Reflections on school visit in Hong Kong

First day, we visited Creative primary school, an inviting school.  Student ambassadors invited us and took us to the conference room. They had shared their school experiences and the role of the school in their holistic development. Principal gave a speech on school vision and mission. She has also shown us the various enrichment programmes of the school. I came to know about Invitational Education and 5P's (people, place, policy, programme and processes) of Invitational education. I was inspired by the way how the whole school was involved in invitational education which aims to create an environment that invites success for everyone.

The second school we visited was Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary school. I came to know more about Invitational education and their programmes that enhance Invitational education. Students demonstrated the thinking process involved in solving Pui Ching Invitational Math Competition.

IE (Invitational education) trusts, respects and cares. This approach is optimistic about human potential. It believes on positive self-concept and positive perception of the world which maximise the students' potential. I could able to feel this happening in these two schools that I visited in Hong Kong.

Padma Ramachandran

Bowen Secondary School

Reflections_School Visits

Reflections_HK School Visits

We visited 3 schools, Creative Primary School, Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School and Singapore International School, Hong Kong.

In Creative Primary School, the Principal, Mrs , ensures that she speaks to all Primary 1 students to know about them. Being an Invitational Education endorsed school, the Principal believes in finding out the strengths of each child and providing opportunities for the child to showcase his/ her strength. 4 pupils shared their experience and I was impressed by their confidence to share in front of a group of adults. It is clear that their strengths were noticed and developed. The Principal also speaks to all Primary 6 students to find out how they see themselves and their future. This is also one avenue through which she finds out if their 6 years of education in the school has made an impact and that the desired outcomes have been achieved.

In Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School, selected students from the Maths Olympiad Training class shared the process they went through to solve some problems. It was an eye-opening sharing and I thought it is a good way to showcase the students' talents. The school provides the opportunity for them to build their confidence. Throughout the presentation, students were given the centrestage, including the ones acting as MCs. The trust and confidence the school has in the students is apparent. The school, similar to Creative Primary School, has provided opportunities for the students.

At the Singapore International School, I realised that it is not easy working with a staff made up of people who come from different places with different experiences. The school's desired outcomes must be communicated clearly and strategies must be sound to convince all. However, I thought I would enjoy myself if I were a student there. The different styles of the teachers would be interesting. I was impressed with our guide, a student, who brought us around the school. He speaks well and was able to answer all our queries confidently. He was natural in his responses and seemed at ease with strangers like us.

From the visits, I am reminded that knowing our students, finding out their strengths and providing platforms to develop their strengths are essential to help build their confidence and enhance learning.

Michelle Lim_SKPS

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HK School VIsits at a glance

My first encounter with HK schools was anything but expected.

I have heard about the level of care and respect teachers show towards students, but to experience it for myself was a personal 'aha'.

At Creative Primary School (CPS), I was struck by the composure of student ambassadors tasked to host us, from even as young as P3. They spoke with sincerity, although they struggled at times with English; I find that they generally put in a lot of effort in carrying themselves well in front of visitors. The level of student leadership was indeed high, in the sense that the pupils managed themselves very well.

At Yuen Long Lutheran, I experienced the warmth and sincerity of the staff firsthand. Again, IE is quite evident as staff displayed respect and positive high expectations for their students, and finding them more often than not, exceeding the teachers' expectations.

Through it all, the spirit of IE manifesting in care and intentionality, has indeed set the tone of the schools' culture and in turn affects all who are within the culture in a very positive way.

In particular, one most important takeaway was a Primary 5 pupil's sharing of what "intentionality" means to him, as shared by CPS Principal, Cleo. He said that to be intentional, means to consciously and purposefully looking to make or do things work better, be it in personal academic endeevours or in making contributions to the school or community. This is similar to one of the Covey 7 Habits: Be Proactive.

I will look into carrying these insights and inspirations into my classrooms and hope to share good news about the outcome in the future with all of you and my other partners in education.

Mun Wai

School visits reflection

School Visit 1: Creative Primary School (CPS)

 

The ultimate aim of CPS is to mould healthy growing students where they will posses confidence, hope, love which will lead them towards a meaningful and fulfilling life. In addition, every child is precious and has the potential to excel. Stemming from the beliefs and what the principal had described about the four different hands namely "Confident", "No confident", "Short attention span", "Angry" of the students that she had held, it really intrigued me on the faith and beliefs of the staff have on their students.

