Director's Welcome ..:Shanghai Community International School:..

Director's Welcome

Message From the Director of Schools

Dear SCIS and HIS Students, Staff, Community and Friends,

On behalf of the Shanghai Community International School (SCIS), I welcome you to our school website. Over the summer we have made great strides in a number of very important areas while maintaining excellence in others. I am pleased to briefly update you on some of these highlights:

SCIS/HIS students continue to outperform their peers on standardized test measures while still having a wonderful time in extracurricular programming that is growing regularly. The AP results were truly exceptional and consistent with student/advisor targets. Congratulations to the staff and students for their commitment to academic excellence!

SCIS/HIS high schools are now fully “wired”. Students receive an Apple Macbook as one of their required school supplies and the entire campus now has wireless access for the SCIS community.

Over the summer we added a High School building to our SCIS-Hongqiao facilities. The high school houses three science labs, 17 new classrooms, and a high school cafe. Our library has moved to the first floor and creates a wonderful learning space for students, and a “Borders”-style café and reading area for our parents and guests. The HQ pool will continue hosting swimming lessons and after school activities for over 150 students. Further, the crown jewel of our Performing Arts Center, the theater, has been opened and well worth a visit. SCIS is now providing students with the very finest platform in Shanghai for its music and dramatic programming. Finally, SCIS-Hongqiao is now a fully authorized IB Diploma Program World School.

The original campus (Pudong I) remains a wonderful learning environment and has seen some aesthetic changes over the summer. Pudong II is under-construction and scheduled to be completed for the second semester. The Pudong Upper School will be a world-class upper school facility that will boast the finest set of performing arts spaces for upper school students in Shanghai. We have planned high quality instrumental music, drama, and dance facilities as well as both a black box theater and a grand theater that will be as sensational as the one in Hongqiao. Yes, Pudong II will also have a cafe. Our aim is to have the very finest performing arts programs in China!

HIS has competed successfully for the first time in extra-curricular sports, including the inaugural (and friendly) Dragon-Cup competition between all three SCIS/HIS schools in volleyball. Further competition is planned this year for football (soccer) and basketball. Additionally, HIS has hosted a very successful Model UN conference and is also already in preparation for their next musical in the coming weeks.

Overall, a highlight of the 2007-08 school year was the successful visit by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and NCCT (Chinese) accreditation teams to our Shanghai campuses. In addition to helping us hone our improvement planning, they affirmed that SCIS has a warm, nurturing, environment for children that successfully meet its goals for students. The NCCT team was particularly enthusiastic regarding the great strides our Mandarin program has made in a very short period. The full WASC/NCCT report is available on line for you to review at http://www.scisdragons.net/.

If you are new to the school, I invite you to review these pages to learn what we are about and why so many people have decided that SCIS/HIS is the school for them. Further, if you are already part of our community, you will find access to much information that will be helpful in assisting you to take advantage of everything our school system has to offer.

Sincerely,

Jeffry R. Stubbs
Director of Schools

SCIS is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the National Center for Curriculum and Textbook Development (China). The Hongqiao campus is authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. The Pudong and Hangzhou campuses are authorized to offer the CollegeBoard Advanced Placement courses.


Western Association of Schools and Colleges	National Center for Curriculum and Textbook Development (China)	International Baccalaureate (IB)	Advanced Placement (AP)