During the months of November and December, Yew Chung International School of Beijing will be going Blue in support of the United Nation Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) World Children’s Day. Aligning with our school’s recently introduced Life Skills curriculum and the current G100 project, Lower Secondary School students will be raising awareness for Children’s Rights in a form of public service announcements (PSAs) to be launched to our school community on this symbolic day. These PSAs will be in the form of videos, and, after the PSA’s have been launched, students will turn their attention to producing a poster campaign to promote the workshops that they will deliver to upper primary.

According to Michael Manktelow, Lower Secondary School Teacher and G100 Coordinator, “With International Children’s Day coming up on the 20th of November we have linked up with the Life Skills Curriculum to explore Children’s Rights. The main aim of this project is to raise awareness and educate others about the rights our students have decided to advocate for.”

Students thought critically and analyzed 15 Children’s Rights as put forth by the UN Convention Rights of the Child. In groups, they debated which right was most significant to them, and chose one right which they will advocate for through the creation of PSAs.

The project stems from the “Rights and Responsibilities” Unit of the Life Skills curriculum. Our Life Skills curriculum aims to create  harmony between the spiritual, physical, social, emotional, mental health, intercultural and learning development of all students. This initiative is a guide on how children can advocate for themselves in the area of personal safety in the area of personal safety.

What prompted Rachel George, YCIS Beijing’s Head of Student Support to start this project was because “Rights and Responsibilities are a component of the Personal Safety unit of our Life Skills curriculum. Through this unit, students will explore not only their personal rights and responsibilities, and but also have opportunities for authentic decision-making over matters that affect them.” she stated.

The Going Blue Project is also in line with our school’s mission of raising globally competent leaders who aspire for a better world, with its purpose to raise awareness in our school community and the community at large. The ultimate goal of the project is for students to have a sense of what issues affect the communities at large and how they can act for its betterment – cementing the principles of CARES.

Reinforcing Global Citizenship and a Holistic Learning Approach are crucial aspects of YCIS Beijing’s identity, which is why for the progression of this project, the team behind the #turnYCISblue have enlisted the expertise of individuals from several known organisations such as the United Nations (UN), UNICEF, Beijing Kids and TimeOut Beijing to offer mentorship to students in a variety of areas like film making, workshop development and poster design.

Going Blue will not only serve students by broadening the knowledge in all things Children’s Rights but in addition to that, they stand to gain skills from the invited specialists. The professionals will be the points of contact for students and will answer questions, collaborate with and guide them during their project development stages; offering their expertise in industry specific questions and share knowledge skills they have accumulated over the years.