思想的力量, 理想的光芒。京领全球领军校长系列，旨在全球范围内挖掘领军校长，用领军校长的思想力量引领行业发展，用领军校长的理想信念点燃奋斗激情，培养更多拔尖创新人才，用教育改变世界，用人才创造未来！促进社会进步，推动人类发展！年华易逝，但思想不灭；世事变迁，但理想永存。

The Power of Thought, the Light of Ideals. The "KingLead Global Leading Principals" series aims to discover leading principals worldwide. Lead the development of the industry with the ideological power of leading principals. Ignite the passion with the belief of leading principals and cultivating more innovative talents. Promote social progress and promote human development!

Time flies, but human thoughts are immortal. Things change, but ideals remain forever.

本文为深圳国际交流学院执行院长Neil Mobsby的领军校长专访。

Following is an exclusive interview with Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of Shenzhen College of International Education.

深圳国际交流学院2003年经深圳市教育局批准成立，成为深圳首家经英国剑桥国际考评部正式授权的全日制国际高中。学校的办学使命是让学生在挑战性的国际教育环境中，实现学术成果最大化，同时培养出他们的社会责任感、创造力、独立性和热忱之心，助其在未来岁月里把握各种机会。

十九年来，学院专注于发展英国剑桥国际考评部授权的国际普通高中证书IGCSE和高级证书A Level课程体系，已经形成一支高素质的教学、管理和服务团队。经过孜孜不倦的努力和探索，积累了一定的经验，并取得了优异的办学成果。

京领：请问您是如何进入教育行业的？您为什么选择在国际教育领域工作？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：我来自英国，上学时期取得了数学学位。毕业后从事了教育教学工作，也非常享受教学的过程。我就喜欢上了这份工作。当我还在英国当老师时，有机会去其他国家进行教学，从那开始我发现我喜欢在海外教书，所以我后来在中东地区如巴基斯坦工作。2002年我来到中国，首先在上海的一所国际学校工作。2009年搬到深圳后，加入了深圳国际交流学院。而现在我已经当了4年的执行院长了，在此之前担任的是深国交教学副院长。

我以前在英国教数学。在英国的本地学校中，每个人都要上学，每个人也都要学习数学，不过我相信有一半的孩子都不想来上学。但接触了国际学校后，我发现国际学校的孩子与普通学校的孩子有不同的心态。主要的区别在于，在国际学校，我们是和想努力学习的孩子在一起，这是一个很大的区别，也是国际教育工作的吸引力所在。在国际学校教书很不一样。

某种程度上来说，在国际学校工作可能会有压力，因为孩子们都想努力做得更好。我们帮助中国本土的孩子为出国留学作准备，为他们提供最后四年的教育。但我们所做的是有价值的，因为不仅学生想要成为更好的自己，作为教育者，我也目睹了孩子们因我们的教育而取得长足的进步。

在我的职业生涯中也有一些感动的事情。作为一名教师，每年我都会迎来一批新生，送走一批毕业生。上周我们举办了高年级学生的庆祝活动，因为他们已经完成了常规课程，要开始考试了。看着这些庆祝活动和快乐的学生们，我想这就是我留在国际教育领域的原因。我希望看到这个学校有更多的发展，也希望看到我们今后在升学方面取得更多成功，但于我而言最重要的是，看着我们的学生取得他们自己的成就。每年我都能不断地看到学生取得相应的成就，但这不会结束，因为总有一批新的学生进入校园，而我想见证他们在这里度过四年时光。我渐渐变得无法离开这里了，希望可以尽可能久地在这里工作。虽然现在学校还在成长，但我仍然乐在其中。我会继续留在这里，见证学校的进步和发展。

京领：请问您的教育理念是什么？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：教育的关键在于孩子，在于学生的学习，在于如何让他们的学习最有效。当你在课堂上教学时，你是在持续与学生合作互动，帮助他们理解、发展和学习。这是教育的必经之路。向学生提问的目的是了解他们知道多少、有哪些不清楚，然后根据他们的回答改变你接下来要做的事情。 

