Dear Parents,
As I write my first message to our Secondary community, I find myself reflecting on a very full and special first few weeks at XLIS.
Although I visited Xi’an and XLIS in January, arriving in late July and experiencing the school as part of its everyday life has been quite different. Over these first four weeks, I have been warmly welcomed by colleagues, students and families. Through leadership meetings, conversations with Department Leaders, welcoming new staff and meeting students and families, I have already begun to feel a genuine sense of connection to this community. One of the things that has struck me most strongly is the importance of community and belonging.
A school is much more than its curriculum, buildings and systems. It is the relationships we build. Students need to know they are seen, valued and known; staff need to feel their voice matters; and families need to feel welcomed and confident that we are working together in the best interests of their children. For me, this connects strongly to positive intent. In a diverse international community, we will inevitably have different perspectives and expectations. When we listen before responding and seek to understand before judging, we create the conditions for trust, respect and meaningful collaboration. This is something I hope we can continue across Secondary this year.
Our three Secondary priorities build on what is already working well, while taking important aspects of our practice to the next level.
First, we will continue to strengthen our Homeroom Programme, broadening its role in students’ holistic development and embedding a stronger culture of reading through a differentiated reading programme.
Second, we will further develop our MYP implementation, focusing on transitions and pathways, interdisciplinary learning and language support. We will continue developing our understanding that all teachers are teachers of language, while valuing the linguistic resources our multilingual students bring.
Third, we will build on our students DP experience, strengthening feedback, making the Learner Profile more visible in everyday learning, and developing purposeful engagement with CAS.
Ultimately, these priorities are about successful learning and the young people we are helping to develop – thoughtful, capable and well-informed young people who can inquire deeply, think critically, understand different perspectives and care about the world around them. We are already seeing these qualities in action.
Just before the end of the summer break, two XLIS teams travelled to Hong Kong for the World Youth Forum BPA competition, competing against teams from more than 20 countries and regions. After a year of preparation, William Fan, Derek Li and Richie Liu achieved an outstanding 10th place worldwide with their innovative design for a mobile, flexible venue made from shipping containers, designed to connect elderly residents and left-behind children in rural China with the wider world.
We also celebrated this past week following the Harvard Model United Nations China conference in Guangzhou. Ms. Na accompanied a team of XLIS students who represented our school with great success. Our whole delegation – Eva Wang Yuqi (DP2), Danny Dong Ziqi (DP1), Richie Liu Yuxi (M5), Gabrielle Liu (M4) and General Zhou Zihaoxuan (M4) – was awarded Outstanding Delegation. A special congratulations also goes to Gabrielle Liu, who received an Honorable Mention.
These achievements reflect students who challenge themselves, collaborate, persevere, engage with different perspectives and use their learning to make a difference — exactly the qualities we want to nurture through an XLIS education.
Also Ms. Lily Liu shared with me this week, that our sense of community encompasses wonderfully supportive parents. Thank you to all the parents who joined last Friday’s workshop; with more than 60 parents attending, demonstrating our learning-centred community in action. We will host more parent workshops and parent-talk sessions throughout the academic year. If you would like to propose a topic or initiate a parent talk, please feel free to contact our PR team at pr@xalis.com. Together, we can continue building a vibrant community of lifelong learners.
I would also like to warmly invite parents to our Meet the Teacher event this Friday, from 4:30–5:30pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet your child’s Homeroom teacher, connect with other members of our Secondary community and begin building the relationships that will support your child throughout the year. I hope many of you will be able to join us.
And what a wonderful start our students have made this past week. I have loved seeing students reconnect with friends, welcome new classmates, navigate new timetables and settle into the rhythm of a new school year. There is always a special feeling at the beginning of a school year.
My invitation to our Secondary community this year is simple: let’s continue to build a school where people feel that they belong, where every voice is valued, where we approach one another with positive intent, and where we are ambitious for every student.
I am incredibly excited about the year ahead and grateful to be beginning this journey with you.
Warm regards,
Gillian Presland
Secondary Principal
Xi’an Liangjiatan International School
