Founder’s Day 2021 — 5 Years of Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi

On Saturday, 15 May 2021, Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi celebrated its 5th Anniversary Founder’s Day; a wonderful opportunity for the community to get together and celebrate 5 years of growth, major milestones and an ongoing commitment to our College values of working hard, aiming high, being kind and respectful, and making a positive difference for the future.

A rare clear day amongst a long streak of thunderstorms and rain, the weather truly turned it on for us. Although it was hot and humid, the spirit of the day was electric, with an enthusiastic crowd turning out to enjoy each other’s company and support the range of performances, games and activities put together by students, staff and parents.

The day started with the community visiting a wide range of student led booths selling sustainable gifts and fun activities all aimed to raise funds for charity. All funds raised on the day went to support the Veal Reyoung School, a school in rural Cambodia that Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi has pledged to fully fund through our partnership with United World Schools. In total, 35,000RMB was raised throughout the afternoon;  a testament to the generosity of our community and our commitment to making a difference.

In all, more than 22 booths were put together by students, staff and parents. Some of the highlights included;

  • The Eco-Entrepreneurs — A group of Senior School students who have worked throughout the year to create a business model raising funds for charity by designing, making and marketing a range of sustainable products including Eco-Soaps, Eco-Candles and rescue animal care packages. The Eco-Entrepreneurs raised over 4,000RMB at Founder’s Day.
  • The Screen-Printing Collective — A group of students who have spent the last few months on weekends and evenings learning the skills of screen printing, then designing a series of commemorative posters to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the founding of Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi. Their limited edition prints and gift card sets were a hit!
  • Year 3 Origami Booth — Year 3 Merlin class put together a wonderful booth helping guests learn to make complex origami creatings. However, Ocean in Year 3 went above and beyond, creating an origami dragon to be auctioned for charity. At the end of the day, it auctioned off for 1,200RMB. Well done Ocean!!
  • The Friends of Dulwich — FoD were on hand to give away commemorative items, as well as sell some merch including sustainable silicon cups and umbrellas; needed more for the shade than the rain.

The key theme of the student led booths was sustainability. It is all too easy to put together activities that simply contribute more waste and plastic to landfill. As a community we firmly believe that we can still have fun and fundraise for charity, while minimizing our impact on the environment.

Whilst parents and students enjoyed activities such as horse-riding, bungies, bouncing castles and carousels, they also visited food booths from around the world, tasting a variety of dishes to express the diversity of our community.

With appetites sated, we settled in for an afternoon of fantastic performances, starting with the inaugural performance by our newest team the Flying Mustangs gymnastic squad. (Introducing our gymnastics team “The Flying Mustangs”)

Throughout the afternoon the audience enjoyed a DUCKS and Primary talent show, orchestras, choirs, wind band, solo and group performances.

The Thunder Drums, our Chinese drumming group, once again rocked the crowd with two powerful performances.

Our very own Friends of Dulwich Ladies Choir stunned the audience with a beautiful rendition of ‘We Can Make a Difference!’, a fitting song to complement our College values, and the cause supported by the fundraising efforts.

In the spirit of the theme of the day, ‘A Day at the Races’, community members took up the reigns and battled it out on the track in search of some seriously fantastic prizes. Kudos to everyone who got involved!

The day ended in fitting fashion, celebrating our 5th birthday with a cake cutting ceremony attended by Founding families. It was truly a day to remember, and one that demonstrated the positivity and strength of our growing community.

We look forward to seeing what the next 5 years will bring, and beyond!