The Clifford International School (CIS) is an international school located in Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

, People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. The school follows the Canadian curriculum, which more precisely, the study programs of the province of Manitoba. The medium of instruction of CIS is English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, however, students wishing to study an alternative foreign language can have the options of Mandarin Chinese and French. The student body consists of about 305 students from over 22 countries, furthermore, the teaching staff at CIS consists of 25 Canadian certified tutors and 8 Chinese tutors.

History

The Clifford School was first established in 1996; while, the addition of the Clifford International School was later established in 2002 . The Clifford School started as a full Chinese local private school with Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction; however, western staff were also present as well to teach English language classes. In 2002, an international program was established to provide full English as the language medium for courses, which was intended to address the enrollment of expatriate families and foreign students living in Guangzhou, China. The international program gradually split further away from the rest of the Clifford School. Now, the Clifford International School has its own principals, governing body and student council, which are completely independent from the rest of the Clifford School.

Academic Accreditation

CIS was first accredited by the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA)

Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation

The Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation was an international educational accreditation agency.CITA was formed in 1994 by regional accrediting organizations in the United States following a long history of collaboration under other auspices...

in 2001 and again in 2006. The school is also registered with the Chinese government as a School for Foreign Students. In addition, the Clifford School is also accredited by the Chinese Educational Authority and received accreditation from the United States authorities with NCA. This accreditation acknowledges that the Clifford School meets the common measure of an appropriate learning environment with proven academic standards. Furthermore, students graduating from the school receive a Manitoba High School Diploma.

High School

CIS provides many different subjects in preparation for university admission including English, chemistry, physics, biology, arithmetic, history, world issues, french or mandarin, physical education and electives. There are 190 teaching days in an academic year, 320 teaching minutes a day, and a full credit class receives 120 hours of instruction. All of the students are required to write two external examinations from Manitoba; mathematics, which will be pre-calculus or applied mathematics and English.

Facilities

• Classrooms
• Library
• Computer labs
• Science labs
• Art room
• Music room
• Gymnasium
• Playing Field
• Basketball Courts
• Volleyball Courts
• Soccer Field
• Track
• Swimming Pool
• Canteen

Student Life

A number of different sport and after school clubs are available for students grade 7 - 12. Students also participate in inter-house competitions in sports such as basketball, soccer, volleyball and badminton; as well as compete with other international schools within the region. Further, students can also join the art club, math club, reading club, performing arts club, chess club, squash club, swimming club and science club. There are also two committees for students to participate in; the yearbook committee and the graduation committee. The student council is the student governing body of CIS which was formed in 2006, where every grade is represented by two students.