学校通过教育来帮助学生成就最好的自己、学到最多的知识，这是教育的核心。教室应该是一个充满活力的地方，必须是积极的、活跃的。而且，我认为学生也应当在受教育的过程中学会对自己负责，因为这恰恰是学习本身的一部分，而不仅仅是为了通过考试。学生自己就是校园文化的重要组成部分。教师可能站在讲台前对学生们授课，但他们也能得到学生的反馈，这是双向的。

京领：您认为曾经的教学经历对您的领导角色有着怎样的影响？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：曾经的教学经验不仅对管理工作有很大影响，甚至几乎对我如今的所有工作都有影响。我所做的一切都来源于我的教学经验，正因如此，我明白学习应该是主动的，而不是被动的。

我认为一个好的领导者不仅仅是学校的管理者，更是学校的领袖。校长也必须是一个很好的管理者，因为如果事务不加以有效管理，往往会分崩离析。并且，出色的管理能力也是领导学校的另一必不可少的能力。重要的是，一个好的领导者需要准备好成为一切工作的一份子，也就是说你自己也必须做好参与任何工作的准备。

举个例子，我们学校的教学楼非常大，有很多楼层，所以我们装有电梯。但学校的电梯无法满足所有人一起使用，因此我们告诉学生请尽量走楼梯。我让学生们走楼梯，那么我也应该以身示范也一起走楼梯。一个好的领导者需要表明他们自己也做好了去完成任何事情的准备。

此外，一个好的学校领导也必须是教师队伍的核心。所以，如果校长不懂教学，他们就不会明白这一切是如何运作的。这也意味着有时我必须走出办公室、走进课堂，因为我们需要去教学，这是很重要的。

京领：请问学校的愿景、使命和文化是什么？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：我们所做的是接收主要来自中国学校的生源，帮助他们为出国留学做好准备，也为他们未来的生活做准备。

这并不是一件容易的事，因为这要求学生快速成长，并学习如何在另一种文化中生活。他们必须学会西方的思维方式，同时又不失去自己的中国身份。我们发现，学生在中国学校接受的教育为他们提供了很好的技能储备，但他们不一定知道下一步该做什么。因此，我们的工作是帮助他们学习如何在更广阔的世界中应用他们已有的技能。

此外，我们还要培养他们的语言技能。这些学生会直接进入到英语授课的高水平大学，那里的讲师不会把他们视为说中文的人，而是将他们看作能说一口流利英语的人。因此讲师可能会说得很快或者说方言，而学生必须迎头赶上。我们文化的另一个方面是，我们不仅通过考试成绩让学生做好准备，还将培养他们作为一个独立的个体，去激发他们参与社团的兴趣、提高对社会环境的关注，以及培养他们的领导技能，并为其提供更多的发展机会。

我们学校的文化把这些融合在一起，将学生塑造成一个完整的人。我们的愿景是继续发展这一点，让我们的学校变得更大、更强，并持续成长。

这就是我们学校的发展方向。我们正在变得更好，也正在进一步建设自己。我们有超越现状的想法，我们不只希望我们的学生成为数学家或科学家，我们也想要培养人文、艺术领域的人才。我们将帮助学生成为最优秀的人。

京领：您认为当好国际学校校长的方法是什么？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：担任国际学校校长一职意味着很多责任，因为一校之长需要对学校的一切事务负责。基本上，学校的领导者要对任何可能发生或出错的小事负责。此外，校长也是学校的形象，你是领导者，所有人都在关注你。校长不能迟到，需要在清晨进入学校努力工作，这和其他职位的工作也是一样的。但同时，校长也不能对每件事都介入过深，因为他们必须有能够退后一步的能力，看到更大的图景，以确保一切顺利进行。 

