The school sprung back into life this week and lessons are in full swing. After our three-week Christmas break it is lovely to see lots of familiar faces back on campus. We are also delighted to welcome 28 new students this week who are joining across ECE, Primary and Secondary. For some, it is their first time in Beijing so please join us in making them feel welcome in our school and city.

In ECE, Primary and Secondary there are lots of things to look forward to this semester. We speak to teachers about what’s coming up.

Ms Farah Sun, Vice Principal, Head of Secondary

One of the things I’m most excited about this semester is our Secondary wellness project. We have arranged a curriculum of workshops for our students that will cover topics such as managing stress and anxiety, resolving conflict and personal health and wellbeing. Students are then going to produce G100 projects based on something that has inspired them about the course and designed to spread helpful information across the school.

Other things to look forward to include our Secondary musical, “A Night Under the Stars”, which will take place on February 15 and 16. We also have a team going to the ACAMIS basketball tournament in Qingdao from January 24-26. Hopefully they’ll bring home some great results!

Mr Devreaux Poole, Primary Learning and Teaching Coordinator

The Primary school is busy preparing for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations. Every homeroom in Primary is doing a performance which is being led by the Chinese homeroom teachers. This is a very major part of the Chinese curriculum – a chance for our students to learn all about the significance and culture of Chinese New Year as well as experiencing the excitement of the spectacular performances and costumes. The show will take place on January 24 so there’s a lot of work to do!

We are also looking forward to welcoming in some authors from the Bookworm Literary Festival from March 15-30.We are planning four author visits to the school, which we hope will inspire our students.

Miss Tilly Asafu-Adjaye, ECE Co-Teacher

Chinese New Year is a big event in our ECE. Each class is preparing a performance for their families and rehearsals have already begun! Over the next three weeks, our children are also learning how to make different traditional foods and learning the meaning of Chinese New Year through traditional stories.