A Year of Growing Together: Reflections on 2025–2026 at DHSZ
At Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou, we have always believed that education is about more than academic results. It is about who students become along the way: the confidence they build, the interests they discover, the relationships they form, and the character they develop through experience, challenge and reflection.
This has been a year filled with memorable moments, far too many to capture in a single article. As the 2025-2026 academic year draws to a close, we want to look back, not only at what our community has achieved, but at what we have shared. Because at DHSZ, the most meaningful learning rarely happens in isolation.
It happens together.
Beginning with Belonging
In September, R U OK? Day brought the school community together around this simple but powerful question. Meditation sessions, creative workshops, and badminton in the gym reminded students and staff alike that wellbeing is not separate from learning. It is the foundation on which everything else is built.
In November, the school hosted an EARCOS Weekend Workshop led by Matthew Savage, creator of The Mona Lisa Effect. Teachers and pastoral leaders from across the Dulwich network explored the idea of ‘anti-data’: the invisible, lived experiences of students that spreadsheets and grades alone cannot capture. As Assistant Head (Boarding) Simon Johnston reflected, the workshop reminded us that 'rich data is not the spreadsheet. Rich data is the lived world of the child.' That insight shaped how we approached the rest of the year.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
If there is a single thread running through this year, it is that learning at DHSZ extends far beyond timetabled lessons.
Week Without Walls in November took Year 10 students to Lin'an and older students to Qiandao Lake. They kayaked, cycled 14 kilometres along the lakeside, built bamboo pathways for local hikers, and navigated high ropes courses. For many Year 10 students, it was a week of firsts. They returned not just tired, but changed: more aware of themselves and of what they could achieve together.
The Lifeskills programme, featured in our Open Class series, showed how practical learning builds independence and emotional readiness. Year 12 students cooked Kung Pao Chicken in small groups, making collaborative decisions under time pressure. In another session, they explored dental hygiene through practical exercises. These may sound like small things, but as Head of Year 12 Mr Ashton explained, the programme is designed to build the habits, judgement, and self-awareness that allow students to navigate life with confidence and empathy. That matters as much as any exam grade.
Students Leading, Not Just Learning
One of the things we are most proud of this year is the breadth of student leadership across the school.
In March, Year 12 and Year 13 students stepped into the role of science mentors, welcoming Year 2 pupils from Dulwich College Suzhou into our laboratories and leading them through experiments, from slime-making and chromatography to microscopy and the ever-dramatic Elephant's Toothpaste demonstration. They explained, encouraged and inspired. They showed that leadership is not about authority but about guiding others with care and clarity.
That same principle was evident in April, when Year 10 students, often the youngest cohort in the school, visited DUCKS as part of our Earth Day initiative. They designed and led creative activities centred on the global journey of coffee, supporting Year 1 and Year 2 children through every step. The artwork the younger pupils produced was printed onto coffee cups and displayed for sale in the school café. What our Year 10 students took away was something less tangible and just as valuable: a deeper understanding of what it means to teach, to lead, and to contribute to someone else's learning.
Dulwich Talks, now in its second year, gave nine students a platform to deliver three- to five-minute talks on this year's theme, Live Worldwise. The event opened with an interactive exploration of the trolley problem, led by Deputy Head Mr Tony George, before speakers approached the theme through their own lenses: empathy, autonomy, responsibility, and global awareness. In the audience were students, parents and teachers. On stage were students finding their voice.
The Enterprise Fayre in December was the largest in DHSZ history, with over 50 student- and teacher-led stalls. Students designed products, built brands, and managed pricing for charity. Meanwhile, CISSMUN in January brought our students into sustained cross-cultural dialogue and negotiation with peers from different schools and nations.
At every stage, student leadership was not confined to formal roles. It was practised in corridors, on playing fields, in boarding houses, and on stage.
Creativity as a Way of Thinking
The creative life of the school this year has been extraordinary.
In December, DHSZ staged Error 404: self not found, the school's first entirely original musical. Students and teachers co-created the script, composed music using AI tools, designed choreography, crafted costumes, and shaped a story about identity and the courage to claim it. A student-written song made the final show. As Head of Drama Ms Jessica Fannon reflected, her proudest moments came when mistakes happened on stage and students adapted in real time, demonstrating skills that will serve them for life.
In April, RSC Associate Practitioner Joseph Arkley returned to DHSZ for his third residency, leading workshops in performance, direction, and character development. Some students performed. Others stepped into the director's chair for the first time. Teachers also took part in a dedicated session on oracy, exploring how drama-based approaches can enrich learning across subjects. Later that month, contemporary British artist Ian Murphy led fast-paced, studio-style workshops in mixed media, encouraging students to work quickly, take risks, and embrace experimentation.
Founders Day brought the annual art exhibition to the theatre, showcasing student work across painting, installation, film, and mixed media. Outside, the community marketplace and live performances brought the campus alive.
These are not add-ons. They are central to what a Dulwich education offers. This year, 22 graduates applied to art and music programmes and collectively received 68 offers, including 18 from the University of the Arts London, and offers from Central Saint Martins, Parsons, Rhode Island School of Design, and Pratt Institute. The art portfolio article published in February traced how students like Sophia Z, Antonio Y, and Jessie L developed genuine conceptual depth over years of structured inquiry and experimentation.
Sport, Character, and Community
Sport at DHSZ builds far more than fitness. It builds character.
