Parent's Review of SMIC School Wuhan in Wuhan, China

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

SMIC School Wuhan

In what town or city is this school located?

Wuhan

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

Core subjects (Chinese, Math, Science, Social Studies) taught by local Chinese teachers complemented by an American English program taught by native English speakers.

What grade levels are represented at this school?

PreK-5

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

I would say a third of the students walk to school and the rest are driven to school by the parents or the school buses. My child walks to school, we live right across the street from the school.

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The school has campuses in Beijing and Shanghai that offer PreK to high school. Currently, this campus only has PreK to Grade 5, but it is planning on expanding. Btw, the Kindergarten is a Montessori kindergarten lead by certified teachers, it's the only one in China that I know of but I guess my sampling isn't that large.

FACILITIES

I'm just going to list the facilities and talk about them as best I can:

- Computer Lab

- Indoor Swimming Pool

- Gymnasium

- Work-out room

- Recreation Centre

- Library

- Art Room

- Studio/Music Room

- Auditorium

The computer lab has all new equipment, they just bought new computers this year.

The swimming pool looks like any other average swimming pool size to me. It's long enough for decent lap swimming.

The gymnasium has basketball courts and badminton courts.

Work-out room has treadmills and stuff. I've never stepped into it.

Recreation Centre has table tennis and billiard tables set up.

They told me the library has over 2000 books in English and Chinese.

The art room is beautiful, they just had some art place come in to repaint and decorate the art room. It looks much better than the white walls that was there last year. Someone's always in that room every day making something interesting.

The studio/music room is a huge room with mirrors along two walls with those ballet banisters around three sides.

Auditorium is located on the third floor and they hold all their assemblies there and have performances and graduation ceremonies there.

All the facilities are heated and air conditioned. The campus, facilities, and classrooms are clean. The ayis (i.e., cleaning staff) work tireless to keep the school clean. The campus is safe, they have security to greet you at any hour,. The guards are friendly and caring, they help children cross the street if they're walking to school.

The teacher-student ratio is very low. My child is in the largest English class and she has 10 other students with her.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

My child is in elementary school, so I can only speak for the elementary side but I know the kindergarten has their own set of after-school programs. The after-school programs offered vary depending on interest level and instructor availability.

This term my child attends web design on Mondays, children's literature on Fridays and Math Olympiads type of class on Tuesdays, and Art on Wednesdays. If I remember correctly, they also offered a kind of Chinese Olympiads, painting, Chinese calligraphy, and Taekwondo. I do know that the kindergarten offers dance to their students as well as a slew of art programs.

Each term they have field trips to different places. Last year, they went to a museum and Forest Park. This year they went to the Wuhan Sea World and they haven't gone on their second trip yet.

They do celebrate western holidays, they even get Christmas off! There's events for Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en, Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day (renamed to Encouragement Day).

Last year, the school also took part in the Guanggu Music Festival. What we thought to be a little school musical performance turned out to be a huge competition. The school's performance won first or second place in the competition, I can't remember. They're competing again this year.

The school also performs for Christmas at its parent company just down the street.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

I am part of the Parent-Teacher Association. The school is very patient and willing to listen to all the parents' concerns. I can join my child on the field trips and participate in all the holiday festivities.

Some of the other parents helped out with getting costumes for the music festival and Christmas performance.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

Talk to the school and ask whatever concerns you. You have to do that with all the schools you're looking into.

http://www.smic-school.cn/

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