A brief history of nearly everything about SRIS

Shanghai Rego International School first opened its doors on September 1st 2003 with 137 students ranging in age from 3-17! Painted in a subtle yellow and blue combination the whole school was situated on what is now the Secondary School Campus and apparently in the early days there was still a street market on the road outside in the mornings! People still ask whether the name Rego has a long historical background (or even a short explanation!) and it is fairly safe to say that there is no hidden meaning in the school name. 

The founding Principal, who was to remain for the next four academic years, was Mr. Hadyn Adams. Whilst he is now gone, there are still two original members of overseas teaching staff still at the school, Mr. John Wade and Mr. Daniel Iddon. Mr. Adams was apparently the designer of the building colour scheme and his impact is still felt each day with the Pompey chimes as the school bell (He was an avid Portsmouth Football Club Fan!) The school quickly grew in numbers to its present size and the combination of the English National Curriculum and a unique Wednesday afternoon activities programme clearly made its mark with the whole school community. As numbers grew the school maintained the idea that 20 was a maximum ideal class size and all students benefited from the small student to staff ratio.

Whilst he is now gone, there are still two original members of overseas teaching staff still at the school, Mr. John Wade and Mr. Daniel Iddon. Mr. Adams was apparently the designer of the building colour scheme and his impact is still felt each day with the Pompey chimes as the school bell (He was an avid Portsmouth Football Club Fan!) The school quickly grew in numbers to its present size and the combination of the English National Curriculum and a unique Wednesday afternoon activities programme clearly made its mark with the whole school community. As numbers grew the school maintained the idea that 20 was a maximum ideal class size and all students benefited from the small student to staff ratio! As students came and went from the school there were many success stories with students moving to Universities such as the State University of New York, Queen Marys College London, Hong Kong University and Brisbane University. These are just some of the Universities alumni are studying at, others have gone on to further their education in Sweden, India, Italy, Singapore, Korea and other universities in the U.S, U.K and Australia. The range of courses offered by the school has led to degree study in everything from Psychology, Biochemistry and Economics to Art and 3D design with film making. It is always a proud moment to watch the students move into further education and we have supported students with applications in all these countries. Many of the former students have returned to the school to discuss what they are now doing and thank staff for their support. During the last eight years the school has been involved in many different types of activity and we are very proud of the extra-curricular activities here at the school. We have competed in the Hong Kong Rugby sevens and toured Cambodia and Malaysia with the rugby teams, Netball teams have gone to Singapore and the Swimming team is about to go to Hong Kong having been invited to go to a regional swim meet.

On the more academic side we have been involved in the THIMUN mock United Nations for the last three years and held Art exhibitions around Shanghai. Trips have been organised to Germany, Cambodia and Spain for History, Biology and Art/Music as well as numerous trips within China over the range of subjects. Whilst all this is excellent we have also had cricket, football, volleyball and basketball teams running every year for boys and girls with a variety of success! The current girls senior football team is currently unbeaten this year and looking for promotion in the Shanghai Schools League.

Whilst Sport is important we have also tried to improve the Arts and over the past years we have had visiting musicians, artists and drama groups come into the school. We have a strong peripatetic music tuition service and many different musical groups in the school, from handbell choirs to a rock band! The last six years has also seen performances of: The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged), Oliver by the whole school, Scrooge and Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat. As well as major productions there have been musical concerts at least twice a year and the primary school recently adapted stories for a performance in the Shanghai Centre Theatre. The Art department has also grown and if you visit the school you will see evidence of the students prowess in the corridors. There is also now a kiln and the students are all very interested in working on the potters wheels that arrived this year!

As the school has grown, so have the staffing numbers from overseas, there are currently 93 members of staff employed from abroad. As the school is definitely international in flavour, 36 nationalities of student at last count, the teaching staff also come from a variety of countries, UK mainly but there are German, French, Spanish, Malaysian, Italian, Dutch, American, Canadian, Belgian, Australian and, of course, Chinese staff teaching at the school. This has had a very positive affect on teaching and learning in the school and allows for the cross pollination of teaching and learning strategies.

Another major plus for the school are the Friends of Rego. This group of parents works tirelessly to support the school and organise many events on the school calendar. The annual Christmas, Chinese New Year and International Day events are mainly due to their hard work and all seem to grow each year. International Day is now a huge event with stalls from all the countries represented at the school and enough entertainment and food to satisfy all. They are also involved with some of the areas of the school such as the canteen and regularly check the quality of the food and make recommendations.

In 2007 it was decided that the school would move further away from the British A level system and adopt the I.B. as this would better reflect the cosmopolitan makeup of the school and lead to students having even greater choice upon leaving at 18. After two years of hard work from staff and students alike we began the I.B. diploma programme in August 09. This is a significant change to the post 16 education in the school but every member of staff who has received training in the past 18 months has been excited by the prospect of starting to teach this challenging course. In many ways the old adage, youre only as good as your last results, can now be applied to schools. We obtained a 81% pass rate at IGCSE and 100% pass rate at A level in the 07-08 academic year, so whilst there is still room for improvement we are certainly moving in the right direction!

At the beginning of 2008-09 a new principal arrived in the shape of Mr. Richard Naylor and he came with the experience of running the British International School of Moscow. Not only did he arrive to take over the running of the school but he had to manage a school that was now on two sites! The Primary school was moved onto a campus about five minutes away from the original site and major improvements to the schools facilities were undertaken. These include, libraries specific to each school, a new gym and theatre complex under construction at the Primary site, extra provision for sport and an expansion of the teaching room numbers for Science, Art, DT and Music in the secondary school. It is a very exciting time to be associated with the school and we hope for further success in the future.