Sports Day in October set the tone for the year. Two school records were broken. Soong House lifted the Sports Day Cup. A refreshed House Leadership System gave students greater autonomy and responsibility. Across the year, the four Houses, Curie, Mandela, Soong, and Turing, competed and collaborated through academic, sporting, artistic, and co-curricular activities. In April, Curie House was awarded the House Cup for the highest overall score through consistent engagement across the full year.
In May, more than 20 DHSZ student athletes travelled to Dulwich International High School Programme Hengqin for a two-day sports exchange. They competed in table tennis, badminton, basketball, and volleyball. The most memorable moment came during the boys' volleyball, when both teams swapped players mid-match. Two students who had just been competing across the net were suddenly leaping side by side. That is what the Dulwich network makes possible: not just competition, but genuine connection.
The Jinji Lake Charity Walkathon in October brought together over 350 members of the Dulwich community: students, parents, alumni families, staff, and friends. They walked to support Siyuan Operation Smile, raising support for surgeries for children with cleft conditions.
Pathways That Belong to the Students
The Class of 2026 has achieved remarkable university outcomes. Our 131 graduates received 822 offers, an average of 6.3 each, with 55% receiving offers from QS Top 30 universities and 80% from QS Top 100. There were 34 offers from the UK's G5 universities alone, including 2 from the University of Cambridge, 3 from Imperial College London, 1 from the London School of Economics, and 28 from University College London.
Behind each of these numbers is a student who found their own way there.
Roey H arrived in Year 10 without a fixed plan. Through MUN, the Conrad Challenge, an EPQ on the business dynamics of professional football, and a summer programme at HKU, she found her direction. She leaves with an offer from NYU Stern School of Business.
Victor L's path to Imperial College London started with a table tennis bat left in the sun. That curiosity about the microscopic became a sustained engagement with Chemistry: UKCHO preparation, university-level reading, laboratory work, and a habit of teaching peers to sharpen his own thinking.
Wayne D chose Kinesiology, a field most students would not consider. His connection with sport runs deeper than competition. He wants to work in sports rehabilitation, helping people recover from injury and return to the lives they love.
Terry Z shifted from a US pathway to a UK pathway after reflecting carefully on how he learns. Renee L founded a board game club, directed the school musical, taught herself guitar, and took up rock climbing alongside her Physics studies. Both received offers from the University of Cambridge, through very different journeys.
Chris W is heading to Canada to study Engineering. Thomas T switched from Fine Art to Graphic Design midway through school and earned offers from Central Saint Martins, Camberwell, and London College of Communication.
Rick C arrived without a plan and built one gradually. Jessie X won First Prize in the International Friends of Dulwich Essay Prize through interdisciplinary thinking that drew on economics, politics, and psychology.
None of these students followed a template. Each was supported by teachers and counsellors who helped them find their own direction rather than someone else's. That is what BestFit means at DHSZ.
A Community That Shows Up
If there is one thing this year has made clear, it is that education at DHSZ is a shared endeavour.
The Founders Day community marketplace brought together CCA groups, student organisations, teachers, and parents. Mr Rees prepared hot dogs. Mr Webb offered homemade desserts. Parents contributed through floral design, traditional crafts, and food. Sponge the Teacher and Tattoo the Teacher dissolved the usual boundaries of school life for a day, and no one minded.
The alumni homecoming welcomed graduates back to campus to share their journeys. Yiliu Pu, Class of 2014, returned for an Alumni Talk. More than a decade after leaving DHSZ, she has founded the lifestyle brand ANOTA, been recognised by Forbes and Hurun U30, and recently transitioned into the film and television industry. She started her first venture at DHSZ, at 14. 'Dulwich felt like a fertile ground where I was able to explore and grow,' she reflected.
In May, admissions officers from Barnard College, the University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt University visited campus as part of the Bridging Excellence US Top Universities tour, co-hosted with Dulwich College Suzhou. The visit gave students and families the opportunity to engage directly with leading institutions.
And in recognition of the school's boarding and pastoral culture, DHSZ was shortlisted as a finalist for International School of the Year by the Boarding School Association.
Graduation: The Dragon Walk and Beyond
On graduation day, 131 students walked the Dragon Walk for the last time: through corridors lined with cheering teachers and younger students, before crossing the stage to receive their certificates and International Old Alleynian Pins.
The ceremony honoured Dongmin B for outstanding contribution to the cohort, Roey H for outstanding contribution to the school, and Jessie R for outstanding academic achievement.
Head Students Charlotte G, Betty J, and Kevin S spoke not about results, but about what the years had actually felt like. 'True leadership isn't about power,' they said. 'It's about service. It isn't about commanding. It's about caring.'
Parent representative Dr Dian Zhu offered four pieces of advice that had nothing to do with rankings and everything to do with character: preserve your capacity for irrational kindness, learn to calculate your own happiness index, beware the sunk cost fallacy, and keep a personal balance sheet of your intangible assets.
Mr Steve Hodgkin, speaking on behalf of the teaching staff, closed with three pieces of advice. The third was borrowed from C.S. Lewis: education without morality simply makes clever devils. 'So try to do the right thing,' he said. 'And when you fail, it's never too late to feel sorry.'
Looking Ahead
The Class of 2026 now joins the Worldwise Alumni Network, connected to a global community of Dulwich alumni across countries and fields. They leave with far more than university offers. They leave with friendships, with confidence, with a sense of who they are becoming.
To every student, teacher, counsellor, boarding staff member and parent, who contributed to this remarkable year: thank you. The work you do, often quietly and without recognition, is what makes this community what it is.
To the Class of 2026: you are more ready than you know.
To our students, have a great summer. We look forward to welcoming you back to school in August.
Grow in Dulwich, Thrive in Life.