On Monday 25th April, Wellington College Intentional Shanghai had the pleasure of welcoming Peter Mallinson, governor of Wellington College and Old Wellingtonian, incoming Vice President and Chairman of Board of Governors, Wellington College for his inaugural visit to the College.

Peter arrived and was received by Joy Qiao, the Chair of Governors, and Gerard MacMahon, Master of Wellington College International Shanghai. During the tour led by Eleanor Prescott, Second Master and Rachel Chadwick, Director of Admissions, Peter visited various classrooms around the school and met wonderful Pre-Prep and Prep School pupils. Peter Mallinson was notably impressed by the breadth of resources and quality of technology available to the Wellington pupils in this outstanding facility. During his day visit, Peter met with the Wellington staff and Senior School pupils and discussed the strong partnership between the Wellington College in England and Shanghai.

As he said, ‘I am absolutely delighted to be in China. We are so excited by the prospects of our sister schools in China. Our vision is critically important for young people today: we are globally-minded and have an international outlook.

We are eager to share our philosophy of a world-class education. It is broad, well-rounded and focuses on developing the whole child, not just their academic achievement. Academic achievement is critically important and our pupils will achieve outstanding results but a well-rounded education should involve drama, music, sports, adventure, leadership and service to the community.

All the schools in our family share these values, which originate from our history as a school which was set up to help educate the sons of officers in the British army. You will see that the architecture of our schools in Tianjin and Shanghai is very similar to our beautiful 19th century buildings in Berkshire, England. The leaders, partners and teachers we have in China, share the Wellington vision of a great education. We are committed to ensuring that this exciting, progressive vision continues in every new city we go to in China and beyond. ‘

Peter Mallinson’s visit culminated in a cocktail reception with the Wellington community as well as a commemorative tree planting ceremony. He was delighted with his first visit to Wellington College in Shanghai and wished Wellingtonians in Shanghai good luck for their futures.