Our Vision: A Step Closer to Reality
In late March, we had the pleasure once again of hosting our prospective families for two Meet the Master parent information sessions. It was the first time that such events were held in our Nursery building, giving us a wonderful opportunity to meet with prospective parents and outline our vision for Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou. The school construction is being carried out in an orderly manner, well on track for our official opening in August 2018.
When parents came into our Nursery, they were able to enjoy the beautiful spring scenery in the open and green grounds of the campus setting. Taking cues from the Wellington College in England, our campus buildings are very photogenic, and it was great to see so many parents taking photos around the Nursery. The smiles of the parents reveal a hopeful future for their children at the College, as they imagine all of the opportunities the world-class facilities and open space will provide their children.
The new Meet the Master parent information session offered substantial and detailed information about the curriculum, timetables and other aspects of day-to-day life at the College. After the sessions, parents were given a tour of our mock-classrooms, where the educational ethos and vision becomes more apparent in a tangible manner. It is within these walls that our pupils will develop the Wellington Identities. Let us take a sneak peek at some of the content from the recent Meet the Master presentations.
Paul Rogers
Founding Executive Master
Wellington College Hangzhou
“Having worked in so many schools, I can say proudly that our campus is second to none.” “But without good teachers, everything else is pointless. Therefore, we have put huge efforts into recruiting the very best teachers we can find. As you know, we have attended several international job fairs in Hong Kong, London as well as Bangkok. Although we have met a number of excellent teachers, we do have a rigorous recruitment process and only a few of them received job offers. Those teachers who will join us in the future have already become members of our community, receiving our biweekly Wellington College Community Newsletter and have already started making important contributions in the preparatory work for the 2018-2019 academic year. I am very proud of our fantastic teaching staff team, and I am anxious to share their introductions with you. We will being introducing our teaching staff in coming WeChat posts.”
Jacqueline Speer
Head of Early Years
Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou
The team from Nursery provided families with an insight into their innovative programme. An important point communicated throughout the presentation was the way teachers were referred to as ‘researchers’ who investigate and co-construct meaning alongside children. This kind of enquiry based teaching method is what 21st century learning demands: active, rather than passive learning, with a particular focus on problem-solving, resilience and building learning dispositions in young children.
Jonathan Mills
Head of Primary
Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou
“In the slide shown, you see an outdated classroom layout, with children all sitting in rows listening to a teacher who lectures. There is very little pupil interaction time, and almost all speaking is done by the teacher. At Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou, you will not see classrooms like this. As with all modern, progressive schools, you will instead see classrooms where teachers work with smaller groups of children – knowing them and treating them as individuals. Working in ways that encourage the development of thinking skills, risk-taking and problem-solving, communication and collaboration; nurturing the development of skills that will give each pupil greater self-esteem and self-confidence – encouraging long term success.” Mr Mills later went on to talk about Mathematics. “When we look at the teaching of maths at Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou, it is important to note that this is delivered mostly in Chinese, by excellent Chinese math teachers, whilst at the same time in corporating English instruction and support – more and more so as the children become older. Regardless of the language of instruction, all teaching follows 21st century enquiry-based teaching methodologies. Learning is extended through a themed approach, where the content learned across subjects is brought together across themes, ensuring deep and cross-curricular bilingual learning. In this way, we are building problem-solving skills through use of maths which has been developed in Chinese, supported in English, and embedded in thematic units of learning.”
Guoqiang Shen
Head of Junior High
Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou
"Academic excellence is of great important in our Junior High. Our curriculum has been designed and developed by experts both at home and abroad for over 2 years. The integration of the curriculum from Early Years to Junior High ensures that our pupils can effectively adjust to the learning styles and curricula from the very beginning of their educational journey through to Junior High and beyond. In addition, enrichment at Junior High comes in many forms, offering pupils various choices to develop their individual interests. All our Chinese teachers are fluent in English, and through rich and deep cooperation between the Chinese and foreign teaching staff, we are creating a truly effective bilingual environment for our pupils. Under the immersive bilingual environment, language is only a tool for pupils. They will not only develop their language proficiency, but also explore the unknown world and use language as a vehicle for developing in a well-rounded way” If you are interested in learning more about Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou, our Meet the Master parent information sessions are a great opportunity to do so. Due to overwhelming demand we are pleased to offer two more Meet the Master parent information sessions on April 13th and 14th. If you are interested in, please scan the following QR code accordingly.
Please feel free to call us if you need any assistance.
0571-8369 7900
Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou
Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou will offer a world-class bilingual education for children aged from 2 to 18. This begins in our bilingual nursery, which effectively combines the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Chinese Early Years Statements for children aged 2-5. In Primary School and Junior High school, we follow the Chinese National Curriculum (with reference to Zhejiang Province guidelines), then move to IGCSE and A-Levels in our Senior High. At each stage of the curriculum, we compliment learning with a wide range of international teaching resources and materials. All of this is brought together through a strong pastoral care programme, and the unique Wellington approach to holistic education centered around the Wellington Values of Respect, Integrity, Responsibility, Courage and Kindness. Wellington College Bilingual Hangzhou will develop well-rounded pupils with the attributes and skills needed to be successful at the college and beyond; pupils who embody the Wellington Identity of being Inspired, Intellectual, Individual, Independent and Inclusive. As they graduate from the College, our pupils will be prepared to study at leading universities around the world.
