10th Anniversary Master’s Message: Welcome to our big year!
Welcome to the 2024-25 academic year! This is a special year for Wellington College International Shanghai as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. Anyone who was with us at the beginning can tell you. 10 years ago, there was not much here in the Qiantan New Bund Area. There was the Oriental Sports Center, the metro station and there was us. The rest of it was just a patchwork of empty lots. In August 2014, we opened our doors to just 300 pupils who would be taught by just 65 teachers.
Contrast that with what you see today: A College of over 1600 pupils and almost 400 staff members strong! And those empty lots? They are now a bustling hive of activity: gleaming office and residential towers, world-class hotels and restaurants, shopping malls, beautiful green spaces. This community is thriving and still growing. I think Wellington has played no small part in that.
But our reach has extended far beyond Qiantan. We now have a fleet of 65 buses traversing this sprawling city twice a day, safely transporting our children to and from school. With each successive graduating class, we are building an alumni network that spans the globe. In fact, next month, we are set to host Wellington’s first US alumni event in New York City, reuniting members of our global community who have gone on to make their mark in the world.
Of course, our mission is to provide an exceptional educational experience for each and every one of our pupils. So, I am immensely proud of our Class of 2024, who achieved an average score of 37.1 on their IB exams. That is nearly 7 points above the global average. Many of them are already on their way to some of the top universities: including Oxford, Cambridge and New York University among others. Their success has paved the way for our incoming year 13 cohort, and I am confident that they will carry on this tradition of excellence as our Class of 2025.
But our ambitions for Wellington Shanghai stretch far beyond exam scores and university admissions. As we embark on this landmark 10th year, we are launching ‘Vision 2027’. This bold new strategic plan will position our College as a global leader in bespoke educational experiences and innovative approaches to learning as we adopt a truly global outlook to everything we do.
So, whether you are new to the Wellington family or you are returning after a much-deserved summer break, just know that you are with us at a pivotal moment. I am thrilled to embark on this next chapter alongside you all as we unite in our pursuit of educational excellence and global citizenship. I cannot wait to see what the next 10 years will bring. But first, we celebrate 10 years of building this global community that is thriving.
Welcoming Wellingtonians new and old
to our 10th academic year!
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