通常我们每个人很难知道所有的细节，所以校长需要学着从别人那里接收信息。如果你是学校的领导者，你需要知道学校里发生的每一件事，但这几乎是不可能的。所以校长必须花时间去简化工作，这样才能让学校变得更好。你不可能同时专注于所有的事情，也不可能管理好每一个细节，所以你必须允许其他人去做自己的工作，并相信他们能够胜任。的确，如果他们做得不好，校长也会受到指责，但你不能替他们完成工作。 

京领：那么在您看来，校长最重要的技能是什么？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：比如管理团队，信任他们，鼓励他们完成工作，并向他们展示如何以最快的速度完成工作。此外，校长还应该能够倾听并解决员工提出的问题，或者为员工指明方向，让他们自己解决问题。

Team

京领：您认为深圳国际交流学院最具竞争力的地方在哪里？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：我们按照正确的方式做事，并做正确的事。我认为我们最具竞争力的是我们的声誉。我们学校声誉很好，但我们的声誉不是来自别人，而是来自建校至今的近20年里我们所做的一切，它是在艰难的道路上成长起来的。我们确保学生在这里学习英语、发展自己的兴趣、成长为领导者、成长为一个完整的人。

京领：在深国交任职以来，您如何看待这所学校迄今为止所发生的变化？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：很多变化都是缓慢而循序渐进的，一切都源于我们的期望。我们改进得越多、老师教得越多、学生学得越多，他们就会变得越好，我们对他们的期望也就越高。所以他们被鼓励去做越来越伟大的事情，而我也能看到他们取得越来越高的成就。

学生的英语水平上升到第一语言的水平，这是来源于学生自己的期望，也是我们的变化之一。当我刚到学校的时候，我们一年要管理大约600名学生。今年，学生数量进一步增长，这就是我所看到的成长和发展。但成长也来自于经常审视自己，例如我们通过了国际组织的认证。要获得一个国际组织的认证意味着你必须达到他们的标准和你自己的标准，你必须不断提高自己以满足所有这些标准。我们做事不是为了完成任务，而是为了不断提高自己，让自己变得更好。这就是我所看到的变化。

好的目标永远不可能完全实现，因为你应该不断地反思和提升目标。正如我所说，获得认证需要一个不断反思的过程：看看我们正在做什么，以及我们如何可以做得更好。

京领：您是否认为深圳国际交流学院正在致力于培养未来的创新型人才？什么样的人可以被称为创新型人才？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：是的，我们正在创造和培养创新型人才，因为我们工作的一部分就是能够帮助学生学习如何思考。许多学生来到我们学校时已经学习了大量的知识，然后在我们这里学习如何应用这些知识，这就是创新的一部分。我认为一个伟大的创新型人才会环顾四周，然后说：“如果这有个问题，还存在着某些差距，我可以看到它们并提出解决方法。”

这就是创新型人才。我们并不是说“我们会让你成为创新型人才”，而是帮助他们学习，这个过程需要创新。

京领：深圳国际交流学院在创新人才培养方面有哪些具体的体现？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：我们所做的一切都是为了培养创新型人才。我们在培养学生独立性方面以及课堂教学方面都做了很多努力，为他们提供了许多资源和支持。我们鼓励学生参与项目，这有利于创新，因为这能够帮助他们思考问题。当我们帮助学生成为一个完整的人时，有很多例如创新能力的附带作用会同时发生，我们在为未来培养人才。

京领：您认为深圳国际交流学院课程最大的特点是什么？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：我们学校的课程有两方面特点。一方面是英语。我们用英语教学，我们的学生学习英语，这是一个很好的方面。第二个方面是多样性。我们不仅教授经济学、科学和数学，课程之外，我们还有课外班和社团。我们有大约200个由学生自主管理的社团，学生们对这些社团都非常感兴趣。学生们能够在我们学校参加多样化的课程，这些课程能够满足他们广泛的兴趣类型，同时也能发展他们的英语技能。

