Pao Highlights

Before the winter break, a selection of wonderful student artwork was chosen for display as gallery pieces at the Primary School.  

In late November, parent representatives visited the Primary School campus to learn more about teaching and learning at the Primary School. The day started with a short presentation from Michelle Ip, Director of Primary Academics, who introduced parents to recent key changes and improvements at the school and to share in-depth details about the school’s teaching and learning philosophy. Following the presentation, parents were taken on a guided tour through different classes, so that they could watch the teachers teaching methods in action. After the visit, the parent reps were able to feed back the experience to other parents, giving everyone a look into their children’s day-to-day school life and how they are learning.

In November, the Primary School held its annual Anti-Bullying Week, following the theme “One Kind Word”, and Unity Day. On the Friday, students took part in Unity Day, which included wearing white clothes to represent unity.

Recently, to celebrate the United Nations World Children's Day, the international chapter of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) came to the Hongqiao campus of Pao School and held a workshop with more than 30 students entitled "Carbon Neutral City of the Future - Designing Green Buildings from Recyclable Containers.”  

This activity aims to increase students’ awareness of the problems caused by climate change and the impact of carbon emissions. During the workshop, nine RIBA architects guided Pao School students to design green buildings that use renewable energy and can adapt to rising sea levels and other challenges brought about by climate change. In just two hours of time, working efficiently in teams, the children transformed used containers into innovative models of eco-friendly buildings of the future.

In early January, Middle School chess fans took part in a five-round chess tournament with over 20 students taking part to show their impressive skills. The matches not only gave Pao students the perfect opportunity to play chess in a professional context, but to also flex their skills competitively. 

Congratulations to the winners:

• - Champion: Justin (8A)

• - Runner up: Peter (8A)
  

• - Third Place: Steve (7F)

• - The Best Female Player: Emina (7A)

In November, Y11s Yawen and Amaris were named by the Cambridge Exam Board as coming ‘Top in China’ in their recent IGCSE exams for IGCSE Biology and for IGCSE Sociology respectively.

Last November, the Advanced Philosophy Club was excited to announce the release of the first issue of their philosophy journal. The journal covered topics such as the meaning of philosophy, political philosophy, and an introduction to analytic philosophy.

Throughout 2021, students took part in the annual Xueyuan Photo Competition, which invited students and teachers to submit photos in three categories: Black and White, Colour and Photoshop/Special Effects. Photos flooded in, making the decision for the judges extremely difficult. As normal with Xueyuan competitions, the winners would win points for their Xueyuan houses and contribute to the race to become this year’s winning house.

The photos showed an impressive range of talent and subjects, such as travel photos and images of life in Shanghai. Though competition was tough, there were some stand out entries that resonated with the judges. Congratulations to the winners:

Black & White

1st- Albert Y11

Colour

1st- Catherine Y10

Photoshop/Special Effects

1st- Ningning Y10

On 7th December, 34 Year 12 IB Geography students took part in the second ever Shanghai IB Geography conference.The conference was held virtually and involved over 170 students from a variety of international schools in Shanghai, Suzhou and Beijing – with Pao School proudly sending the largest group of students.

In December, 16 students from Songjiang’s Chinese Drama Fanxing Actors Ensemble visited East China Normal University Affiliated Bilingual School (ECNUA) to perform scenes from the play “Twelve Citizens” and watch performances from students from partner schools. The activity followed previous collaboration with ECNUA and Shanghai New Epoch Bilingual School (NEBS). The exchange provided students a valuable opportunity for students to share their work and learn from one another.

Poster designed by Diana (Y12)

YK Pao School’s Extension Programmes (EP) continues to be committed to Pao School’s Whole Person Education approach. This semester, EP featured more bespoke courses developed to better align with Pao School students’ characteristics and spanned a wide range of fields and disciplines to provide students with a pluralistic and well-rounded learning experience. The Primary and Middle School campuses opened over 50 different kinds of EP courses this past semester, which not only enrich students’ extra-curricular life but also broaden students' horizons and develop their ability to encounter future challenges. Pao School aims to enable all students to tap into their interests and potential while exploring themselves and the world and be equipped with relevant soft skills to excel in their learning journey.

