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A. People

One very important aspect of IE is its highlight on Intentionality. It is a profound belief of IE that every member in the school is valuable, responsible and possesses boundless potentials. Everyone in the school including students, teachers, other staff, and parents, even visitors are expected to be treated with respect, trust, and care. In order to create this atmosphere, we have intentionally done a lot to make people understand that they are respected, trusted, cared for and possess boundless potentials.
Passionate Professionals  
As our school is set up with an aim to provide high quality education that emphasizes care and joy in learning, it attracts dedicated teachers and other staff with the same aspirations. In order to ensure high quality of the team, we place great emphasis on the recruitment process. Great care is also put in to ensure there is a match of ideals and competence. A mentor system where new teachers are teamed up with experienced teachers is used to make certain that the new teachers adapt well to our unique school culture.

Staff development for new and existing teachers as well as other staff is a vigorous ongoing process that consists of workshops, talks by prominent educators and childhood psychologists and the regular Staff/ Curriculum Development Days. In this way, our team members not only possess the passion, but the knowledge and skills to strive for an ideal environment to enable everyone's potentials to be developed to their full.

We consider the staff of the school as the key to whether the ideals of the school can be achieved in practice. In line with the philosophy of IE, we believe that each and every staff member possesses unique potentialities waiting to be unlocked. Therefore, every effort is made to encourage teachers and other staffs to develop and challenge themselves in realizing their potentials. We take special care to make known to individual teachers and staff how we appreciate their potentials and strengths that we observed, and are always ready to encourage them to develop themselves in an area/ areas where they can become a specialist. We also provide them with opportunities and give them enough support as they work towards their goals.

The relationship among colleagues is very close. This is not just because teachers all sit in one staff room or that they prepare lessons in teams, organize activities in teams, and do projects in teams. Actually, many are attracted to the school by its unique ideal in education and are all very committed towards their profession. They work late together; face the daily challenges together; sharing tears and laughter. Respect, care, trust, and eventually mutual support among the CPS team are thus grounded on a solid foundation that is developed organically. With this atmosphere, optimism also tends to persist as colleagues are sure that they will be looked upon by colleagues positively and that their team is always behind them.

People working at CPS including school managers, principal, teachers, receptionists, clerks, and even menial staffs enjoy working here. The rate of staff turnover is very low. Very often, teachers who leave the school for studies often choose to come back to work for the school again after his/ her studies finish. Everyone sees himself/ herself as having a role in the school and feels that his/ her work is meaningful.

Each child is uniquely valuable

In the school, each student is regarded as unique, with their special talents. Teachers do not just consider themselves as experts in transmitting knowledge. They always have the child at heart and actively identify potentials of each and every child. They will then encourage them and provide opportunities for them to develop such talents and potentials to the full.

In our school, every teacher is also a counselor to the pupils. Teachers are sensitive to pupils' emotions and special needs. We have a very strong guidance team. The team not only arranges workshops for teachers to improve their knowledge on child development and counseling, but they also run personal development camps for pupils so that pupils learn to deal with difficulties and challenges positively.

It is very important to let students know that how much they are valued and loved, so that they learn to value and love themselves. Here, I think the principal has a special role to play: the principal is regarded by most children as a powerful figure in the school. Thus, I intentionally made use of this image to make maximum impact on students' self image: I make use of every opportunity to get close to my students and know each of them personally: I greet the students when they come to school, say goodbye to them when they leave school, pay special attention to their expression to see if they are happy and well. I visit my students all the time, take active part in their activities, and observe them at recess. I arrange students to chat with me in my office, take photos together, and try to remember each student's name (although there are more than seven hundred students in the school, and I am not able to remember all the names most of the time). I always tell them my expectations on them while at the same time tell them how special they are, how much I care about them, and how happy I am to be their principal. In this way, they would appreciate that they are valued as an individual even by someone whom they regard as a VIP so that their self-image and self-confidence can be enhanced significantly.

Pupils: making all our efforts worthwhile

Under this caring environment, pupils understand that they are respected, trusted, invited and cared for. They consider the school their other home and they know they are valued as individuals. Smiling faces are everywhere. Teachers need not use their authority to"control" the students because they know how much teachers love them so they are willing to cooperate. They are not afraid of teachers. Instead, they respect and love them. They understand the high expectation placed on them by the teachers stem from teachers' concern for the students' own welfare.

