Shanghai Daily
Friday 14 November 2008
C6 EDUCATION SPECIAL
www.shanghaidaily.com/feature
While many international schools around Shanghai offer excellent education opportunities, the new BISS campus at historic Nanxiang opens the door to something extra special
BISS Nanxiang offers great food for the brain as well as the tummy
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tudents at the new BISS Nanxiang campus will soon be coming to grips with their local community in a unique and intriguing way. As part of their history courses, primary and secondary students will undertake a study of the local area, involving visits to many local places of interest. These will include the renowned Guyi Garden and Yunxiang Temple as well as sampling the local delicacy, the world famous Nanxiang xiaolongbao (little steamed bun). “The National Curriculum requires pupils to undertake an analysis of their school’s locale, looking at its history, the changes it has undergone and at how it might develop in the future,” said primary school history teacher Simon Greenhalgh. “Here in Nanxiang we are supremely placed to do that.” Nanxiang, in the Shanghai’s northwest, is home to Green World, one of the city’s newest international housing compounds. It boasts not only luxury family housing and a topclass international school in its heart, but also a wide range of shopping, restaurants and bars, alongside a golf driving range, swimming center and a world-class tennis complex.
At the same time, Nanxiang stands out from many other expat districts in that it has cultural richness that many other areas cannot provide. “Nanxiang is one of the most historic towns in Shanghai, and has sites steeped in culture with fascinating stories to tell,” said Greenhalgh. “That’s why it provides our pupils with such a unique opportunity to really enrich their understanding of China and its past, while at the same time being present to chart and observe the many changes that the area is undergoing.” Nanxiang Old Street, for instance, an undiscovered gem on Shanghai’s tourist trail, provides pupils with the opportunity to wander the streets and alleyways of a traditional Chinese town and market. But the newly opened Nanxiang Carrefour shopping mall and the surrounding avenues lined with Western-style boutiques, sporting shops and cafes, make an obvious and intriguing contrast. Similarly, pupils can visit famous traditional xiaolongbao restaurants — which, incidentally, the local government has sought to have recognized as one of Shanghai’s cultural treasures — and so can compare these with the eateries serving pizza, pasta
and burgers at Green World. “What is especially interesting for us is that our pupils will see this area develop during their time at the school, and this will give them insight not only into life in our local area, but give them a far greater understanding of the direction that Shanghai, China — and indeed, the rest of the world — may be headed,” said BISS Nanxiang Principal Kevin Foyle. “As we all know, traffic and travel are perhaps the most constant themes of discussion around the dinner tables of Shanghai. “Yet here at BISS Nanxiang, we will soon have a new Metro station of Line 11, running directly from downtown, on our doorstep. “Our children will be able to experience for themselves, through their own subsequent reduced journey times to and from school, the positive effect that efficient public transport can have on quality of life. “Similarly, in a situation like ours, where the school is literally at the center of the housing compound where many pupils and their families live, and where they can simply walk to school, they will be able to participate in and understand for themselves the positive effect that so doing has on the
Students at BISS are required to undertake an analysis of their school’s locale, looking at its history, the changes it has undergone and at how it might develop in the future.
surrounding pollution and noise levels. “We pride ourselves on our pupils being eye-witnesses to history rather than simply reading about it.” Nanxiang provides students with many opportunities to enrich their knowledge of the past. “Guyi Garden, which was established in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and which many aficionados regard as the finest in Shanghai, represents the way in which our local study units here can embrace the time of imperial China as well as the more recent
past,” enthused Greenhalgh. “Teaching pupils about the history of religion, both in China and abroad, has greater resonance here too, because Nanxiang has not only a famous Buddhist temple, but a Catholic church as well. “We are also able to compare and contrast things like housing facilities, how people spend their leisure time, and the lifestyles of children, all of which are integral parts of the local history unit of the National Curriculum. And we can do all of this on foot, in an afternoon.”
BISS Puxi Nanxiang has also forged close ties with a local Chinese primary school. “We are particularly proud of our relationship with Kaiyuan Primary School, with which we have celebrated both the Dragon Boat Festival and Halloween,” said Principal Foyle. “Such relationships mean that our pupils are gaining an understanding of the lives of other children that no amount of study from books can give them. We feel our location in such a historic, yet diverse area, is a real advantage for our students.”