Dear Parents

It is coming up to the time in the year when the appraisal of our teaching staff is completed. The process of providing feedback and assessment for our staff at Wellington is a year-long one. Individuals finalise their target-setting each November. A series of regular review meetings are built into our calendar over the next ten months to ensure that colleagues have the chance to develop their professional practice and hone their skills. The final stage of the appraisal process, a 1-1 meeting with me, gives time for all colleagues to reflect on their work and identify areas for development across the coming year.

Appraisals are an important way we at Wellington seek to foster the very best performance from our teachers, but it is far from the only way. The more eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the Term Diary announces a CPD session on Wednesday afternoons each week. These are regular sessions for staff training – CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development – during which time is given to teachers to work on shared goals for the school's development of teaching and learning. At present, for example, we have action research groups working on creative thinking, ''flipped'' learning – an innovative way of placing more of the burden on pupils for prior learning so that lessons become more dynamic and collaborative; other teachers are contributing to an enhanced English language provision for pupils new to the school and those in key year groups. Independence in learning, an important initiative shared with our sister school in the UK, is another area of focus, with teachers working hard to develop resources and teaching methodologies to best support our pupils as they grow more self-reliant in their learning over time. 

These internal research topics have proved to be some of the most powerful and effective ways to develop our staff, however experienced they may be, but our membership of the Wellington group of schools allows us enviable access to external provision of training as well. This term alone, teachers in Tianjin will have had the chance to work on middle leadership training, cultural awareness, peer-to-peer coaching courses led by senior teachers from Wellington College in the UK and collaborated on projects led by Wellington's own Institute of Learning, based in Shanghai. The results of these long-term projects in pedagogy will filter down to all age groups and help benefit generations of current and future Wellingtonians.

I have often spoken of my restless pursuit of excellence for the school, both inside and outside the classroom. The commitment to recruiting and training the best international teachers remains a central part of the school's pursuit of that goal. In this way, our appraisal process and the weekly CPD sessions help develop an internal culture intolerant of stagnation or complacency, working tirelessly to provide the best educational experience for your children.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
Executive Master

Next week will be a wonderfully busy week for the Nest. There will be some virtual visitors looking around the school to look at all the teaching and learning our children experience. Mr Jeffrey gave details of the CIS visit in his week ahead last week. The children always make me proud of their effort and achievements.

We will also be welcoming some parents in to see a swimming session. The P.E. department will welcome those parents who have already returned their form. This will give people the opportunity to see how a swimming session is delivered for your children. Swimming is such an important life skill for young children. It is not only a fun thing to do, but  it is also a very good form of exercise for many different muscle groups, it is excellent for developing lung capacity and is a skill that can save your life! We will walk you to the pool with your child’s class from the security building at the normal time for your child’s swimming lesson. Please ensure you are on time. We may not be able to get you into the pool if you arrive late.  At the end of the time, we ask you to leave through the security building. Unfortunately, we cannot yet let you enter the nest building as we have a limit of 20 parents. There is a risk that classes will overlap meaning we exceed the limit of 20 parents. I hope one day soon the restrictions are lifted and we can welcome you back on site.

Next week also sees the children enjoying Halloween fun. During the week, Compass, our catering company will be inviting the children to the main building to make a tasty Halloween treat. This time they are baking a pumpkin pastry! On Friday 29th October the children (and staff) will be able to dress up for Halloween. I wonder how many scary costumes or fun costumes we will see? The parade will take place on the sports field at 3:00 pm. Parents are invited to the field to see all the wonderful costumes.

We look forward to many more of these opportunities to welcome you on to the school site.

Nest Parent Briefing: Bilingual Education and Language Learning
Nest
1430hrs, Tuesday
26th October

Bilingual education is at the heart of our teaching and learning strategies in The Nest. We will share how we support bilingualism in young children and explain how they develop language at an early age. We will also talk about how you can help at home.

The session will take place on Tuesday, 26th October, from 2.30 pm to 3:30 pm in Nest 202. If you would like to register or have any questions, please leave a T chat message or email to Ms Tina. Seats are limited, so first come, first served. We hope to see you there.

tina.zhang@wellingtoncollege.cn

Council of International Schools Preparatory Evaluation Visit
25th-29th October

Back in 2016, the College was granted accreditation by the Council of International Schools (CIS), the leader in school evaluation and accreditation worldwide. To put this into context, CIS accreditation is recognised by government ministries, education departments, and universities all over the world. It signifies a school's commitment to international education of the highest standard. It is a benchmark of quality assurance that communicates to all who are engaged in the educational industry, whether they be educators, universities, investors, governors or parents, that a school is entirely legitimate and operating against the highest international standards. 

Over the past three months, the foundations for our reaccreditation have been built, and at the end of September, we submitted a comprehensive, nearly one-hundred-page preparatory report to CIS that addressed thirty core standards across nine domains. The domains encompass every aspect of the College and include purpose and direction, governance, ownership and leadership, curriculum, teaching and learning, wellbeing and safety, operations, staffing, communications and boarding. The report is underpinned by evidence supporting the school's self-evaluation and enables external evaluators to appraise and make judgements about the robustness of the school's provisions.

Between 25th – 29th, October two evaluators from CIS will visit the school (in a virtual capacity) to validate our self-reflections and supporting evidence and assess our commitment to continuous improvement. They will be involved in meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders across the College.  They will observe teaching and learning, drop-offs, pick-up times, assemblies, ASAs and recreation time while also being accompanied by academic leaders through a device that gives live footage. They may have some brief conversations with pupils, although in all cases, an additional adult from Wellington will be present through any conversations.

CIS has four main drivers that form the heart of its accreditation. They are purpose and direction, wellbeing, learning and the development of global citizenship. All four sit within our school's mission "to create a caring, learning community that develops well-rounded individuals with strong values and the skills and identity to thrive within an ever-changing world." Next week, I will write more about the four drivers and share further details about the accreditation cycle and the self-study process.

Junior School and Nest Swimming Lessons Open Week
25th – 29th October

The swimming lesson open week will be taking place in the week of 25th - 29th October. You are invited to your child's swimming lessons to watch and support your child's performance. For the reason of keeping environment hygiene, please bring your flip-flops to wear on the poolside.

Autumn Concert
Theatre
1800hrs, 28th October

Come and experience cinema's most iconic films with the scores performed live by the Wellington Chamber Orchestra, the Wellington choirs, other chamber music ensembles and soloists on an autumn evening. Parents who wish to see the concert will need to bring the school parent ID card and show the health code at the school gate.