Pupils of CPS are generally very well behaved. The sense of belonging is strong. They are proud of being a member of the school. Every morning, pupils and teachers gather together in the playground. When there are challenges ahead for someone in the school (e.g. when students of the highest form are going to take a very important examination soon and there is anxiety, or when someone is seriously sick) everyone in the playground will pray together. When it is announced that the school gets good achievements or prizes from outside competitions, everybody in the playground cheers. When our school team loses in a competition, everybody in the playground will express their care and support towards the team members and the teachers who are in charge of the team, and let them know the whole school is behind them.

Because the sense of belonging is strong, pupils here tend to have very good relationships with each other. We stress that students should behave well to and take care of each other like brothers and sisters. We have also intentionally create lots of opportunities for pupils to play and work together regardless of their class and forms, most pupils have lots of friends in different classes and grades. Pupils in the higher forms are considered as big brothers and sisters who would care for those in the lower forms.

Parents: Our Unfailing Supporters and Partners

Parents are our closest partners. Through talks, seminars, Parents' Day, very frequent circulars to parents and a lot of informal communications such as face-to-face chats or phone calls, and many other parent-students activities, we have successfully fostered two-way communication with parents. This mutual understanding and coordination has meant that there is close collaboration between parents and the school in the education of students.

We also have a very active Teacher Parent Association. Parents and teachers often work hand in hand in organizing activities for the students, helping the individual children with difficulties and so on. Parents are very happy to contribute their expertise in assisting in school functions. Last year, we had more than one third of parents contributed actively as parent volunteers in various school/ PTA activities.

Like teachers, many parents who share the same education beliefs are attracted to bring their children to study in our school. This magnet effect is getting increasingly obvious. Last year, Dr. Roger Chen, an education expert in Thinking Education and Value Education working in a university in Hong Kong came to visit our school to share his expertise on this special area. We had a great time-sharing our beliefs and ways of implementation. After a few days, he called and inquired about the procedure of admission into our school because he would like his kid to receive the education we provide too. He was now one of our parents, and had worked closely with the school to develop a "Thinking Education Program" in the school to enhance the thinking education in our school. There are many similar incidents happening in our school, thus bringing in lots of additional resources and insights into the school.

We are very open to parents' suggestions and advice, because we consider their voice very important and relevant to the improvement of the school. We share mutual strengths and support to lead our students towards academic success and other achievements. Teacher-parent relationship is very good and trusting. Results from parents' surveys we conduct twice a year confirm that more than 90%, rate us "very commendable" and "commendable", and the rest is "average". We understand that it is very hard to keep all parents satisfied in every single aspect of the school, as sometimes the requests are contradictory. But we still value the voice of every parent, and try to cater for individual needs. While we stress that we welcome parents' advices, we also ask parents to give us encouragements. These encouragements are very important because they spare us from burning out and give us confidence, drive and strength we need to keep moving towards our goals and aims.

B. Places

Hong Kong is a very small and crowded place. Schools in general are small, compact and old. Our school premise was built in 1960 and is rather small in size too. We do not have a big lawn or a beautiful playground. But despite all these limitations, we have strived to make the school place pleasant and comfortable.

The building and ground of our school have always been well maintained, clean and well lit. Classrooms are decorated with different color schemes and children's work and achievements have been prominently displayed both inside and outside classrooms. It has also been well equipped with the facilities that suit modern teaching requirements. The School Board is very supportive and has put in much resource to upgrade the equipment to this end. When compared with facilities of other schools in Hong Kong, ours are already rather advanced and well kept. And before we were introduced to Invitational Education, we thought this was already sufficient.

After meeting Professor Purkey and Novak in 1998, we began to realize that a lot can be/ should be done in order to be an inviting school. In-house IE workshops stimulated every member of the staff to think about ways to make our school setting more inviting. As a result, lots of good suggestions were received. The trip to attend IAIE World Conference in 2000, 2002, 2004 and visits to more than forty inviting schools in North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio definitely gave us a lot of inspirations as well. We learnt how to use "places" to create powerful influence on and satisfaction for people.

