Student Life
Strong Bodies and Minds
Extracurricular and Enrichment programs are an integral part of the student life experience at QSI Chengdu. All activities take place on campus and make use of the school’s state of the art facilities including our athletic field and track; mini soccer pitch; outdoor basketball court; gymnasiums; fitness room; multi-purpose room; design studio; as well as robotics and Maker Space classrooms.
Overview
Athletics
QSI Physical Education is a course that is comprised of 3 different sections:
Lifetime Sports units will focus on activities that are generally considered to be individual and/or recreational. The student will participate in various individual and team sports that promote sportsmanship, cooperation, and overall knowledge and appreciation of sport and fitness as a component of a healthy lifestyle. Throughout QSI’s physical education curriculum, the main focus continues to be physical activity and health for life.
Team Sports units will focus on how to play a variety of team sports and activities. The student will participate in various team sports that promote sportsmanship, cooperation, and overall knowledge and appreciation of sport. Furthermore, the student will demonstrate social skills related to team-based sports by participating as a team player. Throughout QSI’s physical education curriculum, the main focus continues to be physical activity and health for life.
In-Depth Sports units will focus on assisting students with advanced skills and knowledge of a sport. Some units enhance their skill, strategy, and referring knowledge in selected sports from the Team Sports and Lifetime Sports units. Many units specify a school tournament or event that the student helps manage. A select few of the units are intended to support individuals in obtaining certifications or basic instruction that is beyond the scope of PE. The aim of the course is to develop a higher level of appreciation for participation, reiterating teamwork and sportsmanship.
The Pre-School PE program is where we focus on the key fundamental movements skills that are imperative for a child’s growth and development. These include locomotor and non-locomotor skills such as rolling, balancing, running, leaping, jumping and hopping, as well as object control skills which include bouncing, throwing, catching, kicking and striking. The huge range of equipment used, and the activities played, ensures a lot of fun and excitement for the students, as well as providing them with opportunities they may not have had before.
The Elementary PE program is where we begin to develop and refine these fundamental movement skills further. We start to incorporate them into more skill and team based games where the aim is for the students to use these skills in a more sport orientated environment. We begin to focus more on specific game types such as net and wall, striking and fielding and invasion games which are used in tandem with the essential units. We ensure to encourage student input and imagination as they are also given the opportunity to create and develop their own games/activities. The students have a lot of fun doing this and thoroughly enjoy presenting them to their class.
Fine Arts
Art
The Secondary Art course is designed for the secondary student preparing to take IB or AP Art along with the student choosing art as an elective in the secondary years. The course is presented to promote visual arts literacy to the student as well as artistic process. Students are engaged in creating art, while analyzing and interpreting art and art history. This course is modeled on the National Core Arts Standards for the Visual Arts. These standards are based on the artistic process of creating, presenting, responding and connecting with artistic ideas and works of art.
In our Visual Arts class we strive to enrich the students with art fundamentals and technical skills to expand their ‘tool kit’ of art techniques and understanding. Starting with fundamentals of art we explore: Line, Shape, Color, Value, Texture, Form, and Space and how they can be used to begin our students foundations.
As we move up in the grades, we strive to increase both the quality and quantities of the students' work while further deepening their understanding and application of art history, symbolism, and cultural context in art.
We explore the basic media tools: pencil, brush, clay, along with unusual ones such as q-tips, string, and bubble wrap to expand the students' view of what can be used to channel their imaginations. All the while instilling safe practices while still having fun within the arts.
Elementary Art is designed to teach visual literacy as well as artistic process to students. It is modeled on the National Core Arts Standards for Visual Arts. These standards are based on the artistic processes of creating, presenting, responding, and connecting with artistic ideas and works of art.
The traditions of QSI teaching and its philosophy of mastery learning are applied to the instruction of this course. This course supports and aligns to the success orientations, competencies and knowledge noted in the QSI Creative and Applied Arts Program Outcomes. Educators are encouraged to present works, methods, and concepts that hold relevance for their students as often as possible. This includes but is not limited to cross-curricular ties or allowances for student choice and idea-generation.
