Good education should “let flowers bloom into flowers and trees grow into trees.” A good school should be fertile ground for nurturing the personalized growth of students. At SHBS, we have created a student-centered supportive community.
Firstly: Providing Students with Autonomy and Space for Exploration. SHBS provides students with ample space for self-exploration and choice, encouraging them to utilize the school’s abundant resources to discover what they love or excel at, sparking their internal motivation.
SHBS offers more than 90 core academic courses spanning various subjects and levels, allowing each student to choose courses that align with their own abilities and interests. This improves learning efficiency and ignites active learning.
Beyond core academics, the school also provides over a dozen sports courses, four specialized Double-Excellence programs (Rowing, Music, Arts, and Golf), and more than 70 electives—ranging from equestrianism, archery, and Muay Thai to Eastern and Western philosophy and Oracle Bone Script decryption; from Japanese, French, and Korean to contemporary Shakespeare and Critics’ Corner; from academic competitions to robotics and student entrepreneurship incubation. Students are encouraged to freely explore and discover their passions.
Whether in classroom or extracurricular activities, SHBS values activating students' awareness of their role as the main agents of learning. In addition to encouraging them to utilize the school’s resources for self-exploration, students are also motivated to showcase their talents or hobbies by founding clubs, gathering like-minded peers to engage in interesting projects. Each semester, there are approximately 40 student-led clubs, including cycling, dance, football, drama, music composition, original character(OC), philosophy, debate, emotional research, medical and martial arts, charity, and academic competition tutoring clubs. The school provides necessary resources for these clubs and offers leadership courses for club leaders, ensuring students can fully exercise and receive support for their initiatives.
Secondly: Ensuring Every Student is Seen and Empowering Them from Within
At SHBS, "seeing every student" is not just a slogan but our daily practice. The principals know every student by name, and our foreign principal Chris greets students in the cafeteria every morning at 7:00 AM. During CAS activities (various types of school-wide events), each student must choose an interest and take the stage. When selecting hosts for CAS events, we strive to provide different students with opportunities. In the end-of-year performances, all students must participate. Our main goal on these stages is not to present the most excellent performances but to ensure that every child has a chance to be seen.
Here, "stage" refers not just to the school’s auditorium stage but to all aspects of campus life. In the classroom, teachers display students’ assignment posters or calligraphy works; on the sports field, in addition to the formal spring sports day, we also hold various ball games in the fall, giving sports-loving students a platform to shine. The library hosts a variety of weekly activities, such as poetry sessions, Chinese and English book reading and sharing sessions, and soap-making (using the school's soapberry trees) activities, etc.. Student library volunteers also invite peers with unique skills and interests to share their knowledge. Every child finds their stage and feels that their talents and hobbies are seen, recognized, and valued.
SHBS also loves to award students. At the opening ceremony, high-achieving students are honored, and those who show significant improvement are recognized as well. Athletically inclined students and outstanding social activity participants are also awarded, and even students who manage their personal responsibilities well can win the “Wenhui Scholarship.” This scholarship, donated by a graduate’s parent, has been awarded for four years, offering ¥50,000 each semester to 50 students. It is based not on academic performance but on self-management in dorms, volunteer hours, and disciplinary actions. As long as students manage themselves well, they can win this scholarship. SHBS also has a “Be Your Best Self” wall, where teachers are reminded weekly to discover students’ strengths and write praise cards to post on the wall.
At SHBS, "seeing every student" is not just about providing a suitable stage or offering sincere praise. It’s about believing in and further nurturing each child’s potential, helping them shine even more brilliantly on their stages and building their confidence. For example, in April this year, we held a special Chinese Language and Culture Festival. Two students proposed an idea to create an immersive theater experience. Initially, our Chinese department teachers weren’t very familiar with this format and even went as a group to watch the immersive play Sleep No More for inspiration. They fully supported the students' ideas, and despite the difficulties of transforming classrooms into immersive theater spaces, the teachers and students worked together to create an astonishing performance, Dream Back to the Silk Road. This immersive production included seven scenes featuring traditional music and dance, with over 130 students participating. This collaboration and sucesss sparked the inner power of many.
The transformative magic of education lies in the sincere connection and recognition between teachers and students. As philosopher Karl Jaspers once said, “Education is like one tree shaking another tree, one cloud pushing another cloud, one soul awakening another soul.” The “power of being seen,” cultivated over time, works like this magic.
Thirdly: Encouraging Students to Express Themselves and Cultivate Autonomy.
Believing in students’ potential, SHBS strongly encourages them to voice their ideas, making their voices heard and co-creating a school that truly belongs to them. The best example of this is the independently founded and operated student council forum, the "Beichen Forum." Here, any student can take the stage to point out issues within the school, propose solutions and receive feedback from audience (all principals, teachers, and students). The executive principal will formally responds to each proposal the next week.
When students dare to voice themselves and see the real impact of their words, they reinforce their sense of self-worth and agency, further advancing their self-awareness and exploration while developing a more resilient inner self through critical thinking.
In such a genuinely student-centered community, every student has a course suited to them and a stage to shine. They naturally understand that everyone is unique and has their own path, which prevents the anxiety and depression caused by “excessive homogeneous competition,” fostering a healthy mindset. When each student is trusted, supported, and seen, and they are guided to challenge and achieve difficult goals, their confidence grows, and they are further driven to explore and challenge themselves.
In this safe, relaxed, and intrinsically motivated environment, students' critical thinking and creativity naturally emerge. SHBS students consistently surprise the school: for example, this June, they launched a high-quality school magazine Light Year, successfully hosted a deep and widely praised TEDx event, and in September, officially introduced a Peer Tutoring Program.