Since then, lots of efforts were put into creating an inviting environment for a caring, warm, attractive, aesthetic and interesting school environment in which people can be inspired, motivated and feel invited.

We think to be inviting, the school must give everybody a genuine impression that the school is welcoming. The school reception area must be a warm and inviting place. One of our school managers (who is an architect himself and an advocator of Invitational Education himself) volunteered to redesign the setting of the office, the reception area as well as the classrooms in the school.

Attractive banners are hung up in various places in the school. Enlarged photos of our students, plaque of our school vision, trophies and awards earned by the students are all displayed in prominent places in the school. Posters with positive messages and encouragements, which motivate students, are posted throughout the premise. We tried every effort to make use of the place to remind ourselves as well as the students the value we uphold all the time.

In order to make the office even more inviting to pupils, part of the counter is lowered to allow children from the lower forms to communicate face to face with the office. We also use living plants and soft toys to make the office cozy and refreshing. In order to create a comfortable and convenient environment for teachers, we also renovate and refurnish the staff room. We encourage teachers to decorate their own seat with a personal touch too.

Apart from that, our library is renovated so that it is more comfortable and can let more natural light in. The opening of the library is also extended to maximize its use. We also try to use banners, color flags, living plants etc. to make the school more lively and attractive. Old and worn out furniture was replaced.

In order to enhance students' love towards their classes, we asked parents, pupils and teachers to join efforts in decorating the classrooms with their own mat, cushions, festive decorations, and favorite toys to make their classroom personal and homely. We also post a happy class photo outside their classroom to remind them the classroom belongs to them.

Our experience in improving the "places" element in our school in the past few years is very encouraging. We now appreciate a lot more the importance of making the school environment inviting. Besides cleanliness and good maintenance, the school has now become even more attractive. The atmosphere is even more cheerful, welcoming and cozy. Yet we are not going to stop here. We will continue to pool ideals both from inside and outside of school to make the school an even more inviting and happy place for everyone in the school.

C. Policies

In our school, pupils should be central to everything we do. Policies in the school is therefore written to make sure that people in the school understand and follow this direction. We draw up these policies not only for the present good of the students. We also try to be forward thinking so that the policies we wrote down are beneficial to students' future life. Policies in the school are compiled and presented in the form of guidelines and manuals. These policies are prepared by the school management team, which comprises of the principal, vice principals, teachers in charge of different functional groups, as well as different subject panels in the school. The functional groups include the Curriculum Development Team, Counseling Team, Discipline Team, Extra-Curricular Activities Development Team, Team for Student Matters & Parents Liaison, IT Team, Team for General Matters and Team for Crisis Management. Every teacher in the school belongs to at least one functional group based on their interests. They are encouraged to take part in suggesting and reviewing the policies every year and in planning for the coming year. The policies are thus a product of concerted efforts of the whole staff in the school.

Some of the important policies of our school include:

1.Policies on Teaching and Learning -

Our curriculum should cater for the present as well as future needs of the students. We should be active in learning about the latest developments in education, theories and researches in child psychology, brain compatible teaching and learning strategies, childhood development, recommendations and guidelines from the local education authority, as well as social development of Hong Kong and China. And regularly reviewed our curriculum so as to ensure that our curriculum is forward thinking and is able to meet the overall needs of our students.

Our curriculum should be broad and balanced so that our students will receive a whole person education. We should make sure that our students are well looked- after intellectually, emotionally, psychologically, socially, physically and spiritually.

Our curriculum should be child-centered and cater for the interests of our students. Teachers are encouraged to make use of various approach of teaching to motivate the students to learn proactively.
Our curriculum should be challenging enough to encourage students stretch their ability and stimulate students' high order thinking.

Our curriculum is able to develop students learning skills and habits so that students are able to apply their knowledge with skills and flexibility.

Tests and examinations are not the ultimate aims of learning. We should focus on reviewing whether students have mastered key elements in the learning process and are able to apply what they have learnt. Therefore, we should engage ourselves in continuous assessment to monitor students' academic progress, and make sure that their specific performances are reported frequently to parents.

The main purpose of homework is to reinforce what the pupils have learnt and also to let pupils appreciate the importance and uses of what he/ she has learnt. The homework, therefore, should be appropriate in length, interesting, meaningful and stimulating.

