A new year, a new term and new prospects of 2018

The Michaelmas term has proved to be an exciting and busy start to the academic year across the Wellington College China group of schools. Our community has been able to celebrate the achievements from the previous academic year and look forward continued progress in the current year. The Lent term has recently begun in all Colleges with a determined focus for further success.

Our links with Wellington College in UK continue to strengthen. Partnership and collaboration is strong and remains a unique feature for the group. Since the last communication there has been a range of visits and activities:

• New staff to the group attended an induction event held at Wellington College in July 2017
• New leaders to the group from Hangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin schools experienced a thorough induction at Wellington College as part of an extended visit
• Iain Henderson, Deputy Head of Educational Development and Partnerships for Wellington College, recently visited China to visit all the schools and led foundational and advanced coaching programmes for a wide range of staff. This reflects the ongoing commitment of the group to fostering a coaching culture. Moreover, Iain was able to work with leaders and teachers on academic issues,such as how we can more effectively promote independence in our pupils
• There is a regular meeting of all the Masters across the Wellington family of schools which is an effective means for promoting collaboration and exchange within the group
• We continue to host interns from Wellington College and the wider familyof schools
• David Wilson, International Academic Director at Wellington College visited Tianjin in order to further develop exchange visits and internships between the UK and China

From left to right:

Dr. Yang Yang, Deputy Head / Director of the Chinese Sixth Form, Wellington College International Tianjin

Shen Guoqiang, Head of Junior High at Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou

Julian Thomas, the Master at Wellington College

Paul Rogers, Executive Master at Wellington College Hangzhou

Kim Keung, Bursar at Wellington College Hangzhou

Stella Zhou, Chinese Principal at Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai

Paul Rogers with Andrew Barnard, Headmaster of Eagle House School one of our sister schools in England

Year 6 pupils from Wellington College International Tianjin on an educational visit to England, including visits to famous landmarks and museums along with visiting Wellington College to meet the Master, teachers and pupils, where they learned about the rich heritage of the college. High quality governance is essential for our schools to be effective and achieve the very high standards set by the Wellington College China board. From summer 2018, our governance and leadership across the group will be further strengthened by the appointment of a Wellington College China Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who will also serve as a governor on the Wellington China Board of Governors. We are delighted to be able to appoint Helen Kavanagh to this position.

Helen is a native of the UK who was employed as the International Business Director for Wellington College in England, quality assuring the schools in China and leading business development globally. She has served on the Wellington China Board as the Deputy Chairman since August 2014 and already has a deep understanding of our needs as a fast-growing organisation. With over 30 years experience in education Helen has operated in a wide range of contexts in the UK and internationally. After two successful Headships in England she became a Senior Inspections Manager with responsibility for the quality of inspections in over 1500 schools, and from there went on to lead a school reform project in the UAE before being promoted to Regional Director Middle East. She was next appointed as Executive Vice President of an American education company providing advice and guidance to schools in the US, UK, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, India and Jordan. Helen has represented employers nationally and internationally up to government level. She has mentored many head teachers over the past 12 years and still gains a buzz from being in the school environment. She has a BA (Hons) from Sheffield University; a PGCE (Leicester University) and two further postgraduate degrees in Education Management from Manchester Metropolitan University. Her elder daughter is a teacher in the UAE and her younger daughter is a graduate of Wellington College in England. She enjoys travel, keeping fit and food. We are also delighted to reveal that preparations for our bilingual schools in Shanghai and Hangzhou are going well. Both are scheduled to open in August 2018. Malcolm Callender, the Works Bursar from Wellington College in UK, has recently visited both sites to quality assure the construction process who was impressed with the quality and the speed of construction of pair schools in China.

Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai

Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou

We have attracted a team of extremely talented senior leaders to lead the bilingual schools in Hangzhou and Shanghai. The recruitment of teachers has made it apparent that Wellington College China is a highly desirable employer has a strong reputation internationally. At Wellington, we expect our teachers to share our high expectations and aspirations, for themselves and their pupils, and to be demonstrably fully committed to the all-round education that our Wellington Identity and Values embody. Having strong links with sister schools in the UK, Wellington College China will hold its inaugural job fair at Wellington College in England on 21st and 22nd January, 2018. For more job details, please click below "read more" to visit the official website www.wellingtoncollege.cn/careers.

One of Wellington’s greatest strengths lies in the close and colourful nature of its community; a diverse mix of multicultural parents, pupils and teachers, drawn together by Wellington values (Courage, Respect, Integrity, Kindness and Responsibility) and what we want ourselves or our children to be – Wellington identity (Inspired, Intellectual, Inclusive, Independent and Individual). We are Wellington is a phrase frequently in use, and one which has deep meaning within the colleges and to the Wellington families who feel proud to be part of the community. We look forward to you and all the parents, pupils and teachers who share the same values to join our Wellington College family. A PROUD TRADITION. EDUCATING FOR THE FUTURE. Let’s start together with a new journey at Wellington in 2018!