The Week Ahead 8 February 2018

Dear Parents Welcome to this final edition of the Week Ahead before our half term break and the Spring Festival. I wanted to use the opportunity to wish all our families a very happy holiday and a prosperous Year of the Dog. Our focus thus far this year has been on re-establishing some of the fundamental things that make our Wellington community such a vibrant one. You will know all about the way we have developed the core values into a ‘living values’ project; contributions from all parts of the school family now feature in our statements around each value and the behaviours we as a group feel are central to those values. Improved communication has also formed a major part of our drive to reconnect with the community. The term diary, regular Open Days, newsletters and opportunities to meet the Master, Bursar and other senior teachers have all played their part in keeping parents and friends of Wellington more informed about the work of the College. We are now building up to our Annual Review visit on 13th/14th March, which I very much hope will find that the school is making strong progress against all our targets. I will brief parents on the interim results as soon as we have them, as well as provide a full report on the responses to your recent Parents’ Survey. There is a more thorough parent briefing on the Annual Review and an outline of our next steps on Wednesday 2nd May at 0900hrs. There is one more change to announce this week. Avid readers of the Week Ahead will notice that this publication will be a more streamlined version after the holiday break; the focus will be on the important events of the coming week, making it a more digestible document. To compensate, we are launching a new series of Insight articles, focusing on the education and wider opportunities we provide for our young people. I hope that readers find these new pieces, including analyses of teaching in an Early Years’ setting, Wellington’s pastoral care provision and the increasingly sophisticated university admissions’ programme, stimulating and informative, offering new ways for parents and the friends of the school to learn more about the learning journey at Wellington College in Tianjin. As ever, I would welcome your feedback on the new format. Best wishes Julian Jeffrey Master

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MEET THE MASTER Common Room 1400hrs-1515hrs Thursday 1st March This week, the Meet the Master slot is aimed at parents of pupils in Y2-Y6. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms. Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 28th February. WHAT IS ‘SERVICE LEARNING’? Black Box 0900hrs-1000hrs Wednesday 28th February 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, Ms Divya Jesudoss, will introduce the ‘Service Learning’, and Mr Amos Owiti will be offering an introduction to the International Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.   Parents' Evening: Years 11,12&13 (AL & IB streams) Dining Hall 1700hrs-1900hrs Wednesday 28th February Parents' Evening for the parents of the pupils in the exam year groups (Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13, IB and A level streams) will be held on Wednesday 28th February from 1700hrs to 1900hrs in the Dining Hall. Pupils should make appointments with their teachers in advance to ease the queues that can form at such events. Parents will have an opportunity to talk to their child's teachers about the mock examination results and areas for improvements before the public examination season in May/June 2018. Members of the Senior Management team will be present to address any questions that parents might have.   Positive Parenting Class (basic) MB125 9:30hrs-11:30hrs, every Monday Date:  22nd and 29th Jan, 5th and 26th Feb, 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th Mar Charges: 30RMB/time or 200RMB/8 times Positive Discipline is a programme designed to teach young people to become responsible, respectful and resourceful members of their communities. Based on the best-selling positive discipline book by Dr Jane Nelsen, it teaches important social and life skills in a manner that is deeply respectful and encouraging for both children and adults. Parents will learn to avoid power struggles while helping their children to learn self-control and self-discipline. Classes are in a small group setting, allowing deeper discussions and very personalized experience. www.positivediscipline.com Art Class Junior Art Room 0830hrs-1100hrs every Friday next session - March 2nd After a long week of taking care of your beloved children it's time to think of yourself as well. A little oasis from everyday noise, ART classes can give you much needed relaxation. An excellent way to cope with your everyday stress routine, and to prepare yourself for the upcoming busy weekend. Painting, sculpture, drawing, acrylics, aquarelle, crayons won't be a mystery to you anymore. All the things you always wanted to try but didn't have time for, now in the most convenient time and place for you - when your kids are at school. Each month we will be focusing on something new that you might like to try. Expressing yourself in an artistic way combined with relaxing, inspiring music and a glass of tea or coffee can help you find your new daily joy. Come and join ART classes every Friday as soon as you leave your little one(s) in school. The Junior Art Room will be open for you from 0830hrs to 1100hrs to learn some new skills, chat with friends, and share your love of art. Looking forward to seeing 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. WCA Yoga Dance Studio 0900hrs-1000hrs Every Wednesday  