We should respect individual differences. Special assistance should be given to pupils with special needs, especially those with learning difficulties and those with special talents and gifts. We should not label pupils according to their present performance. Therefore, we should not release pupils' overall ranking in examinations so as to avoid unhealthy competition among pupils.

2. Policies on Untapping Pupils' Potential -

Every staff should be sensitive to pupils' individual interests, strengths and weaknesses, and encourage pupils to discover and further develop their talents.

It is our responsibility to provide a diverse range of learning experiences by organizing various extra-curricular activities for students so that they can have opportunities to participate in a great variety of activities. These activities should be able to unlock students' potentials, to develop confidence, teamwork skills, creativity, leadership, self-discipline and initiative and to widen their horizons.

We should intentionally provide opportunities for members in the school to exhibit their talents.
In order to encourage pupils to work on their strengths, recognition should be given when they put in their efforts. Therefore we should be generous in giving pupils awards and certificates.

3. Policies on Child development, Discipline and Counseling-

As the primary school years constitute the critical period when a child's personality, character and value systems are formed. We should therefore devote major attention and effort to ensure that our students receive the best guidance in these areas of development.

Every member in the staff should be responsible for students' healthy development during different stages. In-house counseling services and referral should be provided for students with needs. Positive activities to help students cope with the challenges with regards to growing up and changes, and activities to widen students' exposure and experience in dealing with difficulties in a positive manner should be arranged.

As for discipline, we should adopt a constructive and positive method. Our staff should be open-minded and trusting, helping our students to be self-motivated at all times. We should emphasize encouragement rather than reprehension and punishment, and positively guide students towards self-discipline. To understand, demonstrate, advice, encourage and support is more effective in changing pupils' behavior than to blame and scold.

We should also make use of every opportunity to promote, encourage, and provide training in self-discipline, respect and concern for others, and development of desirable moral standards.

4. Policies on Professional Development of Staff -

Our school should be an energetic, progressive and learning organization. We regard professional development as a continuous process that should be attended to constantly.

We regard information from self-evaluation and appraisal positive means to further improve oneself in the process of professional development.

We intend teachers to participate in discussions on school matters and share views on the improvement of the school.

We encourage teachers to learn from each other and make learning a lifelong quest.

We invite teachers to identify areas they want to become expert of and give support according.

5. Policies on School-Parent Relationship-

We should work in close collaboration with parents through frequent informal communication and regularly organized functions such as seminars, Parents' Days and many other parent-students activities and share mutual strengths and support to lead our students towards academic success and other achievements.

We should take parents views and opinions serious and positively.

Parents are our closest partners in overall development of the school. We should create more opportunities to discuss school matters with parents, and encourage parents to participate in the teaching, learning and other school activities.

The Parent-Teacher Association should be an important (though not the only) means through which we can further the collaboration and cooperation between the school and parents.

D. Programs

As "programs" are very effective means to realize the concept of Invitational Education, we have designed and implemented a large number of programs to facilitate pupils' learning and personal development, teachers' personal and professional developments as well as parents' education and involvement in the school.
The followings are examples of these programs:
1. Programs related to Formal Curriculum

Curriculum Development Projects - Through the years, our school has the tradition to engage in curriculum development years after years and resulted in many new initiatives. Many of such efforts are unique in Hong Kong at the time of their introduction. As such initiatives have important implication to the overall educational process experienced by the children; we have a special functional group (the Curriculum Development Committee) that is responsible for reviewing the curriculum from time to time. Their role is to enhance the quality of learning and teaching to make sure that our curriculum is in line with relevant theories and research in child psychology and childhood development, the latest developments in educational theories and methods, as well as recommendations and guidelines from local education authority of Hong Kong. Through the years, the committee has taken the lead in creating and developing a student centered Curriculum and school-based new subjects such as Computer-Assisted Learning for Chinese, English and Mathematics (introduced in 1989), Native English Speaker Teaching Program (introduced in 1993), Computer Awareness Programs at the Primary School Level (introduced in 1994) and "EQ & Thinking Course" (introduced in 1997) has been included in the formal curriculum.Besides that, the committee also incorporates new effective teaching approaches as well as strategies into the curriculum, these approaches include"Sheng Boon Approach of Education" (introduced in 2002), Thinking Education (introduced in 2003) and Brain-based Learning (introduced in 2004). In view of the increasing importance of Putonghua for communication inside China, we start to offer choices for students to learn Chinese through Putonghua or Cantonese. We also see the increasing needs of students to use English worldwide; we are going to switch the medium of instruction in certain subjects such as Bible Studies and Science to English. In 2001, the school started a 5-year curriculum development project, inviting scholars and experts to work side-by-side with teachers. The review undertaken this time has as one of its focuses the inspiring and development of students' potentials. Results of this project not only further enhance curriculum content and teaching strategies but also equip teachers with expertise in curriculum planning and development. This in turn also significantly fosters professional growth / development of the staff.

