The Week Ahead 30 November 2017

Dear Parents, The series of weekly parent briefings we have run this term have proved a great success. Topics have ranged from assessment and reporting updates to dealing with teenagers, anti-bullying, bilingualism in the Nest and how parents can engage more with the school through the WCA. We already have a full programme of events in place for the Lent term, details of which are on the website and will shortly be available in printed form in our termly diary, but I wanted to use this opportunity to alert parents and friends of the College that we have two extra sessions planned for early in January. Keeping your children safe in school is our first priority at Wellington, and we have robust measures in place to ensure that we meet our own exacting standards. Our safeguarding and child protection policies are subject to annual updates, informed by current examples of best practice across international schools, and audited by internationally recognised authorities. In order to highlight our policies and procedures more fully to parents, we will run two extended briefings next term. The first, an outline of the policies in place in the school to keep your child safe, will replace the usual Meet the Master session on Thursday 11th January. It will run from 1330-1500hrs and be held in the Common Room. The second, a parent briefing by Mr Lewis is entitled, “Child Protection - What parents need to know about the signs and symptoms of child abuse” and will be in the Black Box on Wednesday 17th January (0900-1030hrs). These are open to all parents. In keeping our community engaged and informed about the College’s work, I believe it helps to bring us all closer together. In terms of keeping our children safe, unified messages like this can only help to improve the way we formulate and implement our policies and procedures. Best wishes Julian Jeffrey Master MEET THE MASTER Master’s Office 1400hrs-1515hrs, Thursday 7th December This week, the Meet the Master slot is aimed at parents of pupils in Years 7 to 11. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms. Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 6th December. MEET THE BURSAR Black Box 1400hrs-1500hrs, Monday 4th December Meet the Bursar will be on Monday 4th December. We will have a review of the last meeting’s actions and a discussion on this month’s key topic: swimming pool maintenance and next steps in swimming activities. Please send Ms Lisa Liu (lisa.liu@wellingtoncollege.cn) a message if you are planning to attend as well any specific topics you would like to raise. This will help us to ensure we have enough space and refreshments. UPDATE ON UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS Black Box 0900hrs-1000hrs, Wednesday 6th December Every Wednesday morning from 0900hrs, 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 vary according to the anticipated audience, and for next week’s meeting, Mrs Jayne Sabio, the Head of Sixth Form, will run a practical workshop for parents on using Uni-Frog effectively in the university admissions’ process. Parents attending should bring a laptop or tablet device. LOCKDOWN DRILL 0915hrs Thursday 7th December This is an important announcement about our forthcoming Lockdown drill on 7th December. Lockdowns are a vital part of keeping our community safe, and in order to have an effective crisis management system in place, we need to conduct periodic training for pupils and staff. The school will be in lockdown, as if there was an emergency, from 0915hrs on Thursday. All pupils, staff and visitors will be involved in the drill, guidance for which is available in each office and classroom of the school. Some children find such events disorientating and frightening, so we are preparing the community in advance through similar messages in school. Please take some time to talk to your child before Thursday; discussing the forthcoming drill and a child’s preparedness for managing the situation can help them to place the event in context and minimize upset. Drills such as these usually last between 5 and 10 minutes, after which we would normally have an evacuation and roll call. On this occasion, though, we will simply return to the class activities and there will be no evacuation of the building. Visitors to the school should use the information contained in our “Information for Visitors" guide, which is available from Security and Reception.   ASA ASA in the Senior School will finish on Thursday December 7th. There have been an increasing number of student-led ASA running and I am proud of all pupil achievements and contributions this term. If you would like to encourage your child to run their own ASA next term, please ask them to contact me. ASA in the Junior School finished on Thursday November 30th.  