Staff
Who We Are
Our students, staff and faculty work together to make our
school a safe, engaging, rigorous, learning environment.
Only the BEst
We Know How to Make Learning Fun For Kids
The mission of SAIS is to provide a progressive American style learning environment where all students develop and apply the knowledge, skills and habits of mind necessary for academic, workplace and personal success anywhere in the world.
Our small school serves as a community nucleus that invites strong support from parents and community members as well as closer working relationships among the school staff.
SAIS Staff
Dr. Laura Flaxman
Principal
lflaxman@szsais.org
About Laura
Nathan Abbott
Assistant Principal
nabbott@szsais.org
About Nathan
Nathan (Nate) Abbott has over a decade of experience in the classroom and over four years of administrative experience. He has enjoyed teaching students from kindergarten to university. He has a BA in Asian Studies and an MA in Secondary Education. Mr. Nate has presented at various trainings all over the United States on topics that included Project Based Learning, language acquisition, student engagement, classroom management, and staying in the target language. He has also had the opportunity to work with and give trainings for the Confucius Institute in Beijing, China, and he can speak Chinese fluently. Besides being a passionate educator Mr. Nate is a husband and father of 5.
Kenneth Purser
Director of Instruction and Maker Education
kpurser@szsais.org
About Kenny
Kenneth (Kenny) Purser is an independent consultant helping schools and non-profits re-design their school and implement active, relevant, and engaging projects for students. Before becoming a consultant, Kenny developed his love for well-designed project based learning as a student who learned best by doing, creating, and designing projects. This passion found a great fit with Outward Bound and then Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound where he developed a foundation in project based learning, teaching science to middle and high school students in New York City, Boston, Berkeley, and Oakland. Mr. Kenny was one of the founding principals for Envisions Schools and then Regional Director for Expeditionary Learning. His varied career has focused on project based learning, experiential learning, Linked Learning, and the Maker movement.
Geoff Stainton
Director of Admissions
About Geoffrey
Faculty
Janet Stainton
Kindergarten Teacher
About Janet
BA in Early Childhood Studies
Teaching Certificate City and Guilds 710
This is my 10th year teaching abroad in China. My experience is mostly in pre-school and Kindergarten.
I have taught here in China at the Clifford International Kindergarten for 6 years and then I moved to American International School of Guangzhou in preschool for 3 years.
Previous experience has been teaching part-time in England teaching sports and dance whilst bringing my family up at home.
I love teaching because it brings me great pleasure to see young children learn something new. I love that they are inquisitive and want to know many things. I want to help the children enjoy learning. I want them to be excited about learning. I believe that when children are happy they learn well.
My hobbies are sports and dancing. I love going to the theatre and seeing musical shows and spending time with my family.
Kara Spore
G2 Teacher
About Kara
Kara graduated with her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education in 2005. Since then, she has taught elementary school students in Seattle, Washington and Phnom Penh, Cambodia before coming to S.A.I.S in 2015. In 2018, Kara received her Masters degree in Teaching English as a Second Language. She is passionate about encouraging the development of the whole-child in education, and believes that children’s natural creativity and curiosity needs to be nurtured and honored. Kara appreciates the creative arts, writing, exploring the outdoors, travelling, and learning about other cultures.
Edwin Nieves
G1 Teacher
About Edwin
Edwin is extremely excited to be part of this great institution. He is originally from New York City, has been working in the field of education since 2005 and really enjoy teaching young minds. This will be his first-time teaching in China so he looks forward to learning so much from this country. Prior to moving to Shenzhen, he taught in South Korea for almost 7 years. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Nyack College in 2004 and currently working on his Master’s degree in Special Education at Touro College. He is bilingual, speaking English and Spanish both at native levels. In addition, he can also speak Korean and Chinese. During his time off he enjoys sight-seeing, learning, Latin dancing, and listening to music.
Thamarai Naik
G3 Teacher
About Tammy
Thamarai (Tammy) Naik worked for the South African Department of Education schools for 25 years as a teacher, Grade head, Head of Department and Acting Deputy Principal. She received her HDE from Transvaal College of Education, Curriculum Management from Unisa, B.Ed. (cum Laude) Hons from Tshwane University of Technology. Currently, Thamarai is completing her Masters in Education Management at Unisa.