Year-round Programs - Every year, a theme is chosen for the school as the theme for the Year-round Program. These themes are usually chosen with reference to the current issues in Hong Kong and the changing needs of pupils in mind. For Example, in 1997-98, when Hong Kong's sovereignty was returned to China, we introduced the Year-round Program "Chinese Heart, Global Mind" in order to prepare pupils for the new identity ahead. After that, we had Year-round Programs such as "The Joy of Learning" , "The loving Heart", "The Love for Life", "Welcoming the new millennium", "Team Work", "Having Fun in Reading", "The Proactive in Learning" and "5E: Enjoying English, Experiencing English, Exploring in English and Excelling in English".

Creative Week Programs - Thinking power is one of the areas which teachers can work on in order to unlock students' full potential. Therefore, one study week is set aside to focus on thinking education. Teachers of the whole form will select a broad theme for students to work on. They will introduce and weave in elements of thinking education (for example, the ACCESS Thinking Strategies of Dr Roger Cheng) in its design. During this week, students will get into groups, take the initiative to choose a topic for their project, experience different processes such as problem/ question analysis, creation of solutions/ answers, critique of solutions/ answers, explication of the problem solving/ question-answering process, sentimental reflections on problem solving/ question-answering process and synthesis of the problem solving/ question-answering process. On the final day of the week, the school will be open to parents and outsiders and the students will demonstrate or perform what they have created in this special week to visitors.

Exchange Programs - To broaden students' perspective so that they can have a global view, we have organized various exchange programs either with overseas schools or schools in Mainland China. Such programs could take various forms. Sometimes, we might send teachers and students to an overseas school and place them in the daily routine of that school. In return, teachers and students from our counterpart will be placed in our school in the same way. At other times, we may organize study tours when a group of teachers, parents and students would visit a certain locality in mainland China or overseas and visit several schools there. Seminars, sharing and performances are usually organized so that teachers, students and other members of the schools can learn more from each other.

Enrichment Programs - As every pupil is special and unique in their own ways, teachers in our school have implemented a number of programs so as to assist pupils with various needs. The followings are some of the enrichment programs in our school:

We invite pupils who need special assistance in learning Chinese, English and Mathematics to join Study Groups, Study Camps and Learning for Fun Programs where teachers can do remedial in small groups and play learning games with pupils so that pupils will not lose interest in learning the subjects they find difficult.

We also organize seminars and workshops for teachers and parents so that possible learning or behavioral problems can be identified and tackled in time.

We invite pupils with special talents to join the "Project A" Program in which children of higher abilities can come together to participate in challenging activities in which they stimulate each others' intellectual abilities and talents under the facilitation of teachers.

Because of the nature of the subject Mathematics, we notice that when pupils progress to P.5 and 6, there is often some who performs significantly better than required by the normal curriculum. So we have a new program named Accelerated Mathematics Learning Groups for such pupils with outstanding achievements in Mathematics. The responses of pupils, teachers and parents are very good.

We also introduce ability group teaching in English at high forms when the range of standard in English widened.

2.Programs for Personal Development, Character Training, and Moral Education

As primary school years are the critical period when a child's personality, character and value systems are formed, we have implemented many programs to ensure our pupils' healthy development. The following are some of these programs:

Award Program -- to encourage and give formal recognition to pupils' good behaviors. Such awards include, for example, Service Award, Merit Awards, Improvement Awards, Model Students, and Award for Excellent Conduct, Outstanding Student Awards etc..