 

Despite the vast differences in the four students, she believed that no matter what kind of students, the key factor in molding them is to show confidence and love towards them. With the support of the teachers, parents and students' care and concern, opportunities for learning are created for these students to discover their potential which brings about success in them. This would also spur them to challenge and stretch the potential in them. It is their firm beliefs that bring about the success stories of these four students.

 

The invitational approach adopted encompasses Care, Responsibility, Trusts, Intentionality and Optimistic. These approaches are executed in the 5Ps of invitational education (IE) namely People, Place, Policy, Process and Programme. For instances, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme and the school's holistic developmental framework which aim to gear students' for lifelong learning as well as promoting creativity and meaningful learning for students.

 

Based on the above mentioned and observed, I can visualize the role of IE in our current school context. Being inviting is a maiden step in creating learning opportunities for the students.

 

 

School Visit 2: Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School (YLL)

 

Similar to CPS, YLL is also an IE school. From the conversation with the students and what I had observed, I feel that these students are well mannered, confident and respectful.

 

Despite the limited space and resources, the school had fully utilized them to provide the students with a conducive learning environment. The collaborative staff and school programmes like the Maths Elite and Overseas Learning Journey designed for the students had provided vast opportunities for the students to uncover their talents and capabilities. This in turn, allows students to build on their strengths and become confident individuals.

 

After visiting these two schools, it is evident that IE has a crucial role to play in these schools. The invitational approach of care, responsibility, trusts, intentionality and optimism does have an impact on the students. On the last note, after observing the schools in Hong Kong, I think the challenge here is how to implement and fine tune IE to suit the local context such that the learning needs of the students could be met.

 

 

School Visit 3: Singapore International School (SIS)

 

SIS is an international school which recruits students from all countries. The curricular structure and co-curricular activities are similar to the schools in Singapore.  A stark contrast will be having a subject like French to be in the curriculum and hiring of teachers from different countries to teach the students. With globalization at hand, I think it will benefit the students in the long run if our local students could learn and master a third language.

 

 

 

Wee Liam

Seng Kang Primary School

 

 

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Creative Primary School: my first encounter with Invitational Education

In invitational education, the two key factors that lead to the maximisation of student potential are positive self-concept and positive perception of the world. These factors are acquired and not inherent from birth.

Upon entering the school, I could immediately see, hear, smell and breathe the spirit of invitational education. We were greeted by primary school students who were so warm and friendly. There were many banners with slogans like "Make Every Lesson Count". Each room was decorated by a colourful poster that reminded all the importance of cultivating ourselves to be "principled, caring, reflective, thinker, open-minded  e.t.c ". The corridors were a walking gallery of students' work.

The teachers were very professionally dressed, confident and strong advocates of  "Invitational Education".  The principal shared with us little anecdotes of her students. A very strong message that went through was that students were given lots of room for exploration and failure Moreover, the teachers take it personally upon themselves to ensure that they help each student discover his potential.

Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School: my first encounter with Inviting students

This school showcased its mathematical elite programme students. They confidently walk us through the solution of a few mathematical Olympics question. It is evident that they were not memorizing some teacher written script as they communicated very systematically the thought process.  

At the end of the presentation, one of the student leaders even prompted us to share with them how Singapore teachers train their elite students.

At no point in the presentation did the students look at one another or their teacher for reassurance. Impressive!

Singapore International School: my first encounter with an International School

The physical infrastructure looked similar to Singapore school. However, it faced a very different set of challenges compared to a Singapore school. The hardest being the need to brand and market itself. The staff, students and parents also have very high expectations.

LeeLee

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N1 Reflections on HK Learning Sch Visits

The school visits were extremely enriching. I took home many valuable learning points which I think can be published as a book if I were to share everything here. Thus, I shall highlight only the most impressive ones here.

Creative Primary School (CPS) was the first HK school we visited. The warm welcome extended to us by the school's management and student representatives made me feel very comfortable and at ease during the visit. The thing that left the deepest impression though was the confidence and graciousness that the students exhibited when they brought us around the school and during their presentations. I am particularly impressed because these are very young children yet confident individuals who knew their own strengths and I believe their weaknesses too.

