The Week Ahead 31 May 2019

Dear parents We have a special edition of the Week Ahead for you this week. In recognition of the great work done by our Friends of Wellington (FOW), we have dedicated this edition to a celebration of their work. Each FOW group has produced a short report on their activities over the year, so I very much hope you enjoy reading about their tireless work. Our school is built on the firm foundations of strong school-home relationships, and as you will be well aware, my colleagues and I welcome open, regular interaction between us as a way of improving the educational provision for your children. I hope that you find this culture of trust means proactive, effective communication. One key part of the relationship between home and school is the FOW. It offers our community of parents, and indeed others, the chance to meet socially and build the bonds of friendship which may be harder to achieve in a city of such size and diversity. The FOW, following on from its predecessor, the Wellington College Association, has meant that members of the community have had the chance to spend time enjoying fitness programmes through Pilates and yoga, but also more artistic and linguistic pursuits. Many of the parents I meet on a regular basis have benefitted from the free English lessons offered by our inestimable Head of EAL, Mr Findlay; others have developed a deeper respect and passion for their host country through TCM classes and Mandarin lessons. The school offers space and resources to the FOW, including the complimentary use of school buses whilst the pupils are in class, a room dedicated to meetings for the FOW fraternity, as well as rooms for the various classes. Charitable giving is another key part of the FOW’s work, and contributions to school events such as Pink Day, the Summer Fair and various markets have all meant we have been able to increase our community’s support for local and international charities each year. By joining school events in this way, the FOW has shown their children that they share their commitment to helping others, and this is clearly a powerful message for young learners. As so often with our Tianjin community, we are all in it together, working towards a shared goal. All parents are automatically members of the FOW, so if you are new to the school or you wish to get involved, please do not hesitate to contact us. The school’s coordinator is Lily Lian, who can be reached via her email: lily.lian@wellingtoncollege.cn. Lily does not lead individual FOW activities, but she can help by putting you in touch with one of our lead parents, or if you have a suggestion for a new FOW group, then she can assist with the start-up processes for that too. All that is left to me now is to thank all those parents and members of the community who have contributed to the FOW’s successful start-up: your energy and commitment is so important in making a difference at Wellington. I hope that the current programmes, listed below, are ones you might look to support (or even lead) in the future, but whatever the result, I am sure the FOW has many great years ahead of it as our leading parents’ body in the school.   Best wishes   Julian Jeffrey MASTER Meet the Master and Bursar  Duke of York’s Room 1400hrs-1515hrs, Thursday 6th June This week, the Meet the Master and Bursar slot is aimed at parents of pupils in all year groups. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms. Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 5th June. *Reminder* ASSESSMENT WEEK Next week is assessment week in both the Junior and Senior Schools. It is important that children get to school on time and have plenty of rest during the week. Sleep is essential for effective learning, so please make sure that you child is in bed in good time to get between 8-10 hours of sleep. FROM THE HEAD OF THE SENIOR SCHOOL Parents' Briefing: Transition Days Common Room 1000hrs, Wednesday 5th June The Parent Briefing on Wednesday, 5th June in the Common Room (0900hrs) will provide information to Year 6 parents about the transition of their child from Junior to Senior School. The session will outline details about the curriculum, teaching and learning, and pastoral care in the Senior School, as well as more information about the two transition days and other activities planned for later this term. The transition of Year 6 pupils has already started. Each week, on Friday afternoons, Year 6 pupils are visiting a Senior House rooms and are taking part in transition team building, wellbeing and information games. The sessions are delivered and planned by Mr Lewis and Mr Ali and are designed to ensure that the children moving to Senior School have all the essential information they need to make a smooth, happy and successful transition. The expectations of the Senior School are set out very clearly every week for the children. To live the values, work hard, participate as much as possible, represent the House and ensure that we all live in a happy and safe community. The games they have played so far include:

• What are the behaviours of an outstanding pupil?
• What worries do you have?
• Where to get help in Senior School?
• Things that can get you into ‘trouble’ and how to avoid them.