Personal Growth Program -- to offer well structured personal growth programs for each form. Theme for individual forms include:

"Smooth Transition into Primary School" for Primary 1

"Learning to be Self Discipline and Responsible" for Primary 2

"Mastering Social Skills" for Primary 3

"Embark on Creativity" for Primary 4

" Enjoying Voluntary Services" for Primary 5

"Leadership Training" for Primary 6

Smooth Transition Program – where principal invite P.1 students to visit her office and tell her how they feel about their school life; counselor and principal chat with every new student to the school to make sure they settle down well in CPS.

Love from the Upper Form Program – This include the Big Brother and big sister Program, the Caring Ambassador Program. We encourage upper form students to look after the lower form students.

Challenge Camp Program – to encourage pupils to face challenges with confidence, perseverance and equip them with teamwork and problem solving skills.

3. Programs to Unlock Pupils' Potentials

Each year we organize a large number of activities both in the formal and informal curriculum for students to develop their potentials. Students have lots of opportunities to participate in a large variety of such activities inside as well as parties outside the school. The following are some of these programs:

Special Events in the School Calendar – each year we have Sports Day, Swimming Gala, Musical Instrument Competitions, Singing Competitions, Ball Games Competitions, Writing Competitions, Drawing Competitions, Mathematics Competitions, General Knowledge Competitions, Design Competitions, Project Competitions etc. to stimulate pupils' interests and offer opportunities for pupils to discover and recognize their own special talents. We intentionally increase the number of winners so that more pupils can have the chance to get recognitions.

Talents Spotting Program – Class teachers and subject teachers will observe the students and fill in a form to report to parents on their observation regarding individual potential and talents of each child in the class.

Lunch Time Talent Show -- Students are intentionally invited to perform/ show their talents after their lunch. Others students will come to the Hall to be the audience and cheers for their schoolmates.

School Team and Outside School Activities and Competitions – for pupils with special talents in various fields, teachers will offer special trainings to the students and encourage the students to take part in activities and competitions outside school so as to broaden their horizons. Examples of these training programs include: School Choir, School Band, School String Orchestra, School Verse Speaking Team, School Art Team, School IT Team, School Mathematics Team, School Dance Team, School Swimming Team, School Athletics Team, School Basketball Team, Volleyball Team, Mini-Tennis Team, Table-Tennis Team, Badminton Team Training etc.

Friday Afternoon Programs – there are over 30 kinds of activities which pupils can choose from according to their own interests. Examples of these activities include: Bread Making, Drama, Western Cooking, Calligraphy, Ball Games, Model Making, Creative Show, Philately, Verse Speaking and Painting, etc.

Multiple Intelligence Enhancement Programs – for pupils who want to further develop their interests. Examples of these activities include: Musical Instrumental Classes, Swimming, Chinese Kung Fu, Board Games, Creative Writing, Gymnastics, and English Oral Classes etc.

Community Services and "Uniformed Groups" such as Girl Guide, Boy Scout, Environmental Ambassadors for pupils to learn about social values, team work, self-discipline and to render services to others.

Student Ambassador Program – to encourage students to care for, know more about the school and represent the school to receive guests.

PTA Scholarship Program – Scholarships donated by Parent-Teacher-Association to recognize students who have excellent achievement in the sports, arts or social services.

Creative Students On Stage Variety Show -- Students would occupy centre stage and perform in grand theatre such as the City Hall in front of a large audience of over 1,000 consisting of fellow students, parents and even friends.

4. Programs of Staff Development

Staff development is considered an important means to improve the quality of education services in school. We have, thus implemented the following programs:

Continuous Professional Training Program -- we encourage every member of the staff to enroll in seminars and workshop offered by the Education and Manpower Bureau ("EMB") and other professional institute and bodies. A budget is set aside to sponsor teachers to pursue further professional development.

In-house staff training -- Each year, we have a Staff Development Day Camp (for team building and professional development), a Curriculum Development Day (for curriculum review and development in subject groups), and over ten teachers' seminars and workshops (on teaching methods and techniques e.g. Mind Mapping)

Mentor Program -- Experienced teachers taking care of the less experienced teachers.

