Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai celebrated 100 days of friendship with its founding families today. The setting was adorned with beautiful paper lanterns which had been decorated by every person who had shared the journey so far. To mark the occasion, the pupils had created 5 remarkable pieces of artwork which were then reproduced to make cards and sold to raise money for charity. Three stories of a shared journey from three different perspectives were told and wonderful memories were made. To round up the celebration, we had some very special visitors who performed for the families and caused shrieks of excitement from the children.
In my speech to the Wellington families, I recalled the faith and trust that they had placed in Wellington College at the start of our shared journey. Back in October 2015, we announced our plans for opening an early years’ setting and Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai was launched to the public. The interest that was sparked was significant, to say the least and we started to hold open days on weekends to let the Shanghai community know about our philosophy and vision for early years’ education. We held our open days in another building and used a small model of the proposed setting to illustrate our vision. What happened next reinforced our belief, as we could see that the families we were meeting were different and wanted something different for their children.
Today, my message to the families was simple: the model really didn’t matter. We had formed a partnership because we shared a vision of what we wished for the children; a different kind of education, one which would allow them to explore, investigate, grow and develop a love of discovery and learning that would form their thinking and mindset, carrying them through the rest of their education and life.
Over 100 days ago, at those open days, our founding families recognised in Wellington College something that would provide this for their children. 100 days ago, those founding families joined us to celebrate the Grand Opening of Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai and here we are 100 days later, reaffirming our shared desire for exciting, current and child-centred learning opportunities.
We are more than a community. We are a family; partners and friends. We are Wellington.