Pupils in the Junior School were equally impressive with their contributions including the Shakespeare production run by our very own librarian, Ms Pulchna. ASA selections will begin again in January after the holiday. Educational Visit – Making Cookies 0830hrs-1230hrs Monday, 4th December Year 1 Tuesday, 5th December Year 2 Milepost 1 will be going on a trip to a local bakery to learn how to make cookies. We have been learning all about healthy eating through our IPC topic ‘We Are What We Eat’. Now it is time for our treat to celebrate the end of the topic and the end of a fun first term. In addition to this we will have our Exit Point on the 6th December, where we will be holding an International Food Festival, celebrating all the delicious dishes from our home countries. 10 YEARS OF LOVE, 7 YEARS OF PASSION MIMI ZOU SOLO CONCERT 1930hrs-2100hrs Tianjin Concert Hall Monday, 4 December 2017 Address: No.32 Zhejiang Road, Heping District, Tianjin  Art Class Junior Art Room 0830hrs-1100hrs every Friday  This Friday, we will decorate our wooden candy boxes while we’re waiting for Santa to come to school. It’s OK to leave and share some candy with Santa if we see him, because he comes only when kids are asleep. We will do our best as Santa is so nice and generous with presents. See you in the Junior Art room! Lower Level EAL Class MB 235 0830hrs-0930hrs every Tuesday  This class is for beginner level learners who would like to improve their grammar, vocabulary and all-round language skills.   Higher Level EAL Class MB 231 1100hrs-1200hrs every Thursday  This class is for more confident learners who would like to extend their grammar and vocabulary and will have a focus on improving spoken fluency. Pilates Black Box 1100hrs-1200hrs every Tuesday  Dance Studio 0930hrs-1030hrs every Friday Pilates is physical exercise system developed by Joseph Pilates. It is complete coordination of body, mind and spirit. Pilates focuses on core strength and balanced muscle development as well as flexibility and increased range of motion for the joints. So, don't hesitate, join our classes and feel better. You are warmly welcomed. What a wonderful and full week the Junior School has had! The children have all worked exceptionally hard in their Assessment week, but we had managed to relax by Friday when we watched Year 3E’s class Assembly and the amazing ‘Lights, Camel, Action’ performance. Mrs Escobar’s class did a lovely Assembly on kindness – one of our Wellington values. The children demonstrated different ways to be kind: sharing their break food with another child, carrying a suitcase for the elderly, being honest and returning money that has fallen from their pocket to a stranger. There were lots of ideas from the children. The children all sang and acted wonderfully on the stage. The final message from the children was very clear – it is easy to be kind; anybody and everybody can be kind to anybody and everybody. Jackie then played a beautiful piece on the violin called Andante by Telemann. Jackie has been playing the violin for two years – well done Jackie. Mr Bradley’s Year 6 children won the Attendance cup with 100% attendance, the 3rd time this term. Well done children: they all have an extra 10 minutes break time. Junior School pupils attended the ASA performance ‘Lights, Camel, Action’ on Friday afternoon and it was an outstanding performance. Considering they have only practised for 40 minutes each week for the last10 weeks and rehearsed on stage just three times, it was superb. The narrators were fluent and clear, the angels danced a beautiful ballet, and the camel dance was just hilarious. Thomas and Mandy showed off their Tango skills, three girls demonstrated a range of dance moves, Jason was a star – literally, his drumming was outstanding, the judges were comical. To complete our wonderful cast, we were joined by some superb musicians, who not only played fantastically but also looked stunningly beautiful as well. Ms Tessa and Ms Stella have worked exceptionally hard to organize such an outstanding production. Well done to everybody involved. Golden Learning moment: a young girl in Year 2 has now found her confidence. She felt so confident in teaching fractions to her group. Monday 04 December 2017 0830hrs - 1230hrs Milepost 1: Educational Visit (KG)   1400hrs - 1500hrs Meet the Bursar (LL) (Black Box) Tuesday 05 December 2017 0830hrs - 0930hrs WCA English Class: beginners (PF) (MB 235)   0830hrs - 1230hrs Milepost 2: Educational Visit (KG)   1100hrs - 1200hrs WCA: Pilates (Black Box)   1500hrs - 1830hrs MS Volleyball vs TIS (a) (SC)   Wednesday 06 December 2017 0900hrs - 1000hrs Parent Briefing: Update on University Admissions (JMS) (Black Box) 1400hrs - 1530hrs Milepost 1: Exit Point (KG) Thursday 07 December 2017 1100hrs - 1200hrs WCA: English Class (PF) (MB 231) 1400hrs - 1515hrs Meet the Master: Years 7-11 Parents (ES) (Master's Study) 1900hrs School Choir Tianjin Tour-Four Seasons Hotel Tianjin(FG)   Friday 08 December 2017 All Day House Basketball: Years 7-9 & 10-13 (SC) (Sports Centre) 0830hrs - 1100hrs WCA: Art Class (KM) (Junior Art Room) 0930hrs - 1030hrs WCA: Pilates (Dance Studio) 0930hrs - 1200hrs Nest Open Day (PR) (The Nest) 1200hrs - 1230hrs House Film Competition Finals (JL) (Theatre) 1400hrs - 1515hrs Junior School Christmas Concert (YT) (Theatre) Saturday 09 December 2017 0900hrs - 1130hrs Sixth Form Open Day (PR) (Atrium) 0900hrs - 1230hrs Saturday Activity Programme (SAP) (EvK) 1800hrs - 0930hrs Winter Prom (MR) (Black Box)