At our school we have a little rhyme that we say to remember three big ideas that make a school a great place to be. The saying is simply:

Care, Share, Dare.

So what does this mean to us?

To Care – In a school we need to care first for ourselves, our well-being and our learning. It is important, as well, to care for one another, and we need to also care for our school and the world around us. We do this by ‘Caring for YOE!’, an acronym for Yourself, Others, and the Environment. When we create a culture of caring, the school, and specifically our classrooms, become ideal places for learning.

To Share – It isn’t enough just to care, we also need to be engaged in our learning, contributing what we can. We can share our ideas, our resources and our cultures. Schools are social environments and everyone gains when all members of our community are caring and also willing to share.

To Dare – To dare in school is to take chances with our learning, and learn from our mistakes. If we don’t make mistakes in school then we aren’t working hard enough. Learning involves risk-taking, we need to be prepared to be the only one willing to answer a question, even if we aren’t sure it’s the right answer. We need to explore topics and ideas we know very little about, and we need to challenge ourselves to try things we have not done before.

The intent of our little saying, ‘Care, Share, Dare’ is to encourage all of our students to value some common beliefs about how we should treat each other in school, and how we should be fearless learners, that contribute to our school and to our classes, always striving to do our best. We do this while respecting many of the different beliefs and cultures at our school and celebrating all the benefits of being at an international school. We also do all this by starting first and foremost with a culture of caring, where we strive to make the school an inviting environment for parents, staff and students alike.

Care, Share, Dare.

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Published in the ‘Focus on Dalian’
April/May Edition 2010, page 51