Outside the Classroom

By Anabela Mok 2021-05-06 12:11:31

Extracurricular activities are adaptive to the different developmental needs of a child. We spoke with some of Shanghai’s top schools to discover how they engage students outside the classroom.

Magnolia Kindergarten

At Magnolia their Athletic programme splits the school year into six periods targeting different objectives of Gross Motor Development. Their activities are designed for children from 2 years of age and activity levels are adjusted according to the child’s ability or age.

How does the sports programme work together with the academic department to ensure the student thrives in both?
Magnolia’s athletic programme is based on a combination of the expectations of the British EYFS curriculum, French National Curriculum and the Shanghai Curriculum.

What is new with your programme?

Magnolia added a 2000 sqm extension to school facilities. With post-COVID authorisation, it will open this September, and after-class programmes will be offered again. Magnolia partners with external organisers to propose great activities for young children and are always looking out for new programmes.

What are some good skills students learn through athletics?
Athletics are fundamental for children to develop self-confidence and autonomy, by controlling their body they also improve social and emotional relationships with friends, it’s part of how they self-identify and much more!

 

Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong

Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong ensure students create a positive lifelong bond with physical activity by delivering a high quality integrated Physical Education and Sports Programme. To stay inclusive, varied and multi-levelled, the school’s partnership programmes provide excellent support allowing students to extend their interests in specific areas of sport with experts in fencing, football, and swimming.

How does the sports programme work together with the academic department to ensure the student thrives in both?

Engagement in sports not only aids our students’ physical development, improving their coordination and developing their skills in a variety of sports, but also helps them to learn how to be part of a team. Research also points to the important role that regular physical exercise plays in enhancing social, emotional, and organisational skills.

What benefit do competitive sports have on students?
We believe it is important for our students to experience and celebrate success and, equally, to learn how to lose with grace. Senior School students take part in our unique Sports Education Programme where they are expected to take the lead in organising and training their own teams, often in completely unfamiliar sports.

Other than athletics, what other extracurricular activities do you offer?
There are over 200 different co-curricular activities offered every term by the school, the list being renewed every term. The Co-curricular Activity (CCA) programme starts as early as DUCKS Reception and 95% of our students participate in it.

Extreme STEAM is designed to provide a range of STEAM related opportunities for Senior School students. The spirit of this CCA is that there is a degree of fluidity between the activities on offer and we expect students to be flexible: Panther Robotics, 3D Creation Space, Electronics Lab, Sound Lab, Club Create, Repair Café!

How do non-athletic extracurriculars foster competition and teamwork?
Competitive robotics requires students to work in a team and each take on a unique and intricate role that cannot be easily replaced. This places a high sense of responsibility on each member of the team, pushing them to perform above and beyond their normal comfort-zones and abilities to live up to their team’s expectation.

What benefits and skills can student gain from Extreme STEAM CCA?
Traditionally we have run our STEAM offerings as separate CCAs. In consultation with our Tech Ambassador student group, we came up with a list of activities. These included our more ‘traditional’ clubs such as Robotics and 3D modelling, but our students also came up with innovative ideas such as Dulwich TV and Sound Lab.

Students are given a range of STEAM experiences to truly develop their design thinking ability as they build and collaborate across a range of disciplines.

Extreme STEAM article contributed by Yoran (Year 13, Founding Member of Dulwich Panther Robotics) and Stephanie (Year 12, Head of Dulwich Panther Rotobics)

"Extracurricular activities help students learn key skills and personality traits, which could stay with them for a lifetime. They could learn the values of competition, teamwork, individual initiative, group responsibility, sense of community, endurance, diversity and even interpersonal communication skills." - David Dutch, Director of Sport, Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong

 

Concordia International School

Concordia has a robust and growing Athletics programme. There are 13 varsity programmes, 12 of which are co-ed and one is for girls only. Sports is a fantastic vehicle to teach life skills such as leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship.

How does the sports programme work together with the academic department to ensure the student thrives in both?

Concordia maintains a rigorous curriculum for our students and has minimum academic eligibility policies like many schools, however the focus is helping students make the right choices on a day-by-day basis. Showing up on time, and being prepared both physically and mentally creates champions. We focus on the whole child and provide education on nutrition, sleep habits, and the value of exercise in brain function. More concretely, the Director of Athletics meets regularly with the High School Principals to review and adjust policies and discuss individual cases.

What are some good skills students learn through athletics?

Grit, perseverance, and emotion regulation. Life isn’t easy. Everyone faces challenges, encounters roadblocks, and experiences failure. Losing a big game, working with teammates who don’t show up on time or give their best effort, and having a coach or boss that you don’t agree with prepares students for real world problems. At the same time, athletics gives students an outlet to express themselves, experience the emotional high of being rewarded for hard work and dedication, discover a passion and develop strong relationships with their peers and coaches that can last a lifetime. Being able to maintain an even keel and show up to school the next day ready to do your best after the highest highs and lowest lows prepares students for lifelong success.

