Which schools will children attend come autumn? This weekend is the decider
Parents and students wait for the interview outside Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy in Xuhui District on Saturday.
More than 300,000 Shanghai children will move up the education ladder this year, and families were busy this weekend registering at new schools.
According to the Shanghai Education Commission, about 182,00 children will move from kindergartens into primary schools, and 143,200 primary school students will graduate into middle schools. The figures are roughly on par with last year.
Those applying for public schools only have to go to the schools for registration. Among the documentation they need to submit are residence certificates because admission is based on geographic intake areas.
At the Chuncheng Campus of Minhang Experimental Primary School in Minhang District, parents began to line up outside the front gate around 7:30am on Saturday, an hour before registration opened.
“The process was very smooth because all parents were well informed to prepare necessary materials in advance,” said a mother surnamed Yang. “Education authorities, the school and the neighborhood committee all sent out notices via websites or WeChat accounts. All we had to do is to hand over the materials and fill in a form. The whole process took only about 10 minutes for each student.”
Parents finish registration at the Chuncheng Campus of Minhang Experimental Primary School smoothly on Saturday.
Application for privately operated schools is a bit more elaborate. Students have to take part in a selection process designed by each school. According to regulations promulgated by the education commission, schools are not allowed to require paper entrance tests.
According to comprehensive evaluation methodologies approved by the education commission, student selection for private primary schools should mainly focus on sports and health, language ability, general learning ability, self-awareness and sociability. Junior high schools must focus on psychological traits, analytic and creative ability, explorative and adaptive ability, communication and cooperation skills, and capabilities in art and sports.
The Shanghai Hong Xing Voluntary School in Hongkou District organized four categories of activities: games, logical thinking, handicrafts and etiquette. During those activities, students were asked about general knowledge, natural phenomena and traditional culture.
Ji Yili, principal of the school, said there were no standard answers in the activities. Students had only to complete tasks and express themselves. Cram courses provided by outside educational service providers don’t help much, she said.
“Our activities are very flexible and evaluate student qualities from various aspects, which cannot be anticipated in such training,” she said. “We want to see how well children can follow rules, listen to others, focus on activities, communicate and cooperate with others.”
Children take part in activities at Shanghai Hong Xing Voluntary School in Hongkou District.
At Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy, applicants were asked to share reading experiences and play Mystic T games, testing their memory, concentration, sensibility, logical thinking and creativity.
Since last year, registration at public primary schools and interviews at private primary schools take place on the same dates so that parents can’t have their children trying their luck at both kinds of schools. The former system was deemed too stressing for youngsters.
Last year, local private primary schools received 19,900 applications, a drop of 17,500 from the previous year. The number of applicants this year hasn’t changed much.
Families will get the results of private school interviews by Monday.
Students take part in a session about humanity during the interview at Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy.
