Welcome to UES

Where inquiring minds are encouraged to find challenge and adventure

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to the Upper Elementary School at the International School of Beijing!

We believe and recognize that:

• The school must provide a safe and encouraging environment that fosters risk taking needed for full intellectual, creative and artistic development.
• Children have their own unique learning styles and progress at their own developmental rates.
• It is the teachers’ role to know and build on the conceptual and cultural understandings that the students bring with them to school.
• Children are motivated to learn when they experience success and develop understanding.
• Understanding extends beyond remembering and repeating: it must include finding and using information, making connections and organizing new learning around important concepts.
• Children take more responsibility for their learning when they understand what it means to learn, reflect on themselves as learners, and know how to set and reach goals.
• Working collaboratively enhances learning and leads to the development of citizens who contribute to a changing and challenging world.
• Assessment and feedback support children’s development and learning, and assists in guiding the planning of instruction.
• Parent understanding and cooperative partnership with the school is critical for students’ success

These beliefs guide us in the creation of a culturally inclusive environment, where the school and the classroom are learner centered, and children develop to their fullest artistic, intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential.