Pao parents thank teachers with the Hundred Families Banquet

On 23rd September, the parents of the High School campus held a banquet for teachers with the theme "You are our superhero.” Every year, Songjiang’s Hundred Families Banquet is led by the PTA Campus Culture Committee, whose main responsibility is to implement the school’s core values of compassion, integrity and balance through various activities.

As the director of the Campus Culture Committee, Year 11 Eason’s mother Orange is one of the main planners of this year’s Hundred Families Banquet. She said that the “You are our superhero” theme was chosen this year because teachers serve this role for both students and parents. With the pandemic ongoing, traveling overseas has become extremely difficult, and most foreign teachers at Pao School have remained in Shanghai and are away from their families. Orange says the parents are very moved by these sacrifices. For this reason, they were glad to have the opportunity to express their respect and gratitude to the teachers.

At this year’s Songjiang campus Hundred Families Banquet, 116 families prepared nearly 130 dishes for teachers, including meat dishes and seafood prepared by Year 9; staples (rice and noodles) prepared by Year 10, Western food and cold dishes prepared by Year 11, and various drinks and fruits prepared by Year 12. There was a wide variety of food, from traditional Chinese dishes, to grilled beef and lamb chops and vegetarian food. Since there is a strict limit on the number of people allowed on campus, most parents did not attend the event in person, but rather prepared the dishes at home and then delivered to them to the school by car on the day of the event. 

The parents put in tremendous effort to ensure the elaborate lunch for teachers was a success. The preparations began in mid-August after the PTA election, including everything from personnel recruitment, recipe formulation and theme design, to decoration, procurement, set-up the day before the event, as well onsite cooking, plating, live performances and photography. Overall, the process included more than 100 parents and students. 

As a PTA member for many years, Eason's mother noted, “We are very grateful to the school and have great confidence in it. Over the years, the school has always been willing to listen carefully to the voices of parents and students. Regardless of whether our request was approved or not, Executive Headmaster Mark Bishop always provides everyone with a satisfactory response. This speaks to the high quality of this school.” 

“Stubborn” Seaweed Salad

In years past, Year 11 William’s mother missed two opportunities to participate in the Hundred Families Banquet as she was not in Shanghai. Since her child will soon graduate from Pao School and she cannot travel this year, she decided she would participate in the event. She drew upon her experience with home banquets, considered the tastes of both Chinese and foreign teachers, and finally settled on a seaweed salad, a deceptively simple-sounding dish. In fact, there is nothing simple about the preparation of this type of seaweed salad. The texture of the kelp is paramount to the dish, and if it is soaked for too long in water (such as overnight), the seaweed will be too soft and lose some of its nutritional value. With that in mind, William’s mother rose before dawn (at 4am) to soak the kelp for the optimal amount of time. After it was done, she rushed to the school with William’s father, arriving before 10:45. The teachers were delighted with the delicious seaweed salad, and she was happy that she could finally let them get a taste of her exceptional cooking skills. 

Two different types of mussels

 with tomato and white wine sauce

The mother of Year 9 Robert and Sophia began to participate in the Hundred Families Banquet when their children were Year 6. At that time, since the school was located far from their homes, they only prepared cold dishes for the feast in order to ensure the food remained tasty during the long journey from their homes to campus. Now that they are day students in Year 9, the family lives closer to the school, so she can finally give full play to her cooking skills. This year, she prepared mussels in tomato and white sauce. To ensure the dish was as delicious as possible, she started working on it a week in advance, and asked the parents of two of her children’s classmates to evaluate it and offer their comments. On the day of the Hundred Families Banquet, she sent the children to school early, and then returned home to immediately boil the mussels. To cater to both the tastes of Chinese and foreign teachers, she made two separate portions, each with a ratio of tomatoes and white wine best suited to the respective tastebuds of different groups of banquet guests. She then put the food in a pressure cooker to keep it warm and sent it school. 

Every year, Hongqiao campus holds the Hundred Families Banquet on 28th September –Confucius’ birthday. This year’s banquet featured hundreds of dishes meticulously prepared by families as well as performances and a video message in which students expressed their gratitude to their teachers with different musical performances.

The PTA began planning the Hundred Families Banquet in the summer holidays. In addition, 15 student representatives from Years 6 and 7 spent a week rehearsing and recording the music video "Try everything" to open the banquet. On the day of the event, six Year 8 students delivered a wonderful performance of “Canon in D Major” for violin and flute, dazzling the teachers in attendance. The students spent many hours rehearsing the piece to ensure the performance was impeccable; they even rehearsed during their lunch breaks.

Middle School Video

Year 7 Ashley’s mother Annie is vice chairman of the PTA on the Hongqiao campus. She has organised the Hundred Families Banquet at the Primary School four times, and this is the sixth time she has planned a traditional style event for the school. Ashley’s mother notes that Hongqiao campus has just three Years, making it different from Wuding campus, which has five. With that in mind, the banquet required. Since the Hongqiao campus has an open and comfortable outdoor space, it is ideal for barbecuing - allowing the teachers to enjoy freshly grilled dishes.

On the day of the event, Year 6 parents were responsible for preparing hot dishes and cooking onsite. The parents showed off their considerable cooking skills, including dishes such as barbecue, hot pot, spicy soup, fried dumplings, dim sum and hot soup. The Year 7 parents brought desserts, drinks and fruits prepared in advance . Year 8 students brought cold dishes and appetizers prepared in advance by their parents, and handed them to the parent volunteers onsite, who arranged the dishes accordingly.