Over the years, she has taught English, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Remedial.
In 2002, Thamarai was presented with a National Teaching Award by ex-President Thabo Mbeki and the following year, was chosen to represent South Africa in a youth exchange programme in Japan. Over the years she has been project manager for Collaboration Projects and trained over 1000 teachers in Curriculum.
Recently in September 2017, Thamarai was awarded a Mathematics Teaching Award by the Western Cape Education Department.
She has presented many workshops for the South African Department of Education and she has developed various training manuals that are conducive to the vision and mission and the specific training needs of various companies or schools.
Michael Penney
PE Teacher
About Mike
Mike grew up in Belleville, Ontario, Canada and graduated from Nipissing University with a Bachelor of Physical Education and a Bachelor of Education. This will be his first year teaching PE at SAIS. Before arriving in Shenzhen he spent 4 years teaching PE in a Canadian school in Jilin city, China. When not at school Mike can be found searching for geocaches and travelling.
Sophia Brown
ELE2A Teacher
sbrown@szsais.org
Matthew Koo
Middle School Teacher
About Matthew
Matt is a Canadian certified teacher who completed both his Honours of Science degree and his Bachelors of Education degree at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Matt has worked with learners of all ages, specializing in inquiry-based teaching and one-on-one tutoring. For the past two years, Matt has been the IB Coordinator at Hokmah International School.
Matt is a passionate teacher who strives to help his learners reach their full academic potential. He aims to push his learners to do their best, all while maintaining a safe and friendly learning environment. Throughout his teaching career, Matt has worked extensively in developing a variety of differentiated teaching techniques and incorporating them into his classroom. As a strong advocate for inquiry-based learning, Matt uses activities such as games, puzzles, and scenarios in his lessons to give learners both an engaging and meaningful learning experience.
Mary Compton
G4 Teacher
About Mary
Mary went to Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where she earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Education. She then went on to teach middle school Mathematics and Science for 24 years in public schools in Michigan and New Jersey and at an international school in Singapore. In 2017, Mary decided to pause her teaching career to pursue an area of personal interest and earn a master’s degree in International Non-governmental Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. After two years away from teaching, Mary excitedly prepared to begin teaching again.
Mary enjoys traveling, learning about different cultures, reading, kayaking, hiking, biking, and spending time with her two daughters who live in Germany and Michigan.
Anel Tromp
Art Teacher
About Anel
Anèl grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. She graduated from The Open Window Institute with a Bachelor of Art in Visual Communication Degree as well as a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from UNISA. Before teaching in China, she taught English and Art in South Korea for 3 years. This will be her second year teaching Art in Shenzhen. She is passionate about Art as a way of enriching learning. Her hobbies include drawing, painting, cooking, reading, sport and travelling.
Precy Manalese
Kindergarten Teacher
pmanalese@szsais.org
Ellen Abbott
ELE1 Teacher
eabbott@szsais.org
Mark Moran
Humanities Teacher
mmoran@szsais.org
Rene Meijer
Humanities / ES
rmeijer@szsais.org
Dawn Yu
Chinese Teacher
About Dawn
Dawn graduated from Beijing Normal University with a master degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. She is an excellent Putonghua speaker, holding a Certificate of Results of Putonghua Proficiency Test, A Level. She had taught Chinese in several local schools in UK. After she came back to China, she has worked in several international schools. Dawn has a wealth of experience both in Chinese and Western education. Based on the experience, she compared and analysed the two different education systems. At SAIS, she combined with PBL teaching philosophy to develop a bunch of Chinese courses which are applicable for international schools.
Cindy Shi
Chinese Teacher
cshi@szsais.org
Teacher’s Assistants
Rachel Guo
Middle School TA
rguo@szsais.org
Administration
Zac Zhang
IT Supervisor
zzhang@szsais.org
Jerry Chen
Security
Zhang Xiaoyuan
Security
Josef Chen
Logistics Supervisor
Ou Qinglan
Cleaner
Jack Liu
Security
LIANG SHANYING
Cleaner