Every year, all of the schools across the entire Yew Chung International Schools (YCIS) and Yew Wah International Education Schools (YWIES) network celebrate Founder's Day, commemorating and honouring the schools' Founder, Madam Tsang Chor-hang. For YCIS Shanghai, 2019 was no exception, as the school hosted a series of exciting events across its five campuses today.

This year, the Founder’s Day celebrations highlighted YCIS Shanghai's 26th anniversary – as well as Yew Chung's 87th anniversary – and students, teachers, staff, and parents were delighted to be able to mark the occasion together.

In the morning, the school community gathered together to tune in to a live video broadcast uniting YCIS and YWIES locations around the globe. This year, three YCIS Pudong students, Sam (Year 11), Nina (Year 8), and Jiyoung (Year 8), as well as the YCIS Pudong School Leadership Team – including Co-Principals Damien Hehir and Mary Yu, and School Business Manager Ray Zhang – represented YCIS Shanghai during this annual broadcast event.

In addition, in the morning, YCIS Pudong Year 5-6 and Secondary students enjoyed an assembly that celebrated the four school Houses, and in the afternoon, the students took part in the annual ‘Founder’s Day Run’ around nearby Century Park, enjoying a picnic lunch at the beautiful park after the race concluded.

For YCIS Pudong Primary and ECE students at the Regency Park Campus, a host of activities kept the campus buzzing all day. For the Year 1-4 students, the morning began with class presentations on the meaning of Founder’s Day, and the day also included a Founder’s Day Run, as well as a number of fun team games and classroom challenges, a Founder’s Day art activity, and special staff versus U8/9 student football matches on the pitch to conclude the lively celebration.

For YCIS Pudong ECE children, the special day began by singing “Happy Birthday” to the school and then decorating cakes, and the children participated in their own Founder’s Day Run, among other activities. 

At the YCIS Puxi Secondary campus, the day began with the annual ‘Tug of War’ competitions, with staff and students competing together, as well as the students competing in their Houses to bring home the title. After enjoying the live feed, the day continued with a bevvy of activities, including fun sports challenges – with football, volleyball, basketball, and dodgeball on offer – as well as a music marathon and a House ‘Knowledge Bowl’ challenge.

YCIS Puxi Primary Students spent the day trying their hand at all kinds of activities, including fun Co-Teacher-led activities in classrooms in English and Chinese. After watching the live broadcast, the students enjoyed various outdoor ball games, and the highlight for many was their House Tug of War contest. 

At the YCIS Puxi Early Childhood Education (ECE) campus, sounds of the young children's collective rendition of “Happy Birthday” in English and Chinese rang out across the campus as the children sang an adorable version of the song for the special occasion. The students also learned about the meaning of Founder’s Day and why the school celebrates this important annual milestone. They also formed a giant '2' to celebrate this being the second school year of their lovely Ronghua Campus. 

In all, it was a great day of celebrations and community building, and of honouring the school’s Founder, Madam Tsang, and the range of activities at each YCIS Shanghai campus allowed the students and staff to demonstrate their commitment to our school’s spirit and the joy of being part of this wonderful school community.