As a demonstration of the personal responsibility that is instilled in students from a young age at YCIS, last week’s focus at Regency Park Campus was on the Student-Led Conferences (SLC’s). Every year, students undertake the SLC's to communicate a summary of their learning to their parents, in a forum that is used to share their best work, identify areas for improvement, and to set personal and academic goals. Each student spends approximately 20 minutes addressing these points with their parents.

Mr Matt Grady, a Key Stage 3 Co-ordinator at YCIS Shanghai, explains, “We do the SLC's to help students become reflective learners, improve their confidence with communication, and help them develop their preparation and organisation skills. This process also gives the parents an insight into all of the great work their child is doing at the school.”

To prepare for the important conferences, students created PowerPoint presentations with an overview of their work, and they were required to select five projects from each subject area to share with their parents. Ms Jennifer Cairns, a YCIS Regency Park Campus Primary Year Teacher and Team Leader, explains that this is an important part of the education philosophy at YCIS because, “Creating and presenting a portfolio of work allows our students to be reflective about their learning, and enables them to develop a sense of responsibility for their own progress.”

Through the SLC’s, important character traits, like responsibility and confidence, are developed. The entire YCIS curriculum, which is based on the national curriculum of England, is specifically designed to include empowering activities, such as the SLCs, which helps prepare students to be globally competitive in the future.