2022-2023 School Year Orientation Speech by Parent Representative
Dear faculty, parents and students,
Greetings!
My name is Sunny. I’m the mother of Michael, a Grade 10 scholar, and my son has been attending Dipont Huayao Collegiate School for one year. (Of course, half of the time was online teaching). It’s my honor to stand here and speak to all of you today. A warm welcome to all of our old scholars coming back to the familiar campus, as well as to all the new scholars who have just joined our HC family this year.
Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the great efforts of HC faculty over the past 6 months. It was a very challenging time for everyone, but more so for our faculty, who had to deliver online courses and also work offline, as well as deal with all kinds of epidemic prevention requirements, and at the same time try to feed themselves. The fact that you’re all here today, demonstrates your true love for this school and its scholars. Please accept my most sincere gratitude as an HC parent.
No matter which school a child goes to, I want to say that family is the best school for children, and parents are the best teachers for them. It is our inescapable responsibility and honor to accompany a child’s growth. Secondly, no matter what kind of school your child is in, good communication and interaction between parents and the school can greatly enrich and benefit a child’s education.
At HC School, scholars will come into contact with faculty of different functions. There are subject teachers, personal tutors, college application counselors, student development teachers who are responsible for non-academic work, co-curricular teachers, dormitory administrators for boarders, and evening self-study tutors. All these teachers have their own duties, but as part of an elite boarding school, they care about and facilitate the development of scholars both inside and outside the classrooms. Parents can contact different teachers at any time by email, and usually, the teachers will respond within 24 hours. For example, I sent an email to Ms. Tang, the college application counselor at 12 a.m., and received her reply at 8 a.m., and we made an appointment to speak on the phone at 11 a.m.
Some parents may worry that their English level is not good enough to communicate with teachers smoothly. You don’t have to worry about that. Dr. Jeff knows how bad my English is, but it doesn’t affect our communication at all, because Mr. David will help us. There are specialized teachers who could help translate Chinese emails from parents to foreign teachers, and Chinese teachers will also act as translators for parents during a one-to-one meeting with foreign teachers.
The school will also hold information seminars for parents from time to time, usually on Friday so that parents of boarders could attend. The school would explain the latest education policies to parents, share information about studying abroad, the latest development of the school, and so on. I hope all parents can take an active part in it and keep up with the pace of their children’s growth.
Another important organization for parents is the Parents’ Union, which is like the parents’committee in public schools. The Parents’ Union is a bridge between the school and parents. I am a volunteer of the Parents’ Union, acting as an ambassador for important events and a parent representative of last year’s Grade 9. The school gives great attention to the Parents’ Union. In the past year, the main leaders of the school would have monthly meetings with members of the Parents’ Union. The middle school division of the Parents’ Union would also have monthly catch-up meetings with Dr. Jeff to collect feedback and suggestions from parents. Today I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you the two parent ambassadors of the Middle School Division, Li is the parent ambassador for Grade 7-9 Junior High School and Tally is the parent ambassador for Grade 10-12 Senior High School. Parents of new scholars could add the personal WeChat of the two parent ambassadors, who would then add you to the relevant WeChat groups. I would also like to make an advertisement for the Parents’ Union: we need your strong support and welcome your participation in the Union for various activities of the school like helping out with transportation and events.
Finally, what I want to say to all of you is:
We chose this school, so we’d better trust the school and the teachers to guide and help our children. Don’t doubt it just because it’s a new school. A new school means more openness and acceptance.
All of us parents here have the ability to send our children to this school. I’m proud to say that we must be elites from all walks of life. So please hold the belief that we have the ability to be excellent parents and learn and grow together with our children.
And most of all, please believe in our children. Most of our children will be studying abroad in the future, and middle school is exactly the time that we need to learn to let go and let our children grow and take control of their own lives. So trust our children and give them the space and freedom to learn time management, learn to find purpose, learn to take responsibility and consequences, and learn to get back up when they fall down. Believe in the power of believing. It’s the power that makes our future possible.
Thank you, and happy new school year to all of you.