京领：有没有哪个班级或哪个学生给您留下了最深刻的印象？可以请您举个例子吗？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：我觉得他们每个人都给我留下了深刻的印象，因为他们每个人都很不同，每个人也都做了很多不一样的事情。例如，有一个学生在我们学校做了很多关于表演的直播工作。还有一些对建筑感兴趣的学生，他制作并展示了旧校园的模型。这些都是学生个体所做的事，但能够由此映射出整个学生群体。

每个申请大学的学生都能脱颖而出，因为申请是非常个性化的事情。我们有几个学生被封锁在上海，突然处于不定的因素之中，他们当下难免会感到希望渺茫，但期间也一直与校方保持联络，一起想办法冲出困境。每一个学生都有自己的故事。

京领：您认为名校录取率和课程多样化之间存在着怎样的关系？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：学生需要专注于培养例如科学或数学这样的技能。然而，要想成功获得一个大学的录取名额，学生也必须在其他方面有很好的能力，那也是教育的困难所在。学生不能只局限于一个领域，因而学校需要为他们提供广泛的课题供他们学习。如果学生在申请大学的时候可以向大学展示出这些能力，他们就有了更多可以为大学提供的东西。

京领：在您看来，深圳国际交流学院是如何建立自己的品牌的？又是如何在人们的心目中保持优势和品牌形象的？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：对于我们来说，这是一个缓慢而稳定的过程。学校的声誉就是我们的品牌，我们的品牌来自于学校完善的组织结构。我们建设品牌在于围绕“我们是谁，我们做了什么”。目前，学校一直在提升自己，而学生实现了他们的目标，进入了大学。当我们为一所大学写推荐信时，我们会确切地告诉他们这个学生是什么样的，例如这个学生的某个方面有多好，这个学生的某个方面还有需要努力提高的地方等，这些都是我们告诉大学的。这些都离不开诚实，这也正是我们学校一直在努力打造的重要部分。正如前面提到的，我们做事的方式是正确的。

作为一个品牌，我们的不同之处在于我们是自己独立创造的自主品牌。深圳一些新建的国际学校已经在英国或其他地区有几百年的历史了，建立品牌对他们来说更容易。但我们没有这样的条件，所以我们不得不通过艰难的方式来建立我们的声誉，一步步、一点点地稳步发展，每年都取得一点进步，取得良好的成果。这些成果越来越多，这就是我们建立声誉的方式。

此外，我们不是空说白话，而是以实际展示给人们看。我们的学生努力学习，表现优异，他们得到好大学的录取是基于他们的能力、他们优秀的表现和努力程度。成功能够继续引领成功。

人们经常问我们：“深国交取得如今成绩的秘诀是什么？”答案很简单：努力奋斗。

京领：作为执行院长，您带领学校取得了哪些具有里程碑意义的突破？有哪一件事最令您印象深刻？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：通常都是一些小事，在我看来格外重要。当然我们也取得过一些不错的成绩，例如，当我们第一次获得国际认证，因为那时我还是教学副院长，我负责准备大部分的认证申请工作。此外，我们每年都有学生获得牛津大学、剑桥大学的录取通知书，这些也是令人满意的成绩。一开始，我们只有20名学生（被录取），然后是30名。这些都是可喜的里程碑。

但也有其他十分重要的成就。比如，我们会问“我们有没有学生能在一年内实现梦想？”有时候，这些学生通过努力学习为自己取得了巨大的成功，这也是我们很高兴看到的。

同时，在过去的几年里，我们取得的一项成就是顺利搬进新校园，而且学校的规模也扩大了一倍。我们在疫情期间做到了这一切。在新冠疫情期间，要让国外的人进入国内是几乎不可能实现的，但我们依然招募到了教师。

过去的几年非常艰难。但不管我们周围的世界如何，我们的员工都非常努力地工作。就像今年一月，深圳突然封城，我们又回到了网上教学，没有人知道这会持续多久，但我们的老师一直在不断激励自己，也激励着学生。所有这些都需要在幕后付出巨大的努力，后勤人员和行政人员让一切都能正常运行，也让学校做好了应对的准备。幸运的是，我们重新开学了，现在我们又开始上课考试了。许多团队通过每一件事、每一份努力，让这一切得以实现，这结果确实令人激动。

