Last weekend our wider community of families, friends, staff and friends of the school came together at the Yew Chung International School of Beijing to celebrate our 10^th annual Global Community Day. Our largest annual event, the GCD is an open-air celebration of the talent of our students, the diversity of our families, our community-wide relations and, this year, the landmark 85^th anniversary of the Yew Chung Education Foundation. All in the name of a great cause, this year we raised nearly ¥100,000 for our charitable organisation Seeds of Hope.

As usual, our families and vendors contributed a fantastic spread of global cuisines, including Russian, Indian, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.  There was no shortage of activities too – crazy science, clay modelling, body painting, tombola, horse riding and, of course, the ever-popular sponge throwing. A special mention goes to the teachers who volunteered to take part in the sponge-throwing, leaving them rather soggy for the rest of the day!

Throughout the day, guests were treated to an outstanding programme of performances from our students. Hosted by Mr Pearton, Head of the Arts, the Auditorium was a hub of musical talent covering piano, guitar, violin, drums, singing, dancing and more in a great variety of genres. Congratulations to all our performers who kept the music going from start to finish.

GCD is a highlight of the school calendar for families and staff. It is a great pleasure every year to bring together the YCIS Beijing network, welcome in old and new faces, and be reminded of the cross-cultural sense of belonging that is our Global Community.

A huge thank you to Phoebe Yu, our Community Relations Officer, and all the administrative departments, teachers, staff, parents and vendors who made the event possible. Thank you also to our generous sponsors and everyone who contributed money towards our important cause.

Photo credit: Little Star Magazine

To see the full photo album from the day, click here.