It may be windy, wet and gloomy at the start of 2024 but we are filled with optimism & hope for the year ahead as we continue to build engagement, opportunity & China literacy in the classroom. So why the optimism?
Despite school budgetary constraints, covid catch-up & capacity issues in schools, multiple schools and 6th Form Colleges have already booked us in to deliver our curriculum enrichment China Challenge Days. These days will take pupils on cultural journeys enabling them to understand the impact of of China on the world today as well as encounter thousands of years of history from the technological advancements of the Shang dynasty; the rise of the Qin dynasty & the ‘Terracotta Emperor’ and the obsession with porcelain & tea in British society.
Our third and largest, global ‘Good Cop Bad Cop’ Model UN conference takes place on 02/02 involving 350+ young people to discuss the climate crisis.
Our first cohort of EwC Scholars have settled in brilliantly into boarding school life in China having been there already for six months. They have enjoyed cultural trips, taken part in Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, competed in fencing, public speaking and swimming competitions as well as rowing, playing basketball and music alongside their full-on academic classes.
And that’s not all…. registrations are now open for the ‘Global Perspectives’ summer camps, July 2024 in China.
Designed for curious, young minds who imagine a world beyond their experience, this camp will delight and inspire pupils as they discover China’s culture, history, language and tech advancement during an action-packed schedule at our partner school, Wycombe Abbey Changzhou. Use Code HJ2024 to ensure your special offer price.
Keep checking the website for news of our EwC Scholarship application process for 2024-26 opening soon. This fully-funded scholarship will expand this year to enable an additional 30 British 16 year-old students (who will complete their GCSEs this summer) to study their A-levels in China. Interviews and selection will take place before Easter 2024.
We wish all teachers & students a great start to the new term as they anticipate exam season. At a time when the world (& the weather) looks gloomy may the character traits of the Year of the Dragon to come, including confidence, energy & ambition, equip us all with greater understanding, cooperation & kindness, leading to better times to come.
Date options: 01 – 13 July 2024 or 15 – 27 July 2024
Age groups: 8 – 17 years
Building on our previous experience running enriching summer camps in the UK for Chinese children, we are now delighted to present a fabulous opportunity for young people to enjoy a ‘Global Perspectives’ camp in China in July 2024. Calling teachers, parents, grandparents and governors: please share these details to enable young people aged 8-17 to take advantage of the exceptional cultural and STEAM trips and activities on offer, enjoy immersive and engaging learning with bi-lingual teaching staff and leverage the excellent and modern on-site campus facilities for a multitude of sport and music options. Above all, ‘campers’ will enjoy a summer holiday building cultural bridges and opportunities and making friends for life with teenagers from around the world, including China. [Special discount through EwC, see below].
The camp schedule has so much on offer to delight and inspire. From discovering Chinese tea culture, to learning mandarin, enjoying multiple sporting activities and visits to high tech zones, pupils will encounter many aspects of China’s modernisation, traditions and culture.
BOOK TODAY via the contact details in the brochure and remember to quote the code HJ2024 to secure your special discounted price through Engage with China. Do tell your friends about this opportunity and why not invite them to come along, too! Do let us know who is going so we can follow their excitement!
Price: £2,275 excl. air fares, visa and airport transfers in the UK
In 2023 we founded the Engage with China Scholarship Programme in partnership with Wycombe Abbey School, Changzhou. This is where the summer camps will take place, beside a lake and in this bustling ‘clean energy’ zone in Jiangsu Province. Situated within one hour of the metropolis of Shanghai by high speed rail, the school is within easy reach of other famous and historical cities including Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing. Our scholars have settled in really well to their new life and are embracing all that the school has to offer them. You can read more about their life-changing story Golden Ticket opportunity here.
“The school made my transition seamless. The exceptional teachers, engaging classes, and vibrant community welcomed me with open arms. Learning isn’t just about books; it’s a dynamic experience where active learning is happening. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to embrace a new world.“
Michael S, EwC Scholar, 2023-2025
Engage with China aims to build China literacy in UK schools. This summer camp enables young people to travel to China and discover it for themselves through an action-packed itinerary where they will make lifelong memories and friendship groups. Engage with China creates platforms to build cultural bridges; we encourage you to cross this one and open doors to a more global future.