京领：您对学校的未来有怎样的计划和展望？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：学校的短期计划很简单。我们刚搬到新校区，所以我们目前正在积极扩大校区的利用率，使校园的设施都能被充分利用。我们的长期计划着眼于我们将如何实现扩大和进步，如何继续提升学生的学习质量，如何更好地提升教学项目从而更好地满足学生需求，以及如何更好地把握未来发展的方向、不断迭代升级、提升学生使用科技工具以应对未来变化的能力以及在未来的四十年如何还能让学校享有盛誉。 

京领：在人工智能等技术快速发展的当下，您对国际学校的发展方向有何看法？

深圳国际交流学院执行院长 Neil Mobsby：对于国际学校而言，由于世界形势动荡，现在正处于一个非常困难的时期。但是由于人们总会在世界各地流动，所以国际学校会一直存在。因此，我们的目标是将技术融入到这个国际化的世界中，在教育的一切领域之间建立更多的联系。这就是我想说的，顺势而为。由于新冠疫情的缘故，现在一切事情都在网上进行，虽然在线教学不会消失，但它不会取代面对面授课的体验，人与人现实的交流会产生更微妙的反应，这就是区别。技术会继续发展，而学校将利用它更好地与孩子进行国际化沟通。

有些事情是我们学校做不到的。比如我们有一些学生今年9月将进入大学，可能会学习化学专业。我们学校可能目前没有大学里的设备。那么，我们如何帮助学生为在大学使用这些前沿技术和科技工具做好准备，使他们将来能够熟练掌握这些设备？这就是世界发展的方向，也是国际学校发展的方向。 

KingLead: Could you please tell us how did you get involved with the education industry? Why did you choose to work in the field of international education?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: I am from the UK with a degree in mathematics. Then I started teaching and I enjoyed that. When I taught in the UK, I found that I enjoyed teaching overseas, so I then started working internationally in the Middle East, and Pakistan, and right back in 2002, I came across to China, in an international school in Shanghai for a few years. Then I moved to Shenzhen in 2009 when I joined the SCIE system. I have been working as the executive principal for 4 years and before that I was academic deputy principal of SCIE.

I used to teach mathematics in England. Everybody has to go to school in England, and everybody has to study mathematics, but I believe half of the children don't want to be there. But, I saw people who study in international schools have a different mindset than people who are in ordinary schools. The main difference is now in international schools, we are working with children who want to learn. That's a big difference and the attraction of working internationally. It's very different to teach in an international school.

In a way, it can be stressful working in an international school because people want to do well. Now we're working with local Chinese children to help them prepare to go overseas to university, giving them their last 4 years of education. But, it's also rewarding because it's not just that they want to do well, you're seeing the progress you made to the children as well.

There are also touching things in my career. As a teacher, every year I see students enter and see them off. Last week we had the senior students' celebration because their exams are beginning. They finished the normal lessons. Seeing the celebration, and the happiness of those students, that's why I stay and continue to do it. And, I also want to see more developments in the program. I'd like to see our successes at the university get bigger and better. However, the core is to watch those kids and see them make their achievements. The problem with that is every year I'm seeing these students making that achievement, but it's not the last year because there's always a new group coming in so I then want to see them come through the 4 years. It becomes impossible for me to leave here, so I would like to stay longer. Although now the school is growing, I'm still enjoying it. I continue to stay and watch the growth and see the improvement.

KingLead: What's your educational philosophy?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: Education is all about the children, about the students' learning. It's how can you make their learning most effective. When you're teaching in the classroom, you are constantly working with your students to get them to understand, develop, and learn. That's a process where you come from there. Anytime when you ask your student a question, the purpose is to find out how much they know and how much they don't know, which then will change what you're going to do next according to their response.

