Thank you for your interest in joining BASIS Bilingual School Guangming Shenzhen.
After growing up in a small town in western Massachusetts, I studied in Boston and then in Rome, Italy where I lived for five years. Returning to the New England area, I taught and moved into leadership positions at Cheverus High School, St. John’s Prep and St. Mary’s, where I was Assistant Head of School and Principal. While starting and developing international student programs at St. John’s Prep and St. Mary’s, I made a few recruiting trips to China and Vietnam each year. The more that I thought about what excited me in education and what those “next steps” would be, the more that I was drawn to China. In 2015, I started a consulting company to help start, develop and manage Western-style education programs in Asia. This gave me the opportunity to travel throughout China, Vietnam, and Cambodia and work with schools of all sizes and stages of growth.
After several conversations over a few years with Dr. Mark Reford, our Chief Executive Head of Schools, I joined BASIS International School Hangzhou as Vice Head of School and Head of Middle School in 2021. Last year, BASIS asked me to move into the role of Chief Instructional Officer in preparation to be the Founding Head of School for BASIS Bilingual School Guangming (BBGM).
Being the Founding Head of School for BASIS Bilingual School Guangming Shenzhen (BBGM) is both an honor and a little daunting. The most important part or starting a school is putting together an outstanding team of teachers and staff.
BASIS International & Bilingual Schools China is first a network of schools in China. We are the strongest-positioned and best-resourced network of schools in China, and we are expanding in a strategic and manageable way. We have exceptional network-level support for everything from healthcare to pacing guides for your specific subject and grade level. Our teachers have both great autonomy in their classrooms and tremendous support from around the network.
More specifically, BBGM is our newest campus. As you can see from the renderings, it will be an amazing purpose-built campus. We will have Reggio-inspired early childhood spaces and state-of-the-art labs and classrooms in the lower and upper schools. To ensure a well-rounded education, we will have dedicated visual arts, performance/drama theaters, and extensive athletic facilities – including an indoor pool. At least once a week, I am on campus with my hard hat and orange vest and I am amazed at the progress, quality, and attention to detail in every aspect of the building and grounds. It is truly exciting.
The Guangming district is on the northern edge of Shenzhen, China’s newest and most modern city of around twenty million. The extensive metro and train network allows you easy access to downtown Shenzhen with the ease of living in a more peaceful and quiet area. With Hong Kong a 16-minute train ride station to station to the south and the mountains in our backyard, Guangming offers a great balance and quality of life.
As someone who struggled a great deal in school, I want BASIS Bilingual School Guangming Shenzhen to be a learning community where children can be appropriately challenged and be able to realize success. I also want this for our teachers. I want teachers who are experts in their subjects and committed to growth. As we are a new school, I want teachers who share in the excitement of being part of a founding faculty, and who want to build programs here that will shape our school and children for many years to come.
If this is the type of learning community that interests you, please let us know.
Pax,
Dr. Mark DiFabio
Founding Head of School, BASIS Bilingual School Guangming Shenzhen
Watch the recording of our live webinar about teaching at BASIS Bilingual School Guangming Shenzhen on our YouTube channel.
For more information about teaching abroad with BASIS International Schools, visit our careers website.