Six British pupils, aged just 16, discovered the good news on 03 August that they are to become the first Engage with China Scholars to embark on a fully-funded A-level programme in September, thanks to a new collaboration with Wycombe Abbey School in Changzhou (WASC), China. An additional four scholars are being given a part-funded scholarship.
The idea of the Engage with China Scholars programme was conceived as recently as 27 June. H-J Colston-Inge, Director of EwC, said,
In the wake of a successful charity fundraising dinner we were approached by William Vanbergen, Founder of BE Education and a partner in Wycombe Abbey International Schools in China. We recognised that our organisations shared a vision to build a vital bridge between China and the UK through education and we wanted to give some British teenagers the chance not only to discover China for themselves but also to equip them to become cross-cultural leaders of the future. We are so delighted with the response to the scholarship offer and the number of high calibre applications that we received. The scholarship was originally for only six students, but thanks to the generosity of WASC the pilot cohort will include ten ambitious, intellectually curious, globally-minded young people. This will certainly change their lives and job prospects, giving them a huge springboard for their futures
H-J Colston-Inge made contact with the Scholars yesterday to let them know the good news by phone. On hearing that she was one of the lucky ones, Calista Ajibola from Mayfield Grammar School in Kent, said,
“Everyone’s thinking I’m crazy – I’ve got a huge smile on my face! My school will be just so blown away… they won’t believe it!”
Calista Ajibola, from Mayfield Grammar School, Kent
One question that all students were asked during the interview was what they thought was the biggest challenge facing the world in 2023 and how they might play a role in solving it. “Many responded that bias and poor communication was the key to many problems,” said H-J. “We were pleased to hear that all potential scholars felt that they would have a role after their A-level scholarship to share their learnings and to encourage young people to discover more about China and perhaps to apply for the scholarship programme in the future.”
William van Bergen of WASC said that,
The collaboration between Wycombe Abbey School and Engage with China will provide numerous benefits for students and the wider community including cultural exchange resulting in enhanced tolerance and appreciation; educational excellence; language acquisition through immersion in a bilingual learning environment; networking opportunities that may prove beneficial in their future careers and building business and trade prospects. In addition, we prize global citizenship by fostering a sense of responsibility towards addressing global challenges. This programme will contribute to the development of future leaders who can make a positive impact on a global scale.
The scholars have been selected from a variety of schools from all over the country. Two of the scholars have never studied mandarin whilst others have completed their GCSE in mandarin through a government-funded Mandarin for Excellence Programme offered at their schools. On hearing the news, Katharine Carruthers, the Mandarin Excellence Programme Strategic Director, said,
I am delighted that these Mandarin Excellence Programme students have successfully applied to study A-levels at Wycombe Abbey School in Changzhou. The students have studied for 5 years in an MEP school, learning Mandarin for 8 hours per week, so this will have given them an excellent foundation to take full advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I am really looking forward to hearing about their progress over the next two years as they continue on their journey to fluency in Mandarin.
There will undoubtedly be culture shock for all of the students on a number of levels as they take up residence in the city of Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. The city has a population of 5 million people and none of the EwC Scholars have attended boarding school before.
Another Scholar, Kat Pike from St George’s School comprehensive school in Harpenden, has never studied Chinese.
No one has had an opportunity like this before from my school and my headteacher was really surprised when we asked for a reference. This is quite a shock! It will life-changing for me!”
Kat’s mother, Maggie, added, “I am so proud of Kat. We are still recovering from the wonderful shock of yesterday’s news!”
Kat Pike – Golden Ticket EwC Scholar- with her Mum, Maggie
Stephen Phillips OBE who until recently was Director General of Invest HK (Hong Kong) and was also former CEO of the China-Britain Business Council is very supportive of the Scholarship programme. “If I had my time again, I would be on that aeroplane tomorrow. This is a fantastic opportunity and a way for the next generation to understand China in an immersive way. They will undoubtedly learn some vital cross-cultural skills that can used in their working life in the future.”
The next four weeks will be busy for the students and their families as they prepare for the start of term on 01 September. EwC will deliver a pre-departure cultural workshop to help the scholars to prepare for their life in China. It will also be an opportunity for the pupils to get to know each other before they meet at the airport ready to fly to a new life in China.
We look forward to following their journey over the next two years.