January’s EP Week at Primary School went smoothly and provided many interesting activities to students to take part in. The stunning exhibition of students’ work from their respective courses attracted the appreciation and praise of peers, teachers and parents.  In addition, under the guidance of pandemic prevention requirements, we were able to invite parents to enter the classroom, participate in learning interactions, enjoy final performances, and cheer for sports competitions.

Kungfu from Primary School

School LEGO Engineering from Primary School

Chinese Painting Work from Primary School

Wearable Art from Primary School

Although the Middle School offline EP Week was unfortunately cancelled due to pandemic concerns, EP still shared videos of wonderful in-class moments and the excellent works from EP courses with students and parents online. In addition, the First Middle School Chess Tournament was successfully held in early January, as well as the award-winning achieved by other EP students outside school, not only reflecting the students' commitment towards their EP course of choice but also drawing a complete end to this semester.

Photography from Middle School

Kungfu Free Boxing from Middle School

YK Pao School dominated the podium in an online swim meet through the SSSA. Many students were awarded multiple medals, with the below students winning first place in their races: 

      - Wayne  –100m Freestyle 

      - Edwin –100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle, 50m Fly 

      - Thomas –50m Breaststroke 

      - Edwin, Kevin, Thomas, Marcus –200m Freestyle Relay 

      - Cici, Emily, Jolie, Susie –200m Freestyle Relay 

We also had students representing YK Pao School at the 2021 Shanghai Student Sports Competition (SSSC). This tournament included schools from all over Shanghai, including specialised sports schools. One of the largest fencing competitions in Shanghai, the SSSC is a huge test of young fencers’ skills and determination. A special shout out to the following students: 

      - Richard, Champion, Middle School Section A, Boys' Foil 

      - Dora, Second runner up, Middle School Section A, Girls' Foil 

      - Daniel, Six Place, Middle School Section B, Boys' Foil 

      - Thomas, 17th place, Middle School Section B, Boys' Saber 

Frank (Y9) was awarded 3rd prize in U19 Group A in the 2021 Shanghai Youth Golf Tournament Finals.

Congratulations to our young fencers who have had more success in the 2021 SSSA Fencing Tournament:

• - Alan (Y9) won the Gold Medal in the U16 Mixed Saber

• - Victor (Y9) won the Gold medal in the U16 Boys Foil

• - Barry (Y9) won the Silver medal in the U16 Boys Epee

• - Sissy (Y10) won the Silver medal in the U16 Girls Epee

Victor won the Bronze medal in the Middle School Group B Boys’ Foil in the 2021 Shanghai Students Fencing Championships hosted by Shanghai Education Committee.

Hanson (Y11) who with his four partners participated in a rowing and half marathon competition during the New Year holiday and finished first. Hanson also won the 3rd place in the Youth group A and 5th place in group A, 2000 meters in the Shanghai Youth Rowing championship.

20 students who participated in the YBTC Qualifier Round on 18 December. All of them entered the final round with excellent results (top 30% of the national ranking). Congratulations to Leo in 7D who got the Perfect Score Award. 

Sophie (Y10) and Elina (Y10) have been accepted into the very competitive Talented  Programme. The  programme is organiesd by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education in order to help develop the best young scientists in China. Students on the programme work with distinguished professors at universities like Fudan and Tongji. 

The National Economics Challenge (NEC) is a prestigious global high school economics competition which tests a students’ knowledge of microeconomics, macroeconomics and International events. Congratulations the Year 11 participants and award winners:

       - National Top Scoring Individual Silver Award: Isabella, Angela and Kevin 

       - National Top Scoring Individual Bronze Award: Allen and Alex 

       - Regional Overall Team Gold Award: Angela, Kevin, Allen, Eric, Isabella, Victoria and Michael 

       - Regional Overall Team Bronze Award: Alex and Eric 

       - Microeconomics Hall of Fame award: Angela