The children's confidence was the result of a well-developed school programme founded on a system that emphasised good moral values and character development that pervades the entire school environment. The school's character and leadership development (CLD) framework is systematic and focuses on the needs of students at various levels. It is also meritocratic and works to credit students who have performed well in various aspects of education from the time they join the school. Students and even classes are awarded prizes based on a point system termly and/or annually. As we walked along the corridors of the classroom block, visitors can witness the accolades that bring pride to the students as the awards or challenge shields recording various achievements at individual or class levels have been hung on the walls just outside every classroom. I am sure these systems are also in place in Singapore schools but perhaps, CPS has done it in such a way that the CLD culture and values it strives to instil have become so highly tangible within the school environment that students have internalised these values and have begun to live them as a part of their lives.

Of course, the CLD framework would not have succeeded if the staff did not embrace the beliefs of the system, which is underpinned by "Invitational Education". It is evident from the brief exchange we had that the staff at CPS certainly plays a pivotal role for the school's effective implementation of its CLD framework.

Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School (YLLSS) was the second school we visited and what left the deepest impression in me was really the relationship the school enjoys with the students' parents. YLLSS is a neighbourhood school situated in the midst of the heartland. Students come from within the neighbourhood, very much like our own students, and they face similar challenges just like ours. However, from my understanding, YLLSS is ranked third in HK and apart from the quality of students received from primary schools at every new intake and the dedication of the school's staff that is evident from our visit, I am sure the support rendered by the students' parents was also a crucial factor. In fact, the refreshments provided towards the end of the visit were prepared solely by the parents, which deeply touched my heart. It reminded me of the importance for collaboration between teachers and parents in the education of every child in order to make the growth and development of that child complete. It is something that I hope to be able to improve in my professional development as a teacher.

Singapore International School in HK (HKSIS), the third school we visited, felt very much Singaporean even though it is an international school situated in another country. The curriculum and co-curricular activities are very much like what we have in Singapore schools except that there is a cross-cultural touch in many of the subjects offered because the school hires teachers from all over the world. The school also boasts of many state-of-the-art facilities that help to enhance student's learning. I am particulalrly impressed by the computer stations put up along the corridors at various parts of the school. These stations allow students to engage in fun and explorative learning through interactive games on the internet or from software applications that are pre-installed (e.g. BrainPoP). I tried playing some of these games and it was indeed a wonderful learning experience! I am sure this is an effective method to help students engage in fun yet productive self-learning through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their daily lives.

The visits to the schools in HK were indeed an eye-opener for me. Although it has been some time now, the encounters and lessons learnt during the school visits are still vivid in my mind as they have, in general, left a deep and positive impression. I am certain that these invaluable take-aways will benefit my professional development as a teacher by positively impacting the way I will educate my students through the use of a variety of pedagogies and technologies and how I shall build enduring relationships with students and their parents.

Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Ms Grace Ng and Mr Frederick Yeo for making this learning journey possible, Mrs Jane Cheng, Mr Chew Mun Wai and all my colleagues on the learning journey who have made the lessons picked up along the way more meaningful and memorable.

Dorothy Lim

Bowen Secondary School

school visits

School Visit 1: Creative Primary School (CPS)

 

I love the school; the people are very caring and helpful. It is a school full of love. What I like about this school is they try to find out each student strength and weakness. They strongly believe every child has their potential and valuable. The principal make an effort to know all the students. I feel that many schools are too commercialized; they only care about the student's academic. We often neglect the student's emotional needs and interest. The student might not be good at academic, but he could be gifted in others like music. If the school is able to discover and encourage the student to develop his strength, he could be very successful. Instead of developing our people to be academic, we develop them to be what they are good at not only will they become a happy people, our country will also prosper.

 

 

School Visit 2: Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School

 

The people are very warm and caring. After visiting the school, then I realize that our government has put in a lot of effort and capital in providing a favorable academic environment. The students that I have interviewed were well-behaved and polite. The students study very hard and the school train them to be student-centre instead of teacher-centre. In Bowen, I discover the students are too independent on teachers, most of the time it is the teacher who instruct the students what to do or the teacher does it himself / herself. However, in Yuen Long Lutheran, I can see that the students are more independent and self-driven. Throughout the presentation, it is the students who did most of the presentation. I think we need to train our student to be more independent and self-driven.

