Dear parents

I wanted to start this week by congratulating one of our year 13 pupils, Eric, for his recent offer of a place to study biochemistry at the University of Oxford. Following so soon after August’s offer from the University of Pennsylvania in December, this offer represents a huge achievement for these young people and, of course, the entire Wellington community will join with me in congratulating them. We now await the results of last term’s interviews for Cambridge, which will be with us by the end of January. I am hopeful that there will be some further great news for our 2021 graduates at that time.

Of course, it is only right to applaud the achievements of all our graduates who go on to their dream destinations across the world. Our pupils work very hard to reach those ambitious goals and, with the support of their families and the school, they have every chance of success. I wanted to highlight the role played by parents in the university admissions process. The agonisingly long time it takes from the initial application to the point at which offers are made can be a difficult one for even the most stoical parent. I applaud those parents who manage to combine inexhaustible reserves of patience with just the right amount of pressure on their child to manage the application process in such a way as to maximise their chances of success. If left to their own devices, too many young people would miss critical deadlines, dither about the choice of undergraduate course or simply assume someone else was going to complete the tedious paperwork for them. Many would do all three.

A second major factor in the success of pupils graduating from Wellington lies in the work of their teachers. Over the past couple of months, I have been lucky enough to interview many very talented people who wish to train as teachers through one of the programmes available through Wellington’s Institute of Learning and our partner in the UK, Durham University. The applicants have been a diverse group of people, but the thing that unites them all is a commitment to helping children and young people to have the best life chances through education. Wellington’s appeal lies not just with its accredited teaching programme with one of the finest universities in the world, but more immediately in that it offers a genuinely holistic learning journey for a pupil. This is an attractive message for all teachers, from the most experienced educators to those just starting their career paths. Schools that can offer teachers opportunities to teach across the age groups and coach sports’ teams, direct plays and concerts, lead school trips and take responsibility for the pastoral upbringing of their pupils, are inevitably attractive destinations for teachers.

As we approach the Annual Review in March, parents, pupils, and staff can be confident of another independent assessment of the quality of education at the school. One thing that I am sure will stand out from the report is confirmation that the success of pupils like Eric is due to the strength of the school-home partnership in supporting our pupils to achieve their best. Working with our families in this way is a keystone of Wellington, and I look forward to further, deeper engagement with parents of all age groups in the coming weeks and months. Thank you all for your continued support for the school.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
MASTER

Online
1400hrs-1500hrs, Thursday
21st January

This week’s Meet the Master slot is open to parents of pupils in years 12 to 13. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 20th January.

Antibullying Week

The Student Council has organised this year’s antibullying week. The main themes are conflict, positive dialogue and restorative justice. The Student Council will present in both Senior and Junior School assemblies and KS3 pupils will perform a series of raps. The pupil-led Junior School Liaison Committee will lead a series of drama workshops with KS2 pupils, and the reading buddy ASA group will also look at related themes in two sessions. The Values Committee will lead activities with KS3 and KS4 pupils in their houses and explore the relationship between values and positive dialogue. Surrounding the week’s activities is a termly theme of compassion in which KS3 and KS4 pupils will get to know real people who have exhibited compassion and learn how to practise compassion through contemplative and reflective exercises.

Years 5 and 6: Hour of Code
1000hrs-1200hrs, Thursday
21st January

As part of our partnership with Microsoft through the Showcase School programme, our year 5 and year 6 STEAM team pupils will be taking part in the Hour of Code event this Thursday. We will have pupils representing the school in the visual programming languages of Microsoft Kodu in Kodu Game Lab and MakeCode through micro:bits, the world-renowned educational single-board computers. Expert Microsoft trainers will be there alongside our STEAM teachers to support our team and offer their coding tips and tricks to pupils. Let’s code!

A Level options parent evening: year 11 and AL induction group
Online
1700hrs, Wednesday
20th January

There will be an online briefing for parents of pupils in year 11 and A Level induction group on Wednesday 20th January at 1700hrs. All parents of pupils in the year groups will be sent a link for the briefing and pupils will also join. This is an opportunity to find out more about the A Levels offered here at Wellington, and there will be a Q and A session at the end. All pupils will be provided with an A Level information booklet (available in English, Korean and Chinese) before the event. The Head of Sixth Form will lead the session, and the university guidance team will be available to take questions.

A-Level information sessions for pupils
18th-22nd January

The university guidance team will be running A Level information sessions for year 11 and A Level induction pupils during lunchtimes next week. The purpose of these sessions will be to inform pupils of what to expect when studying A Levels. The sessions will be delivered by the current year 12 pupils. Please find the following schedule for the relevant A Level subjects.

The sessions will start from 1325hrs in the Sixth Form Seminar Room.