The more children know about the Senior School, the greater their levels of self-confidence, as well as reducing their anxiety as well as making them feel happy and safe. In addition to this weekly activity, after the mid-term break, they will be visiting their House rooms for morning registration on Fridays and meeting their Senior School House buddy (a pupil allocated to look after your child). This experience will allow the children to get to know all their Housemates, their Housemaster or Housemistress and feel part of the House before the new year starts. They will feel more comfortable and less anxious about the transition and therefore be able to enjoy their summer holiday more. You will be able to connect with your child’s Housemaster (also the Tutor) via TChat and email. This process is new this year and a significant addition to our existing support programme. We are planning on measuring the impact of this transition on your child. All Year 6 will soon be completing the PASS survey, a series of questions that they answer on a computer that informs us about the child’s attitudes to themselves and school. We will repeat the survey during their first year in the Senior School and measure the impact of their Year 7 programme on the following areas:

• Feelings about school
• Perceived Learning Capability
• Learner Self Regard
• Preparedness for Learning
• Attitudes to Teachers
• General Work Ethic
• Confidence in Learning
• Attitudes to Attendance
• Response to Curriculum

If you would like further information about any of the above please do not hesitate to contact Mr Lewis, Mr Ali or myself. Art Every Friday 8:30-11:00 MB125 Mrs Markovic ksenija.jakic@gmail.com   Mandarin Every Tuesday 10:15-11:15 MB125 Mrs Yuan and Mrs Zhang yizhang001@foxmail.com   EAL (lower level) Every Monday 8:30-9:30 MB231 Mr Findlay paul.findlay@wellingtoncollege.cn   EAL (higher level) Every Friday 8:30-9:30 MB231 Mr Findlay paul.findlay@wellingtoncollege.cn   Pilates Every Tuesday 8:45-10:00 Black Box Mrs Stofkova dstofkova@yahoo.com   Pilates Every Friday 8:45-10:00 Black Box Mrs Stofkova dstofkova@yahoo.com   Yoga Every Wednesday 8:45-10:00 Black Box Mrs Havlíková havlikann@gmail.com   Yoga Every Thursday 10:45-12:00 Black Box Mrs Havlíková havlikann@gmail.com   Glamour Handmade Course Every Wednesday 14:00-15:30 MB125 Mrs Chen kevingutongxuan@163.com   Traditional Chinese Medicine Every Thursday 9:00-10:30 MB207 Mrs Markovic ksenija.jakic@gmail.com   Notice: Any changes of time/date/venue please follow the notice according to the course organiser. FROM MRS MARKOVIC  Art Class Junior Art Room 0830hrs-1100hrs, every Friday  FOW art classes are in their second year of existence, with nearly 60 sessions so far, two art trips to Yang Liu Qing Museum of Chinese New Year Paintings and TAFA - Gallery of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, several charity activities (Pink Day, Summer Fair) and one exhibition titled “MOMart’, which we are very proud of. The idea of relaxing through art has become much more than that, even though it was a good enough reason to start. Constantly inquiring minds don’t allow us to sleep and procrastinate - there is always something to explore. At the beginning of each class, half an hour of History of Art helps us to connect with different topics, artists, techniques and art concepts. Knowledge is our fuel for new ideas, and expanding knowledge is hardly less important than skill or creation. That’s why we put creative thinking in the first place of our art existence, making a big difference to those who just celebrate pure skills. Imagination makes the world go round; that’s why you can see sparkles if you are passing by the Junior Art room on Fridays. We have been visited by many VIPs: Impressionists, Surrealists, Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, from Ancient Egyptian Fayum portraits to Fauvists... Picasso, Matisse, Michelangelo, Botticelli all became our friends. Now we fully understand the sentence ‘We don’t like what we don’t know or we don’t understand’. In an increasingly accelerating world, it’s a luxury of ignorance to care just about ‘fingernails or muscles’. If we educate our kids in a highly prestigious school, we need to educate ourselves further to be able to cope with our kids tomorrow, for nothing is worse than a boring parent. Education is an ongoing process, receiving a school certificate or University degree is just a break before the deep breath of a whole-life learning process, the time when we celebrate achievements and slowly start being aware of ancient Greek philosopher Socrates’ thoughts that the more we know about a topic, the greater our self-awareness of ignorance becomes. That’s why we happily dig through our memories, emotions, the unconscious and rational, as well as build on our imagination in our Art Gym! Everybody aware of the urgency to press the ‘alert button’ and save themselves from oblivion is more than welcome to join us. It’s up to you which art filter you will apply to your life