Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi Excels at English Speaking Board

The results are in! Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi students have once again performed extremely well at the English Speaking Board (ESB) examinations, raising the bar on our already impressive results from previous years.

100% Good Pass or Above
99% Merit or Above
79% Merit + or Above
37% Distinction (the highest ESB accolade)

At Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi, we see oracy as one of the key performance indicators to ongoing academic success. Our students are public speakers! They are provided with numerous opportunities throughout the year to both practice and perform; building the communication skills that allow them to be confident orators.

What is the English Speaking Board?

English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. offers high quality Speech and Language qualifications in the UK and internationally. The ESB examinations are an accredited qualification that demonstrates a student’s ability to speaking, listen, respond to questions and develop persuasive arguments. Students are required to research a topic of their own interest and prepare a structured presentation that is assessed by an external examiner and moderator.

During this year’s Festival of Words, Ms. Walker wrote an article highlighting the importance of oracy in boosting children’s literacy;

Now the official results from the English Speaking Board are in, and we are so proud of the achievements of our students.

With 100% of our students passing the examination and 99% receiving Merit or above, we can clearly see the results of our hard work with our students being recognised. All of our students, regardless of background or language ability when they joined the College, are now able to confidently engage in English, discussing higher level concepts in-depth. For 79% to have received Merit + or above, and over one third (37%) receiving a Distinction (up from 25% last year), our students are truly going from strength-to-strength with their oracy, and we are excited to see how this will continue to yield benefits for their confidence, academic outcomes, wellbeing and outcomes beyond school life.

Ms. Walker summarises the feedback we received from the English Speaking Board:

“Our pupils were praised for their ability to listen well and build upon one another's presentations (many of the students were able to reference a previous person's presentation when presenting themselves) and their enthusiasm during their solo talks. Many pupils answered questions well, expanding on answers where necessary and the assessors said it was amazing to see such a range of interests, talents and hobbies during their presentations”.

We are proud of the achievements of our students, and grateful for the efforts of our teachers in implementing an oracy programme, curriculum and range of opportunities that help build our student’s confidence and oracy skills, and prepares them for life.

Read more about our approach to literacy in the following article,