The Week Ahead

Literacy and Reading 

The most common question we receive from parents is, “What can I do to help my child at home?” Of course, we will share subject-specific feedback and advice or exam-focused revision tasks for parents to support us with, as one would expect. However, one thing applies to all pupils that is guaranteed to have the most significant positive impact on learning, and it is one of the most simple - reading. It doesn’t matter whether the reading is for pleasure or work, of fiction, poetry, newspapers or magazines - the most important thing a parent can do to support a child’s education at home is to get them reading regularly and often.

At Wellington College International Hangzhou, we provide a world-class immersive English language education for our pupils to ensure that they are well prepared to succeed in our A-Level programme and then flourish if they choose to study at an English speaking university overseas. Reading in English is an easily accessible and yet one of the most important skills that a pupil needs on their learning journey, and one which I encourage all parents to play an active part in at home.

Our school library at the International School here in Building E is fully stocked with classic and modern age-appropriate books for our pupils to borrow. So if your child hasn’t yet taken a library book home, please encourage them to stop by the library one lunchtime to pick up a book.

We ask parents to support us to assist their children to read for thirty minutes per day. I spent my lunch duty this week asking pupils how much time they spent reading each day out of curiosity. The answers I got were mixed. The most enlightening answer was zero because the pupil insisted she was too busy and had no time for reading. I do not doubt that our pupils lead busy lives. However, upon further discussion of how this super busy pupil spent her evening, we agreed that perhaps time spent each night on WeChat, TikTok, watching TV and playing video games could be reviewed to generate some extra reading time. This is where our wonderful parents come in, and it is never too early to begin. Generating a home culture of reading by asking about and speaking about books, and by sharing explicit expectations about how much their child reads, and modelling reading themselves - this is how to answer the question of how - we read.

I wish everyone wonderful stories and happy reading as we celebrate Literacy Week.

Stewart Brown

Head of Senior School

If I were given the option to return to school again, I would politely decline. I remember feeling that there was always more I could do, and therefore revision would never end. This time of year is stressful and difficult for pupils, and parents can often feel at a loss for how to support them. Here are some practical tips for helping your child through the revision and examination season:

Parents' role in a child's education must never be underestimated. Academic staff can provide the techniques and resources to help a learner with their revision, but the parents set the tone and attitude toward education at home.

Hatty Leung

Head of Sixth Form

Earth Day 2022, whose theme this year was "Invest in Our Planet", was marked by our Primary pupils on Thursday through several events led by our School Council representatives.

First was the ‘Big Clean Up’, in which pupils donned high-visibility jackets, masks and gloves and set off around the school’s perimeter to conduct a litter pick. They were surprised at what they found, but pupils could reflect on the role each of us plays in keeping our school and community rubbish-free.

Also, on the day, the School Council asked all pupils and staff to switch off electrical devices for an hour, enabling us to reflect on why this is important and how we can each play our part in reducing carbon emissions. Meanwhile, Sodexo served a "green-themed" lunch menu, which focused on sustainability by offering a range of plant-based and vegetarian dishes.  

Finally, pupils participated in a letter and poster challenge to improve recycling facilities. As a result, the School Council Representatives will be presenting Ms Chang Lui with letters and posters at a special School Council meeting in May, hopefully proving that Wellington Pupils take the challenge of "Investing in our Planet" very seriously and, as future global citizens, understand that change begins with them.

Catherine Paradine
Assistant Head of Primary
(Year 4 - Year 6)

Our performing arts team has worked hard this week organising, creating, and rehearsing the end of unit celebration assembly for our pupils in Year 3. Furthermore, Macbeth rehearsals have been in place with our Senior pupils and staff members supporting the creation of this unique form of theatre performance.

Pupils in Year 3, Ms Moon and Mr Perkinton created a dance routine and music composition to support the topic celebration of “Pollination”.

Senior pupils involved in Macbeth stayed after school, running the whole performance and polishing their performance skills, characterisation and familiarising themselves with the space. Site-specific theatre is considered any theatrical production performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre. An enriching experience for our pupils with the outstanding direction of Ms Moon and support from leaders and colleagues in our school.

Next, we will share pictures and videos of this fantastic and modernise adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays.of Ms Moon and support from leaders and colleagues in our school. 

Alejandro Montoya

Director of Performing Arts

Senior school pupils learned the rules and skills of cricket. They engaged in batting balls from an underhand delivery, and most of them were able to strike the ball with a high level of accuracy. Their ability to strike objects has been developed and practised in several previously learned sports such as tennis, baseball and volleyball. The Wellington physical education curriculum is designed to teach and challenge pupils to draw on skills learned in other sports to help them be more successful and continue to set goals for themselves. Similarly, pupils are working on their football skills in primary school after developing their reaction time and coordination in other sports. They will continue to draw on and develop these fundamental movement skills in sports in future years.

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. Click here to see the whole Dukebox schedule.

Don’t worry if you missed any of the live shows, as you can access them all on our exclusive “Catch Up” service here. Just click on the date and time of the show you missed and “Listen Again”.

You can have a look at the some of the wonderful content being created by our pupils and staff in our podcast section here .

Please find the most recent podcast created by WCIH: 
WCIH Poetry Slam

Martin Bailey

Dukebox Presenter