Ms. Sharron Fogarty Head of Early Years at the British International Education Association (BIEA) attended the opening ceremony of the Duimohn Bilingual Children’s Education School in Shanghai on March the 23rd. There she was pleased to issue a certificate of membership of the BIEA E-League to the Duimohn school.

Ms Fogarty was invited to the opening ceremony by the Duimohn School leader Maggie. Ms Fogarty, as a representative of the BIEA E-League, along with other guests and parents witnessed the beginning of a new chapter of British EYFS education in China with the opening of the school in Shanghai.

As the main support content of BIEA and BIEA Early Years League (E-League), the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the provider of the British early years basic education practice. It supplies the members of the alliance with expert guidance, comprehensive EYFS teacher training, access to British research along with EYFS certification and other forms of early years educational support. As a member of the BIEA E-League, Duimohn Bilingual School will enjoy all the rights and interests of other BIEA British educational institutions whilst gaining the support of E-League British early YEARS educational resources.

As a representative of the BIEA E-League committee, Ms Fogarty gave a speech outlining the educational philosophy and aims of the BIEA E-League to the assembled guests and parents.

Director Fogarty said that EYFS, as one of the best early years education systems in the world, is following the four principles of “respecting a child’s personality, promoting positive relationships and providing and enabling the educational environment to promote the learning and development of children”. Since its implementation in nurseries, schools and nurseries in the UK EYFS has been enthusiastically praised by parents and highly recommended by the international early education community. Ms Fogarty also gave a detailed introduction to the methods of the EYFS in bringing up children in a favourable learning environment and the positive conclusions resulting.

A clearer understanding of the goals of the EYFS and an explanation of its wider aims was greatly appreciated by the audience who gave enthusiastic applause to Ms Fogarty’s speech.

As living standards rise along with higher incomes in China, the demand for good and comprehensive early years education has created a booming market in that area. The unprecedented opportunities for development has provoked interest from many leading international educational groups. As one of the world’s most authoritative standards for early years education, the British EYFS has attracted more and more attention from Chinese parents and early years professionals.

With the opening of a Chinese Bilingual school for children and its preliminary favourable evaluation by the BIEA E-League committee, the British EYFS bilingual system has been successfully introduced. A successful and comprehensive early years bilingual education, to provide a wider international and cultural interest in the young, has now been made available for the children in Shanghai.

Duimohn Bilingual Children’s School will uphold the characteristics of EYFS as practiced in the UK and will provide music and art lessons, sport activities, picture book reading and basic understanding courses according to the EYFS programme. The target group is children up to the age of six. Classes will be held with the parent up to the age of three and from then on independently all carried out in a comprehensive and where possible, bilingual manner.
There is no doubt that the concept of international education has been enthusiastically welcomed and sought by more and more parents.

BIEA believes that under its guidance the Duimohn bilingual children’s school, and with the supervision of the introduction of the EYFS by the committee of the BIEA E-League, that the school will become a shining example of an international nursery amongst the many operating in Shanghai and contribute to the enthusiasm and growth to the internationalisation of China’s early years education programmes.