Since our founding in 1932, Yew Chung Yew Wah has been committed to global education and character formation.

At YCIS Pudong, Global Community Week is our annual international community celebration. The week-long celebration from May 16 - 20 provided opportunities for community members to aspire to, and act for, a better world, by showcasing the school's Mission through activities, projects, and presentations.

This year, our engaging activities linked to the YCIS Pudong C.A.R.E.S. model for global citizenship, which stands for "Communication, Action, Respect, Equity, and Sustainability". Through sharing and learning about how our choices in the present moment define the future for our community and our planet, we explored the theme of “Choose your Own Future”.

Year 5 student Eva chose to focus on “A” for “Action” and addressed the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDG). Eva focused on goal #13: climate action. She investigated the current state of the world’s climate obstacles, populations, and forecasted future consequences of our actions if we do not take measures for change. Eva concluded by presenting practical things we can do to create sustainable, positive change.

“The YCIS C.A.R.E.S. values are an important part of the Character Education programme at the school and help our students to develop into true global citizens. As educators, we hope that the theme for the year will further ingrain these values into our students, faculty, and community,” comments YCIS Pudong Economics & Global Perspectives Teacher Mr Danial Siddiqi.

More than 50 parent volunteers have dedicated their time and ideas to build Global Community Week. We are lucky to have a close relationship between our parent community and the school staff, who consistently develop fun learning activities for all students.

“I hope our students and the community will deepen their understanding of their ability to contribute positively to the world. We can all be ‘change makers’ and take initiative to act within our context to ensure a prosperous future for the generations to come,” says YCIS Pudong Head of Character Education and Life Skills Mr Marc Lawrence.

Every month during assemblies at YCIS Puxi we promote a virtue and have a guest speaker share their experience around the topic. Throughout the e-Learning period, the weekly assemblies for Years 1 – 5 start by introducing our virtue of the week, followed by a short wellness activity of belly breathing, listening to a song, watching shadow puppets, or reading a story in English with Chinese translation that relates to that virtue. At the end of the assembly, students are invited to share reflections about the material presented. So far, we have focused on the virtues of acceptance, self-compassion, creativity, and cleanliness.

“The idea is to keep these 'gifts of character' in the forefront of our students’ awareness, reminding them that all situations in life are opportunities to grow inner strength. It is a way to bring a positive focus to challenging circumstances and to instil a growth mindset in our students,” explains YCIS Puxi School Counsellor Ms Biteena Frazier.

This positive guidance forms the basis of our Wellbeing Programme, which is emphasised in daily lessons, weekly assemblies, and other activities beyond the classroom walls, and is essential to the YCIS education and development of global citizens. YCIS Shanghai students are known not only for their academic excellence, including stellar examination results, but for being balanced and responsible citizens in their classroom communities and beyond.

YCIS Puxi Head of Performing Arts Ms Jennifer Gaul recounts sharing a story during Assembly to illustrate how impactful small acts of kindness and helpfulness can be. Ms Gaul experienced a heartbreaking loss and found it challenging to connect with other people when receiving help made her feel vulnerable.

“It was the small acts of kindness and helpfulness when I did not want to accept the help that made all the difference. I’ve taught Year 7 through Year 13, and so many students would come by during breaks to sit, chat, and snack, which made for such a lovely moment in my day,” shares Ms Gaul.

YCIS Shanghai is committed to positively guiding each student's morals and values that will help them make good choices both now and later in life. From Early Childhood to Upper Secondary, every YCIS student realises the importance of helping others to work towards creating a better world.