The Week Ahead

We are now officially open. 

In October, it seems odd that the school celebrated the official opening after almost two months of the school term. However,  it was the first time we managed to get our wonderful community together to celebrate our world-class new school building and state of the art facilities. 

It was a privilege welcoming many pupils, parents and colleagues, including our inspiring Founder and Chairman and CEO from the Wellington College China group, who cut the opening ribbon alongside our landlord Vice President of Transfar Group and Member of the Transfar Group Board. 

 

 

It was an excellent afternoon, with the highlight being the choir who sang two songs from the mezzanine steps in the atrium; they were fantastic. In addition, we were treated to a range of piano performances from our music scholars, awe-inspiring in both their technical ability and beauty. The music department at Wellington College International Hangzhou gave an excellent showcase and excited us all about what it will deliver around Christmas time.

Stewart Brown

Head of Senior School

Choosing which A Levels to study in Sixth Form is a big decision for pupils and the process is different for everyone. There are pupils who know exactly what they want to study, those who have an idea but are unsure about the high demands of courses and there are also those individuals who do not know where to start. I would like to address the last group of students first by reassuring them that it is perfectly normal to be undecided about academic futures at the age of 16. Here are a few student profiles to help you choose your A Level subjects:

My advice is always for pupils to choose what they enjoy and what they can succeed in. There is no easy option in Sixth Form, all subjects are difficult which is why it is imperative that students enjoy their subjects. If they love their subjects, studying will always be a joy and pupils will become lifelong learners.

Hatty Leung

Head of Sixth Form

English language development 

 

 

 

 

At Wellington College International Hangzhou, we are proud that our learners come from 18 different countries and speak a multitude of languages. With such a diverse range of different languages this places English language development at the centre of everything we do. This intense focus on English will support our pupils to be successful in their everyday school lives and to become global citizens who can communicate with people across the world.

During this academic year, working with GL assessments, WCIH has embarked on an exciting, whole-school project, to help our school secure its position as being a world-leader in EAL (English as an Additional Language) teaching and learning. This project is the first step to enable teachers at the school to use accurate and detailed assessment data to identify and support key groups of EAL learners.

 

 

This week, Catherine Paradine, Assistant Head of Primary, and I delivered a parent workshop on ‘English Language Development 4-11’. We shared the school’s first-class approach to EAL pedagogy, guided by the Bell Foundation and GL assessments, and what a Wellington learner can expect in terms of opportunities to develop English language skills in school across all subjects. 

This means that EAL learners at WCIH experience a rigorous, personalised and research-based education, tailored to their needs. They are well supported along their learning journey with access to a wide range of levelled readers, a growing library of books, a teaching team whose focus is on supporting the pupils to make significant leaps forward in their learning and a ‘whole’ education in which pupils can practise their English in a variety of engaging ways. When implemented in our classrooms, here at Wellington College international Hangzhou, by our team of passionate and self-driven teachers, EAL pupils are making their first steps on their road to success.

Samuel Miller

Head of Primary English
Catherine Paradine
Assistant Head of Years 4-6

 

 

This week, the boys’ volleyball team are training in preparation for the competition against HIS next week. This will be their first opportunity to demonstrate the skills they have learned during School Activity (SAs) training sessions on Wednesdays. The competition will be a valuable lesson for the boys to know, first-hand, what a real volleyball game feels like, and witness the strategies employed by another school. 

This weekend the synchronised swimming team will compete at our school. Many of the team have competed before and look forward to the challenges of competing against other schools. The team train during the Wellington School Activities programme, coached by our expert team of synchronised swimming coaches.

Timothy Schulze

Head of PE

Click to view pupils' performance 
from the opening ceremony

Last weekend saw the school’s official opening ceremony take place and from a Performing Arts perspective, it was an amazing opportunity for our gifted performers to showcase their talents. Through ensemble performance, the school choir opened the afternoon’s performances with two songs and our talented young pianists closed the proceedings with solo performances. We all perform in our lives to some extent and events like this offer the pupils at WCIH a place to practice these much needed transferable performance skills that will give them a competitive edge when they move on from WCIH – it is at the heart of our life and values. It also forms good practice for our Winter events at the end of November and December where all pupils will have an opportunity to perform and practice these skills.

Craig Perkinton

Music Teacher

This week we welcomed the arrival of our brand-new Chinese drums. The percussion SA group are preparing for our upcoming Chinese New Year Gala 2022. We had the opportunity to analyse the instruments and understand their timbre by size. Furthermore, we looked at scientific facts about wavelengths and the physics of music through drums. Wellington and Hiba pupils worked together and enjoyed making music based on courage and collaboration. 

Kind reminder: we have an instrumental programme across the college. At present there is some availability for piano lessons. If you would like any further information, please email Mr. Montoya (alejandro.montoya@huilieducation.cn).

Alejandro Montoya

Director of Performing Arts