**Save the date**We are proud to announce our upcoming academic conference for school leaders in partnership with the King’s School Worcester on 08 November 2023. Equipping our young people to be more China-literate is vital to ensure that they flourish in the China century. Featuring keynote speakers from academia to business, government and oceanic adventurers, this whole day conference will bring together a rich offering of China knowledge, perspectives and cultural insights to support educators to appreciate how easy it is to bring China-related teaching into the classroom from maths and economics to history, geography and PHSE.
Who should attend? Primary, secondary & grammar school leaders from both the private and independent sectors.
Cost: £150 per delegate to include all-day conference, morning coffee, networking lunch and afternoon tea prior to departure.
Contact us re sponsorship, media or to get involved via the details below:
An opportunity for six pupils aged 16 in the UK who have just completed their A-levels is available thanks to a partnership with educational charity, Engage with China and Wycombe Abbey International Schools (WAS). Successful applicants will enjoy two years of fully-funded private boarding school education near Shanghai in the city of Changzhou which has a population of over five million people. The school was established by WAS and BE Education and boasts that it has one of the finest music departments in China, the only boat-club and sporting facilities housed inside an air-conditioned dome.
This is an unbelievable opportunity for six young people who have little or no knowledge about China, who are intellectually curious, willing to gain competitive edge, interested in the world and who can see that China is a significant player on the world-stage. It would also be of life-changing significance, as with the golden ticket in the famous book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, for anyone who cannot afford a private education.
H-J Colston-Inge, Director of Engage with China
H-J added that, “our biggest challenge will be to find the lucky winners as many GCSE pupils have already left their state schools after exams and private schools will finish term this week. There is also a huge capacity pressure on teachers with recruitment, strike action and budgets as well as the need to sustain pupil retention figures. That said, we sincerely hope that schools who hear about this opportunity will be visionary on behalf of the pupils that they serve. We have had enquiries from two students already and that is really exciting!”
Since Engage with China was founded in 2018 it has reached 3,000 pupils across the key educational stages building global citizenship and competitive edge through its curriculum enrichment workshops which focus on China.
At a recent fundraising event for the charity in London, sponsored by food production firm, Cranswick Plc, global property company, Savills, and Wedlake Bell, an international law firm, the Chinese Ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, spoke about what he would want every young person in the UK to know about China.
“China has a long history and a rich culture. It is also very complicated and has many challenges. I would encourage young people in the UK to understand more about China and they might find that they even come to like it.”
The Mandarin for Excellence Programme which delivers mandarin in around 70 schools in the UK up to GCSE level is funded in part by the Chinese and British governments.
‘The opportunity for our students to continue their sixth form studies at an international school in China will be a truly transformational experience. I am delighted that it has sparked interest among our most aspirational students, who have been studying Mandarin since they started at St Birinus five years ago. Exciting times lie ahead and I cannot wait to see where this exciting journey takes them!’
Phil Mahoney, Head of Mandarin, St Birinus
Katharine Carruthers, who is Strategic Director for UCL’s delivery of the Department for Education programme was eager to share the information around the school network saying, “this is great – but tight timing.”
Whilst the China-UK geo-political relationship is suffering from a prolonged cold snap, voices like those at Engage with China are echoed by Martha Lane Fox, Founder of lastminute.com and CEO of the British Chambers of Commerce. Ms Fox asserted recently in The Times that lives can be enriched and opportunities are ready for the taking for those who are prepared to go beyond the political rhetoric.
Oliver Letwin, former MP for West Dorset until 2019 said, “What Engage with China is doing to build China literacy is splendid and worthy. It is vital to resist the trend towards unthinkingly fostered enmity and a 3rd world war. Part of the problem is that neither side knows anything much about the other. We need many more Brits that understand China. We need to let all these flowers bloom and unless we keep talking, things go from bad to worse.”
Yue Shi, Vice President of BE Education said that, “our vision is to prepare our students for being globalised citizens. They need to understand their own identity but they also need to know about the world.” It is hoped that this can be achieved through this scholarship programme, enabling six cross-culturally astute leaders of the future to emerge with relevant China-skills and who are equipped and excited to face a world where China is the dominant player.
How to apply: Any 16-year old British citizen with an academically high track record and who has just completed GCSEs can apply enclosing a CV, covering letter and an letter of endorsement from their head teacher. Closing date for applications is 15 July 2023.
Engage Wih China 