The Chief Academic Officer, Academic Director, and Principals all have a rich experience in managing bilingual schools and international schools. The international teachers come from various English-speaking countries (including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia) and are professionally qualified. The Chinese teaching team are all well-experienced teachers from international schools or public schools and are led by academically outstanding teachers. Every member of our teaching team embraces education with full passion and commitment to academic excellence. Teachers will get to know each child as an individual and will offer a personalised education for each child. We offer a unique curriculum integrated with character education.
Zhencun Li was the Founder of Chinese Integrated Curriculum in the Primary Sector and member of Steering Committee for Basic Education Curriculum Material with the Ministry of Education. He was the former Founding Principal of Yizhuang (Etown) Branch of Beijing National Day School. He is the Chief Editor of Contemporary Education & Dean of Contemporary Education Institute.
Mr. Warren Johnston formerly served as the Executive President of Shanghai YK Pao School, and as the Elementary Principal of The German Swiss International School Hong Kong (GSIS). His unique personality, extraordinary leadership, and his insight of both international and Chinese culture have underpinned his high reputation among the International Education Industry of China.
Robert Holroyd is a graduate of Oxford University and an internationalist with over 25 years' management experience in schools in the UK and abroad. Prior to joining HD schools, Robert was Headmaster of Repton School, UK, and during his thirteen-year tenure of this post, he was privileged to internationalize the Repton brand in multiple locations across the world including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jordan and India.
Wanny Hersey is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and is a pioneer in educational innovation and reform, with over 35 years' experience in public education, covering elementary,
middle, and high schools in the USA and Canada. Prior to joining EliteK12, Wanny was the Founder and Superintendent for 15 years at Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Under Wanny's leadership, BCS has been recognized not only for its consistent top 1% academic ranking but also as a state Gold Ribbon and national Blue Ribbon School for its STEAM, Project-Based Learning, and Design Thinking curricula.
Victoria is from the United States, with a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a master's degree in education and sociology. She has IB administrator training certificate, and specializes in ESL teaching. She formerly served as the High School Principal at American International School Vietnam. During over 15 years in education, she has worked as instructional coach and Assistant Principal in New York City, and led education programs for private English education companies and schools in China. Victoria is passionate about finding innovative ways to make knowledge engaging and accessible for all students and is committed to creating, contributing and leading dynamic and collaborative communities of learning.
Ms.Feng graduated from East China Normal University majoring in preschool education, served in Xiehe Education Group and has over 15 years working experience in international kindergarten. She used to be the curriculum director and the Chinese director. She co-founded the first nursery project in Yangpu District.
As an Integrated Chinese Curriculum Specialist and Senior secondary teacher, Ms. Yu is dedicated to exploring the potential of every student over her last 28 years of teaching. Ms. Yu has bachelor’s degrees from both East China Normal majoring in Chinese Literature and Hangzhou Normal University majoring in Educational Management. Her further master's study was with the University of Canberra majoring in Educational Leadership. She has over 10 years of management experience in public and bilingual schools, as well as enriched experience in teaching and designing the cross disciplinary curriculum. She has previously been given the Exemplary Teacher of The Province and the Rising Star of Teachers awards. Over 20 years of teaching in Chinese subject and researching of PBL, her achievements in teaching and researching were published and awarded multiple times by the local government. She has participated in educational research projects with the Shanghai Academy of Educational Science. Ms. Yu travelled to Finland and Singapore; by learning about primary and secondary education abroad, she has gained a very broad educational philosophy and international perspective.
Principal Cheng has been deeply engaged in Chinese teaching for more than 30 years. She is a well-known teacher of special-grade and a core expert of the whole courses. She is excellent in both performing skills and moral integrity, who has deep attainments in many fields such as children's picture book reading and teachers' professional guidance. Therefore, she has also won the respect from teachers, students and parents. During the past five-year as National Deputy Principal in HD Ningbo, she developed a large number of excellent teachers’ team, with high satisfaction with Chinese courses. In recent years, Principal Cheng has visited HD Shanghai several times to conduct Chinese teaching, and has been invited to participate in teachers’ promotion and research of cross-campus collaborative teaching, etc.
Ms. Michelle Chan is from Singapore. She holds a master’s degree in English Language Education from Nanyang Technological University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Management from Singapore Institute of Management. She has more than 40 years of experience in the Ministry of Education serving as a teacher, Head of Department and Deputy Principal and was awarded the Commendation Medal and Valedictory Letter from the President of Singapore. Ms. Michelle Chan is passionate in the teaching of English language and takes a great interest in the training and development of teachers. She has led teams of teachers to international conferences in the US and Norway and served as a member of the Singapore English Curriculum Review Board. She also served as marking supervisor for the English paper in the National Primary School Leaving Examination.