Welcome to our newly introduced yoga classes at Wellington College. Yoga philosophy and practice has its origin in India. The word ‘Yoga’ comes from the word “yuj”, which means "to yoke", to unite your body and mind. Regular yoga practice helps your body to become strong, flexible, balanced and healthy. The same will happen with your mind. Yoga has become very popular all around the world for its healing benefits. It does not matter if you are new to yoga or a regular practitioner; everyone is welcome. With the imminent approach of Chinese New Year, the Junior School had no class assembly this week. However, we still managed to show off our wonderful stars in all the classes. Jerry started our assembly with his amazing trumpeting and Thomas finished with his exceptional saxophone playing; I have often commented on the outstanding musical talents that our children have at Wellington. Children in Ms O’Donoghue’s class are the healthiest bunch of children we have as they recorded 100% attendance – and won the award again. Hopefully, many of you will have spoken to your child about the fresh way that we are teaching Literacy in the Junior School.  It is called Talk for Writing (T4W), and it is a very popular tool in the UK to improve the quality of writing. Several of our staff have had up-to-date training and have passed this to the rest of the staff during our weekly staff meetings. Since we have begun T4W, the progress has been clear to see and the enjoyment factor (especially for boys and children who struggle to write) has also increased. Ms O’Donoghue and Ms Romer will be delivering a briefing to parents on T4W on Wednesday 21st March at 0900hrs. Please come along to see T4W in action; you will be asked to join in! More details will be sent out later. Children’s Spring Festival Gala 2018 These past few weeks I have been practising Tai Chi for the Spring Festival Gala of Tianjin. The experience was really new to me and I was thrilled to be asked to be in it. The school was very helpful and encouraged me to participate in this unique opportunity. For two weeks prior to the filming I took lessons every Saturday morning from a highly experienced Tai Chi master. These lessons were two hours long and organized by the filming company. In those lessons I had to practise a 3-and-a-half-minute routine over 10 times while the teacher corrected my position. I had to be at the studio by an inconvenient 1430hrs last Monday but the school let me leave early to get there on time. I also got to practise at school because one school teacher, Mr. Batey, is also a Tai Chi Master. He has won awards in Sanya earlier this year and he supported me and practised with me every lunchtime for two weeks. When I arrived at the TV studio on Monday I was really nervous and also rather hungry. I had to wait for at least 20 minutes to go on stage and when I did my mum was there smiling and drawing attention to herself. I did my Tai Chi routine but this time it was part of a Chinese Cultural display to music and very different from my practice sessions. We had to do it over and over again and it was really tiring. There was a standing ovation and a lot of cheering when we finished. Those weeks are ones that I won’t forget; especially the shooting of the show. If you would like to watch it, it will be on local TV on New Year’s Eve, the 14th February. The programme is called Qian Nian You and it is Tong Wang Zhong Guo -2018 Children’s Spring Festival Gala for 5 provinces. The Under-16 Senior School boys’ basketball team played a very interesting game against TIS. Things were certainly not going our way for the first three quarters, as we had far too many turnovers and missed shots that should have kept us equal in score. As a result of this, the team was down 18:8 with just a quarter to go. We had a short chat in the few minutes between the quarters where I insisted that there is still a chance if we fight for it, and the team decided that they will give it their best. I, on the other hand, promised to write this article in praise of them if they won. With a positive team spirit locked in, our defence became nearly impenetrable, and the visiting team was kept down to just 2 points in the entire quarter. The team’s scoring also improved immensely, with Barry, the game’s MVP, scoring three consecutive 3-point shots, for a final score of 23:20 for Wellington. TIS was, as always, a respected opponent and a very friendly side to play. We look forward to our next match with our head-to-head score now tied at 1:1. Monday 26 February 2018 0930hrs - 1130hrs WCA: Positive Behaviour (Beginner Level) (MB 125) Tuesday 27 February 2018 0830hrs - 0930hrs WCA English Class: beginners (PF) (MB 235 1100hrs - 1200hrs WCA: Pilates (Black Box / Dance Studio) Wednesday 28 February 2018 0900hrs - 1000hrs Parent Briefing: What is 'Service Learning'? (JL) (Black Box) 0900hrs - 1000hrs WCA: Yoga (Dance Studio) 1700hrs - 1900hrs Parents' Evening: Years 11,12 &13 (AL & IB streams) (DP) Thursday 01 March 2018 All Day World Book Day (JP) All Day GCSE Art trip to Shanghai (to 3rd) (MFC) 1100hrs - 1200hrs WCA: English Class - Intermediate/Advanced (PF) (MB 231) 1400hrs - 1515hrs Meet the Master: Years 2-6 Parents (ES) (Master's Study) Friday 02 March 2018 All Day The Nest: Lantern Festival (DZ) (The Nest) 0830hrs - 1100hrs WCA: Art Class (KM) (Junior Art Room) 0930hrs - 1000hrs WCA: Pilates (Black Box / Dance Studio) 1200hrs - 1230hrs Assembly: Respect - Stanley House (JMS) (Theatre) Saturday 03 March 2018 0900hrs - 1130hrs Sixth Form Open Day (PR) (Atrium) 0900hrs - 1400hrs Academy Programme (AP) (EvK) 0900hrs - 1500hrs ISCOT Badminton: MS (h); HS (@IST) (SC) (Sports Centre)