Foundation Stone Laid at the Ground-Breaking Ceremony

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The foundation stone for Wellington College International Tianjin, was laid in a high profile ceremony on 1st September 2009. The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by the Master of Wellington College in the UK, Dr Anthony Seldon, with honoured guests including the vice-mayor of Tianjin, senior officials from the Ministry of Education in Beijing, the head of the Tianjin Educational Committee, and officials from the Tianjin Municipality Government.

In his speech, Dr. Seldon emphasised that Wellington College is in the top 1% of schools in Britain academically, and is also the leading school in Britain at rugby, golf, chess and polo. Wellington College International Tianjin will be modelled on the original College in both ethos and architecture. The school will provide expatriate children with a breadth and depth of education which goes beyond academic success into every sphere of life. Students will be stretched intellectually, artistically, aesthetically, physically, musically and spiritually.

Talking with journalists interested in the launch of Wellington College's first international school in Tianjin, Dr. Seldon pointed to Tianjin's development plan as China's northern financial centre, and the strong demand for world class education to support the city's continued growth. Wellington College's launch in Tianjin is a major development from one of the pioneers in the field of education, and pupils will benefit from the same high standards of excellence and depth of education as provided in the UK.

The opening of Wellington College International Tianjin in August 2011 is eagerly anticipated.

Anthony F. Seldon MA, PhD, FRSA, MBA, FRHisS is a political commentator best known as Tony Blair's biographer and the Master of Wellington College. He is the son of the economist Dr Arthur Seldon.

Educated at Tonbridge School and a graduate of Worcester College, Oxford, Seldon later went on to study at King's College London, the London School of Economics, and the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster).

He served as head of politics and sixth form at Whitgift School from 1983-89, head of history and general studies at Tonbridge School 1989-93, deputy headmaster of St. Dunstan's College 1993-97 and headmaster of Brighton College 1997-2005. He is currently the 13th Master of Wellington College, where he has introduced co-education in all years and pledged to return the school to the top academic division.

It is for his writing as Tony Blair's biographer that Professor Seldon is best known. His biographies The Blair Effect (1997-01 and 2001-05) and Blair (in cooperation with which a Channel 4 documentary was made) are authoritative works, though were unauthorised and access to Blair was strictly curtailed once the editorial direction of the book was ascertained. On 5 November 2007 he published Blair Unbound.

Professor Seldon has written or edited many other books, including the Thatcher Effect, Britain under Thatcher (with Daniel Collings), Major, A Political Life, Number 10: the illustrated history, and he has also co-authored an illustrated history of the Conservative Party (with Peter Snowdon), which includes a foreword by Michael Howard. His books on 10 Downing Street and John Major are the official biographies.

Professor Seldon founded, with Peter Hennessy, the Institute of Contemporary British History. He also organises annual education conferences at Wellington College for state and independent schools, which in the past have included guest speakers such as David Willetts, Andrew Adonis and Christopher Woodhead.

In 2006, Professor Seldon introduced Happiness Classes (or positive psychology) to Wellington College because he wanted pupils to focus both positive and negative emotions in a constructive and healthy way. The classes run weekly for those in the 14-16 age bracket. The classes offer skills on how to manage relationships, physical and mental health as well as how to achieve ambitions.

In 2007, Seldon was given a Chair at The College of Teachers as Professor of Education.

Under Dr Seldon's leadership, Wellington College has become one of the UK's most over-subscribed and academically successful schools, leaping to 41st in the league tables on 29 August 2009.