This month, members of the YCIS Shanghai community celebrated the retirement of Ms Cherry Chen, Early Childhood Education (ECE) Co-Principal at the Regency Park Campus.

Ms Chen, a long serving educator at the school, has worked at YCIS for more than 22 years, starting as an ECE teacher when the school first opened in Shanghai in 1993. Always an exemplary teacher, Ms Chen became one of YCIS’s original Honorary Master Teacher recipients in recognition of her outstanding teaching. Prior to her role as ECE Co-Principal, Ms Chen was a school leader when YCIS originally opened in the Seasons Villas, continuing through the move to the current Regency Park Campus, on to the expansion of the Century Park Campus, and finally to the opening of the current ECE building. During her time at YCIS, Ms Chen saw the school grow from eight students to over 2500 students. Under her leadership, the ECE programme developed significantly and gained a well-deserved reputation for its focus on the holistic development of every child.

To celebrate Ms Chen’s wonderful contributions to the YCIS community, a retirement party was held last week at Regency Park Campus. Fellow staff, parents, and current and past ECE students came together to thank Ms Chen and wish her well in her retirement. During the party, Ms Mary Yu and Mr Damien Hehir, ECE and Primary Co-Principals at the Regency Park and Century Park Campuses, provided brief remarks about enjoying many years of working with Ms Chen, and described her many valuable contributions to the school. Ms Chen was then presented with a lovely painting that included handprints from all of YCIS Shanghai’s current ECE students at the Regency Park Campus.

Mr Norm Dean, Deputy Director of the Yew Chung Education Foundation, said, “On behalf of the Directorate, I wish to acknowledge and sincerely thank Cherry for her dedicated and professional contributions over the many years to her students, her colleagues, and the broader educational community of Shanghai and the YCIS network. We will always consider Cherry a lifelong member of the extended Yew Chung Family, and hope to welcome her on campus for visits in the future.”