Shanghai High School International Division
Shanghai High School International Division is an international school in Shanghai, China, that was founded in 1993 as the international division of Shanghai High School. Its sole language of instruction is English, though all students are required to take Chinese classes, and the school offers grades 1 through 12. Because it is attached to a local school and is a division thereof, it is the first government-supported international school in Shanghai; It has yet to become a standalone international school.
History
In 1865, Qing dynasty official Ding Richang established the :zh:龙门书院|Longmen Academy. The school changed names and moved campus several times, but its current site was converted by the Empire of Japan during the Second World War into the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, an internment camp for American and European citizens. James Graham Ballard was interned in the camp as an adolescent. His experiences there inspired the book Empire of the Sun. The school was restored after the war, and it was renamed to Shanghai High School in 1950.On June 1, 1993, Shanghai High School approved the establishment of an International Division. On its Puxi and Pudong campuses, SHSID has had more than 2,900 students from over 65 different nations and regions. Academic courses are taught in English. The high school curriculum is based on education in the United States, the IB Diploma Programme, and the Advanced Placement Program. A-Level courses were added in 2017. As a division of one of the oldest high schools in Shanghai and all of China, SHSID is also known as one of the very first international schools established in the People's Republic of China and is a UNESCO school. In 2018, SHSID was accredited by AdvancED as an international school.
Statement
As an international school in China, SHSID developed educational goals to reflect a traditional background as well as goals to meet the needs of today’s talented students. The school is committed to educate students for the challenges of the future. SHSID provides progressive education in a multi-cultural environment, preparing students with global perspectives, and encouraging them to accept responsibilities and become competent in their studies.Curricula
American-based curriculum
Approximately 800 compulsory and optional courses are offered for students in Grades 1 through 12. In each subject, different levels （including Standard, Standard Plus, and Honors）are available to meet the varying academic requirements of individual students. In 2018, SHSID was accredited by AdvancED.A-LEVEL course, AP course and IB Diploma program
In high school, besides the American-based curriculum, SHSID offers challenging academic courses and programs, including the AS&A-level courses, Advanced Placement courses, and IB Diploma Program. Students choose their high school courses according to their interests and academic abilities.The AS&A-LEVEL courses and IB DP and AP courses offered at SHSID cover various areas, including languages, literature, social sciences, math, natural sciences, the arts and more.
Every year, more than 90% G11-12 students choose to take one of the 3 challenging courses and programs and the rest 10% students choose to take school courses. In the past 5 years, SHSID students achieved outstanding results on IB/AP/A level exams. More details can be found at http://www.shsid.org/info/1154/9622.htm
School Exams and Test Center
SHSID has two semesters in a school year. Students take midterm exams and final exams as well as two monthly assessments in a semester. Semester overall scores are created based on these exams to reflect the overall academic performance of a student in a semester. A year overall GPA is calculated with the two semester overall scores. Students are ranked by the year overall GPA.SHISD is the test center of TOEFL, PSAT, SAT and ACT.
Campus
The Shanghai High School campus spans an area of 223,617 square meters. The school campus has numerous buildings, two lakes, several small meadows, several gymnasiums, and various sports facilities. The campus exists on what was once a Japanese Prison camp during WWII, Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, years before the establishment of the International Division.Zhongxing Building, located next to the Zhongxing Lake, had been the regular class building for SHSID's high school freshman and sophomores until June 2019. A new Zhentao Building was erected in 2019 as the main class building for students in grades 8-10, consisting of four floors and a basement.
Xianmian Building, located near the Laboratories and Shangzhong Road gate, is the building where high school juniors and seniors regularly have class.
The Yifu Building of the school sports four stories of laboratories and an astronomical observatory on its roof. These laboratories allow for experiments to be conducted for chemistry, physics, and biology, which are roughly allocated to the first, second, and third floors, respectively. A modern analytical chemistry section was also opened recently for conducting advanced experiments, including mass spectrometry, IR and UV spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and atomic absorption spectroscopy. There are also classrooms dedicated to robotics, electrical engineering, and simulated driving.