 

 

School Visit 3: Hong Kong Singapore International School  

 

The Singapore international school gives me an overall view of how Singapore curriculum can be taught in other country. They are quite similar to Singapore in the sense; they use English as a medium in all subjects except mother tongue. They are also using the same mathematics textbook as ours.

 

Angela Tan

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School visits in Hong Kong

One thing I truly appreciate from the Hong Kong creative primary is how they cater to the individual differences from each child.  They emphasized on the students' strengths and the higher order thinking students were attended to appropriately. They set up their own textbooks to generate creativity and had engaged out of classroom learning. It would be great if we had 25 - 30 students in each class for engaged tasks as well. Also, their students portray leadership qualities that impressed me from such a young age. On hindsight, did not understand the mathematics teacher's explanation because he spoke in cantonese.
 
Lutheran Secondary on the other hand is similar to what we have in Singapore.  They are in a neighbourhood area and their students come from low income families and yet they can produce good results achieving the 3rd rank in Hong Kong. It becomes value addedness i believe. Their students are great leaders and spoke more than their teachers did. Although they did show only their elite students to us, but I guess it's equivalent to our school counsellors?
 
The Singapore international school gave me an insight on how Singapore curriculum can be taught in another country. I see how the school have constraints on students going in and out of the school constantly and having changes to the classes. This will be an issue for class rapport and dynamics. The good thing about the school is the english medium in which all subjects are taught just like in Singapore. 
 
Having seen these schools in HongKong, I have learnt about the culture of another country and how the school function.  It would be good to see what Singapore can learn from them and what we have done better as well.
 
Suping :)

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School visit

Dear Mun Wai,

The staff from the schools we visited are very warm and friendly. I feel that we have to learn from them for the warmness and hospitaity.

All the 3 schools have a focused direction which leads them to the goal they wanted. Even though Yuen Long Lutheran school is not a private school, the pupils are not deprivred of the learning facilitties. The pupils are doing well.

Another thing that I'm very impressed about is the pupils there. They are confident and polite esp the 4 pupils from the Creative Primary School.

That's all at the moment.

:)
Seow Koon
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School Visits

N1 Cluster Hong Kong Learning Journey cum WALS International Conference

30^th Nov to 4^th Dec 2008-12-08

 

Reflection

 

School Visit 1: Creative Primary School (CPS)

CPS impressed all visitors with her very warm and inviting school environment as well as enthusiastic, friendly and caring staff and pupils.

 

CPS Belief: Our students and teachers are Risk-Takers, Reflective, Knowledgeable, Well-Balanced, Thinkers, Communicators, Open-minded, Principled, Inquires and Caring.

 

Student Life

Student Ambassadors who introduced their life as students in CPS were very confident and articulate. Students have opportunities to work in team for project work and competition. With teachers' encouragement, students built their confidence to do presentation and speak in front of guests. One of the students felt that being the English Ambassador, she has to set good example and encourages her schoolmates to speak good English.

 

Learning Points:

Five elements of invitational approach are namely Care, Responsibility, Trusts, Intentionality and Optimistic.

 

5 Ps of Invitational Education are People, Place, Policy, Process and Programme.  

The first P – People refers not only students and teachers, but also all Admin and Support staff and parents. The success of the school depends on respective Administration and Function Teams that work together to realize that school's mission and vision.

 

The Principal meet all Primary 6 students in small groups personally to find out from each and every one of them to know how they see their future. There is a strong evidence of personal touch, loving and caring that she shows towards her students.

 

CPS is not an international school though it applies the IS policies and has a strong belief in China Culture. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme prepares students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of learning. The school places equal emphasis on both Students' Personal Growth as well as their Academic Achievement through its holistic development framework. To promote creativity, students are trained through lessons that facilitate Cross Curricular Learning, Basic Thinking Strategies and Brain-Based Learning.

 

There are more than 100 ECA and enrichment classes attended by students during after school hours and on Saturday. Students also have opportunities to take part in overseas learning journey. These activities and programmes provide students with vast learning experiences outside the classroom.

 

School Visit 2: Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School

 

YLL Sec School is also an IE school. Similar to CPS, the school has a warm and welcoming environment. As compared to Singapore schools, both CPS and YLLSS do not have big school building or outdoor activity facilities. However, the school optimizes use of their limited physical resources to cater for the students need. One example is the roof-top garden cum study area.