Drama/Elementary Music
QSI Dramatic Arts gives students the opportunity to develop acting skills and to explore technical aspects of the theater. Throughout the course, students combine body, voice, and mind to work on dramatic pieces large and small. They reflect on their performances and work to gather feedback for improvement. Process and product are key aspects of this course. Individual in-class participation, positive group interaction and cooperation are keys to being successful in Dramatic Arts. To develop as an actor, the student will be encouraged to take risks and be open to what is expected in the pieces in which they are asked to perform. Dramatic Arts enables students to experience the larger picture of a full theater production, including participating in class and/or school performances by working either onstage or backstage, with preproduction, production and postproduction.
QSI Elementary Music provides the student with the opportunity to sing a variety of songs, listen to music in creative ways by dramatizing, imitating and improvising, as well as participating in other ear-training and reading activities. Hearing music, learning to read and write music, and listening for specific qualities or characteristics of music, along with matching pitches, and moving rhythmically and creatively to music constitute the essence of this program. Skills will be developed in the areas of singing, playing, moving, listening, creating, reading and writing. Concepts, which form the intellectual framework of the music program, are divided into five elements: rhythm, melody, harmony, form and expression (dynamics, tempo, and tone color).
Secondary Music
QSI Secondary Music gives students the opportunity to improve their musical skills as well as give them valuable experience in participating in live performances. Positive group interaction and communication skills are vital to the music course as students develop their instrumental abilities through ensemble practice. The students engage in reflection and critical thinking through keeping practice logs and post-performance feedback. In order to help students deepen their understanding of music and their instruments, they are also taught music theory and apply what they’ve learned to aid their exploration and appreciation of different musical styles throughout history and the modern age. Finally, students use their knowledge of theory and different musical styles to aid them in creative endeavors such as improvisation and composition.
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society (NHS) elevates a school’s commitment to the values of scholarship, service, leadership, and character. These four pillars have been associated with membership in the organization since its inception in 1921. Learn more about these four pillars of membership here.
Today, it is estimated that more than one million students participate in NHS activities. NHS chapters are found in all 50 states, US Territories, Canada, and around the world. Chapter membership not only recognizes students for their accomplishments, but challenges them to develop further through active involvement in school activities and community service.
As such, NHS chapters and students are in schools that care not only about student achievement, but also community engagement.
NHS students and their peers volunteer in their communities at the highest rates and make connecting with and serving within the community a priority.
After School Activities (ASA)
We offer a variety of After School Activities (ASA's) each year. This year our ASA's include:
- Photography
- Soccer
- AP Prep
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Gaming
- Music
- Roots and Shoots
- Creative Writing
- English Tutoring
- Basketball
- Martial Arts
- Korean
- Mahjong
- Rock Band
- Drama
- Chess
Week Without Walls
Week Without Walls is an adventure based, experiential education program offered to Middle School and Secondary School students at QSI Chengdu.
During each Week Without Walls course, students explore the world outside of our campus walls while participating in a wide range of activities including: Diving, Cycling, Cultural Exchanges, Extreme Sports, Farming, Horseback Riding, Rafting, Rock Climbing, Sailing, Service Learning, Surfing, Touring and Trekking.
All activities are age appropriate and focus on leadership development and team building while allowing students to put into practice the QSI Success Orientations skills.
Courses are led by school staff supported by trained instructors and guides.
Model United Nations (MUN)
Model United Nations
Model UN is a popular activity for those interested in learning more about how the UN operates. Hundreds of thousands of students worldwide take part every year at all educational levels. Many of today’s leaders in law, government, business and the arts – including at the UN itself – participated in Model UN as student.
The United Nations Model UN Programme aims to build and maintain strong links between the UN and Model UN participants across the globe. It does that through guides and workshops, which teach students how to make their simulations more accurate; by visiting Model UN conferences and sharing firsthand knowledge of what the actual UN is like; and through encouraging Model UN clubs to take real action to support UN values and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Summer School
