The Week Ahead 9th October 2020

Dear parents

Welcome back to our pupils and families after the national holiday break. I hope it proved to be a restful time for all our community. I am delighted to extend a similarly warm welcome to those teachers who completed their 14-day quarantine period over the break: Mrs Jan Bennett (head of the Nest); Ms Rashmi Dixon (reception); Mrs Melissa Meikle (year 4); Ms Mary Stevens (English) and Ms Kathryn Pelham (maths) are all in school as I write, with Mr and Mrs Lane due to join us at the start of the coming week. Mrs Monica Mukherjee also returns after her enforced absence in India. The difficulties of international travel and in obtaining visas are well known, and I am sure all parents will recognise the considerable challenges these colleagues have faced in getting safely to Tianjin. You will be able to learn more about each new member of staff as we run a series of articles about them over the coming weeks.

Aside from all our new staff, parents will note a second development we unveil this month. Helping our families to understand more about our school, its curriculum, examination courses, assessment practices and the ways in which parents can engage with our teachers and leaders has long been a priority for us. I am fully aware of how difficult it can be to those unfamiliar with British and international education to understand these complexities. There are of course many existing sources of information which are already available to families, including a revised website (available in both English and Chinese language versions) and a new communications’ app, due in November. To these, we have added a parent relations’ team from across the staff – both academic and non-academic. Under the leadership of the Deputy Head, Dr Yang Yang, we will use the team to reach out to individuals and small groups across our community to help provide more information and insight so that more light is shed on all aspects of a Wellington education.

Really great schools across the world have one thing in common: the relationship between the school and home is strong, open, and informed. In this way, the education of their pupils is conducted in a genuinely collaborative spirit, with families and teachers working together, ensuring that each child has the greatest chance to reach his or her full potential. Our commitment to our pupils – your children – means that we too wish to cement the relationship further, and I see the parent relations’ team as a powerful additional tool for raising the engagement of our community. It is not a replacement for any of the day-to-day means of communicating with the school (through the class teacher or housemaster, for example), but rather is more a more nuanced and flexible way of gaining an insight into the education we provide, as well as making the school more responsive to issues or concerns. I very much hope that you all see the benefits of the work of groups such as the parent relations’ team over the course of the year.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
MASTER

Online Meeting
1400hrs-1500hrs, Thursday
15th October

This week’s Meet the Master and Bursar slot is open to parents of pupils in all year groups. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 14th October.

Online Meeting
1400hrs-1500hrs, Wednesday
14th October

Resilient children have protective skills and supportive environments that help them cope with difficult situations and setbacks. Fostering self-regulation skills enable children to direct their attention, manage emotions, keep track of rules, inhibit their impulses, and control their behaviour in other adaptive ways. A resilient child will take risks and not fear failure as they acquire new knowledge and skills. This briefing will explain how we support this in the Nest. The session will be live and recorded. Please send us in any questions or comments you would like to share to hannah.wang@wellingtoncollege.cn by Tuesday 13th October.

Pre-Nursery Class trip
0900hrs-1000hrs, Friday
16th October

We would like to invite Pre-Nursery parents to join us in our Autumn walk to the riverside on Friday 16th October at 0900hrs. The purpose of the trip to explore the environment around us and to see the different autumn colours and collect leaves to make an autumn picture. Parents, please wait in the security hut and we will come to you at 0900hrs. The trip will take about 1 hour and the children will have their snack once they are back at school.

Pink Day
Friday, 16th October

Wellington pupils, parents and staff will celebrate Pink Day. We would like to invite our pupils to show their support for the Tianjin Cancer Hospital Prevention Centre by wearing an item of pink clothing on Friday October 16th and donate 10RMB / item of pinkness.

After the last year's successful Pink Day celebration that brought together members of our community, we would like to organise another 'pink' event. This year we would like to invite our ladies from Friends of Wellington to join is in our 10km walk on Saturday, 17th October. If you are interested in joining us please contact Maja Rogic at maja.rogic@wellingtoncollege.cn for more information.
 
All funds raised across the ISCOT schools will be donated to the TICC's charity campaign – a hugely worthy cause.

Many thanks to all our generous sponsors for their donations to the 100km walk. We completed the walk on Monday afternoon, deep in the heart of Sanlitun in Beijing. The walking took 19 hours and 28 mins at an average speed of 5.1km/hr. We are so delighted to have raised over 42,000RMB for our two local children’s charities.

Thanks also to Mr Bai (not pictured) for being such a wonderful team member

Parent-Child Magic Baking Class - Wellington Community Event (Bilingual Session)
1400hrs-1700hrs, Saturday
17th October

We are very fortunate to have the opportunity of a parent-child magic baking class at a special rate for the Wellington community. Held at the Bread Farm on Shengli Road, you and your child will learn how to recognize food ingredient lists, eat healthily with additive-free foods and enjoy a healthy lifestyle. The kitchen will be transformed into a laboratory where you will extract botanical colours and make your own Van Gogh Starry Night Toast! Following the class, you’ll be able to enjoy delicious afternoon refreshments.

The offer is limited to 20 families and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis so please register quickly to avoid disappointment!

Registration Deadline: 15th October 2020
Wellington Community Special Offer: RMB 180 per family (2 adults and 1 child) Original Price: 268 per family
Address: Bread Farm 天津惜恬面包农场，Ground floor, Golden Bay Shopping Plaza , Shengli Road, Hebei District  河北区胜利路海河金湾商业广场底商外铺一楼

For Registration and more details please contact Fiona Yang at

fiona.yang@wellingtoncollege.cn.

Our new initiative for the Wellington community got underway last weekend with the first section of WellingTEN walks. We had a wonderful time with parents, pupils and friends of Wellington joining in this 10km-walk.

Over this academic year, we aim to walk 100km in total, get to know each other better while walking around Tianjin, and all of it for a great cause – raising money for local children’s charities. In June 2021, certificates will be awarded to those who complete the full 100km and to those who donate the most for charity. 

If you are willing to take part in this great event, please scan the QR code below for the registration of the next event in October. Pupils below Year10 need to be accompanied by the parents.