 

School Discipline

Students are mainly from the same neighbourhood in San tin. They are students who have performed well academically, self-motivated and well-balanced.

 

When the team visited the school, it was their Reading period after the lunch break. All teachers and students were expected to carry out the slight reading during this time.

 

The Discipline Master shared that there is no major issue in terms of student behaviours. Teachers contact and meet parents regularly in monitoring students' performance. The DM even meets parents of students who do not hand in homework after a certain number of times and referred by Form and Subject Teachers. 

 

Mathematics Elite Programme

The school engaged a trainer who is an undergraduate from the HK University to train students who are strong in Maths. The Maths Elite programme aims to develop students problem solving and thinking skills while preparing them for international Mathematics competition. Students are required to present their solutions by articulating their solving and heuristic strategies to teachers and other follow-students. Students found that they have to develop sound strategies and logical thinking processes in order to persuade other participants how their solutions work. Hence they have also improved in their spoken English competency and presentation skills.

 

Overseas Learning Journey

Similar to Singapore schools, YLLS also believe in providing her students opportunities to take part in overseas educational visit and attachment. The overseas LJ is an award and incentive for students who have achieved good academic results.

 

We also hope that our staff and students would learn from the IE school's belief in invitational approach of cares, respects and personal growth if they could visit our school when they are in Singapore sometime next year.

 

 

School Visit 3: Hong Kong Singapore International School  

 

Presentation by Mr Noel, HOD Humanities and sharing from both Principal, Mdm Mak and Vice Principal Ms Loo have given all participants better knowledge of the school's History, Vision, Mission, School Motto, Achievements, Deployment of staff,  Curriculum structure, CCAs and enrichment programmes. We all have a better understanding of the dynamics and challenges of running an overseas school that embraces a Singaporean identity while striving to maintain an international flavour in its culture and curriculum emphasis.

 

Strengths

In responding to one of the participant's question on what makes parents choose HK SIS and not other International Schools during the Q & A session, Mdm Mak shared that the English Medium Instruction and emphasis in Chinese Language and culture are the positive factors that parents value the HK SIS. Strong in Mathematics and Science curriculum is anther contributing factor that attract two thirds of non-Singaporean students to study in the school. The school student profile is 1/3 Singaporean, 1/3 Hong Kongers and 1/3 International students.

 

A wide range of enrichment and CCA Programmes from sports, swimming, music, drama, Science and computer programming provide students different learning experiences.

 

Challenges

School saw some very good students leaving at the end of Primary 4 and 5 to join international schools that have programme up to year 12. With the establishment of Secondary section since 2007, school hopes to keep its outstanding students to continue their secondary educational and eventually sit for IB exam at the end of year 12.

 
Student Leadership is also another area where school would like to further develop. With a small cohort of Sec one and two, students who appointed as Ambassadors show strong leadership quality but do not have many opportunities to showcase their potential.    

  

Learning Points

We were deeply impressed by the student ambassadors who guided us on the school tours. They were very confident and know the school history, programme, curriculum structure and future plan very well. We would like to see more of our school councilors be developed and given opportunities to develop their leadership potential.

 

Mdm Mak also shared her strategy on how International teachers from various background and culture are deployed to take on certain school project to promote staff bonding. Back in our school, as HODs, we often request for colleagues whom we think could work with us well to be in our working committee. I would learn to manage and appreciate colleagues who may have different working styles and personalities. It is important to believe that everyone is able and want to contribute their best to the organization.

Jane Cheng
HOD Maths
Bowen Sec School
Tel: 63851041
Fax: 63856559

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Reflection_School Visits

Dear Mun Wai,
 
My reflection on school visits as attached.
 
Thank you and wishing you an enjoyable trip with your family.


Jane

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Testing, testing

Mun Wai

Seng Kang Primary School
Head Math
HP: 91805508

He who has a why to live can bear with any how. - Niestchze

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Start your reflections now...

Dear comrades

Please park your reflections about the schools you have visited in this blog; the good, the bad and the adaptable.

Do leave your name and school behind to help us acknowledge your contributions.

"Door Zair" (Think cantonese!)
Mun Wai