With team bilingual busy receiving resources, co-ordinating the bilingual curriculum development and planning
for our final open day on Saturday, I took the bullet train up to Wellington College International Tianjin to
meet the Early Years’ team. I love taking the train in China; I’m continually astonished that you can travel
enormous distance in such a short space of time. It is amazing to be able to watch the countryside pass by your
window as you take in the changing scenery.
Wellington College International Tianjin has a very welcoming feel; the staff are exceptionally warm and every
pupil I passed in the corridors, without exception, greeted me with “Good morning”. The school radiated with a
values-based culture and it was a wonderful experience from the very first moment. I wrote last week about my
desire to create such a culture at Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai; I have witnessed this at Wellington
College International Shanghai, where my children are fortunate to attend. To see it in Tianjin further
strengthened my resolve to ensure that we embed the Wellington values in to our cultural DNA and share this with
our families.
The Early Years’ team demonstrated great transparency and openness in their practice and I visited the pupils in
pre-nursery and nursery to see what a typical day involves. It warms your heart to see the very youngest pupils
of a school engaging in a balanced mix of child-initiated and adult-led activities. Exceptional practitioners
from a variety of early years’ educational settings bring a great mix of innovation and evidence-based practice
to the team and the potential to share this practice and evolve as a group is extremely encouraging.
I left Tianjin safe in the knowledge that at team bilingual, we are operating amongst a group of extraordinary
thinkers and doers; and that for me, it really is a privilege to be a member of the Wellington family.
