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Wellington Voice | Waiting for the Flowers to Bloom
A person’s whole life is influenced by the education from their family, school and society; of the three, family education is particularly important. Parents are the first teachers for their children. Family education lays the foundation of a child’s learning journey. In October 2020, the College officially set up a communication group between parents and school to achieve improved parent-school cooperation and to promote the overall development and healthy growth of each pupil.
Since the beginning of the term, the school has organised and invited parents to a series of activities through interactive sharing sessions on campus. Different departments have also organised "Parent Salons", and invited parents to share their own experiences and thoughts on education.
We have gathered these experiences from parents and shared them in recent events focused on family and school education. We hope this will be helpful for parents who may have the similar questions and concerns.
Ryder and his mother
Ryder is in year 4. His mother always inspires him but never pushes him too much. She shared her experience:
“As the person who knows your child best, parents must select a school that fits your child best; one that has much in common with the parent's teaching philosophy, and designs its curriculum appropriately. Parents should often communicate with the school, whether during the epidemic or when the pupils are back in the classroom. Parents should maintain active communication with the school to achieve better support for your child.”
Rina's family
Rina is in year 7. Her mother talked about how she felt about joining an international school
“As the parents of a new pupil here, we were quite worried and anxious about our child coming to an unfamiliar environment, especially when no one around her speaks her mother tongue. Therefore, like most parents, we are especially interested in knowing how our child has been doing at school and how well she was adjusting. We are very grateful to the school for providing such a platform for the parents to learn and communicate with each other. I am grateful to the parents of the pupils who have been here for a while for sharing their experiences. All of the uncertainty and unsure feelings were just what we were going through: does my child have any difficulties in life and making friends? Does she have difficulties in learning? Can she understand what the teachers say in class? After attending the parent briefing sessions and listening to other parents' sharing, my husband and I felt relieved. We need to fully trust our child and give her time and space to adapt to an unfamiliar learning environment. I think Wellington recognizes the children’s potential and teaches them according to their learning abilities, so that every child can do their best to shine. It was an honour for me to know the parents who have the same questions as I did and parents who are more experienced than me. I hope that the school can organise more sharing activities for the parents so that we can understand the school and our children better, and also give feedback to the school in time so that home-school cooperation can become easier and more effective.”
Angelina, James and their mother
James is in year 7 and Angelina is in year 10. Their mother shared her thoughts:
“I was so anxious because I thought James was overly active and lively, but eventually realized that anxiety didn't make any positive difference. I realized that I should keep positive communication and spend more time with him. I should be more patient and encourage him more to create more opportunities for physical activities and develop a positive sense of competition for my child. With my daughter, I prefer to become her best friend and not to stop her doing things right away when there was a problem. I should try to understand her first, and then figure out a solution. Every child is an individual and they don’t start their learning journeys in the same way. As long as we choose the right path, along with the right learning methods, enough patience and encouragement, the children will definitely succeed in their own way.”
Queenie's family
Queenie is from year 8. When her father recalled how Queenie joined the Wellington Family in this March, he commented,
“As a parent who joined the Wellington family in Tianjin this March, I understand the expectations and concerns that the new parents have for their children when facing a new learning environment. Those parents and I are just the same. All the parents are worried about their children, but we can’t always be with them. Therefore, the best support we can give the children is to teach them the skills that they can benefit for a lifetime, such as independence. What we need to do is to focus on the most important problems: to make sure that they are heading in the right direction, we believe in them and give them enough time. I am very grateful to the school for trusting me to share my experience after joining the Wellington family with other new parents. As the old saying goes, “The rose is in her hand, the flavour in mine.” While sharing my own experience, through the sharing sessions with the parents of the pupils in higher year groups, I learned more about the Senior School and had more faith in Wellington College Tianjin. I hope I can participate in more parent activities organised by the school in the future.”
Ian and his mother
Ian is in year 12. His mother was impressed by how fast the Senior School pupils can learn and adapt to a new environment.
“I’m so happy that my experience can help other parents. In fact, I think the children grow up at their own pace and as parents, we need to be not only patient but also confident and believe that they can do it. When my child said to me in a joking way that he probably learned ‘fake’ English in the previous school and found it difficult to understand in this new environment, surprisingly, I felt relieved. Because I could see his abilities in independent thinking and development. After a month, I realized that he got used to the learning environment already. In fact, there is no need to say much, what we can do is not worry so much and let the children try. The future is promising and all we have to do is to grow with our children.”
For the children's sensitivity and the parents' anxiety, we would like to conclude with a quote from Ms. Joy Qiao, the Founder and Chairman of Wellington College China:
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“We think education is more like agriculture rather than an industry. Each child is a unique natural flower. Some of them need good care while some need to experience the wind and sunshine to finally grow up to become the best themselves. We would never use the same model to make batches and batches of identical fake flowers.” We hope that the parents can join us to create the best environment for your child to grow and develop and wait for the flowers to bloom.
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