Evidence of student wellbeing
The high school has been conducting the PASS (The Pupil Attitudes to Self and School) survey since 2019. The PASS survey is a multi-factorial measure of students’ attitudes to school, learning and success. It helps the school identify and hence address social and emotional barriers to learning. The data of the survey results in the past three years (2019, 2020, 2021) show that our students have pretty good ‘feeling about the school’, ‘attitudes to teachers’, ‘confidence in learning’, and ‘attitudes to attendance’. However, we also identified that our students might feel uneasy about their current learning capabilities and that they also might be hesitant to undertake challenging tasks in learning. The high school Principal’s office analyzes the PASS survey data each year and organizes reflection meetings involving all the high school teaching staff. Intervention recommendations are provided to the staff at these meetings in a hope of improving students’ attitudes towards the school and themselves.
During March and April 2020, all schools in Shanghai were closed because of a COVID outbreak. Teaching and learning were moved to online. Students and teachers experienced tremendous pressure and stress to learn to work with technology and the new mode of teaching and learning. In order to simultaneously monitor the quality of online teaching and our students’ experience of learning, the school created a survey on online teaching and distributed it for three time on March 6, March 20, and April 15. Across the three survey distributions, the overall average rating for eight aspects of online teaching was over 82%, showing our students general satisfaction with the online lessons. The March 20 results declined compared with the first March 6 results. The high school team immediately asked the teaching staff to reflect on the eight aspects of online teaching and make improvements. The third April 15th results showed improved scores. In March and April 2022, schools in Shanghai were closed again due to another sudden COVID outbreak (Omicron this time). The high school distributed the first student survey on online teaching after two weeks of the teaching. Following the survey, class observations were organized to collect further information. As a result, one reflection meeting was organized by the Principal’s office and recommendations were given to the staff in order to improve students’ online learning experiences.
In December 2021, the high school distributed a survey among all DP2 students. Over 50% of this group of students participated in the survey. The survey asked students about their experiences on academic study, extra-curricular activities, school counselling, and pastoral care aspect of the school. According to the data, most participants believe that their Homeroom teachers and Heads of House know them well, the activities in Homerooms and Houses help them establish good relationships with peers, the school provides good guidance of personal, social, and health development, they feel comfortable asking for extra support, and they feel the school has a safe learning environment.
Demonstrating learning at opportunities outside the school provide students with magnified sense of achievements. Since the 2020 academic year, the high school began to encourage and organize students to participate in academic or non-academic national or international contests. Teachers in a range of subject areas, such as Economics, Business Management, Sciences, and Mathematics, are all involved in this project. While we see students be engaged in more contests in more disciplines, the number of awards is also growing over the past two years. In 2020, the high school students received 19 national and international awards. The number grew to be 56 national and international awards in the year of 2021. At the beginning of 2022, there are already 16 awards achieved by the high school students between January and March only.
Since 2021, after one year of introducing the Monthly Education Themes based on the Twelve Learner Attributes of the high school, we began to collect stories linked with the Attributes from students and teachers. The high school teacher librarian leads this project. Students actively responded to this call and have submitted 30 entries as of March 2022. The teacher librarian has been given feedback to students who submitted their works so the stories can be published in a collection for the library. The Principal’s office also invited students to directly tell their learning stories at the High School Assembly. For example, one student wrote in her story about Caring, “I think that caring for someone is letting him feel that he's soaked in warmth. I'm so lucky that I'm always surrounded by everyone's concern and love, so I want to pass it on to more and more people.” (Princess Chen, Grade 9). One Pre-IBDP student wrote about the attribute of Risk Taker, “If you want to become a scientist, taking risks is necessary. Scientists approach uncertainty with forethought and determination....They know that failure is a learning experience and the ability to take risks is an important trait to cultivate.” (Frank Li, Grade 10). Another DP student wrote about Resilient, which is one of the twelve learner attributes promoted in the high school. He says, “we often face issues in life when studying new topics and working on personal development projects, in this process, it’s necessary for us to be goal-directed and resilient individuals…” (Abe Zhao, Grade 11). These stories and student reflections show the positive impact of the Learner Attributes on students in the high school.
In the last two years or so, the high school continuously improved the extra-curriculum system by both improving the CAS program in the DP and including G9 and G10 students in a Pre-CAS program. While DP students take part in the CAS learning and assessment formally, the junior students join or create extra-curricular clubs. Designated CAS periods are provided in the school timetable twice a week, with each being 40 minutes, so all students can go to various activities of their interests at the same time. In 2021, we also brought in a special program called the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards to broaden students’ opportunity to participate in outdoor competitions and obtain internationally recognized awards. A group of students started their learning journey with the Awards from 2022 spring.
Students in the high school actively create and maintain CAS clubs. The organization and participation experiences in the clubs make the students’ learning and life in the school more balanced. There are 30 clubs in the year of 2019, 29 clubs in 2020, and 34 in 2021. Also, we see a growing number of CAS club student leaders in the past three years. There are 27 student leaders in 2019, 28 in 2020, and 31 in 2021. Note that the student population in the high school is not large (about 200), these numbers are quite impressive.
The high school pastoral care team continuously creates all types of activities and events that can promote student wellbeing. For instance, in the 2020 academic year, twelve events or campaigns are initiated by the CAS coordinator, including the World Mental Health Day campaign, Drama Festival, House Night, Charity Donation, etc. These activities enriched students’ campus life, balanced their academic study, and build better relationships among the members of the high school community. The high school also created a few school-wide extra-curricular events to promote well-being of all students and staff members. CAS trips have been organized each year since the high school department was established. Unfortunately, this tradition is interrupted by the COVID in 2021. While the CAS club fair for recruiting new members was started in the 2019 academic year, theCAS exhibition that showcases students’ learning achievements in clubs was created in 2020 and becomes a new tradition of the high school. To promote physical development, the high school launched the first Fun Run event in a park near the school in the 2020 academic year. Students and teachers were divided into teams to participate in fun activities when they ran through the park for a few kilometers. This event immediately became the most welcomed event and a new tradition in the high school. It continued in 2021.
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