The Week Ahead 19 April 2019

Dear parents Term is rattling by at a dizzying pace and the long holiday is beginning to loom large on the horizon, although perhaps not large enough yet for our busy public exam candidates. It seems odd to be writing about a holiday still nine weeks away, given this is meant to be the Week Ahead, but I was reminded of the importance, and indeed the imminence, of the break by two pieces of excellent news recently. The first is that increasing numbers of our Year 11 and 12 pupils are gaining places at the world’s leading universities for summer school programmes. In the past few days alone, we have heard of offers for places at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cornell, Duke, and the University of Pennsylvania. These are offers for prestigious courses of study, attracting thousands of applicants from across the world for what are very limited numbers of places. Each will prove an invaluable experience in the next stage of the learning journey for our older pupils: gaining admission to these universities as undergraduates in the next 12-24 months remains their key focus. The second piece of good news surrounds our own 2019 summer camp, based here in the school. As you may know, we have taken the decision to run our own, bespoke programme this year, ensuring that we take responsibility for raising the quality of the tuition and broadening the range of courses available to our young campers. It is of course key to the success of this camp that the teaching is of the highest consistent standards, and thus I was delighted to learn that we had already attracted applications from several teachers from Wellington College in the UK to fly over and deliver English, Maths and Science courses at the camp. These teachers will supplement our own staff and others, including expatriate staff from Tsinghua university and other highly prestigious institutions. It is a very exciting prospect, and further details of the programme can be found in this Week Ahead. The summer holiday is traditionally seen as a time for children and their teachers to relax and recover from the pressures of the school year. This is still an important element of the holiday, but increasingly the research (as well as the experience from the classroom) suggests that such extended breaks can have a significant impact on slowing the learning once school resumes in August. This is most evident in children who let their English language proficiency slip, with a marked plateau-effect in their progress in the early weeks of the new year. It makes sense, therefore, to use the time afforded by the long summer break to recharge the mental batteries by resting but also – crucially - to sustain the momentum built up from the previous year. Both the children enrolled in our own summer camp, as well as those older students heading for the US or UK to attend summer courses, will return to school refreshed by their time away from school, but also reinvigorated by the stimulation and excitement of learning in a new environment. It is an unequivocal statement of Wellington’s academic intent that both these sets of summer programmes have been heavily supported by the staff and pupils at the school. Our community prizes academic ambition very highly, as shown by our recent successes in national and international competitions across China. It is fitting, therefore, that we seek to sponsor deeper learning opportunities outside of our regular term times as well, and these programmes compliment the year-round access to scholarship which we offer to all our pupils. As ever, if you would like to find out more about either the application process for university summer schools, or the summer camp, please do not hesitate to contact us here at the school. For the summer schools, please contact Ms Luyi Feng (luyi.feng@wellingtoncollege.cn) and for the summer camp, emails should be directed to Eelco van Kuilenburg and his team (activityprogram.tianjin@wellingtoncollege.cn). Best wishes Julian Jeffrey MASTER MEET THE MASTER Duke of York’s Room 1400hrs-1515hrs, Thursday 25th April This week, the Meet the Master slot is aimed at parents of pupils in Years 2-6. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms. Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 24th April. PARENTS BRIEFING: ANNUAL REVIEW FEEDBACK / SUMMER FAIR PLANNING Common Room 0900hrs - 1015hrs, Wednesday 24th April Every Wednesday morning from 0900hrs -1015hrs, parents will have the chance to engage with the school in sessions that cover all aspects of your child’s education, from the Early Years to A Levels and university admissions. The venue will be the Common Room, and for this week's meeting, Mr Julian Jeffrey, the Master, will give details on the Annual Review report (held over from last week’s postponed session) and discuss ways in which the parent community can support the Summer Fair 2019. FROM THE HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL Senior School Reports Published: Years 11-13 1700hrs, Friday 26th April Full written reports for the exam year group pupils (Years 11, 12 and 13) will be published on the parent portal on Friday 26th April at 1700hrs. This last set of reports for these pupils for the year will provide an information on the progress that has been made by individual pupils since the mock examinations and assess their readiness to sit public exams. Also, they will provide a farewell to our Year 13 pupils and wishing them all the best in their future endeavours. FROM THE DEPUTY HEAD OF SIXTH FORM Senior School Parents Briefing: University Applications Sixth Form Common Room 1730hrs-1830hrs, Thursday 25th April The Sixth Form Team has been endeavouring this year to provide more regular, informal opportunities for parents of any year group to drop in and have a conversation about any aspect of the university application process. Thursday 25th April will be another such opportunity from 1730hrs-1830hrs in the Sixth Form Common Room. Mrs Sabio, Mr Batey and Ms Luyi will all be there to talk over any concerns, questions or queries. All are welcome to join us. FROM MS ROGIC, CHARITY COORDINATOR Tianjin Recycling and Environmental Challenge (TReC) 22nd – 26th April I am pleased to announce that Wellington will once again take part in the Tianjin Recycling and Environmental Challenge (TReC). The event is organized by the Environmental and Sustainability committee of AmCham China, Tianjin, with participation from the US Embassy and the Tianjin Ministry of Environmental Protection. The TReC programme will be an inter-school initiative between some of Tianjin's top international schools. The programme aims to improve students’ environmental awareness, and get them participating, hands on, in the day-to-day of recycling. The programme is open for both Junior and Senior School pupils. Recyclable Material Collection The schools will compete to see who can divert the most recoverable resources out of the waste stream. All students will have a week (April 22nd – 26th) to collect recyclable material - paper and plastic. They are welcome to collect it at home as well and bring their recycling collection to the school. Paper 1. Paper packaging 2. Newspapers 3. Magazines 4. Tubes 5. Boxes 6. Mixed paper Mixed Recyclables 1. Plastics 1-7 2. Iron/steel 3. Aluminium 4. Copper 5. Brass 6. Rubber 7. Styrofoam We hope you will encourage your children to take part in this competition. UPCOMING EVENTS Monday 22 April 2019 All Week Tianjin Recycling and Environmental Challenge (TReC) (MR) 8:30AM - 9:30AM FOW EAL (Beginners) (PF) (MB 235) 3:05PM - 3:45PM Senior School Assembly (JMS) (Theatre) Tuesday 23 April 2019 8:30AM - 12:00PM Year 10 Mandarin trip (YZ) 8:45AM - 10:00AM FOW Pilates (ES) (Black Box) 10:15AM - 11:15AM FOW Mandarin Class (ES) (MB 125) Wednesday 24 April 2019 8:45AM - 10:00AM FOW Yoga (ES) (Black Box) 9:00AM - 10:15AM Parents' Briefing: Annual Review feedback / Summer Fair planning (JAFJ) (Common Room) 10:00AM - 11:00AM Nest Parents' Briefing: Positive Parenting (DZ) (The Nest) 1:15PM - 1:55PM Staff Committee meeting (ES) (Duke of York's room) 2:00PM – 3:30PM FOW: Glamour Handmade Course (ES) (MB125) 3:05PM - 3:45PM Junior School Assembly: 4NC Ben Nevis (RA) (Theatre) Thursday 25 April 2019 9:00AM - 10:30AM FOW: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (ES) (WCA Room) 9:00AM - 12:00PM FOW Reading Group (ES) (MB 125) 10:45AM - 12:00PM FOW: Yoga (ES) (Black Box) 2:00PM - 3:15PM Meet the Master: Years 2-6 parents (ES) (Duke of York's room) 5:30PM - 6:30PM Senior School Parents' Briefing: university applications (JMS) (6th Form Common Room) Friday 26 April 2019 8:30AM - 9:00AM Nest Assembly (DZ) (Theatre) 8:30AM - 9:30AM FOW EAL (Advanced) (PF) (MB 231) 8:30AM - 11:00AM FOW Art Class (KM) (MB 125) 8:45AM - 10:00AM FOW Pilates (ES) (Black Box) 9:00AM - 2:30PM Reception class trip (DZ) 1:15PM Master's Society (ES) (Master's Study) 5:00PM Senior School reports Year 11-13 published (DP)