How many students go into an intercollegiate sport?
Overall, about 8% of students go on to play intercollegiate sports. Less than 1% go on to play NCAA Division 1 sports. Concordia currently has one student playing in a Division 1 sport and perhaps a dozen more that have played some level of collegiate sports in recent years.

Other than athletics, what other extracurricular activities do you offer?

Concordia offers a variety of co-curricular activities, where our students may engage in different subject fields such as literacy, STEM, movement, visual and performing arts, etc. Students are encouraged to participate as a part of their holistic education.

How are non-traditional extracurricular activities also helping a child’s development?
Extracurricular activities help students learn key skills and personality traits, which stay with them for a lifetime. They learn the values of competition, teamwork, individual initiative, group responsibility, sense of community, endurance, diversity and even interpersonal communication skills. Important academic outcomes like reading, math achievement, and course grades were all found to be positively influenced by children who engage in extracurricular activities.

How does this work together with the academic department?
The co-curricular activities will help our students develop essential skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, and collaborative abilities, which equip them to become better learners, communicators and leaders in their academic programmes.

How do non-athletic extracurriculars foster competition and teamwork?
We view competition to be a positive driving factor to stimulate students’ initiative of learning outside the classroom. It helps students to be better team players with strong time management and prioritization skills. In addition, students naturally develop healthy study habits and apply it to their future life journey.

Unlike athletic tournaments, competitive co-curricular programmes require more time commitment from students to pursue learning outside school hours. They definitely will need more time to prepare and self-study without a teacher’s direct supervision.

 

Soong Ching Ling School

Students are encouraged to be as physically active as possible through their vigorous PE curriculum and a thriving ECA programme. Mandatory PE classes offer students a chance to engage in a wide range of sports and physical activities, The ECA programme provides an alternative to PE by allowing students to focus on activities they particularly enjoy. From swimming to floor ball, dance to ultimate frisbee.

How does the sports programme work together with the academic department to ensure the student thrives in both?
All PE teachers are also health teachers. This allows the PE programme to help students make connections between their academic work as well as physical activity. While PE is a mandatory part of the curriculum, extracurricular activities are not. To take part in ECAs, students must be performing adequately in their academic courses.

What benefit do competitive sports have on students?
Teachers at SCLS see two key benefits of participating in competitive activities: coachability and resilience. A highly coachable person can notice their own strengths and weaknesses and is also able to receive feedback from a coach, teammate, colleague, or boss about their performance and incorporate what they were told into future play and projects.

What is new with your programme?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has turned out to be exceptionally popular. The vision of the programme is helping the youth of today be better leaders for tomorrow by learning about discipline and hard work. Encouraging kids to step out of their comfort zones through competition, while also putting kids on a path of continuing fitness for their entire lives.

 

The Shanghai Community International School (SCIS)

The Shanghai Community International School (SCIS) After School Activities (ASA) Program and the Swimming Program (Grade 2-12) is intended to provide our students with enriching experiences that will create and strengthen new relationships, build self-confidence and enhance students’ overall school life.

How does the sports programme work together with the academic department to ensure the student thrives in both?

All of the members of the SCIS athletics program are considered student-athletes, where academics is at the forefront. The SCIS athletics department works hand-in-hand with our coaches, teachers and student-athletes to provide the necessary framework for participating at a high level athletically, but also providing the flexibility on achieving optimal results within their scholastic aspirations.

What are some good skills students learn through athletics?

Athletics is an integral part of the overall education that we provide for the SCIS community. Our Student-Athletes, through the SCIS athletics program, learn valuable lifelong skills including time-management, commitment, collaboration, positive communication skills, the value of self-improvement, and finally the ability to adapt in new and uncertain environments.

Other than athletics, what other extracurricular activities do you offer?

The SCIS Hongqiao After School Programme is composed of four different groups: Early Childhood (Kindergarten) After School Activities Program; Lower School (grade 1-5) After School Activities Program, The Upper School (Grade 6-12) After School Activities Program, and the Upper School (grade 6-12) Performing Arts Program.

The Lower School After School Activities Program activities gives our primary years students over twenty-five pursuits to select from including but not limited to sports, aesthetics and special interests. The Upper School After School Program includes over twenty activities for our eldest students to enjoy.

The SCIS Performing Arts ASA Programme boasts over one hundred students participating in a multitude of activities: SCIS Orchestra, the SCIS Dragon Singers and our boys-only singing group, Men2Sing and SCIS drama productions.

 

Comments