Athletic facilities
The school has a small number of facilities dedicated to physical education, including basketball courts, badminton courts, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, a gymnasium, volleyball courts, gymnastics/martial arts training rooms, Badminton/Ping Pong Building, a standard 400 meter track with a sandpit, soccer fields, and an Olympic-sized 50-meter swimming pool. The school also has a gym that students aren't allowed to use because it "belongs" to the country. The basketball courts also provide a wide area of concrete in which various sports competitions such as tug-o-war and dodgeball are held. They are also known to host occasional mock military exercises.Art and music centers
SHSID's Art Center is built with two-story-high ceilings made out of wood and windows placed high above. Inside the Art Center is the SHS History Exhibition. Oftentimes, the school's principal will lead a group of news reporters or the school's board of trustees into the Art Center to present them with SHS's alumni, martyrs, International Olympiad award winners, and principals.Its staff include watercolor artist Fu Gang and studio arts instructors for both the AP and IB Program's Studio/Visual Arts curricula.
Auditoriums
Auditoriums of varying size dot the campus, the majority of them located in school buildings and are "assigned" to sections. The largest auditorium, the Main Auditorium, is located right behind the local division building. This is where school-wide events such as the Art Festival, Talent Show, and the Opening Ceremony are held. The Big Auditorium has a media center on its second floor.Extracurricular activities
There are several extracurricular activities available to students, such as a film club, art club, and many sports including badminton, American football and football. There are also many opportunities for students to be involved in academic extracurricular activities, such as World Scholar's Cup.Student government
SHSID has a student governing body which goes by the acronym ASB, or Associated Student Body. Members of the ASB are elected every year in each grade and are classified according to their sections. The ASB is in charge of organizing school activities, such as inter-homeroom competitions, holiday parties and fairs, dances, academic competitions, and various services such as sending Christmas grams.School events
The Art Festival and Talent Show are held annually. Students may perform a variety of performing arts from short plays and piano recitals to rock bands and dance routines.A sports day is also held annually and organized separately for each division. Competitions include track and field, Shot Put, Medicine Ball, High Jump, Long Jump, and 4 × 100 m relays.
The school hosts an annual charity fair in which students set up stands and sell products to raise funds going to charity. This is often also a culturally active event, where international students put on display their respective countries' idiosyncratic foods, drinks, and trinkets. Similar to many other school events, the charity fair is specific to grade or division.
The NEXUS
The Nexus is a student-run charity organization established at Shanghai High School International Division in 2008. As a branch of The Library Project, The Nexus works to raise funds and collect children's books to build libraries for elementary schools in the rural areas of China. To do so by holding charity events & activities in SHSID or between international schools in Shanghai, such events include basketball tournaments, fashion shows, dance competitions, book collections, etc. Every year, in winter, The Nexus organised high schools students to head out to the rural areas to help the elementary schools in those rural areas to build libraries and accomplish other tasks. In May 2012, Dragon TV shot an hour long documentary about their charity works: it aired on June 21. The Nexus is looking at its tenth year since its establishment: there are more than 700 members in total making it the largest student organization at SHSID and among international schools in Shanghai.Publications
The SHSID|Times is a student-run magazine published monthly. Established in 2014, the team grew to close to 100 students across the high school section by 2020.Clubs
SHSID has many school clubs, such as Live 2 Drama, Eco Cap, MUN, WSC, USAD, Biology Workshop, among others. These clubs have organized school activities such as poetry competitions, sports competitions, stargazing nights, math and science competitions, etc. Almost every student participates in several school clubs to satisfy their individual interests and curiosities, and during the lunch break the classrooms are often occupied with club meetings. The walls of the school building also give evidence to the great number of clubs, with wallpapers of all colors advertising club events.SHSID's high school debate teams have won consecutive titles as champions in the Hong Kong-Shanghai Inter-city Real Time Debate on Net English Sections
SHSID's History team was the consecutive champion in Asia in the International History Bee and Bowl