At Pao School, academic performance has never been the sole measurement of excellence. Rather, the school focuses on whole person education, emphasizing the character development of students, in order to aid them in navigating through life’s journey of success and failures. Teachers in the Primary School take a comprehensive approach to learning, ensuring that character education is integrated into each core subject. In the Primary School, activities from assemblies and home-room time, to student-led activities are all treated as opportunities to communicate Pao School’s core values and educational mission.
The Birth of "Story Team"
Pao School hopes that all the members of the school’s community, including teachers and parents, participate in character education. The school actively involves parents in character education through initiatives like the “Story Team” and “The Characters”, fostering a collaborative approach to children’s character development from various perspectives.
. 
The Story Team and The Characters perform at the school’s 10th Anniversary Celebration
The Story Team, founded in early 2008 during Pao School’s second semester, was initiated by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) with the support of the school. Over the years, it has expanded to include hundreds of members, with more dads joining in.
Primary School Principal Rosalie Pietsch and Deputy Principal Crick Chen award certificates
to the Story Team members
A Professional Team
The Story Team uses storybooks and open discussions to help students understand character themes that are valuable throughout their lives. These activities foster courage, and resilience, to develop a strong character. Although they are only volunteers, each member diligently prepares before a performance.
Jennifer explained that the team selects picture books based on the school's monthly character education theme. The entire team collaborates on lesson preparation, brainstorming specific content and formats. For example, during the ‘Integrity’ theme, the Story Team explored the character ‘义’, as in Pao School’s values, by discussing its meaning and significance. After the lesson preparation, story team members then compile teaching content, review with the school team, and share the materials with volunteer storytellers.
Students hug their teachers and classmates after listening to "The Hug That Can Fly"
To ensure the quality of delivery, Story Team members attend professional picture book training courses. There they refine storytelling methods, questions, activities, and more. After each storytelling session, they review classroom effectiveness, provide feedback, and summarize their evaluations. This comprehensive process helps the story team to continuously train new volunteers as they join the group.
Furthermore, the Story Team organises one stage play per school year to convey story lessons in a popular clear format. Despite the short duration of twenty minutes, the plays require meticulous effort, often taking many months to piece together.
The Story Team's performance in 2017
Mutual Growth and Learning
"During lesson planning, we anticipate the children’s reactions based on our own experiences,” said Eileen, the Year 2 Story Team leader. “But their reactions often surprise us. Engaging with the children is deeply enjoyable, as we learn and grow from their perspectives."
In the recent performance, the Year 2 Story Team presented the play ‘Spooking Under the Eaves’ to Year 1 and Year 2 students, teachers, and parents, after two months of preparation. The play follows the Spooking family living in a traditional Shanghai shikumen lane. Inspired by a primary school student Zhang Xiaomu, the young spooks embrace creative techniques to create memorable experiences and magical scenes for the childrens’ delight . Through the magical journey of the Spooking family, the play underscores the importance of curiosity, courage, and perseverance in innovation, while showcasing traditional Shanghai culture. The performance received wild applause from the students for the fantastic storytelling of the Year 2 Story Team.
Jennifer shared the Story Team's practical experience at the Pao School 2023 Global Education Forum
As a parent, hope to contribute to the school’s character education and to dig deeper into Pao School’s core values. I seek to collaborate with the school and home environments to strive for the growth of our children.
——Jennifer, Leader of the Story Team, at the 2023 Global Education Forum, held at Pao School.
