Located centrally on a purpose-built campus in the Hongqiao District of Tianjin, Wellington College International Tianjin is a co-educational school offering British education for students aged 2-18 years. The school collaborates closely with the prestigious Wellington College in England. WCIT employs teachers with extensive experience from Wellington UK, initiates student and staff exchanges, and shares elements of the core ethos with the UK school, such as the Eight Aptitudes approach and the well-being program.

Founding date: August 22, 2011
Type of school: International school
Grades offered: Pre-Nursery to Year 13
Is the school registered with the Ministry of Education? Yes
Accreditations: IBO, Cambridge Board, Edexcel, AQA, CIS Member
Tuition fees (2013-2014 academic year):

• Application fee: RMB 2,000
• Tuition fees: RMB 95,000-214,000
• Placement deposit: RMB 18,000
• Transportation fee: RMB 9,900 per year
• Uniform fee: RMB 2,000-2,400 per set

Lunch offered: RMB 27 per student per day. Set menu includes Chinese and western menus.
Scholarships offered: Academic, sports and performing arts scholarships available for Year 7 onwards.
Age range: 2-18
Number of students: 370
Nationality of students: UK, Canada, South Korea, US, Australia
Foreign passport holders accepted? Yes
Local Chinese students accepted? Only in the three-year program for Chinese high school students
Primary teaching language: English
Other languages taught: Mandarin, French, Spanish
Class size: Pre-Nursery: Max. 8, Nursery: Max. 18, Reception-Year 13: Max. 20
Teacher/student ratio: 1:7.5
School hours: 8.45am-3.30pm
After-school activities: Performing arts, music, debate, creative arts and sports
Special needs programs offered: Yes, Special Education Needs (SEN) coordinator available.
Extra help offered: EAL program, TOEFL, IELTS and SAT preparation.
School facilities: State-of-art-classrooms, science labs and art/design workshops, multiple indoor and outdoor courts, two indoor heated swimming pools, music and drama facilities (including a black box theater and the 450-seat Seldon Theatre), library, and V&A Cafe.
Total area: 33,800sqm
School nurse or doctor available? Yes
Contact: 1 Yide Dao, Hongqiao District, Tianjin (8758 7199, admissions@wellington-tianjin.cn) www.wellington-tianjin.cn 天津市红桥区义德道1号

Word from a Parent:
“I’m proud that both my children are at Wellington College. Arriving half way through the year, they felt welcome immediately. Their teacher came from Wellington UK, was used to the curriculum, and was experienced in teaching 3- to 4-year-olds. Links with the parent school are frequent and real. The classes are interactive and open, with discovery and inquiry being the focus. Our children have grown in confidence, vocabulary, and the ability to have open conversation in a short space of time. Parental involvement is actively encouraged. The school-wide house system creates a fantastic sense of community and belonging for the pupils, as well as fostering realistic competitiveness. The school has outstanding facilities, one of the highlights being the theater. Wellington has created a great name for itself in a short time, and really is going from strength to strength now.”

– Paul Cunningham (UK), father of Christopher (age 5) and Lucy (age 6)

Photo courtesy of WCIT

WCIT educators will be presenting a lecture at this weekend’s 2014 beijingkids and JingKids Spring School Choice Fair. To pre-register, click here.

Ready, Set, Go! The checkered flag has been waved as we confirm two education related lectures to be conducted by senior management teams from Dulwich College Beijing and Harrow International School Beijing at the 2014 beijingkids and JingKids Spring School Choice Fair taking place at the Hilton Beijing on March 1 and 2.

The pre-registration period kicked off on Wednesday, January 15 for a chance to get the discounted buffet meals from the Elements restaurant from our Taobao shop. We will also have a kids corner for different age groups. Don’t forget preregistration is required for the fair — click here to register: www.beijing-kids.com/scf

To kick off the fair’s lecture series will be Dulwich College Beijing hosting two talks on March 1 from 10.30am to noon. The lectures will be held in English with no Chinese translation. ‘Creativity in Schools. How a Creative Curriculum Impacts Your Child’s Learning’, with Head of DCB Junior School, Ruth Grant. Ruth has worked with the school past seven years and has been teaching in British International Schools for 30 years working in places such as Zambia, Bangkok, the Caribbean and other locations. She started teaching in an small school in Cheshire.

Ruth will be followed by the Head of DCB Senior School, Simon Herbert as he talks about ‘What’s Needed for Success? How Pastoral Care Facilitates Positive Educational Outcomes’. Simon joined the school in 2012, and was formerly head on modern languages, and senior housemaster, at Fettes College in Edinburgh, UK. While at Fettes College he introduced Mandarin and IB programs. He holds a bachelor of arts in French and Latin from the University of Nottingham and has worked in both Kenya and France.

