Founders’ Day 2023: Making a Difference as a Community

Founder's Day 2023 was a tremendous success! It was heartwarming to see so many of our community members out in force to celebrate together, make the most of the amazing weather, and Make a Difference by supporting a wide range of service initiatives. Let’s take a look back at Founder’s Day 2023 and the huge success that it was;

Founder’s Day, at its core, celebrates the Founding of Dulwich College in London in 1619, but each event has its own unique twist and local flavour. The theme of this year’s Founder’s Day at Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi was ‘Alice in Wonderland’, and the community did not disappoint. 'Best Dressed' award was hard to judge, seeing so many people dressed up as their favourite Alice in Wonderland characters. From Alice herself to the Mad Hatter, Kings and Queens of Hearts, the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, or just a classy guest at the Tea Party, everyone came in style.

A key element of Founder’s Day is celebrating and recognising student talent, and as always, the Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi students excelled in that regard. They were joined by exceptionally talented parents and staff, who took the stage by storm and wowed the audience.

Our orchestras, string group, flute ensemble, wind band, dance groups, choirs and ‘Big Sings’ groups took their performances to the next level.

This year we were delighted to see a return of our Founder’s Day Talent Show. With over 35 auditions it was hard to whittle the performances down to our finalists. Those who did take to the stage though, left the audience enraptured.

Special congratulations to Mr Molete who took home 1st place with his Mother’s Day special, Rita in Year 2 for who took home 2nd place with her violin solo, and Stevie Wu and the Crew from Years 10 and 11 who took home 3rd place with their hilarious dance medley.

Of course, another key element of Founder’s Day for Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi relates to our College value; Make a Difference Together. The funds raised through this year’s Founder’s Day will support a range of service initiatives, including Educating Girls of Rural China, with whom we recently announced an Ambassador School partnership.

In addition, our students and staff ran a range of booths including games, activities, sales and service initiatives; taking the lead on Making a Difference Together as a community. From Hearts and Hands to Elevated Honey, Eleventh Hour Rescues and more, our students demonstrated their leadership and their passion for making a positive difference in the world.

We are proud to announce that this year our community raised almost 45,000RMB for these initiatives.

Founder’s Day is also about coming Together as a community. As we shake off the cobwebs of COVID-19, this was yet another opportunity for us to join on campus and celebrate what it means to be part of the Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi community. Whether it was students enjoying sports, rides, games and activities, or parents, students and staff catching up, dancing, and supporting our performers – Founder’s Day 2023 was truly one for the record books.

A huge thanks to everyone who contributed to making Founder’s Day a success. We look forward to doing in all again next year. In the meantime, keep Aiming High Together, Working Hard Together, Being Kind and Respectful Together, and Making a Difference Together.