Superintendent's Welcome

Message From the Superintendent of Schools

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

On behalf of the Shanghai Community International School (SCIS) and the Hangzhou International School (HIS), I welcome you to our school website. Our intent is to maintain webpages and links that reflect the unique teaching and learning experience at SCIS and HIS schools.   While we have done our best to share our environment with you, SCIS and HIS schools are best experienced in person.  Current and prospective SCIS and HIS parents are most welcome on our campuses and there are daily events and activities to take part in (including just relaxing in the café and casually observing student-community life).

Over the years 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 score well above peer norms on NWEA MAP standardized test measures while still having a “complete” learning experience within a rich and comprehensive extracurricular program.  High School student participation in AP and IB courses is 100% and results have been truly exceptional. This year, AP students received a 5 out of a possible 5 on 41% of all AP exams completed (the international average is 20%). Congratulations to the staff and students for their commitment to academic and personal excellence!

SCIS-HIS upper schools (grades 6-12) are now fully “wired”. With a commitment to a 1-to-1 laptop technology initiative, students receive an Apple Macbook as one of their required school supplies and all campuses provide wireless access for the SCIS-HIS community.

Over the summer, our Pudong Lower School added a new Early Childhood Center (ECC) to its facilities.  The ECC program aims to incorporate child-centered and inquiry based learning experiences with top-quality equipment, staffing, and resources.  Directly opposite our ECC program we have built a beautiful café for the community to access while waiting for their children, holding a parent informational forum, or simply enjoying a break during the day.  The Pudong Upper School now offers a world-class upper school facility that boasts the finest set of performing arts spaces for upper school students in Shanghai. And there is more good news to come… before the end of the first semester we plan to give students full access to a brand new competitive swimming pool located next to the Black Box theater.

Over the summer we also added a swimming pool viewing area 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 SCIS-Hongqiao swimming pool will continue to support a regular school swimming program and host our proudest Swim Team after an incredible first year. Further, the SCIS Theater, the crown jewel of our Performing Arts Center, will continue to offer theater productions and events like no other in Shanghai.  SCIS schools provide students with the very finest platforms in Shanghai for its visual and performing arts programming.  SCIS-Hongqiao is a fully authorized IB Diploma Program World School and SCIS Pudong has undertaken the preliminary steps in a plan to offer IB courses in 2010. 

HIS continues to compete successfully in regional sporting events, including the Dragon-Cup competition between all three SCIS/HIS schools in volleyball, football (soccer), and basketball.  HIS hosts the regionally acclaimed Westlake Model UN conference each fall and continues to provide Hangzhou with outstanding theater productions.

Overall, a hallmark of SCIS-HIS schools has been our commitment to high standards of academic excellence as established by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (American) and NCCT (Chinese) accrediting organizations. In addition to helping us hone our school improvement planning, these organizations have affirmed that SCIS-HIS schools have a warm, nurturing, environment for children that successfully meet goals for student learning. The NCCT visiting teams have been particularly enthusiastic regarding the great strides our Mandarin program has made over the years.

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 assist you in taking advantage of everything our school system has to offer, including access to our school learning portal that allows you to follow assessment and reporting information for your child, calendar events, and classroom links.

Sincerely,

Jeffry R. Stubbs
Superintendent of Schools