Summer tidings from Wellington Shanghai Master Brendon Fulton
Brendon Fulton
This was a watershed year for Wellington. We moved gracefully out of the COVID era and into a new world – not the same as before, because we take with us the many memories of the last few years. Sometimes painful and sometimes difficult, but all these memories are valuable, as they will forever be etched into the history of our school and our community as the time we rose above our circumstances and came together as one.
And this year, I saw so much evidence of our resilience. As early as February, our year 13 pupils were breaking school records with offers from Oxford, Cambridge, Caltech, Imperial College London, University College London, Brown, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and so many more. These achievements are even more impressive given the backdrop of lockdowns and distance learning our pupils have endured since 2020. And I am fully confident that we will all be equally wowed when their IB exam scores come out later this summer.
Despite all these challenges, our College still received an astonishing number of accolades this year. School rating service KingLead ranked us number five on its 2023 ‘China International School Innovative Competitiveness’ list. The British Chamber of Commerce shortlisted us for awards in two categories, ‘Science and Technology’and ‘Student Sustainability’ in its China School Awards.
IB-schools.com named us one of the ‘Top 3 Global IB Schools in China’. Two of our outstanding teachers received Honourary Mentions in TopSchools International School Teacher Skills Competition. Moreover, we won the Leading Parent Partnership Award, a glowing testament to our ongoing commitment to building a strong parent-teacher partnership.
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But for me, the most important award was simply having us all on campus, together in person and once again functioning as a community. I know everybody felt this way, because the minute we received clearance to open our campus in February, our event calendar was jam-packed.
Our athletes could once again take to the pitch, pool or court and compete with their peers from other schools. Our musicians, actors and dancers could once again share in the joy of performing live on stage for parents and peers. For the first time ever, our budding diplomats hosted 60 pupils from six different schools at our inaugural Model United Nations conference. Science Week was back on.
The Wellington College China Festival of Education returned. Our house spirit was on full display with several Sports Days. We celebrated our diversity with the International Food Festival. And Summer Fest, our first since 2021, was a resounding success. Indeed, we had a lot of lost time to make up for these past few months, and it has left me full of excitement and anticipation over what we will accomplish together next year.
If this is your final year as a Wellington pupil, parent or teacher, I bid you a fond farewell. I truly hope your time with us was enriching and unforgettable. You will always be a Wellingtonian, and I hope that you share a bit of that warm Wellington spirit wherever you go. To those of you remaining with us, I look forward to growing with you next year and once again sharing in this wonderful community we have here. In the meantime, be sure to get some well-deserved rest and plenty of quality time with your loved ones. Regardless of where you are next year, just know that I am immensely proud of all of you, and I am grateful for the contribution you have made to the Wellington Community.
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