The Week Ahead 05 March 2021

Dear parents

Next week sees the visit of the Wellington College Annual Review team to our school. For new parents, the Annual Review is a rigorous quality assurance process aimed to give parents, governors and board members from our sister school in England the chance to get an independent assessment of the school. As well being a CIS accredited school, Wellington is the only international school in Tianjin that opens itself to an independent review every year, providing the community with a detailed appraisal of the school’s progress and areas for development for the coming twelve months.

Our visitors next week will be looking at all aspects of our academic provision, visiting lessons, meeting staff and pupils and reporting back on their findings. As international travel to China is not possible at present, the model for 2021 is a hybrid. The overall lead reviewer, David Byrne, is based in the UK, whilst three colleagues from other schools in the Wellington College China group will act as the gatherers of evidence from across the school. We are lucky to be joined by the very experienced heads of the Senior Schools in Wellington College Shanghai and Hiba Shanghai and the head of Early Years from Hangzhou. They will be in school from Tuesday-Thursday, and parents should have the report in full in April. I will be running a briefing for parents on the findings of the 2021 Annual Review on Wednesday, 5th May. 

Opening up the school to the scrutiny of those outside the immediate community is not always easy. It takes a bold commitment from the school to agree to engage in this undefended exercise, but we welcome the experience as we are determined to learn from the feedback and areas of constructive criticism. Learning from others is central to a genuine determination to improve, whether for a school organisation or an individual. Throughout their time at Wellington, pupils are encouraged to see feedback similarly. Reflecting and acting on advice is a crucial part of growing as a learner. Teachers offer specific ideas to help children embrace advice and make the necessary changes to their work.

Not all pupils find this process comfortable. Some regard constructive criticism as inherently personal and consequently find it hard to separate advice on improving areas of schoolwork with a sensitivity towards their own perceived capacity as learners. I wrote last week about the small number of our pupils who report low levels of self-worth as a learner. This group is particularly prone to regard any suggestions on how to improve as an implicit criticism of their ability or application. In the worst-case scenarios, pupils who develop this mindset find it increasingly hard to deal with academic work as the gap between their perception of their abilities and reality grows larger with every ‘negative’ comment on their work.

Happily, such instances are scarce. The vast majority of children are quite capable of contextualising advice and constructive criticism as they see the relationship between such feedback and improvements in their work and understanding. One way to develop qualities such as resilience, self-confidence and developing a growth mindset is to embed them from an early age. To this end, we have teamed up with a company from the UK, Role Models, to offer an online programme of courses addressing just such issues. The company has worked with a range of British and international schoolchildren over the past few years, running courses specifically designed to help build character and mindfulness. The classes will run in the forthcoming holiday (29th March-2nd April) and offer children from years 1-8 the chance to engage in workshops with skilled UK trainers who specialise in delivering such courses. Details of the programme are below, but if you would like to know more, there will be an online presentation by the director of Role Models to interested parents on Tuesday 16th March (1800hrs, CST).

The Annual Review process, through the challenge of its rigour and oversight, tests our institutional resilience and open-mindedness. Just as embracing the process and reflecting on the areas for development helps us to continue to improve as a school, pupils who use assessment and feedback constructively manage their learning better than those who do not. We can all help our pupils foster such an approach, and programmes such as those planned for the Easter holidays can play an influential part in building success in a child’s journey through learning.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
MASTER

Since the start of the term, we have welcomed five new children to the Nest. It has been wonderful to see how well they have settled in and how the children in all the year groups have helped them to understand the daily routines and expectations.

Next week the children and staff in the Nest will welcome visitors from some of the other Wellington College China Schools as part of an Annual Review process. We are excited to show them all the learning the children are involved in and all the things we do that we are proud of. I know the children will take the opportunity to shine and show our visitors how well they collaborate, play and learn.

Friday was a busy day. We were able to welcome the Eaglets’ parents onto the campus to see their class assembly. The pupils were all able to show such confidence in their rehearsals, including the three new children! It makes the staff team so proud to see the effort they put in come to fruition and the fact that children rise to the challenge every time.

We also welcomed parents from the Nest to a transition briefing about the move into year 2. Qualified parents had the opportunity to see classes from year 2 in action and understand how the experience in year 1 prepares our children for the unique education on offer here at Wellington. I hope that the briefing today has helped to explain the education programme for the children as they move up into the Junior School.

The team and I would like to thank you all for your ongoing support of everything we do in the Nest and we look forward to more opportunities to invite you into school for more events in the coming weeks.

29th March-2nd April

Given the difficult last few months we wanted to offer something over the Easter holidays that is both fun and educational, so we have commissioned Role Models (a UK education business founded by an Old Wellingtonian) to design and deliver a number of bespoke online Leadership Courses for our pupils in Years 1-8. 

Focusing on leadership skills and confidence, these courses will encourage children to consider the concept of ‘everyday leadership’, help them to understand their own strengths and how they can have a positive impact on those around them. Complementing the work we do here at Wellington, we believe the courses are a great chance for the pupils to develop essential confidence and leadership skills in a fun, engaging way.

The 5-day courses will run from Monday March 29th - Friday April 2nd (9-10am for Years 1-2 and 10.15-11.15am for Years 3-5 and 6-8) and will take place on Zoom. The cost of the course is RMB 1,195. 

Please look out for further course & booking information which will follow next week.