Sponsored by Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing) –YCIS Beijing is has a long history of academic achievement with five educational accreditations and a award from Cambridge International Examinations. YCIS Beijing is registered as a school for children of foreign nationals offering international education for students in kindergarten through to Year 13 and graduation to university. For more information, please email: enquiry@bj.ycef.com
Parental involvement in schools has increased dramatically in recent years and the benefits are quite clear to see. Interestingly, students with parents who are involved in their school tend to have fewer behavioral problems and better academic performance.However, this trend becomes even more apparent when the students themselves and the wider community are actively involved with the school, and if this is kind of collaboration is present, it is something to be truly cherished and celebrated.
At YCIS Beijing, students and parents participate in a range of important decisions that are made about the school including current or new school events, school timetables, charity initiatives and ideas for key school renovation periods.Noel Thomas, Co-Principal of YCIS Beijing discusses the importance of such involvement, “Student and parent involvement is a vital for any school. This is because education is not simply about schooling, it is about educating young people for life and this requires a partnership between the school, the parents and the students. The school should not be viewed simply as a centre for exam preparation, it is much more than that and as such, schools need to work cooperatively to develop, resolve and equip students for the future.”
YCIS Beijing’s Parent Relations Officer, Eryn Van Winden holds a valuable position at the school working hand-in-hand with YCIS Beijing parents, the school’s Parents Organisation and the community. She helps toprovide a wide range of useful resources to parents in addition to organising workshops and classes, yard sales, charity projects, parent lunches and shopping trips. Van Winden describes how she sees her role at YCIS Beijing,“Stability in an international setting is arguably more important than a regular state school. I’m a point of contact for parents and they are welcome to come to me if they have anything they wish to discuss, take part or set-up an activity at school. I aim to create and encourage activities that give parents a sense of belonging in the community, a feeling of support and make task of living in another country and raising a family less daunting.The parent workshops are particularly popular, helping to not only support parents, but also to provide useful information about parenting beyond the school gates. Through these kinds of activities, parents can learn more about the school and meet with other parents, all of which helps to build a sense of friendship and community.”
Van Winden is also involved in many events that are open to the wider Beijing community. Examples of these community events include YCIS Beijing’s Welcome BBQ, Christmas Bazaar, the aforementioned parent workshops and the upcoming annual Global Community Day, the biggest community event in the school calendar. “The theme of this year’s Global Community Day ‘Celebrating International Culture’ is particularly fitting for who and where we are as an international school. This kind of community event is beneficial to everyone and our parents are very enthusiastic to get involved. Groups of parents from different countries each have a booth to showcase their own culture such as New Zealand, Australia, the UK and US and Thailand and Japan and provide fun activities for children. This year, the Parents Organisation also worked together to create a cookbook to sell at Global Community Day and beyond with all profits going to our YCIS charity Seeds of Hope, a charity that builds school for migrant children in rural areas of China. The charity initiative is another example of giving back to a community that has given so much to us.”
If you would like to attend YCIS Beijing’s Global Community Day, please RSVP info@bj.ycef.com
Photo: YCIS
