Xuhui is recognized as the strongest education district in Shanghai, not only has four private primary schools ranked in the top 10 in the city, but also has Huayu Middle School, which has ranked first in the city in terms of average score in the high school entrance examination for many years, and even the best high school in Shanghai, Shanghai Middle School, is located here.
Xuhui's "four major private primary schools" are ranked among the top ten in the city in terms of their education destination and teaching quality. Among the "four private primary schools", the first is the World Foreign Language Primary School. Its full name is Shanghai World Foreign Chinese Primary School, which was founded in 1993 and transformed into a private school in 2005. The school is divided into the Domestic Department (for children with household registration or residence in Xuhui District), the Overseas Department (mainly for foreigners and children from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who live in Xuhui District) and the PYP Integration Department (only foreign children and children from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who live in Xuhui District).
Shiwai Primary School has two campuses: East (Overseas Department, PYP Integration Department) and West (Domestic Department). The East Campus covers an area of 12,050 square meters, with a construction area of 8,272 square meters, 10 dedicated classrooms, 2 reading rooms, and 4,282 square meters of indoor and outdoor sports fields. The West Campus covers an area of 10,665 square meters, with a construction area of 6,072 square meters, with a total of 6 dedicated classrooms, 1 reading room and 1 laboratory, and an indoor and outdoor sports field area of 3,498 square meters. As of 2018, there were 203 Chinese and foreign teachers in Shiwai Primary School. Among them, 12% of the teachers with senior professional titles in middle schools, 98% of the teachers with bachelor's degree or above, 2% of the teachers who retired and rehired, and the teacher-student ratio was 1:8.
From 2014 to 2016, the acceptance rates of Shiwai Primary Schools were 4.8%, 3.5%, and 5%, respectively, and its popularity can be imagined. Students who fill in the first and second choice of Shiwai Primary School may be given the opportunity to be interviewed. According to parents, the school interviews in 2017 included (1) watching movie clips to test students' observation skills; (2) Questions and answers in English such as school and name; (3) Human-computer test, listening to different languages to judge countries, pointing out in maps, and finding corresponding shadows for objects, etc.; (4) Answer questions, such as parents' work, hobbies, what things need to be brought for spring outing, etc.; (5) make up a story by giving a few pictures; (6) Learn the use of some electronic products on site.
According to the statistics of a third-party education information agency, in 2016, the number of winners in the four major cups accounted for 30.83% of the school, ranking fifth among the city's primary schools. And among the number of winners, the proportion of first and second prizes is also relatively high, about 41%.
The top 110 or so students can get the opportunity to go directly to the world's foreign language middle school, and the top 30 students will even receive an invitation from Huayu Middle School, which is the reason why many parents are vying to enroll their children in the world's foreign language primary school. In 2016, about 10 people were admitted to Shangwai 120 in Shiwai Primary School and about 20 people were admitted to Huayu; In 2015, the two figures were basically the same, and the rest of the students went straight to the world's foreign secondary school; In 2014, a total of about 26 students were admitted to Huayu, ranking second among all private primary schools.
In terms of curriculum, English is the school's specialty. Its English curriculum is internationalized, with three kinds of teaching materials: Oxford, Jiayin, and Kids' stories, and the teaching mode of "structure-function complementarity" around the classroom theme, so that students have solid writing skills and fluent oral expression. As a result, the school was rated as a "National English Teaching and Research Demonstration School". In addition, computer teaching is also a major feature of the school, and students are exposed to programming courses from the fourth grade, so that the graduates of the world are generally strong in logical thinking.
The teaching methods of Shiwai Primary School are flexible and diverse, with both large and small classes, and the usual amount of homework is not much according to parents, but there are more extracurricular activities around English. Teachers are also more focused on academics, and will provide targeted after-school tutoring for students with poor academic performance.
There are many interest activities in the school, most of which are activities that combine the curriculum, such as Reading-Time and the "Haiku King" Ring Competition; Mathematics's "World Mathematics Day" maze adventure; Talent show series in English; Music Talent Show, Calligraphy and Painting Competitions and Exhibition, etc. Basically, as long as students complete their coursework on time, our teachers will support students in extracurricular activities.
