On Friday 1st December, the YCIS Qingdao community celebrated the arrival of Christmas with a Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony held at the Sheraton Huangdao Hotel.

This glamorous event, which the Sheraton hotel claims to be the biggest in Qingdao, was attended by over 700 students, parents, teachers and guests. The evening opened up with instrumentals performed by the YCIS Qingdao IGCSE and IB music students. The crowd was then entertained by students from YWIEK and Year 1 – 6 students from YCIS Qingdao. After a warm welcome speech from the hotel General Manager, our Co-Principals, Mr. Gakes and Ms. Ma joined him to officially light up a 6m high Christmas tree as the crowd excitedly counted down the tree lighting event. The entertainment segment of the programme ended off with performances from YCIS Qingdao’s Korean mom’s playing Christmas carols on their flutes, the Brazilian moms singing a Portuguese Christmas carol and an international community choir closing the programme with a lively rendition of Joy to the World. The Sheraton Huangdao Hotel baked the largest Log Cake in Qingdao that was sold in slices to raise funds for the Seeds of Hope foundation. To close up the evening, guests were then treated to a magnificent Christmas themed buffet in the 3rd floor ballroom. It was a wonderful evening that saw most of our school community coming together to celebrate the talent of our students, our cultural diversity, and to officially welcome the Christmas season. Mr. David Dasari, the Parent Relationship Officer would like to thank all parents for their support and would like to wish all families a Merry Christmas and a safe and restful holiday.