Dear Parents This is the final Week Ahead piece of the term, but there is still so much to do next week that it represents something of a bumper edition. My colleagues, members of the WCA, and indeed a couple of pupils, outline the key events for next week, as well as reporting back on some highlights of the week in review. I hope you have enjoyed this format of the Week Ahead over the term. The aim has been to offer some thoughts about the school and its forward momentum; inform parents and friends of Wellington of imminent calendar events and to allow time for some reflection of the week just gone, usually with a specific emphasis on the work in the Junior School. The Week Ahead is one of the most important ways for us to communicate news to our community, and it is published each Thursday in email form, via our WeChat channel and in hard copy, pinned in our three main language versions, to the Bus Hall noticeboard. I trust that, in whatever format you choose to read it, you have found it to be a useful guide to what’s on at Wellington. The Week Ahead will be back in January. You will find a more thorough celebration of the term and a preview of the key diary events for the coming year, in my End of Term letter, which goes out to parents on Friday 15th December. In the meantime, let me take this opportunity to thank you all for your support for the school this term and to wish all our families and friends a peaceful holiday season. Best wishes Julian Parents’ Meeting: Year 11 AL Induction Year Sixth Form Common Room 1700hrs-1800hrs Thursday 14th December Parents' Evening for the parents of the pupils in Year 11 (AL Induction Year) is on Thursday, 14th December from 1700hrs to 1800hrs in the Sixth Form Common Room. The meeting will cover your child’s progress, areas for improvement and the holiday homework set by the subject teachers. Year 11 Science Trip 0930hrs-1500hrs Tuesday 12th December The Science department has organized a day trip to Tianjin TASLY Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. for all Year 11 pupils on Tuesday, 12th December. The School Bus departs at 0930hrs and will be back by 1500hrs. This trip will help pupils to develop some understanding about various techniques used in Pharmaceutical industries like Polymerase Chain reactions (PCR) and high-performance liquid Chromatography (HPLC). There will be chance to visit their health exhibition centre and research centre. Christmas Concert Theatre 1900hrs Wednesday 13th December  We warmly welcome you to attend our annual Christmas concert, where you will see a mixture of choirs, ensembles and the Wellington Orchestra. You will hear some well-known music with an international flavour and the beautiful Christmas carols, traditional and new. This is a great occasion for friends and family of the Wellington community to come together and celebrate the festive season, and see our fantastic pupils perform on stage. Feel free to wear your favourite Christmas jumper and we hope you will join us for some refreshments after the concert. The Nest: Pyjama Party 1200hrs-1500hrs Eaglets Thursday 14th December Nursery, Reception and Year 1 Friday 15th December Children in the Nest are invited to wear their favourite pyjamas on Thursday, 14th December for Eaglets and Friday, 15th December for Nursery, Reception and Year 1. Please ensure that pyjamas are modest and within the school dress code policy. Children will read stories, sing carols and enjoy warm cocoa with marshmallows and cookies. The day ends with a special visit from Santa with gifts for all the children. Winter Book Fair Outside the Black Box 0900hrs-1600hrs Thursday and Friday 14th -15th December Long winter evenings offer us a perfect opportunity to enjoy reading. It is an ideal time for the Winter Book Fair at Wellington. On the 14th and 15th December, we will have as our guest one of the biggest foreign language bookstores in Beijing. Every child and adult will be able to find interesting books at attractive prices, so please come an browse the selections! Milepost 3 River Walk 0830hrs-1130hrs, Monday 11th  December Milepost 3 will be going on a river walk on Monday to see the Grand Canal as it runs through Tianjin. This will be part of our conclusion to the topic "Go with the Flow". Milepost 3 Exit Point 0900hrs-1030hrs, Thursday 14th December Years 5 and 6 will be celebrating the conclusion of our topic "Go with the Flow" with an exhibition of work in the lunch hall at 0900hrs followed by some musical items in the Theatre at around 0930hrs.   Art Class Junior Art Room 0830hrs-1100hrs every Friday  Christmas decorations that WCA Art Classes made for the Charity Bazaar will be exhibited in the music atrium as a prelude to Christmas time. The Music Department will be the new home of our Christmas decorations before they find a final warm home to start celebrating Christmas. Wellington mums want to decorate some space for kids at school as well as for hardworking teachers while they are diligently practising for plenty of Christmas concerts around the city, and to support them in thriving through the final days of the Michaelmas term. Beside parents, students from the Art Recycling After School Activity will be involved in charity work as well, making various useful things. We will continue with applying the decoupage technique on some new and useful home products on Friday. Feel free to contact me and join us in the Junior Art room. 