Dear parents

Welcome back for what promises to be a terrific final term of the 2020/21 school year. Our examination candidates are well-placed to break more records in terms of A*/A grades again this summer, with revision fully underway for pupils in years 11-13. Our graduating class of year 13 has excelled in terms of university offers, with 15 offers from UK G5 and Ivy league schools and 29 offers from within the world’s top 20 QS-ranked universities. Younger pupils have an equally exciting term ahead, with innovative projects such as the Shakespeare week, science fair and cross-curricular days to enjoy. I am delighted also to be entering a number of Wellington College China events with our sister schools, including poetry, art and spelling bee competitions in the weeks ahead.

Of course, one major event which spans both Wellington College China and our family of schools from across the globe is the Festival of Education, returning this year for its 5th incarnation. I wrote in the Week Ahead a couple of weeks ago about the prospect of experiencing a day of in-school talks and presentations. This year, we have extended the festival to include a ground-breaking series of online sessions (18th-23rd April). All of these sessions, irrespective of the format, will allow parents, educators and business leaders to share ideas about the future of learning with some of the leading thinkers and writers from across the world.

Tianjin hosts the opening day of the 2021 festival next Saturday (17th April). We are so pleased to introduce our families and friends to a host of leading voices in education within China. There are sessions on a range of topics, including the critical strands of Early Years; wellbeing; future schools; mental health; and bilingualism. Attendees can hear from leading experts in these fields, among them key local opinion leaders such as Isaac Wang, the founder and CEO of AW Education International; Dianjun Wang, principal of Tsinghua University High School; and Jingwu Yang, the principal of Tianjin’s Experimental High School. They are joined by other speakers from the British government’s Department of Trade and Industry, the Tianjin Juilliard school, and Harvard Graduate School of Global Education, as well as several of Wellington’s staff from across China. There will also be a chance to hear from our founder and chair, Mrs Joy Qiao, who will be talking about her particular passion for seeking out the best of eastern and western education to create a vision for the future of learning.

I would encourage any parent interested in the way insiders, researchers and educators view the future of education to join us for the festival. The world of learning for our young people is undergoing tremendous changes, often without precedent, as we try and make sense of the fast-paced world of the 21st Century. The voices of parents as critical stakeholders need to be heard. Events such as those from 17th-25th April provide just such an opportunity to be more informed and engaged as participants in educating for the future. To register, simply scan the QR code to access the entire programme for both the in-school and online sessions.

I look forward to welcoming you to the debate!

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
MASTER

Microsoft Imagine Cup Junior 2021

Microsoft Imagine Cup Junior 2021 is a worldwide contest that provides students aged 13 to 18 the opportunity to learn about technology and how it can be used to change the world positively. The focus of Imagine Cup Junior is on the following:

Wellington College International Tianjin has registered two teams, and they have collaborated on their projects over the Easter and Qingming break through Teams meetings and Office online tools. We have submitted two proposals in the AI for Health and AI for Accessibility categories and are eagerly awaiting competition results.

The university guidance team is running three university application sessions during lunchtimes next week. The purpose of these sessions is to give our pupils a flavour of what it is like to study abroad and prepare for the future. The sessions will be delivered by current pupils and the Sixth Form Team. All year 9 pupils and above are welcome to join. Year 12 pupils are strongly advised to join these sessions.

Please find the following schedule for the university application sessions:

Readers of the week

The English department is delighted to announce that this week’s Readers of the Week are:

Mia and Audrey, in year 9, are nominated by Ms Chapman for reading the Anderson fairytales (Mia) and ‘The Bunker Diary’ (Audrey) and producing detailed book reviews.

Huge congratulations to Mia and Audrey – what impressive achievements!