Education is what a school can do to help battery students achieve their best and learn the most they can. This is the core of it. The classroom should be a dynamic place. It has to be active. The students must be responsible for themselves in their education because it's part of what they're doing rather than just passing the exam. They got to be an active part of the culture. The person might be at the front of the room, speaking to the students, but getting the feedback. It's a two-directions. 

KingLead: Do you think your past teaching experiences have influences on your leadership roles?  

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: Yes, it does have a big influence because it affects everything I do. Everything I do comes from my teaching experience because of that, I understand learning should be dynamic, not just a passive thing. 

I think a good leader is not just a management of the school, but also the leader of the school. Even though he/she got to be a good manager as well because things tend to fall apart if a principal doesn’t manage. Also, being a good administrator is another useful talent in leading the school. The thing is that a good leader needs to be prepared to be part of everything. That also means you have to be prepared to do any of the work yourself as well. 

A good leader of a school is at the heart of a teacher. So, if they can't teach, they won’t understand how it all works. That might mean sometimes I will have to go out and fill in the classroom because we need to teach it. That's an important part of it. 

For example, in our school, the school buildings are very large, and we've been with many floors, so we have lifts. But there are not enough lifts for everyone, so we told our students that please use the stairs. Because I have told the students that they should be using the stairs, then I should be demonstrating that as well. A good leader needs to be able to show that they're prepared to do everything themselves as well. 

KingLead: As we all know that SCIE does an extraordinary job. What’s your understanding of the vision and mission, and the culture of the school?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principle of SCIE: What we do is take students predominantly from Chinese schools and help them to become ready to study the university overseas, which is part of the preparation for their future life. 

That's not an easy thing because this requires the students to grow and learn how to live in another culture. They have to learn how to think in a western-style without losing their Chinese identity. We find that the education our students have had from the Chinese schools prepares them very well with the tools, but they don't necessarily know what to do next. Hence, our job is to help them to learn how to apply the tools they've got in the wider contract. 

Also, we have to develop their language skills. These are children who are going to be going straight into a high-level university where the lessons or the lectures are told in English, by a lecturer who is not going to consider them as Chinese but people who can speak perfect English, so they might speak very fast or speak with a dialect, so students just have to catch up.

That's another aspect of our culture, we are preparing our students not just by taking them through getting exam results, but also by developing them as a whole person and developing their interests in clubs, and societies, and also developing their leadership skills, and providing them with more opportunities.

The culture of our school puts all of that together, which will build students up as a whole person. The vision is developing that, making our school get bigger, stronger, and growing.

That's where our school is going. We are becoming better at what we are doing, and we are establishing ourselves further. There are ideas for how we go beyond that. We don't just want our students to be mathematicians or scientists, we also want the humanity students, the art students. We will help the students to become the best.

KingLead: How to be a good principal of an international school? What is the core of principal leadership?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: It means a lot of responsibility because you taking charge of everything. Ultimately, the leader of the school is responsible for any small thing that might happen or goes wrong, for example. Also, the principal is the figure of a school. You're the leader and everyone is looking in here. The principal can't walk in late, the principal needs to be there at the start of the day to work just as hard as everyone else. But also, the principals can't get too involved in everything because they've got to be able to step back and see the bigger picture as well at the same time as making sure everything happens.

It is hard for people to know every detail, so you need to study receiving the information from other people. If you're leading the school by being in the role, you need to know everything that's happening. While you can't know everything is happening because you can't be in every room so you can't be doing all the work. Therefore you have to take the time to sample things so that how things are going be around the place to be seen as what I got it in a better thing. It is impossible to focus on everything at the same time. Also, you can't be trying to manage every single part of it, so you have to allow the other people to be doing their jobs, and trust them to do their jobs successfully. Indeed the principal gets blamed if they do it wrong, but you can't be doing their work for them. 

KingLead: So in your opinion, what are the most important skills for a principle?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: Such as managing your team of people, trusting them, and encouraging them to get the work done, being able to show them how to do the work at the speed. Moreover, a principal should also be able to listen when staff come up with problems and be able to solve the problems, or suggest a direction so that they can start solving the problems themselves.

