The Week Ahead

FOBISIA Language Champions

I am simply over the moon to share some fantastic news that I know will bring good cheer to our entire community. 

Wellington College International Hangzhou pupils won *1st place* and so we were named the top school in the FOBISIA Language Championships. It is a huge achievement and a fantastic result; it clearly indicates our French and Spanish learners’ hard work, strong academic ability, and keen determination across the school.

To be crowned first place, our pupils competed against almost 6000 other children at FOBISIA schools across Asia to collectively answer over 4,000,000 questions in French and Spanish on the competition platform Education Perfect. When looking at the final standings of the entire competition beyond just the FOBISIA group, the results are even more impressive. Our pupils came 1st in French and 3rd in Spanish in their category of more than 200 other schools worldwide. I am sure you will agree this is just a magnificent feat. Our Modern Foreign Languages Department goes from strength to strength.

We are also competing in FOBISIA virtual swimming and running competitions across the school, with our running finals scheduled for Friday 25 March. Pupils have been in training under the watchful eye of Mr Schulze, and I have relished hearing stories of the Herculean efforts some have been putting in to improve their personal best times. I am excited to see our pupils strive to replicate our Language Championships’ good fortune in other areas of school life. We are a school fully committed to providing golden opportunities for our pupils to gain new experiences and grow in many walks of life around the school. 

I hope you all can join me in congratulating Ms Rakotondradano and our pupils in French and Spanish. Excellent work, everyone, a superb achievement and a strong start to our life as a FOBISIA school; I am immensely proud.

Stewart Brown

Head of Senior School

Last week, along with thousands of schools in the UK, we celebrated Careers Week at Wellington College Hangzhou. The aim of the week is to develop pupils' awareness of career development and broaden their horizons about the jobs they could do in the future. 

Secondary pupils took part in discussions about changes in the job market and predicted which jobs might be in demand when they leave university. As part of this activity, they had great fun guessing some of the jobs their teachers used to do. Secondary teachers also began their lessons with videos and tasks centred on career opportunities related to their subject. It stimulated lots of interesting conversations about the transferable skills they gained from each of their subjects. Also, it opened their eyes to a whole host of careers they didn't realise existed, from patent attorneys to climate scientists. 

Primary pupils got involved by entering a careers-themed competition. All teaching staff wore stickers with different jobs on them and pupils had to write down the names and jobs of 10 teachers to win a prize. Congratulations to the 80 pupils across the school who won a Careers Week pin for their lanyard. This activity expanded pupils’ job-related vocabulary and encouraged practising literacy skills, but it also sparked their curiosity about jobs they hadn’t heard of before.

Careers' information and guidance is more than just options and planning for the future. It is about young people discovering what matters to them and finding purpose and their place. The broad curriculum, extracurricular opportunities and fundamental values of Wellington College Hangzhou equip our pupils to become confident, adaptable and resilient future workplace leaders.

Emily Deacon

University Advisor

This week I have spoken to many different pupils, parents and staff about International Day at WCIH, all sharing their vision. We are well underway with the planning and are proud that so many parents support by volunteering to represent different countries.

The world’s nations will gather on 6 May this year as WCIH will welcome over 20 countries with food, costumes and performances from around the globe. This special event is coordinated each year to bring the school community together and celebrate our diversity.

This week we have begun stage two of our planning process with parents and staff and are excited by the shared vision and passion.

Save the date and watch this space.

Matthew Coleman
Head of Primary School

At Wellington College Hangzhou, we strongly believe in the power of drama, dance, and music. Therefore, please take a moment to read some findings related to listening to music and learning to play a musical instrument (singing included as the human voice is a musical instrument).

Music surrounds us and inundates us; it makes us emotional, lets us travel in time, gives us strength or fills us in moments of peace. We can activate the brain's two hemispheres and create more connections between them through music. The right-hand part of our brain stimulates our imagination and lets our emotions fly high, while the left-hand part will be active analysing the works and concentrating on the more rational side, such as the meaning of the words, the notes, the rhythms.

What happens in our brain when we play an instrument? Recent studies show that neurophysiological distinction is trained when a child actively learns to play an instrument. Their brains learn to hear and interpret sounds unique to the experience of playing music that is not taught by just listening to it (Locker 2014). It is excellent for developing brains because as the brain matures, it rewires the ordinary course of neuronal communication to be more elaborate in connecting the left and right hemispheres. The result is a brain more capable of processing complex information. 

Enjoy listening to any style of music you love and take the initiative to learn a musical instrument. Contact us if you would like some guidance regarding learning a musical instrument at school.

Alejandro Montoya

Director of Performing Arts

This week in Physical Education at Wellington College International Hangzhou, the pupils have been studying and practising how to pace themselves when running 3km and 5km. It is a difficult skill to master. Pupils have been listening to songs with different beats per minute, as each step corresponds to a beat of the music. It helps pupils to pace themselves. This practice will enable the pupils to compete in the FOBISIA virtual running challenge at our campus on 25 March.

Timothy Schulze

Head of PE

Please click here to tune into our Dukebox radio to enjoy various shows throughout the week.

Listen from 9:00-12:00 every weekday for “Marty James Morning Show”, “The big yellow bus show” at 6:00, Baz’s Motown Classics at 18:00, Dukebox Best Ever Song Show at 20:00 and the Rock Show at 22:00.

If you missed any live shows, you can access them on our exclusive “Catch Up” service here. Click on the date and time of the show you missed and “Listen Again”.

Please click here to see excellent content being created by our pupils and staff available in our podcast section.

Please find some of the more recent podcasts created by pupils and staff at WCIH:

WCIH House Singing Competition

The Case of Lizzie Bowden by Leah

Role Models by Jerry

A Haunted House by William

Biography of Stephen Curry by Mike

Chinese Kung Fu by Hank

Martin Bailey

Dukebox Presenter

Spring is the season of rebirth and rejuvenation of nature. This spring, Wellington College International Hangzhou is taking the pupils on the journey to Greece by tasting its food which is considered one of the healthiest in the world. On Wednesday this week, pupils enjoyed a Greek Food Festival. Tzatziki, Moussaka, Greek pasta salad, Greek-style oven-roasted potatoes, and other tasty dishes. The best way to learn about a city or country is through its cuisine. Our pupils certainly enjoyed it.

Service Team