place in the Public Forum Debate High School Open Division and earned the award of Outstanding Speaker
In the Suzhou Regional Tournament:
Mary (Y8) and Willi (Y8) both won 1st Prize.
In the Hangzhou Regional Tournament:
William & Hayden (Y9) were quarter finalists of the High School Novice Division
Henry and Ray (both from Y11) were semifinalists in the High School Open Division
Diego and Cynthia (from Y9) placed 2nd
Diego was awarded the Best Speaker prize
Cynthia, Henry and Hayden were recognized as Outstanding Speakers.
In the Shanghai Schools Open British Parliamentary Debate Tournament,
William (Y10) reached the quater final
Sports
Floorball
The YK Pao U12 and U14 Floorball teams took part in the 2019 Shanghai Youth Floorball Championships. It was a fantastic evening of Floorball which saw our U12 team win all of their group games to achieve the 1st place prize. The U14 team won the 2nd place prize. Other awards collected on the night went to Kevin (Y4) for Best Goalkeeper, Jacob (Y5) for Best Shooter, Gordon (Y5) for overall MVP and Mr. Sam for ‘Best Coach’!
Tennis
We would like to congratulate Hosei (Y7) and Daniel (Y7) for their respective 1st place and 2nd place achievements in the tennis tournament! These students have continued to work hard to build their skills and are now experiencing success. We look forward to more great news from our young tennis athletes.
Swimming
Pao School swimmers showed their spirit, effort and sportsmanship throughout their first SSSA swim meet. They exercised the exemplary values we would like to see in all of our student athletes here at Pao School. We are also pleased to announce that Sally (Y7) placed 1st in 50-meter fly, 50-meter breast-stroke, and the 50-meter freestyle!
Football
The Pao School U13 Boys football team competed in their final SSSA tournament of the semester and finished in 2nd place out of eight participating teams. In addition, the girls football team competed in their final SSSA U13 tournament of the semester at SHSID and achieved their first win of the season during the tournament. This was a great result - both teams have shown a very high level of improvement throughout the semester!
Volleyball
The Pao School girls volleyball teams participated in a highly anticipated SSSA U15 tournament. Our girls have been eager to showcase their volleyball skills and teamwork. The two teams placed 1st and 2nd respectively in a strong performance. Congratulations go to both Raina Du and Raina Ni (Y7) on winning MVP of the tournament!