Dulwich College Beijing is affiliated to Dulwich College London that was founded in 1619 as an independent school. DCB was formed in 2005 and now has over 1450 students. It is part of the Dulwich family of international schools with sister schools in Shanghai, Suzhou, Seoul, Zhuhai and Singapore.

After the lunch break from 1-2.30 pm, Harrow’s Lynne Oldfield, Headmistress; Alasdair MacRae, Director of Studies and Nick Rickford, Head of Sixth Form will be conducting a lecture on the following topic, ‘Leading the way in international education with a perfect fusion of creativity and tradition to produce leadership for a better world.’ This lecture will be in English and simulatinous Chinese translations.

Lynne Oldfield joined Harrow Beijing in August 2014 after a number of senior leadership posts in schools in Suffolk and Norfolk in the UK. Earlier overseas experience as an Education Management Consultant in Rwanda wetted her appetite for overseas education and the new experiences. After visiting gorillas in Rwanda, pandas in China promised to be one of the many attractions of a post in China.

Alasdair MacRae has been working in schools for 16 years, equally split between the UK and China. He joined Harrow Beijing in its first year – 2005. He has played a number of roles in the development of the school as it has grown; as Senior tutor, he established the house structure, and as Director of Studies developed the online reporting system. Immediately before moving to Beijing, he was Head of Science Faculty at a large state secondary school in the UK. Prior to that he worked as a Senior teacher, seconded part time with the Local Authority to develop science teaching and train teachers across 29 secondary schools. His move into teaching was the result of a year-long adventure in Peru, where he discovered his passion for education while teaching English.

Nick Rickford has been Head of Sixth Form at Harrow Beijing since August 2013 and held a similar role at a large state secondary school in the UK since September 2009. Previous educational roles include that of Director of Learning at a different secondary school elsewhere in the UK. Before training as a teacher, he was based in London where he worked for several years in the corporate events industry. During his time at the University of Edinburgh, he would often be found scaring unsuspecting tourists while conducting ghost tours through the underground vaults of Scotland’s capital.

Harrow International School Beijing is affiliated to the Harrow School in the London that is an all boys boarding school founded in 1572. The school is part of the Harrow Family of schools which comprises of John Lyon School, Harrow International school Bangkok and Hong Kong. Harrow is open to international students only and offers the National Curriculum of England and Wales culminating in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE and IGCSE’s) and A Levels.

This blog has been updated with biographies of the Harrow International School Beijing team.

Photos courtesy of Harrow and Dulwich

We’re going at it again next year! Get to find out what the Beijing school scene has to offer at the joint beijingkids and JingKids 2014 Spring School Choice Fair. The fair will be held on March 1 and 2 from 10am-4pm at the Hilton Beijing.  Over 30 international, local and education consultants have already confirmed their participation (by the time of publishing this post).

How to get in on the action? From January 15 to February 28, there is going to be a pre-registration page on our site (www.beijing-kids.com/scf) as well as the JingKids (Chinese only) site (www.jingkids.com/zxz ).

Pre-registration is necessary as this will be the only time to sign up for the lectures that will take place over the two days conducted by different organizations. The lectures will be free to attend. In the course of the month we will profile the lectures that will take place on our blog. Also, there will be a kids corner available where kids can be kept distracted as parents browse or sit down to listen.

There will be a brunch buffet for guests to purchase from Hilton Beijing’s Elements. This is for a limited number of guest and will be on a first come, first served basis. So early booking is encouraged and this can be done via our Taobao Shop link at the end of the pre-registration page. Here is a breakdown of the prices:

1 Adult + 1 Kid (0-6yrs old) = RMB 220

1 Adult + 1 Kid (7-12yrs old) = RMB 320

1 Adult + 1 Kid (13 yrs and above) = RMB 420

1 Adult + 2 Kids (both 0-6 yrs old): The adult pays RMB 220, the first kid eats for free, the second kid will need to pay RMB 100 which comes to a total of RMB 320. If the two children fall within a different age bracket say 0-6 then that child eats for free while the 7-12 child pays RMB 100. Children above 13 yrs old will be charged RMB 200

 Take a look at this year’s Spring School Choice Fair photos.

Kindly note that the above links will become active on January 15 but you can get in touch with the Marketing team either by calling 5820 7700 ext 865 or emailing events@beijing-kids.com to get more information about attending the event. If you wish to participate in the School Choice Fair please e-mail  schoolchoicefair@truerun.com.

 beijingkids file photos