On this beautiful April day, in order to further build a platform for exchange and learning between quality bilingual education and solid education in Nantong, and to facilitate the communication and cooperation between various schools, many government leaders as well as headmasters from Nantong public primary and secondary schools, English teachers and many other excellent education colleagues gathered at the beautiful campus of Hiba Academy Nantong to exchange and share ideas on Chinese and Western education.
At the beginning of the event, Mr Xu Xinhai, Deputy Director of Nantong Education Bureau, gave an inspiring opening speech. He mentioned that Nantong has always valued culture and education and has a good atmosphere of competing for development and excellence in education, with public education being second to none in the province. Private education needs more help and support from all practitioners. We hope that in the future we can gather more quality educational resources to help balance the development of public and private education. It will also bring more diversified education choices to Nantong and the surrounding areas. In the future, the Education Department will continue to organise academic exchanges and sharing activities, such as today's, in order to help top quality and unique schools such as Hiba Academy Nantong to communicate with other schools and work together to build a high-quality education sector in Nantong.
Mr Simon Kenworthy, the Master of Hiba Academy Nantong, thanked Director Xu for his recognition of the school and the care and support given by the education administration since our school’s inception. Aware of the great social responsibility of founding a school, Simon emphasised the importance of always focusing on our vision and mission for education to bring high quality bilingual education to more families in Nantong and the surrounding areas.
During the sharing day, we also invited Ms Alice Stott, the Director of Programmes at “Voice 21”, and Mr Dean Clayden, the Head of Primary Support of the Institute of Learning, to present the topic of “Oracy” English Speaking Skills Teaching Implementation.The participating teachers not only learned more about the importance of improving their English speaking skills, but also experienced how to help pupils improve their speaking skills in the classroom.
Our unique wellbeing programme was presented at the same time by Ms Penny Mulholland, the Head of Pastoral Care and Boarding. Since 2006, Wellington College has been developing and refining its own wellbeing programme. Based on this, Wellington College China has developed a unique wellbeing programme tailored to the needs of pupils. The curriculum focuses on positive education, balancing the learning experience of 'feeling good' and 'doing well', which provides pupils with the benefits of a healthy mindset, emotional stability, resilience, and physical fitness.
Along with discussing educational philosophy and the curriculum, the leaders and colleagues also toured the school's high-quality facilities and saw how the campus was built in a way that considered the learning and growth characteristics of pupils of various ages and promoted their holistic development.
This sharing day highlighted Hiba Academy Nantong's strengths and internationally-minded position amongst the local schools. Through ongoing interchange and learning in the future, we seek to encourage shared knowledge, common development, and a win-win future.
