"Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?"
On the morning of 25 October 2017, Lu'an Foreign Language School of Anhui welcomed Ms Angela Olson, Director of the International Department of Canada's Surrey School District, together with her education partners and visiting officials. In a warm welcome, school leaders spoke of the long friendship between China and Canada and the hope for deeper cooperation in international education.
Surrey is the largest public school district in British Columbia, running international education programmes in more than ten countries — including friendly-district and friendly-school partnerships, leadership and teacher training, student exchange, and overseas course delivery.
A campus, and students, that left an impression
The delegation toured the campus and visited classrooms. On the playground and in lessons, students greeted the guests warmly and chatted with Ms Olson in fluent English; she praised their spoken English and their all-round quality. After meeting the students, she said this was exactly her idea of a school with a genuinely international character — and expressed real confidence in working together.
Gifts were exchanged as a token of friendship, with both sides hoping to deepen their exchange and cooperation. Built on its "Three Highs" — high-end design, high-level schooling and a benchmark for quality — and guided by its motto, the school sees partnerships like this as a bridge toward international education, giving its students access to an ever higher-quality education.