Our IGCSE students of the past academic year have now successfully transitioned into the IB programme to prepare for their future success and continued learning. The IGCSE Graduation Certificate Award Ceremony held last Wednesday at the school auditorium allowed the students to pause, reflect, and celebrate their remarkable accomplishments. Our school community of parents, fellow students, teachers, leadership team were present to mark this milestone with the 2023 IGCSE graduates. 

During the welcome address, the Western Co-Principal, Ms Shelley Swift and IGCSE Coordinator, Mr Robert Ondere, commended the hard work and dedication of this year's IGCSE graduates. They were proud to announce that nearly 90% of the students had achieved a distinction or merit. Year 12 IB student Ka Ion Zhang was recognised with the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award for Highest Achievement in Enterprise. We congratulate Ka Ion on this amazing achievement, and as a school we are proud as this is the second consecutive year a YCIS Beijing student has received this prestigious award.

We also want to give special mention to Year 12 student Patrick Liu for his hard work and dedication, earning him 6 A*s and 4 As in his IGCSE exams. Patrick joined YCIS Beijing four years ago as a Year 8 student transferring from a local Primary school. Despite facing language barriers initially, Patrick made significant progress after his then Science teacher advised him to 'always hold a book in your hands, always read'. Patrick also emphasised that previewing lessons helped him tremendously to improve his vocabulary and gain the confidence to participate in classes. Patrick is also a student leader and a dedicated clarinet musician. During the IGCSE Graduation Certificate Award Ceremony, Patrick gave a charming performance of the song 'Immer kleiner' (German for 'Getting smaller and smaller') accompanied by our Music Director, Mr Gordon Robb, on the piano. The chosen song title can be seen as a testament to Patrick's wit and humour, as he has been consistently growing in his academic excellence and also in his character development.

We would also like to thank Chan Hok Sum, Year 9, for his soulful guitar performance and the duet singers Charlie Leung and Sofia Dementyeva, both Year 13, for their invaluable artistic contributions, elevating the festive mood of the IGCSE award ceremony.

We extend our sincerest congratulations to this exceptional group of students on their incredible IGCSE results and achievements. We are proud of them and wish them all the very best in their future academic pursuits. We trust their hard work and success will inspire them to continue striving for excellence and achieve great success in their IB studies and beyond.

Quotes following the IGCSE Graduation Award Ceremony

          “The key to success is proper time management, use your time wisely. Do something valuable and build your interest. Do not just study for the grade but for the knowledge you learn.”  -2023 IGCSE Graduate, Patrick Liu

          “Patrick underwent a huge change in the past few years studying at YCIS Beijing. We are very happy about that. YCIS is a small school where every individual student receives personalised attention and support from the teachers. We also like how the school balances Science and Art, and we are very content with its quality of education in every aspect.” -Mr Liu, Patrick’s Father

          “At YCIS Beijing, we take pride in smaller class sizes, which gives teachers and students the opportunity to work closely together. Whenever students ask for support, they get support. This is one of the factors that cause high IGCSE results. We also take pride that we offer accelerated IGCSE courses in Mathematics and English, which gives students the opportunity to sit their IGCSE exams in Year 10.”  - Robert Ondere, IGCSE Coordinator

          “We celebrate not only our students’ academic achievements but the journey they have undertaken to reach their educational careers. It is through their hard work, determination, humbleness and courage that our students have achieved their academic successes and we are immensely proud of their achievements.” -Ms Shelley Swift,  Western Co-Principal