The SMIC Private School

The SMIC Private School is a K-12 school located in the Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park area of Pudong, Shanghai, China. The school was founded by the semiconductor company, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) in 2001 to help aid employees' children by providing a low-cost private school within proximity to the SMIC Living Quarters and the company building.

This private school provides two academic tracks, an English track that is based on the American school system, and a Chinese track that is based on the local academic curriculum and that is accredited by the Pudong Board of Education. By providing both curricula, SMIC was able to draw both local and international employees to the school. The school’s English Track is not accredited with the Board of International Schools or with the American International Schools Overseas Accreditation Bureau. For this reason, the PSAT and the SAT may not be administered at SMIC Private School.

History

The school has developed rapidly throughout the first seven years of its existence with an exponentially increasing population through the first four of those years (75 students the first year, 150 the second, roughly 300 students the third, and almost 700 the fourth). The students come from all over the world including various parts of China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, England, the United States, Canada, and Italy with the majority of the students from the U.S. and Taiwan.

In the school's short history, it has made a strong showing in both academic and athletic fields. The school is also well known locally for its community service, particularly the Annual Rock for Charity concert which benefits a different organization every year. The organizations benefited in the first two concerts were Huge Grace Orphanage and the Lynck Foundation.

SMIC's newspaper, the Xin Lang Student (later changed to The Xin Lang Scholar), received first place for Best Front Page and Second Place Overall award from the American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) during the 2004-2005 school year.

Mascot

The school has had a hard time staying with a mascot and has developed quite an interesting history. It was mascot-less in its first two years. By the end of the third year, the SMIC Sabers emerged. However, due to confusion on whether 'sabers' meant the cat or the sword, the mascot got scrapped until the following year. In the beginning of the fourth year, it was the SMIC Blue Storm. This mascot did not settle well with the student body and it was also scrapped. A school-wide vote was then cast and the SMIC Tsunamis came out on top. This mascot stayed and was relatively easy to manipulate for cheering on in sports games. However, in late December, the Southeast Asia Tsunami hit and the school had to change its mascot out of respect for the schools that lost students and staff to the storm. After a few months without a mascot, the SMIC Sharks finally took over the reins after a school-wide contest for a mascot and still remains the mascot to this day.

Transportation

The school provides shuttle bus services. Students choose whether to take the bus at the beginning of the year. There are both 3:30 and 4:30 buses. There is also no public transportation near campus.

Book policy

The school implemented a new book policy in the school year of 2006.The school tuition fees will no longer cover textbooks lent to students during the school year.

A list of books needed were given to students in June 2006 before Summer Break. Students have a choice of buying the books online or from school on the 30th and 31st of August (2 days before school started). The school plans to repurchase the textbooks from the students at full price at the end of the school year if they were returned in the same condition as they received them.

Students who stayed in China during Summer Break had a difficult time ordering the books online, since Amazon.com had little textbooks in stock, and the majority of sellers in the Amazon marketplace do not ship to mainland China.

Because of conservative textbook demand predictions, some textbooks have sold out and a number of students will have to wait for the new shipment of books to arrive. This has caused complaint and confusion within the student body and school faculty members.

Athletics

SMIC is a Chinese International Schools Sports Association member.

It currently has Varsity and Junior Varsity teams for volleyball, soccer, and basketball.

In addition to this, the Middle School has normal teams of touch rugby, volleyball, soccer, and basketball.

But, there is also a swim team for Elementary, Middle, and High school, usually combined into one team. Also,badminton, ping pong, and track/cross country are also sports available to Elementary, Middle, and High School students.

All of these athletics do not require tryouts for grade and middle school, but will require it for Varsity/Junior Varsity teams (unless it's track) in basketball, volleyball, and soccer.

ummer school

SMIC Private School provides English and Chinese summer programs for students from Grade 1 to 9. Each class usually consist of 15 students, 1 teacher and 1 teaching assistant. Registration for faculty and students of SMIC Private School begins at the end of March. Non-SMIC students of non-faculty members can register 10 days after faculty registration ends. The summer school program provides work experience for Dallas Baptist University college students and SMIC Private School students willing in exchange for community service hours.

References

*http://smic-school.cn
*http://www.asan.com/asa/aspa1.htm
*http://www.smicschool.org/School/downloads/News/Students/Front-Page-Award-Resized.jpg
*http://www.smicschool.org/School/downloads/News/Students/Overall-Award-Resized.jpg
*http://www.lynck.org/concert.htm