Making the transition from Primary to Secondary is one of the most exciting and memorable phases of a child’s educational journey. At YCIS, with an emphasis on the whole child, teachers have been paying special attention to the student’s well-being by continually improving our Lower Secondary programme. In the first week of the new academic year, Year 7 students were welcomed to Secondary with a unique 3-day orientation. They had many opportunities to meet each one of their teachers as they took part in a “Taster lesson”. This was an activity to introduce them to each subject in Secondary.

During the orientation, the students also enjoyed various helpful workshop sessions. From “Daily Life in Secondary”, “Tech training parts 1 and 2”, “Relating to Peers”, “Staying Organised”, “Understanding Secondary Expectations”, to “Getting Help: Successful Communication in the Classroom”, all of the Year 7s took home knowledge and skills that were exciting and useful for them.

Thanks to the advanced technology, our student who has not yet been back to China also joined the class virtually, experiencing the Year 7 life together with his friends! By approaching software platforms such as Microsoft Teams, student feedback during daily reflections and surveys were collected timely. The digital reports indicated these orientation activities and specially designed lessons were well-received by our students, and they are entering Secondary much more confident, excited, and well-prepared.

Miss Lisa Bruno, our Lower Secondary Coordinator, was more than satisfied with the programme. “It’s great to see our students getting so expressive about their 3-day orientation! I have enjoyed designing this programme as well, and I look forward to improving it in the future. I really think this was a great way for Year 7s to begin their time in Secondary, and they will start classes much better prepared.”

This year, a focus on the established bilingual education in Lower Secondary is established as well. For Year 7 and Year 8 students, they can find two Form Tutors, one western and one Chinese. We believe this change will bring even more support to our students in the Lower Secondary years, as well as improve the communication between our parents and the school.

We would like to thank all staff involved for their tireless work to ensure the students would have a meaningful and varied learning experience in Secondary school!