KingLead: What do you think is the most competitive part of your school compared with others ?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: We do things right. I think what makes us competitive is we've got a reputation. People may say that we are well-known, but we built that by ourselves. As for our reputation, it doesn't come from somebody else name, It comes from what we have done over the last nearly 20 years since we started at the school, and it's growing the hard way. We are making sure the students learn English, learn to develop their interests, and develop as leaders, develop as people. 

KingLead: You've been in this school for a long time, how do you see this school's development path? How do you see the changes happened in this school so far? 

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principle of SCIE: Quite a lot of the changes are slow and gradual. It all comes from the expectation. The more we improve, the more we teach, the more the students learn, the better they get, and the higher the expectations we have of them. So they then inspire to greater and greater things. That's what I've seen is the achievement level increasing and increasing. 

At the English level of the students rising into the first language level, it comes from the students themselves because they wanted. That's the change we've developed as well. When I arrived at the school, we would have run about 600 students in a year. Now, this year, we continue the expansion. That's what I've seen the growth and development. But also the growth comes from looking at ourselves regularly. We went through accreditation for example. Being accredited by an international organization means you have to meet their standards as well as your own. It means you have to constantly be improving yourself to meet all these standards. We didn’t do things for doing it, but we did things for keeping improving ourselves and making ourselves better. That's what I've seen in the changes.

Good goals can never be completely achieved because you should be constantly reflecting on and improving the goals. That's part of the process, as I said, being accredited needs a process of constant reflection, looking at how we are doing, and what can we do better constantly. 

KingLead: Do you think your school is committed to cultivating innovators for the future? What type of person can be called an innovator? 

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: I think yes, we are creating and producing innovators because part of what we do helps the students learn how to think. They come with a lot of knowledge, then learn how to apply knowledge. That is part of what innovation is. I think a great innovator will look around and say, “If there is a gap, I can see the gap and I can have an idea to fix it.”

That's what an innovator is. We don't set out to say that “we will make you an innovator”. We sit down to help them to learn, and that process will need innovation.

Kinglead: Do you think which part of your school embodied your idea of helping students to become an innovator?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: All of what we do are about the cultivation of innovators. We put a lot of benefits on the independence as well as what happens in the classroom. We encourage students to take part in projects. That helps with the innovation side because it helps them to think about a problem. We are helping students to become the whole person. There are a lot of side effects like innovation happen alongside. Being innovative is a side effect. We are developing them for the future.

KingLead: What do you think is the greatest feature of your school's curriculum? 

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: There are two aspects to it. 

One is the English side. We teach English and our students learn English. That's a great aspect. The second aspect is the fact of diversity. We're not just teaching economics, science, and mathematics. Besides the curriculum, we have our extra-curricula and the clubs on set. We've got about 200 different clubs run by students because the students are interested. Students participated in the diversity of different courses that caters to such a wide range of interests in the lesson type, and we develop English skills all the time.

KingLead: What do you think about the relationship between a good enrollment rate in universities and the diverse curriculum you provided for students?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: Students need to focus on skills like science or mathematics. However, to get a successful university place, they've got to have great skills and everything else. That's the part of the difficulty. Instead of focusing on a narrow brain, you need to get a broad subject. If you can show it to the university, you've got other things to offer.

KingLead: Is there a specific class or a student who impressed you the most? Could you please give us any examples? 

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE:I think all of them impressed me because they are all so different and each of them did so many different things. One of them, for example, has done a lot of work in our school with live streaming of performances. We got another student who was interested in architecture and they made a model of our old campus and presented it to the school. These are small things that those individuals, but then you got the whole group of students. 

Every single student who made some application to university stands out because that application is very specific. We had a couple of students who were locked down in Shanghai and suddenly at risk. They were hopeless but they kept talking to us and they tried to figure out what they can do for them. Every single one of them has a story.