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. There were 28 parents attending our Open Day this week. We had as usual Year 6 ambassadors to show the parents around: KaiYi, Alex, Julia and Jason – a huge thank you to these wonderful children, who confidently explained the superb learning opportunities that are taking place in the school. The parents were shown around the classes to see the excellent teaching and learning. One group of parents was also privileged to see the Junior School choir rehearsal. There is lots of learning in the Junior School: Year 1 were practising their subtraction skills; Mandarin pupils were having a reading comprehension quiz; the Year 3 Immersion class sang the Gruffalo song, read their Gruffalo story to the parents and showed off their table Maths skills and angle knowledge; Year 6 were finding coordinates in four quadrants. We also took parents to the library which is now is more ‘child-friendly’; please do visit it to see the new bookshelves and seating area. There also many parent books in the library that parents can borrow - please see Ms Jola for any support you may require. Our next open day will be Tuesday 23rd January. Please ensure that you email Polly Zhang at polly.zhang@wellingtoncollege.cn if you are interested in attending; attendance is by registration only. The open morning is to show parents around the whole school to see the excellent learning in ALL lessons and classes. Therefore, please be mindful that we will not be spending the whole morning in one class, but in every class around the school for approximately ten minutes in each lesson. Several Classes won the 100% Attendance award: Year 2C, Year 4W, Year 5O, Year 5F, Year 6B – well done everybody; you get 10 minutes extra play time. During our Celebration Assembly, we heard Siya and Suah playing a four-hand piano duet, a piece from Carmen the opera. The children in the Junior School are bringing in their Exit Point projects, which are amazing. We like to display the children’s hard work along the corridors to parents and children, however, unfortunately some children’s projects have been damaged by accidentally touching. Please can you support the school and the children’s very hard work by not touching the projects or allowing your children to do so? Your support will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Golden Learning Moment  Year 5 is using Talk4Writing to learn to write poems. Elena read a few Czech poems to the class to show us how rhyme and rhythm in poetry is similar across languages. These are the House door winners in the Junior school and Nest. Congratulations to Mrs. O’Donoghue Year 5 class and Mr Philpott’s Year 3 class and Ms Monika’s Nursery class.   Korean Cultural Centre Trip in Beijing On Wednesday 29th November, pupils from Years 9 to 11 embarked on a trip to the Korean Culture Centre in Beijing, a centre made to promote awareness of Korean culture in China.  Whilst there we learnt more about the rich culture and the beliefs of the Haenyeo women, a practice that the UNESCO added to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for its 2000 years of history. During the course of the day, we learnt about their daily life and how the people dive for sea urchins and other edible sea life without the use of artificial machinery. These surprising women show a lot of courage in returning daily to an ocean that might one day be their graveyard. As the main breadwinners of their families, they return after 8 hours of work to roast their snacks and feed their families. The exhibition also introduced us to a wide variety of traditional Korean food for different occasions such as weddings and funerals, gave us access to a library with over 20,000 Korean books and shared the mission and vision of the Centre in bringing Korean culture to the world. We would like to express our gratitude to Mr Ogando, Mrs Kim and Ms Jesudoss for giving up their time to be with us on the trip and we would like to give special thanks to Mrs Kim for organizing this entertaining, educational and cultural trip. Monday 11 December 2017 0830hrs - 1130hrs Milepost 3 River Walk (RWB) 1400hrs - 1530hrs Mile Post 2: Exit Point (EP) 1500hrs - 1830hrs HS Basketball vs TIS (a) (SC) Tuesday 12 December 2017 0830hrs Science Trip (Year 11) (DA) 1100hrs - 1200hrs WCA: Pilates (Black Box) 1400PM - 1830hrs MS Volleyball vs TEDA IS (a) (SC) Wednesday 13 December 2017 1600hrs - 1730hrs HS Boys' Basketball vs TIS (h) (SC) (Sports Centre) 1900hrs Christmas Concert (FG) (Theatre) Thursday 14 December 2017 All Day Winter Book Fair (to 15th) (JP) 0900hrs - 1030hrs Mile Post 3: Exit Point (RWB) 1500hrs - 1830hrs MS Boys' Volleyball vs TIS (h) (SC) 1700hrs – 1800hrs Parents’ Meeting (Year 11 AL Induction Year) (YY) Friday 15 December 2017 All Day Winter Book Fair (JP) 0830hrs - 1100hrs WCA: Art Class (KM) (Junior Art Room) 0840hrs - 0930hrs Junior School ASA Showcase (YT) (Theatre) 0930hrs - 1030hrs WCA: Pilates (Dance Studio) 1200hrs - 1500hrs The Nest: Pyjama Party (DZ) (The Nest)