The British Chamber of Commerce in China announced on 22 January the nominations for its China Schools Awards 2024. Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing) is honoured to be a finalist for the Staff Development and Wellbeing Award, and the Pastoral Care Award.

The China Schools Awards acknowledge achievements and excellence in K12 international education in China. The Staff Development and Wellbeing Award recognises the school that has made the most outstanding efforts in ensuring the professional and personal growth of its staff members. The award also recognises the efforts of the school to improve the well-being of its employees, and help them to achieve a balance of academics, administration, leadership, and teamwork in their daily work. 

YCYW attaches great importance to the enhancement of the professional skills of its teaching staff. In addition to building a content-rich online learning platform, YCYW has for many years organised a network-wide group training event, the Professional Development Days. This event aims to create lifelong learning opportunities and a learning community for employees. Moreover, YCYW's global education network provides teachers with additional opportunities for career development.

All YCYW staff members have access to 24-hour bilingual counselling services and an in-house well-being programme. Everyone has access to online resources to manage and keep track of their own and their families' well-being. Because we have faculty and staff members that come from all over the world, we have developed a complete support programme to ensure that they can adjust successfully to the new environment.

The Pastoral Care Award recognises schools that demonstrate dedication and innovation in providing first-class pastoral care to their students and the wider school community.

YCIS Beijing provides a comprehensive life skills and wellness curriculum, as well as student support services. The school has policies and procedures in place to prioritise student care throughout the entire school community. It also actively encourages parents to participate in student care through activities such as parent workshops. Since 2021, YCYW has been organising Parent Webinar Series to enhance home-school synergy.

At YCYW, our educational philosophy centres on developing the character of our students. In addition to helping students master the individual and collaborative learning skills that are necessary for the 21st century, we also guide our students so that they develop compassion and empathy. This is achieved by encouraging our students to understand the community through service learning and other practices. We expect our students to become tomorrow's leaders who have a genuine respect for world cultures, and the ability and the desire to contribute to society.

Congratulations again to YCIS Beijing! We look forward to the awards results announcement in February.