afterwards! FROM MRS YUAN AND MRS ZHANG Mandarin MB125 1015hrs-1115hrs, every Tuesday   Our FOW Mandarin class has been operating for over a year. Thank you for all your support. We have always adhered to the original intention, compiled our own teaching plans, teaching life-oriented language, focusing on improving parents' Chinese communication skills. Weekly free Chinese lessons not only enable foreign parents to accumulate a wealth of language knowledge, but also through organizing tours in Tianjin, let foreign parents understand Tianjin better, and also enhance the friendship between parents. We have added some content of HSK (Chinese proficiency test) to help some parent take the HSK test. At present, parents in senior classes are at HSK5, and parents in primary classes have basically reached the level of HSK3. For next year, we will adjust the teaching content according to the level of parents participating in the course, while making sure every parent will get the language they need. We’re very happy that the parents from the Chinese class all like our course! Your comments are the driving force for us to continue to work hard!   Comments from FOW-Mandarin members This class is very useful in real life and gives vitality to life. They teach better than any other professional teacher, and I am satisfied with their preparation. Thank you for the efforts of the two parents. I hope the class will continue. ——Soojin P   As for me, the Mandarin classes helped me a lot to improve my vocabulary and understanding. I appreciate the commitment and kindness of the teachers! ——Malan   I attended only a few classes, but they were of course fabulous because of our teachers MRS YUAN AND MRS ZHANG. ... always felt more confident about my spoken Chinese after attending the class ——Kanika   My listening skills are improved since I join in the FOW-Mandarin course, and trough the learning here I was taught the oral Chinese used in everyday life which make me feel very happy. I am so appreciated for help from the course and teachers. I am preparing for the HSK5 TEST now. ——Soojin C   Thank you, MRS YUAN AND MRS ZHANG, for amazing class for us. This Mandarin class is very special, as they always prepare us what we really need in our daily life. Learning Mandarin is not easy, but they made it interesting! ——Kiyoko FROM MR FINDLAY Lower Level EAL Class MB 231 0830hrs-0930hrs, every Monday    Higher Level EAL Class MB 231 0830hrs-0930hrs, every Friday  In the FOW EAL lessons for parents this year we have been working on improving our all-round communication abilities across the 4 Skills. We have been primarily focusing on improving our speaking skills this year and have had many fun and informative discussions on a wide range of cross-cultural topics. Some recent favourites have included: festivals and traditions from our countries; food & drink; childhood and learning; art and books; managing stress and promoting wellbeing; animal rights; obligations, rights and responsibilities and thinking about the future. We cycle through the four skills regularly, and we always aim to tailor the classes to suit the individual needs of all parents who attend, so if you would like to practice your English in an open, communicative environment, then please do think about joining us for the FOW EAL classes.   The following is a brief overview of the main skills and topics from this year, if they spark your interest please do come and join us, learning together is a lot of fun.   Speaking  - Speaking for everyday situations (eating & drinking/health/travel etc.) - Speaking for formal/school communication - Speaking for global issues and ‘hot topics’ - Speaking for guiding learning with your children   Reading  - Reading for pleasure - Reading for study/work - Reading for insight/research (on request) - Reading the news and trends   Writing - Writing for everyday situations - Writing for formal/school communication - Writing for global issues and ‘hot topics’ - Writing for study/business (higher level)   Listening  - Listening for everyday situations - Listening for formal/school communication - Listening for global issues and ‘hot topics’ - Listening for gist/key word   Key Grammar/Language Skills - Linking time and tense/common usage confusions/language in context - Adjectives/adverbs for description/plurals/articles - Connectives/sentence starters/modals/conditionals/perfect tenses   Each week there are both Higher and Lower level classes available, please do contact the school for more details. FROM MRS STOFKOVA Pilates Black Box 0845hrs-1000hrs, every Tuesday 0845hrs-1000hrs, every Friday    Dear Friends of Wellington, I would like to introduce you to our Pilates classes. Pilates is a physical exercise system, with focus on complete coordination of body, mind and spirit. Our classes target core strength, and balanced muscle development which supports correct body posture. Exercises lead to prevention of the back pain as well as better flexibility and increased range of motion of joints. During our classes, we