Contributed by:
Ni Shihai, Alumni parent (Viola's father, graduated from the High School in 2021)
Cultivating civic responsibility
When Viola was in Year 4, Pao School changed the rules regarding which students were permitted to play on the jungle gym. Previously the jungle gym was open to students in Years 3-5, but it was then changed to students in Years 1-3. Viola was disappointed because she loved playing on the jungle gym and had only been able to enjoy it for one year of school. We encouraged her to share her thoughts with the principal, so she decided to write a letter asking the school to reconsider the rule. Unexpectedly, many of her classmates supported her stance. In the end, about 40-50 people signed the letter. Accompanied by her supporters, Viola handed the jungle gym proposal letter to Deputy Principal Crick Chen. Principal Chen said that she would seriously consider it, and then Viola informed the students who signed it that the proposal letter had been handed over to Principal Chen.
Two days later, I met Principal Chen, and she lauded Viola's behaviour – in particular her problem-solving skills. She noted that Viola identified the problem, thought about how to solve it, got her classmates behind her in support of the initiative, and then persuaded them to sign the letter asking the school to revise the rule. Principal Chen was impressed and said she would definitely support the matter and move it forward at the school management team meeting.
A week later, Principal Chen announced to everyone at the morning assembly that the school planned to build a large jungle gym for older students on the outer wall of the swimming pool, and had begun to design a plan. She then gave a special thank you to Viola, which delighted all of her classmates, whether they had signed the letter or not.
Afterwards, I asked my child, what would you do if some of your classmates wanted you to lead them to do something in the future, but you don't really want to do it? She replied: If it works for everyone, then I can take the lead. I think it is the tolerant environment at Pao School, alongside the respect and recognition from the principal and teachers, that fosters Viola's sense of civic responsibility.
Always being prepared
In the summer of 2019, Songjiang Campus renovated the girls' dormitory. The weather was hot, the construction schedule was tight, and it was a tough job. However, President Wu Zijian, who was over seventy years old at the time, visited the construction site almost every day to inspect progress on the renovation work. On August 2, before the project finished, the Chairman of the PTA was invited to the school and President Wu personally introduced various engineering materials and construction techniques to him in detail, so as to reassure the parents.
Parents were very concerned about the smell and presence of certain chemicals on campus after the renovation. In response, Mark Bishop, the Executive Headmaster and Head of Songjiang Campus, personally led the school general affairs team to communicate with the PTA. A list of questions was formed within the first week of school. On the following Monday, the design team, construction team, material supplier, and air testing department were called to the school. The PTA also invited several parents engaged in construction, air testing and other related fields to come to the school to communicate and understand the situation. An improvement plan report was formed and sent to each family through each Year’s WeChat group, so that parents' concerns were addressed at the soonest possible time.
With the increasing number of students of all years on the Songjiang campus, it has become a challenge to arrange class and meal times, in particular between 12-1pm. The school must carefully arrange how to arrange for 800 people to get their meals, be seated and eat in the cafeteria in an orderly manner. If any part of the process is too long, the queues in the cafeteria will be too long and the atmosphere may be chaotic.
For this reason, during the first week of school, Principal Mark held a stopwatch during lunchtime to calculate the amount of time it took for each step of the process to be completed and observed the movement of students in the cafeteria. Adjustments to the cooking process and the table layout have now successfully solved the problem of students' meal time.
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