A place where education and nature keep company, and every child has a stage of their own.
在這裡，教育與大自然為伴，每個孩子都有屬於自己的舞台。
Huxi Elementary School stands in the quiet west of Xihu Township, Changhua. The campus is a green, growing thing — a small ecological oasis where black-crowned night herons, grey-capped woodpeckers and ring-necked doves build nests among the trees, and where, in early summer, children crowd around the wax trees to find rhinoceros beetles. A pond called Xie-Shi Garden is the class outdoor laboratory for water plants and animals; along the courtyard grow banana, waxberry, papaya and longan, free for the picking at break time.
湖西國小位在彰化縣溪湖鎮西隅，校園綠意扶疏、生態豐富。常見黑冠麻鷺、小啄木鳥、環頸斑鳩在校園築巢；每到初夏，光蠟樹上還會出現獨角仙，讓孩子驚喜不已。「謝施園」是學生觀察水生動植物的園地，中庭兩側種著香蕉、楊梅、木瓜、龍眼，是下課採摘的幸福樂園。
It is a small school, and it is built to look after each child closely. A PU running track and a level grass field give students and neighbours a wide, even space to run; an after-school care programme runs into the early evening; and the whole staff works towards one simple promise: parents at ease, children glad to be here.
這是一所小校，學校用心把每個孩子帶好。PU 跑道與平整無高低差的操場草皮，是師生與社區揮灑汗水的地方；並辦理課後照顧至傍晚；全體教職員朝著同一個心願努力：家長放心、學生開心。
Come in through the gate and the noise of the street falls away.
從校門走進來，街上的喧囂就安靜了下來。
The campus is planted like a garden and used like a laboratory. Xie-Shi Garden is a small pond where classes watch water plants and pond life through the year; the courtyard orchard puts fruit within a child’s reach; and shaded brick walkways wind between old trees where the birds nest. It is, quite deliberately, a beautiful place to be a child — and the reason Huxi is known around Xihu as “the forest school in the middle of town.”
校園像花園一樣被細心經營，也像實驗室一樣被使用。謝施園是一方小水池，四季都能觀察水生動植物；中庭果樹區把果實放在孩子伸手可及之處；紅磚綠廊在老樹之間蜿蜒，樹上就是鳥兒築巢的地方。這是我們刻意經營、讓孩子在其中長大的一方天地——也是溪湖人口中「鎮上那所森林小學」的由來。
A small school with a lot going on.
學校雖小，能做的事情很多。
Reading is Huxi’s school-based curriculum. The school built a new library, stocked it with graded Chinese and English books, wrote its own idiom textbook for the middle and upper grades, and runs regular literacy checks. Huxi has also been funded under the county’s “Books of Love” English reading programme and received a donation of English picture books. 湖西以閱讀為校本課程：新建圖書館、購置中英文分級圖書、自編成語教材（中、高年級），並落實識字量檢測。並通過彰化縣「英文愛的書庫」補助計畫，獲贈整批英文繪本。
Taiwan is an island, and Huxi has run its own swimming programme for many years. With Ministry of Education support, middle and upper graders swim free of charge, working step by step through the school’s own water-safety and swimming indicators. By the time they graduate, the great majority of Huxi children can swim and look after themselves in the water. 台灣四面環海，湖西開辦游泳教學已行之多年。積極爭取教育部補助，讓中、高年級學生免費學游泳，循序漸進學會水中自救與游泳技能。畢業前，絕大多數的湖西孩子都能游泳、也懂得水中自救。
Every child’s gifts are different lengths, like fingers on a hand. To give them room to explore, Huxi runs sports clubs (table tennis, fitness, inline skating), arts clubs (string orchestra, dance), science clubs (Gigo blocks, tchoukball) and a Summer Fun learning programme. 每個孩子的潛能，就像五根手指頭，長短不一、各有所長。為了讓孩子有更多探索與展能的機會，學校開辦運動性社團（桌球、體適能、直排輪）、藝文性社團（弦樂團、舞蹈社）、科學性社團（智高積木、巧智球），以及夏日樂學暑期學藝課程。
Huxi cooks its own school lunch and has been rated Outstanding in the county lunch review — for hygiene, sourcing, menu design, nutrition education and student satisfaction alike. Rice steam drifts through the classrooms at noon, the food still warm. Alongside it: an after-school care programme into the early evening, the Ministry’s learning-support programme, clubs and holiday activities. 湖西自辦營養午餐，在縣府午餐考核中獲得「特優」——環境衛生、食材管理、菜單設計、營養教育、學生滿意度皆名列前茅。中午飯菜還溫熱，教室飄著米食香氣。此外並辦理課後照顧至傍晚、教育部學習扶助計畫、多元社團與寒暑假學藝活動。
Come and take a look around.
從校門走進來，一路看看湖西的模樣。
One promise, in six words.
一句話，是我們對每個湖西孩子與家庭的承諾。
A strong habit of reading in both Chinese and English; the confidence of a swimmer; a club or a talent that is truly their own; and the steadiness that comes from a warm meal, a caring teacher and a school that has time for them. Huxi is small on purpose — so that no child is a stranger.
扎實的中英文閱讀習慣、游泳的自信、一項真正屬於自己的社團或才藝，以及一頓溫熱的午餐、一位用心的老師、一所有時間陪伴他們的學校所帶來的安定。湖西刻意維持小校規模——好讓沒有一個孩子是陌生人。