Year 6 Coco’s father, a parent volunteer and regular contributor to the Hundred Families Banquet, says that the most important aspect of the event is its great substance. Over the past six years, while the dishes and format of the feast have changed, neither the enthusiasm of parents nor the gratitude expressed to teachers has changed.  This year, he, Venus’s mom and Tess’s mom were responsible for grilling and cutting, and other volunteer parents were on the side to help "attend to the grill.” Though the cooking process has become rather elaborate, the teachers’ praise for the delicious food makes it worthwhile.

This year, the highlight of the feast was Beijing roast duck (Peking duck), chosen to demonstrate traditional Chinese culture through food. With that in mind, the PTA invited the chef of a roast duck restaurant to serve the dish in-person. The chef served the duck in the traditional tableside manner (carving it in front of the banquet guests) and shared interesting facts about the dish with the teachers.

Moroccan Roasted Carrot and Chickpea Quinoa Salad

Y8 Gabriel's father not only cooks food to donate to the school, he works in Shanghai as a Michelin star chef. He explains that over the years YK Pao School has really showed him the importance of the close connection between teachers, students and parents. He also notes that this year it was particularly important to recognise teachers’ hard work and flexibility during the pandemic.

He chose to prepare his two dishes for a variety of reasons. Firstly, he chose the Gazpacho as it’s still very summery and warm this year, and people crave lighter, fresher food in the heat. As this dish was developed by people living in a hot climate, and it’s pretty easy to make, any student can be the chef. Gabriel's father also chose to make a salad as he had recently turned vegetarian and has been enjoying quinoa ever since he discovered it. The salad recipe highlights cinnamon, cumin and some Moroccan spice mix, sent from family in Morocco. The dish immediately brings you thoughts of Moroccan warmth and cuisine.

Gazpacho (Indian style) 

On 10th September, Teacher’s Day, the Primary School saw the annual Hundred Family Banquet come to campus. The event is organised by the Primary School PTA, with dozens of parents working together to make and provide dozens of dishes and beverages. The banquet was held in the school’s auditorium, to accommodate the large number of teachers and staff who would partake in the meal. Over 40 parents were involved in completing the many jobs required for the event, such as selecting an outside vendor to supply some of the food and drinks, baking delicious cakes and sweets, serving teachers on the day, transporting the food, decorating the auditorium, manning the photo booth.

Primary School video

Alongside the meal, over a hundred students helped prepare a video for teachers, sharing their appreciation and well wishes for their teachers. As everyone ate, they were able to hear lovely words from the students and feel the warmth of the school’s community.

One of the highlights of Wuding campus’ banquet is the dessert table, which hosts a selection of cakes and sweets made by parents from the Character Programme – a group who helps support the students’ character education through special classes and activities. They prepared a delicious feast, including homemade desserts such as brownies, cookies, egg tarts, red velvet cupcakes and carrot cake. Around 16 parents were involved in the section alone, who all worked for over a month to prepare the best desserts possible for the teachers.

Fenton, comes from Canada, whose daughter is in Year 3 made Red Velvet Cupcakes for event. He has been a Character Parent for years and has donated baked goods to various events with the school three times, including bake sales – in the past making blueberry loaves and chocolate chip cupcakes. He noted that, this time, the process involved some learning and he had to make some test cupcakes. In his first batch he placed chocolate within the cupcakes before they baked, however they melted– so in the final version he placed the chocolate after baking. He enjoys taking part in these events, as it reminds him of the culture in his hometown in Canada, where “everyone helps each other.”

As the ‘chef’ in the family, he also enjoys the experience of cooking with his children and the memories that they make together. “It’s important for us to participate in these things, and for our kids to see us do so. We appreciate the teaching staff and we know that many of them are away from home to help my children have the education they have.”

Fenton shared that: "my daughter doesn’t just go to Pao School, my daughter is part of a community. We do so much related to the school outside of school; I am part of the Character Promgramme, I started a chess club, and I also play basketball with other parents. I have so many friends, and even work associates, it’s become a big part of our life. It’s family, it really is a family.” 

Vegan Coconut Cream Chocolate Cupcakes

Y3 Faith's parents shared that: "Family" is the word that comes to our mind when we think of YK Pao School. We have always been amazed by the unity between families and the school, as well as a unique culture contributed by families from different countries. While the world was still in the swirl of the pandemic, Pao School swiftly coordinated all teachers’ efforts to ensure a smooth transition of all students to remote learning. To children in at the school, it was a unique experience, but they were also blessed to have continuity, all thanks to the school’s vision and sacrifice from all the teachers.

Our favorite memory about Hundred Family Banquet is the process of making baked goods with our own hands to show appreciation to teachers. Our daughter gets nourished and loved by teachers every day, so we hope our baked goods will bring the same nourishment to the teachers!

Mini Banana & Dried Fruits Loaves

Y1 Abigail, Y4 Evangeline and Y11 Rebecca's Mum said: Pao School truly sees partnership with families as a real way to raise our children and to prepare them for the world ahead. The values at the core of Pao School are the same as our family’s, which is why the school is a natural extension of our home. It’s truly a second home for our children.