KingLead: In your opinion, how does your school build its brand? How do you maintain the advantage and the brand in everyone's mind?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: For us, we built it slowly and steadily. Our brand is our reputation as a school, it comes from a strong structure. The whole construction of it is who we are, what we've done. We have made the improvements. Our students have achieved their goals and have gone to the university. When we write a reference for a university, we tell them exactly what the student is like. This is how good the student is, this is where the student is working to improve. That's what we tell the university. There's a lot of honesty which is a large part of what we're building. Again, we do things in the right way. 

The difference for us as a brand is we don't have the name of the school to build. Some of the schools starting up in Shenzhen have hundreds of years famous in, for example, England. It's easier for them. We don't have that, so we've had to do it the hard way of building our reputation, step by step, piece by piece, developing steadily and each year making a little bit of improvement, getting good results. These good results lead to more good results and that's kind of how you build a reputation.

In addition, we don’t have to say anything, we show people. Our students work hard, do good and they get good university offers based on their ability and how well they work, and how hard they work. Success leads to success. People often ask us “what’s the secret?”The answer to it is quite simple: just hard work.

KingLead: As an executive principal, there must be a lot of breakthroughs or milestones you have made for this school. Could you give us some examples of the most memorable examples or breakthroughs during this path?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: It’s often smaller things. Some of the big ones were when the first time we achieved the accreditation because that was while I was a deputy and I've been very much responsible for preparing most of the applications on that. Also, we get students with Oxford, Cambridge offers each year and reach milestones. These are always satisfying. At first, we got just 20 students, then 30 students. These are lovely milestones. Those are big milestones.

But it’s other things as well, but it means. Do we have students who achieve their dreams within a year? Sometimes those are the ones where it's a student who's just trying hard and managed a great success for themselves. Those can be nice to see.

In the last couple of years, the achievement we had was we moved into our new campus successfully. We didn't just move to a new campus but we've been doubling in size as well. We did this during the middle of COVID. We recruited the teachers to teach that during the middle of the COVID pandemic when it's impossible to bring people into the country to do that.

The last couple of years has been very difficult. There’s the fact that we've been successful and continually expanded despite whatever the world's surrounded us has been. That's a testament to my staff as well whom everybody has worked so hard. Like this January, Shenzhen suddenly locked down. Suddenly we went back to teaching online again and nobody knew how long this will go on. But our teachers kept continuing to do that, to motivate themselves and to keep the students motivated as well. All these requests strong effort behind the scenes, and the support staff, and administration staff keep everything going, getting the school ready as well. Luckily we did get to reopen the school, and now we are back in session and running our exams. That's every single bit of that comes from many teams. It's surprising.

KingLead: What are your plans and prospects for the future of the school?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: The short-term plan for the school is simple. We just moved to the new campus, so we are working on expanding up to fill the campus and utilize all the facilities completely. Then the long-term plan is looking at how we then start making the improvements, how can we continue to improve outcomes for the students, how can we develop the learning programs that will then better suit the student, and how can we look at what the future will hold and keep up to date with any changes from that and how to utilize technology in our teaching, how do we make sure when we getting to forty years and our reputation could still be great. 

KingLead: What is your judgment on the international schools' direction based on the rapid development of AI and all these technologies currently?

Neil Mobsby, Executive Principal of SCIE: Right at this moment, it's a very difficult time for international schools because of the world situation, but there will always be international schools since people move around the world. Hence we aim on integrating technology into that international world, getting more links between everything in education. That's how I would say, see it developing. Right now with covid, everything goes online, but online teaching is not going to go away, but it doesn't replace the face-to-face experience. There are subtleties that you get when you meet somebody at first. That's the difference, but the technology will continue to develop. Schools will use it to get better communication between children internationally. 

There are things that a school can't do there. We've got students who are going to enter university this September and might study chemistry. The university will have equipment that our school doesn’t have now. So, how do we help those students get ready for that by using the technology so that they can be good at this equipment? That’s how the world going to develop and that’s how the international schools going to develop.