use different small equipment, such as Pilates-rings, over-balls, small and big T-bands, to make our classes more enjoyable and fun. Our Pilates lessons are purposely designed to provide the perfect ambience to awaken the mind and rejuvenate the body. In order to see some results, as in all other activities, the consistency is the key. “In 10 sessions you'll feel the difference, in 20 you'll see the difference, and in 30 you'll have a new body.” Joseph Pilates (creator of the Pilates method) There is no need to be frightened of our Pilates classes, they are suitable for beginners as well as advanced participants. All are welcome to join our Pilates family, with its friendly and pleasant atmosphere. Classes are held every Tuesday and Friday from 8:45-10:00 am in Wellington school. I am looking forward to seeing you on the mats! FROM MRS HAVLÍKOVÁ Yoga Black Box 0845hrs-1000hrs, every Wednesday 1045hrs-1200hrs, every Thursday    In my yoga class I am focused on Viniasa flow yoga, which is one of the most popular yoga styles around the world. It is dynamic style of yoga which synchronizes movement with breath and in addition it is a smooth way to connect the poses together. My yoga class always includes a few minutes of meditation at the beginning, after meditation we do stretching first, afterwards, like is usual, we are warming our bodies by sun salutations A and B, what is a good prevention of the body injuries. After sun salutations we continue with standing poses; this part includes few balancing poses as well. Following part comes with few poses for strengthening core or some advanced pose for fun. Then I place the sitting poses, which are more stretching oriented and not too physically challenging followed by a back-bending sequence and finally we have a finishing series in slower pace taking 10 breaths instead of usual 5 and of course offering necessary relaxing position - corps. Sequencing on my lessons is about 3 or 5 poses and each sequence is overlapped by one viniasa, which means one sun salutation A for keeping our bodies warm. In Wellington I teach two times per week, one class is more advanced and takes 90 minutes, this class also includes training of head standing and sometimes arm balancing poses too; this class is faster and full of poses. The second one takes about 75 minutes and it is arranged for beginners or intermediates, it has slower pace and the poses might be modified to be tailored to the group’s advancement. I am really happy and pleasure that I got an opportunity to teach yoga in Wellington, it is nice time for me when I can share my yoga experience with others and like a bonus, I am getting nice smiles on the faces of my girls.... FROM MRS. CHRISTINA CHEN Glamour Handmade Course MB125 (Junior School Art Room) 1400hrs-1530hrs, every Wednesday   Hi, dear all friends of Wellington! I am delighted to invite you to come to my Glamour Handmade Course and have fun together! Topics like handmade headwear & brooch, handmade vase, Japanese style flowers arrangement etc., are including in the course.   Handmade-material fees and registration fees will be charged.  Depending on different types of handmade materials and topics, the material fees will vary. And all the registration fees charged will all go to charities and announced to all the course attendees. The College will be invited to supervise the sponsorship as well. Please feel free to contact me at kevingutongxuan@163.com to consult or register. FROM PROFESSOR WANG Traditional Chinese Medicine MB125 0900hrs-1030hrs, every Thursday We offer Chinese Traditional Medicine themed health course to help our Wellington community to learn about TCM and improve their awareness of health. Topics varied from identifying yourself and your family's physique to learn about your health through observing tongues. We also learn the basic theory of Chinese Traditional medicine, food health, drug health, tea health and self-pressing acupuncture health will be all introduced in our lessons. UPCOMING EVENTS Monday 03 June 2019 All Day Senior School Assessment week (to 11th) (DP) (Main Building)   All Day Junior School Assessment week  (to 6th) (RA) (Main Building)   All Day Week A 8:30AM - 9:30AM FOW EAL (Beginners) (PF) (MB 235)   3:05PM - 3:45PM Senior School Assembly (JMS) (Theatre)   Tuesday 04 June 2019 8:45AM - 10:00AM FOW Pilates (ES) (Black Box)   10:15AM - 11:15AM FOW Mandarin Class (ES) (MB 125)   Wednesday 05 June 2019 8:45AM - 10:00AM FOW Yoga (ES) (Black Box)   9:00AM - 10:15AM Parents' Briefing: Transition Days (DP, RA) (Common Room)   3:05PM - 3:45PM Junior School Assembly (RA) (Theatre)   Thursday 06 June 2019 8:30AM - 9:30AM IT Committee (GM) (Duke of York's room)   9:00AM - 10:30AM FOW: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (ES) (WCA Room)   9:00AM - 12:00PM FOW Reading Group (ES) (MB 125)   10:45AM - 12:00PM FOW: Yoga (ES) (Black Box)   2:00PM - 3:15PM Meet the Master & Bursar: All parents (ES) (Duke of York's room)   Friday 07 June 2019 All Day Dragon boat holiday (school is closed) (ES)