Curriculum & Programme

Taught in English and Chinese, the formal CIS Hangzhou curriculum makes maximum use of the resources of the city and environs to enhance students’ Chinese language proficiency and understanding of traditional and contemporary Chinese culture.

Our CIS Hangzhou students enjoy a high degree of personal attention and teachers have been specifically hired to ensure experience in and commitment to international education and boarding school life.

Our curriculum has four interconnected parts. Our concept of a curriculum represents a hybrid of the best of contemporary practice: learning in depth, positive education, project based learning and traditional disciplines. The useful image of a tetrahedron, a four-cornered solid with all four points connected to each other, was taken as a visualisation of something balanced, inter-connected and grounded with a secure base whichever way it falls.

We have renamed these four recognised focuses of contemporary practice to “Autonomy”, “Better Being”, “Collaboration” and “Disciplines” and they are intended to ensure that our students connect to the fullest with their living and learning environment in Hangzhou and acquire the skills needed for success in the 21st century.

Hear from our students as they describe their approach to learning at CIS Hangzhou.

CISHZ goes BEYOND - a masquerade ball, new instruments, a football tournament, a car, airplanes, skeeball, films, food, and more.

Growth at CIS Hangzhou

Many CIS alumni have described the Hangzhou experience as the most memorable and impactful year of their academic lives. At its heart is the intention to make the most of a unique residential setting in one of the world’s most cultured and forward-looking cities and to achieve the very best for our students.

The student learning experience is specific to CIS Hangzhou and autonomous from our partner school Greentown Yuhua School.

Students examine issues from local and global perspectives, using different disciplines, different skills and the ample resources that can be found in the city of Hangzhou.

Four Pillars at CIS Hangzhou

CIS Hangzhou is a tailored and holistic programme, built on the four pillars of Community, Character, Challenge and China.

COMMUNITY
Built around a single year-level (Year 10), our CIS Hangzhou programme fosters close-knit relationships and inclusivity, creating an unparalleled environment for student growth and learning.

CHARACTER
The CIS Hangzhou programme is committed to whole-person growth and character development. Our students are encouraged to become more confident young people, attentive to their own well-being, and also that of other community members living with them.

CHALLENGE
The CIS Hangzhou programme fosters growth by presenting students with appropriate challenges. In addition to the challenge of living in a new environment, students also learn in new ways and are explicitly challenged to keep an open mind, foster a growth mindset and build resilience.

CHINA
The CIS Hangzhou programme achieves its aims within the context of the Chinese mainland. As students get to know their new home city and region, rich opportunities are created for students to develop and apply their language skills and cultural appreciation in authentic and experiential settings, both inside and outside the classroom.

Four Learning Pathways

To achieve growth across the four pillars of our curriculum - Community, Character, Challenge and China - we offer students four pathways to learning that can be experienced in isolation or interwoven where applicable.

Experiential
With China as our classroom, we offer rich experiential learning opportunities for students to explore our local Hangzhou neighbourhoods and other parts of Mainland China.

Personalised
Students are encouraged to personalise their learning across all areas of the curriculum. Through this personalisation, they can engage with their interests and passions, become more curious about the world, and drive their learning with rich purpose and meaning.

Interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary learning is at the heart of our pedagogy, particularly within the emphasis on Autonomy and Collaboration. As part of the students’ learning experience, the interaction of disciplines and conceptual ideas produce a combined effect far greater than the sum of their separate parts, with synergistic thinking at its heart.

Learning In Depth
When students are encouraged to become experts in an area of personal interest, they are more engaged, experience mastery and are better able to drive their learning. These conditions enable students to be successful and, we hope, will connect them with a love of lifelong learning far beyond CIS Hangzhou.

The A,B,C,D's of CIS Hangzhou

(A) AUTONOMY - Learning in Depth
When a student is encouraged to become an expert in an area of personal interest, the student becomes engaged, experiences mastery and becomes better able to govern all of his or her learning.

(B) "BETTER BEING" - Positive Education
CIS Hangzhou has developed its own version of positive psychology which seeks to equip every student with the ethical core, character, virtue, well-being, self-knowledge and the skills and understanding to achieve his or her fullest potential and live a good life.

(C) COLLABORATION - Project Based Learning
The Arts, Design, Individuals and Societies, and Science are taught as an interdisciplinary course across ten areas of academic enquiry.

(D) DISCIPLINES - Traditional Disciplines or Areas of Study
Mathematics, Language Acquisition (Chinese, French and Spanish), Language and Literature (English and Chinese) are taught as separate areas of exploration.

CIS Hangzhou Subjects

Chinese (Mandarin)*

English

Mathematics

*

Humanities

Sciences

Physical Education

Product Design

Visual &
Performing Arts

French or Spanish
optional

*Chinese (Mandarin) & Mathematics are offered at different levels

Six Days A Week: While classes are held six days, the CIS Hangzhou timetable also allows for appropriate breaks, with an extended period of self directed time at different times in the day.

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