An exclusive interview with Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "Wellington College Tianjin is the first overseas partner school of Wellington College, a renowned public school in Berkshire, England. Our school was founded in 2011 and has since grown to nearly 600 pupils enrolled in Nursery to year 13.

But we are not just an international school. We offer a bilingual nursery for our Early Years children. We also have an A Level Centre. It provides a three-year course for Chinese pupils interested in applying for overseas examinations after Junior High School."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "China offers an incredible breadth of culture, history, language and opportunity. Everybody thinks that the 21st century will be China's century. Our visionary founder, Ms. Joy Qiao, wants to combine the best of Eastern and Western pedagogies. Ms. Qiao saw what Wellington was doing in England — great exam results, excellent learning opportunities and a holistic education model. She was allied in this vision with Sir Anthony Seldon, Wellington's former headmaster in England. It is a genuinely collaborative relationship.

There are five universal values across the whole Wellington family of schools. These are Courage, Respect, Integrity, Kindness and Responsibility. We are trying to help our pupils, parents and teachers lead lives guided by these values. That is very important to me, as important as our excellent exam results."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "I think the school has a clear mission: to educate the children of our community in a safe, responsible and progressive way so that when they leave, they are better prepared to face the world. Our vision is geared toward preparing pupils for life outside of Wellington.

I am so fortunate that I work with some fantastic leaders and teachers. For example, Yang Yang, our principal, is exceptional. It is an enormous challenge to be a bilingual leader in a school staffed with teachers from around the world but she has the energy, vision, capacity and intelligence to do it. We also have an amazing bursar, our finance director, named Julia Ji, whom I respect immensely.

We also have some wonderful people in place as our heads of school. Jan Bennett, our head of Early Years brings years of experience from the UK whilst embracing our bilingual educational model. She did not come from a bilingual school in the UK, but she has the vision and open-mindedness to adapt to a new system and make it work for her, our teachers and, most importantly, the pupils. I admire how she has embraced bilingual education. It is such a big learning curve.

Likewise, Melissa Meyers, our head of Junior School is so talented. It is remarkable that one person can have the level of empathy, compassion and vision in educating young people. She is very clear in wanting the best for all our pupils and communicates this to our families and staff through her words and her actions.

Importantly, given the importance of great public exam results and university admissions, I am lucky to work with a dynamic Head of Senior School in Raja Ali. He brings years of international teaching and leadership experience to that crucial phase of the school."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "It involves a lot of luck. You must have the right people applying for jobs in your school, or you need to identify talent among the ranks, develop it and promote it when the time is right. It is also important to make time for people. Every school is busy. Something urgent, important or both is always happening! It is therefore useful to pause and occasionally step back from operational leadership. I am not talking about taking holidays. Rather, I mean taking the time to reflect on the long-term needs of your pupils and staff."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "I think I have provided stability and continuity in my eight years at Wellington Tianjin. I admire school leaders who stay for more than two or three contracts. I think that is important for the community. I try and show people that if I work to understand cross-cultural problems and issues, they too can try and do the same thing because I also come from a background that is not Chinese."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "First, you have to be a good listener. Listening is a more important skill than speaking. Also, one particularly undervalued quality is the ability to create constancy and stability. Families, pupils and staff must believe that you are fully invested in the school's mission. This builds confidence in the school and its provision.

You can be a teacher's master, you can be a parent's master, but what we must all be is a children's headmaster. A good master should always be a champion for the pupils in their school. This means believing in them, respecting them, and remembering that, however busy or experienced you are as a leader, every decision you make should be guided by how it can improve the educational opportunities provided for your pupils."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "All our pupils can be leaders, but not everybody is born to it. Whilst leadership is fundamentally about making decisions and taking responsibility, pupils need support to help them understand the challenges of meeting this simple requirement.

Everybody must lead at some point in their lives. This is why we emphasise leadership for our pupils. It is essential to help a child become resilient and to understand more about themselves and their place in the world. Why do they matter? What will they do when they leave school? How can they be successful in their lives and careers? Instilling in pupils the understanding that, when they go into the wider world, their maths knowledge will be important; the science they learned is important, as are history, art and music. Having said all of that, how they conduct themselves, interact with others and treat themselves, is even more important. Do they take responsibility for their own behaviour? Issues like these are more important because they will open (or close) more doors for them than their performance on a history or maths exam will." 

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "Our pupils enjoy educational opportunities that many children their age will never experience. The privilege of their schooling, however, should not insulate them from the community around them. Rather, it should provide our young people with the means to understand the responsibilities that come with this privilege and then use them for the benefit of all. 

Therefore, we do service-learning projects with every year group. The objective is to teach our pupils the value of doing for others, that they are not only helping others but also themselves. They are, in effect, learning about themselves and their place in the world. Meanwhile, the activities help build communication skills, compassion and a sense of responsibility in our pupils."

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin:  "Be clear about why you are in the job. Be clear about your organisation's purpose. Make your senior people, your teachers and your pupils understand what that vision is. If they do not understand, if they cannot articulate your school's vision, then no one outside the institution will know either. Then, once people understand your vision, make sure it informs every decision your organisation makes. 

Every school can be great. It does not matter what your tuition fees are or whether you have a dozen sports halls, IT facilities or swimming pools. You can be a great school because your community believes in you and your vision. What school could ask for more than that?"

Julian Jeffrey, Executive Master of Wellington College Tianjin: "Wellington College Tianjin's core mission is to provide a high-quality education for as many people as possible in China. I would like it to become a school where children from all backgrounds could access the education we offer, regardless of their means. I think we are getting there through the Shuping Scholarship Programme. We have Shuping Scholarships in several of our schools, but we can do more. I think there are plenty of opportunities to do this, and I think Wellington should lead the way."