School History

The course of change and development
Ren-Ai elementary school was founded in 1959. It was a vast rice field outside the school at that time. Due to the increasing population in the neighborhood in Da-An district, Ren-Ai was planned to be the branch of Jien-An elementary school by the Taipei municipal government. In the beginning, there were only 6 teachers and 18 classrooms. On November 22nd 1960, the school buildings were completed. The students and teachers moved desks and chairs from Da-An vocational school to the new buildings, and this day was marked as our anniversary. Since then we always hold a sports meet on anniversaries.
In 1961, the front gate was situated facing south (the front gate was changed to the present site in 1976). The playing field was a muddy ground, where it would be sandy on sunny days and miry on rainy days. The graduation ceremony in 1962 was held under a canopy before the podium. In 1964, Ren-Ai High School (now Ren-Ai Junior High School) was established. The graduation ceremony in 1964 was held on the site where the health center is now. The one in 1965 was held at Chiao-Sheng theater (San-Chang-Lee in old days and Wu-Shing street today). Since 1966, the graduation ceremony was held in the auditorium in Ren-Ai High School. And the commemorative album for graduates was not issued until 1965.
At that time, one could even see the Taipei Song-Shan airport from the 3rd floor of the south building. The vast rice field surrounding the school has now been replaced by the high rises. There was only one road nearby the school. The students and teachers learned and taught in an underprivileged environment with very limited resources. It’s hard to imagine the school is now situated in the most prosperous and organized district in Taipei. In 1973, Mr. Ching-Tsu Lin succeeded as the principal. Since then, large residential buildings were built and population grew gradually in this area. The number of students in a class kept increasing. Once there were even 63 students in a class. With the growing economy and population, the numbers of students also skyrocketed. There were more than four thousand students and 84 classes.

Principal Chuang Shing-Lin came to school in 1982. He focused on developing students’ potential and encouraging the class to build up their own characteristics. Various clubs were established, such as choirs, chamber orchestras and sport teams. The school held many activities to comply with government policy, for example, experimental teaching projects, extra-curriculum activities. Under the guidance of teachers, the performance of the students was outstanding.
The Recreation Center was built in 1985 and more classrooms were added to the northeast building. The classes of gifted program and speech disorder were also introduced. The school facilities and programs were expanding and parents were getting involved in school affairs. Ren-Ai has become a first ranked school in Taipei. The number of classes and students reached 112 and more than six thousands respectively.

Formation and Transformation
After Principal Miu Ya-chun started her turn in 1989, she established sensory-integration room and teacher’s office, built up central fountain supplying system and renovated PU field. She also devoted herself to the ideal of the “education of the beauty of humanity”. The establishment of musical clubs and sports teams bore distingwished accomplishments. The musical clubs were often invited to perform abroad, and they also performed for our international visitors frequently. The name of Ren-Ai Elementary School was then heard internationally, and the size of the school increased to 124 classes, with 5000 students.
Chen Yen-He was commanded as the principal in 1995. According to her motto of “student first, teaching leads, administration supports, parents involved”, she ran the school aggressively with humane and democratic style. She also enforced the policy of the computerization of administration system, which is a milestone for the efficiency of school management.
The PTA was established in 1995 after the Teacher’s Law passed. The administration had positive interaction with the PTA and shared the vision in the running of the school affairs. The cooperation of the administration and the PTA brought peaceful atmosphere in campus. Therefore, the communication among parents, teachers and the students are well established, which provided a positive and effective learning environment for the students.
Principal Chen also developed parental education, parents supporting class, kindergarten, Resource Class and Visual Impairment Class. In addition, with the help of community resources, she set up multi-media network and language classroom. She also cooperated with schools nearby to promote School Community Safety Program. These efforts strengthened the operation of school in all aspects.

Transformation and Reformation
Due to the aging of the school facilities, renovation was in need. In accordance with the policy, the number of classes was reduced gradually to make room for specialty classrooms and to elevate teaching efficiency. Teachers are encouraged to participate in small-sized class project and active research, as well as in-service training and teaching demonstration to increase teacher’s professional abilities. The role of parents in school education has become more essential than ever. Through school day, parenting seminars and in-class parents association, the relationship of parents and teachers has been brought closer. With a clear school vision, outstanding staff and excellent learning environment, Ren-Ai is capable of providing children a fun and rewarding learning experience, and making them the citizens of the new era.