Sharing Program -- Opportunities for teachers share knowledge, expertise with each other. Examples of such activities may include: A teacher who is good at IT may be invited to share his/ her strategies in using IT in teaching with other teachers. A subject panel may invite teachers to sit in his/ her classroom.

5. Programs for Parental Involvement and Education

Parental involvement and education is one of the main focuses of programs that our school is keen to develop in the past few years. The following are some of these programs:

School-Parents Communication Program – Apart from using school handbooks (when weekly/daily notes on observations about the child's behaviour are often exchanged), school circulars, newsletter, Parents' Guide, school web to communicate with parents, parents are encouraged to communicate with the school by phone, by fax, by email or in person. We encourage parents to come to our school not only on Parents Days but also at other times. We always ask for parents' comments and suggestions through formal questionnaires and informal dialogues to improve our service.

Parent-Teacher Association – The association provide the opportunities for parents and teachers to meet nearly every month to work collaboratively for the good of the pupils. The association also helped organizing joint school-parent programs and activities such as Gatherings, Outings, Overseas Study Trips, and Scholarship Program for Talented Students etc.

Parent Support Groups – Under the PTA, we have four support groups from parents to assist in curriculum development in the school, to advice on and promote pupils' healthy living style and diet, to look after personal growth of students, and to publish newsletter for the association.

Parental Involvement Program -- where parents are invited to participate the school events (such as in the Swimming Gala, Sports Day, Music Camp, Flower Charity Day, Social Services etc.) and to be involved in the school as volunteers in school activities (e.g. as photographers on Sports Days, as Reading Dad/ Mom in the Reading Award Scheme, as guest speakers in certain teaching and learning activities)

Parent Education Program -- Every year, we have at least two Seminars for parents from every form. Apart from that we also have workshops for parents for different classes and parents of different needs.

E. Processes

Processes at the school are characterized by openness, liveliness, mutual support and respect for everybody in the school. The following are some of the examples of how our processes are inviting

Morning Music -- Every morning when students arrive the school, they will be greeted by lively music broadcast in the whole school. This provides an energetic beginning to the school day. Music for concentration is also played before tests and exams to help students relax, as well as improve their performance.

Respect for everyone's ideas -- Ideas and opinions of students are respected, even actively sought out. For example, when the school was looking for a mascot, students were first invited to give their ideas. Their great response testifies to their trust that they opinion will be taken seriously. Everyone in the school including students, parents, teachers, principal, school directors and menial staff are invited to vote for their favorite mascot. The most popular mascot was eventually adopted.

Women/ Men in Red -- A way to show support to each other in the school. For example, when the English Team launched a special English Day Program, all English teachers wore red clothes. Other non-English teachers showed their support by wearing red clothes on that day as well.

Sports Days for everyone -- The annual Sports Day is not just an occasion for sports competitions. Actually it is a chance to have fun together for everyone including students, parents, teachers, principal and menial staff. For example, there are competitions among teams formed by parents and their kids. Also, every year, a cheering team performance is designed and staged by students, teachers and parents. The principal joined the cheering dance too.

Variety of learning methods At CPS – teachers use a great variety of methods, and provide different learning environments to stimulate students' learning. They include various activities inside the classroom, visits outside of school, special events, drama, competitions, projects, talks by outside experts, etc.

Words to show one cares -- Notes and memos showing mutual care is often exchanged between teachers, between teachers and students and between parents and teachers. One could find them stuck to the daily sign-in sheet, on one's desk (with some snack), among the exercise books, etc.

360 degree appraisals – The 360 degree method for performance evaluation is adopted so that superiors, peers as well as subordinates get to give suggestions and comments on how one is performing. Even the principal is opened to be appraised by the other staff.

To conclude, we are fortunate to have developed a culture that is dynamic, open, that is also trusting, caring and fun. This has ensured both efficient and effective implementation processes, which are well coordinated. The dynamic and open atmosphere ensures that problems are spotted and discussed in the open and solutions are suggested and given full considerations. The strong trust and genuine care born out of a shared philosophy, mutual understanding and most important of all, the experience of working and overcoming challenges together have ensured that discussions, debates and differing opinions can be dealt with without detrimental effects on team work and unity.