The Week Ahead October 30th 2020

Dear parents

The first term seems to be flying by, and with a short break coming up at the end of the coming week, we are already well into the academic year. Academic progress is good across the school, and as we approach the assessment and reporting season, I notice data from across the school indicates that our pupils are making encouraging progress against their ambitious targets. Children at all levels are on track in terms of academic outcomes and give the emphasis we place on effort as well as pure attainment, I am confident that we are well placed to meet – and perhaps even exceed – last year’s momentous results.

Great results are one sign that a school is performing well, but it can never be the only indicator. Children and young people are not machines – they need to feel secure, confident and in control of their lives if they are to perform to the best of their abilities. Managing their social and emotional lives is a crucial part of our education here at Wellington. Studies from the UK suggest that a comprehensive wellbeing programme can add more than 10% to a child’s results at IGCSE and for our pupils to flourish in the way we expect, we need to be able to support them with a robust pastoral system.

One of the most insidious and potentially damaging threats to wellbeing is the impact of stress. We do not seek to eliminate stress from the lives of our pupils; that would be a near-impossible goal however praiseworthy it sounds in theory. Stress that is managed and channelled is positive in that it stimulates energy and helps us to meet daily tasks. Our aim, through projects such as next week’s stress awareness week, is not to try and eliminate stress. It is more aimed at helping pupils to understand what happens to their minds and bodies when stress goes beyond tolerance levels. Too much stress triggers a raft of physical and mental symptoms which, if left unresolved, can cause long-term harm to even the healthiest and most resilient of us.

One of the hardest things is to recognise when you are experiencing excessive levels of stress. The symptoms are often physical – tiredness, irritability, an inability to concentrate for long periods, for example, and might therefore not immediately be traced back to stress. In some cultures, it may also be taken for a sign of being ‘tough’, signalling a capacity to absorb stress in superhuman quantities. The reality is that feelings of being overwhelmed or burnt-out are not controllable if they are not understood. As with so many things in life, learning the causes and symptoms of stress represents the best chance for our pupils to avoid the debilitating impact of extreme stress.

Next week gives us a chance to focus on this most common challenge to our mental and physical wellbeing. Staff and pupils will use the week to learn more about managing stress, reflecting on advice for overcoming times of high stress and how we, as a community, can work to reduce the negative impact stress can have on its members. The aim is to have an open dialogue around the topic, helping one another to become better equipped to deal with it when, as inevitably it will do in each lifetime, stress levels go beyond the boundaries of our control.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
MASTER

In School Meeting
1400hrs-1500hrs, Thursday
5th November

This week’s Meet the Master slot is open to parents of pupils in years 7 to 11. If you would like to attend, please confirm via email with Ms Emma Shi (emma.shi@wellingtoncollege.cn) by Wednesday 4th November.

School winter coat

The school winter coat is in stock for you to purchase. It is made of 3M Thinsulate, which is a good material to keep warm.

Please come to the uniform shop to purchase the winter coat for your child(ren), you can also  purchase it from the online shop via http://pc.halfrin.com/shop/login/login. If you have any question, please contact: lisa.liu@wellingtoncollege.cn.

Senior School parent evenings
Online
Years 11 and 12, 1700hrs Tuesday 3rd November
Y11 AL Induction and year 13, 1700hrs Thursday 5th November

There are two parent evenings in the Senior School next week. One is for parents of  pupils in years 11-12, which will be held on Tuesday, 3rd  November and the other is for parents of pupils in the year 11 Induction group and year 13 on Thursday, 5th November. Due to the restricted access to the school, the evening will take a different form than usual. The majority of the meetings will be held online, and parents need to approach teachers they would like to talk to via email, or their child’s Teams account. The respective teacher will then schedule the meeting and book it into your child’s calendar. You can join the meeting using the Teams platform via your child’s account. The meetings can last between 5 and 7 minutes. The evening will start at 1700hrs and will finish at 1830hrs.

Additionally, parents of underperforming pupils will be invited to come to school and discuss their child’s progress with senior leaders.

If you have any enquiries about the parents’ evening, please contact Mrs Popovic, Head of the Senior School.

Dragana.popovic@wellingtoncollege.cn

The Wellington College UK Summer School programme for Years 8 and 9 2021
Online
1900hrs, Wednesday
4th November

A presentation on the Summer School 2021 at Wellington College in the UK will be held on Wednesday, 4th November at 1900hrs. The presentation will be held online, and the link will be shared with parents before the presentation. Mr Iain Henderson, Deputy Head (Educational Developments and Partnerships) at Wellington College will introduce the Summer School to parents of pupils in years 8 and 9. The programme includes academics, sports activities and excursions. If you would like to know more details about this great opportunity, please join us online on Wednesday.

Junior School Instrument Fair
1400hrs – 1600hrs, Monday
2nd November

On Monday, 2nd November, the Junior School will host its first instrument fair and welcomes musicians from the Tianjin Music Conservatory for a frisson-inducing experience!

The woodwind quintet, brass quintet and string quartet will perform popular pieces including Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone and Andrea Morricone, Something’s Coming and America from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II.

The performance is followed by a workshop in the Music Department, where the pupils will have an up-close opportunity to ask specific questions about the mechanism of each instrument.

Online University Fair

Due to travel restrictions this year, our University Fair will take on a different format. We are pleased to be offering a series of online presentations (three per week) from universities from all over the world. Over 200 universities from all over the world will be in attendance so this is a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to gain information first-hand.

Next week we will have three universities ranked Top 30 in the UK – the University of Bath, the University of Liverpool and Lancaster University. The presentations will take place in the Sixth Form Seminar room and pupils from years 10-13 are all welcome to attend. Sessions all start at 1320hrs, and an early lunch is available. Pupils will need to contact a member of the university team if they wish to attend.

• Tuesday 2nd November 1320hrs – The University of Bath (live presentation)

• Wednesday 3rd November 1320hrs – The University of Liverpool

• Thursday 4th November 1320hrs – Lancaster University

UKMT Senior Maths Challenge

The second of this year’s Maths competitions will be the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. It is open to pupils from year 11 and above. Many pupils have already signed up, but there are a few spaces remaining. Additional competitors will need to sign up with me by Monday, 2nd November. The competition will take place on Thursday, 5th November. The competition will be online for the first time and if pupils want to have a practice, they can try the practice paper on the website. This also gives immediate feedback on completion.

World Vegan Day

Around the world, November 1st is celebrated as Vegan Day; it comes a month later than Vegetarian Day. The United Nations estimates that the world population in 2020 is 7.8 billion. The total number of vegans in the world is approximately 78 million. This number shows that being vegan is becoming popular across our planet.

Who are vegans?
Vegans are people who do not eat any animal products (such as meat, eggs, fish, dairy, honey). They tend not to buy products that are tested on animals, made of animal products, and they do not support animal suffering.

Who are vegetarians?
Vegetarians are not as strict as vegans – some of them eat dairy products or eggs.

Why?
There are many reasons why people decide to switch to an animal-free diet. There are many health benefits of a vegan diet;lower cholesterol levels, richer in certain nutrients, improved kidney function, lower blood sugar levels, lower risk of heart disease, etc. Moreover, vegans do not agree with extreme suffering animals go through to support the meat industry.

Famous vegans
Pythagoras, Mahatma Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Franz Kafka, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, Gao Yuanyuan, Lee Hanee, Faye Wong, Albert Einstein, Ms Chapman, Mrs Arden, Ms Pelham, Ms Stevens, Ms Rogic, and many more.