Clifford International School is an international school located in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. The school follows the Canadian curriculum, or more precisely, the study programs of the province of Manitoba. The medium of instruction of CIS is English, however, students wishing to study an alternative foreign language can have the options of Mandarin Chinese and French. The student body consists of about 305 students from over 22 countries, furthermore, the teaching staff at CIS consists of 40 Canadian certified teachers and 10 Chinese teachers.
History
Clifford School was first established in 1996; while, the addition of the Clifford International School was later established in 2002. Clifford School started as a full Chinese local private school with Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction; however, western staff were also present as well to teach English language classes. In 2002, an international program was established to provide full English as the language medium for courses, which was intended to address the enrollment of expatriate families and foreign students living in Guangzhou, China. The international program gradually split further away from the rest of Clifford School. Now, Clifford International School has its own principals, governing body and student council, which are completely independent from the rest of Clifford School.
CIS follows the Manitoba Department of Education's curriculum. CIS teaches many different subjects in preparation for university admission including English, chemistry, physics, biology, arithmetic, history, world issues, French or mandarin, physical education and electives. There are 190 teaching days in an academic year, 320 teaching minutes a day, and a full credit class receives 120 hours of instruction. All of the students are required to write two external examinations from Manitoba; mathematics, which will be pre-calculus or applied mathematics and English. Clifford School also offers an Advanced Placement program. Courses offered includes AP Calculus AB, AP Psychology, AP Economics, AP Chinese Language and Culture and AP Statistics. Students can take AP exam in May at school. In addition, Clifford School is an official SAT Writing Center. Clifford School has special permission to give the SAT exams at school and only for students who are registered at Clifford School.
Facilities
Classrooms
Library
Computer labs
Science labs
Art room
Music room
Gymnasium
Basketball Courts
Volleyball Courts
Soccer Field
Swimming Pool
cafeteria
Student life
A number of different sport and after school clubs are available for students grade 7 - 12. Students also participate in inter-house competitions in sports such as basketball, soccer, volleyball and badminton; as well as compete with other international schools within the region in both the GISAC and Pearl River Conference. Further, students can also join the art club, math club, reading club, performing arts club, chess club, squash club, swimming club and science club. There are also two committees for students to participate in; the yearbook committee and the graduation committee. The student council is the student governing body of CIS which was formed in 2006, where every grade is represented by two students.
Alumni Network
The alumni association for Clifford is Clifford Alumni. Since its establishment in October, 2016, it is managed by the Clifford Alumni Secretariat. Current members of the CAS include: C. Zhang, K. Wei, A. Nie, A. Fang, D. Tang, M. Huang, and J. Qiu.