Mr. Justin Toy is from Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. Previously, he has worked at Shanghai HD School for three years as a teacher in upper primary and as the Upper Primary Phase Leader. He has been teaching for over a decade and is a certified ESL teacher in the state of Massachusetts. Justin graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with dual focuses in International Economics and Marketing. He received his Massachusetts teaching license through the Boston Fellowship Program. Justin is a passionate educator and parent who enjoys integrating technology and analytics into the classroom.
Ms. Wu is a graduate of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government with a master's degree in Public Policy and has 13 years of teaching and management experience at top-tier schools in China, the United States, Switzerland, Finland, and other countries, with a focus on the development of international education. Ms. Wu is passionate and experienced in school administration, English curriculum development, and teacher professional development.
Ms. Chen Jian has a master’s degree in East China Normal University, major in Education. She has been deeply engaged in Shanghai education system in Putuo district for more than 16 years, served as teaching principal, Putuo district academic leader and government superintendent. From the year of 2016, Ms. Chen Jian joined the top bilingual school in Shanghai, including YK Pao school, Shanghai Ulink bilingual school, Shanghai Jinrui School, etc., serviced as Principal management job. She has rich experience in school management, curriculum development, school-based teaching and researching, teacher training, student growth, home-school cooperation, etc.
Ms. Alitty Hu joined HD Shanghai School in August 2018. She has a master’s degree in Chinese education from Northeast Normal University, 15 years of teaching in public and bilingual middle schools, 10 years of management experience. She has won the titles of "National Excellent Teacher" and "Provincial Famous Teacher", presided over a number of national, provincial, and municipal educational projects, won the special prize or the first prize for her research results. Meanwhile, Ms. Alitty Hu is committed to developing educational innovation and has a certain understanding of the curriculum system of Chinese national curriculum, IBDP, IBMYP, A-Level, and IGCSE. She hopes to construct the curriculum system and educational support system that suits HD students best and let HD education really reach the realm that we called “the great sound seems soundless, the great image seems formless", to lay the foundation for the lifelong development of our students.
Mr. Sunny Gao joined HD Shanghai School in August 2018. He has nearly 15 years of teaching experience in domestic middle schools and education Training institutions. He has a Master of Science Degree in Microbiology and Molecular Biology from Shanghai Normal University. Mr. Sunny Gao hopes to explore more "student-centered" classroom teaching and learning models in science education, find more teaching experience suitable for Chinese children in international education, truly achieve the integration and innovation of domestic and international educational ideas, and contribute his part to the educational cause of cultivating globalized Chinese people.
Daniel(Dan) Stevenson is from London in the United Kingdom. He was the Head of English and Assistant Principal at HD Ningbo School where he had responsibility for the pastoral well-being of students in the senior school, the teaching of English across the middle and senior schools, school enrichment, and the delivery of the school’s online-merged-offline (OMO) provision. Dan is a First-Class Honours Graduate with an MA in English Studies from Queen Mary, University of London. While working at a supplementary school, Dan discovered his love of teaching and completed a PGCE in English, Media and Drama at Goldsmiths College, London. More recently, to enhance his knowledge and skills in school leadership, Dan completed an MSc in Educational Leadership and Management; his dissertation explored the impact or appraisal systems in bilingual school settings. Dan also holds the U.K.’s National Professional Certificate in School Senior Leadership (NPQSL). He has over 12 years of teaching experience and has taught IGCSE and A Level English Language and Literature as well as IGCSE Film and Media Studies.
Mr. Chou has nearly 20 years of teaching, university counseling and school management experience in various international schools. Before Mr. Chou joined HDSH, he was a leading math teacher of a well-known international high school in Shanghai. Mr. Chou has helped hundreds of students in their university applications to many world top universities including Univeristy of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and top 30 universities in USA. Some of his students were graduated with PhD in Aerospace Engineering at MIT, or PhD in Physics at the University of Cambridge. Mr. Chou himself has a master's degree in financial mathematics and dual bachelor's degree with honors in electronic engineer and mathematics from the University of British Columbia (UBC). He had been teaching at math department of UBC for nearly ten years after graduation.
Ms. Yan has graduated from the University of Cambridge. She is a member of Cambridge Association of Overseas Scholars, and the program leader for Cambridge Professional Development Qualification (PDQ). She has over 15-year experience of leading multiple international programs in several large education groups, served as the academic director for KAPLAN China which is one of the world’s largest education groups, supervising the academic operation of 11 international schools of KAPLAN China. She’s convinced that good education should grow in children the curiosity to explore the world, the competency to take action and the determination to pursue the truth, and educators should be the guide for both the intellect and the soul.
