SSIS offers a safe learning environment for children and adults, where children feel free to question their learning, and are encouraged to challenge their surroundings. Students are involved in all areas of school life beyond the classroom. We understand and value the trust that you place in us when you choose SSIS for your child.
The SSIS network puts our school in the forefront of innovative international schools globally, and is a high-tech trailblazer in mainland China. SSIS leads the way as the first school to adopt cutting edge wireless, supporting infrastructure, and education-focused utilities in the PRC. Our network is designed to assure students’ access to international resources critical to the IB and International School models as well as promoting innovative teaching practices. Our teachers are empowered to create dynamic activities rich in multimedia, digital content, online assessments, and global collaboration. Everything we do in SSIS is driven by empowering learners to be creators, be engaged, and be free to explore their world.
At SSIS we are proud to be a one-to-one MacBook school. This means that students use laptops on a daily basis in their classes as a tool of instruction and learning. Students from Grade 5 to 12 are required to bring a MacBook, with a number of school provided applications installed, to school every day, fully charged.
Students will be required to install and update school-provided applications at the commencement of the use of their laptop at school and at various intervals thereafter. Backups of student work must occur regularly. Students will be instructed on both how to update and backup their laptops on an external hard drive with a minimum storage space of 500GB.
Besides an up-to-date Apple MacOS X system and the school-provided applications, no additional software is required or recommended for the laptop to be used in classes at school.
We require a MacBook less than three years old with a three-year extended international AppleCare warranty and at least 256GB hard-drive space. An external hard drive with a minimum storage space of 500GB for your child to backup their work is also required.
In the Elementary school, each homeroom is allocated a set of 5 iPads. These iPads are used by teachers to enhance and extend learning and by students for just-in-time research. These are tools for capturing, collaborating, and transforming learning, not just fun and exciting ways of doing the same activities previously done with paper. We hope to truly transform learning and create environments of innovation and creativity. In addition to these classroom devices, we also have laptops and other iPads for the teacher to checkout so the entire class can participate. Each device has access to a suite of apps teachers and students have identified as highly educational. Of these, we have identified a set of core iPad apps which teachers receive professional development on. We call these apps "The Big 8". They are not skill-and-drill babysitting apps, but rather open-ended content creation apps which students can use flexibly across the curriculum to show and share learning. The Big 8 iPad apps, together with a PYP approach to inquiry and student-centered learning, ensures technology is integrated into curriculum authentically and appropriately.
