Mrs. Katherine Weir-Davis HEAD OF EARLY YEARS
Writing a message for the Yearbook is a small part of my role as Head of Early Years, and over the past ten years, I have always enjoyed expressing how proud I am of our students, staff and school. This year, however, is slightly different because in July I will be moving on to a new position in another part of China.
When I arrived in Guangzhou in 2008, the British School of Guangzhou was a mere 180 students, ranging from Pre- Nursery to Year 6, all based at the Lakefront Campus. The School had just acquired the Nanhu Campus and Years 3-6 were to move into the new Nanhu site, leaving Pre-Nursery to Year 2 at Lakefront. It quickly became apparent how well the reputation of our school was growing within the Guangzhou community, and being part of the School Management Team, I realised that we needed to make strategic plans for rapid growth whilst continually striving to provide a world class education and upholding our year on year high academic standards and successes.
Within a few years, the capacity of the Nanhu campus had expanded to allow us to transfer KS1 to the main site, leaving the Lakefront Campus as a dedicated Early Years unit. From this point, the Early Years teaching team really came into their element and began the process of developing a facility that was welcoming, stimulating, attractive, yet ageappropriately challenging for the youngest of our BSG students. It was due to the hard work and commitment of the Early Years team that has resulted in the school we have today.
I feel confident that the successes BSG has experienced to date and the quality of your child’ s education will continue to improve with each and every year under the new leadership of Mrs. Danielle McKenna, the continued care and guidance of the high caliber of teachers, supportive leadership teams and overall leadership of our Principal Mr. Mark Thomas, who in my opinion, is the most outstanding leader I could ever have had the privilege of learning from and working alongside.
On a daily basis, I receive some form of positive feedback from a variety of stakeholders across our community. Whether it be a prospective family, a teacher visiting from another school, a representative from the Local Education Department, a member of staff from a different department within our school, a parent, a student, a teacher, an ayi— the list is endless. What consistently comes through is how impressed they are with their first impressions of our Early Years. The provision and opportunities we are able to offer our children, the welcome they receive from all staff when they enter and walk around the school, the polite, well-presented and impeccably behaved children, the high levels of engagement and strong relationships between staff and students, and above all, the very evident culture of respect and well-being that we nurture within our students.
All of the above, and more, makes me so proud to have been part of a school that has such strong core values of respect, commitment, integrity and responsibility, resulting in every member of the school being dedicated to developing a lifelong love of learning in every single student and making it the outstanding school it is today.
Quite simply, BSG is the best school I have ever had the pleasure of working at, the best school I could have provided for my own children’ s educational experience and the most welcoming community for my family. It has the best teachers, teaching assistants and administration staff to work alongside, the best students and most supportive parents … and for these reasons, leaving after ten amazing years will be very sad indeed.
I look forward to reading about the continued success of The British School of Guangzhou in the future, and despite my heavy heart, I will be taking with me ten years of wonderful memories!
“ Quite simply, BSG is the best school I have ever had the pleasure of working at.”