WASCZ丨Parent Letter from the Headmaster
Dear Parents,
It was a great pleasure to welcome you and your children back on campus last week and it is wonderful to celebrate the start of the new school year together. We've looked forward to many opportunities for you to visit the school over the coming months to witness the outstanding achievements and creativity of our students.
At the start of the school year, I think it is appropriate to restate our core aims as a school. These are summarised below and cover five key elements:
The Five Aims
1.Pastoral
We will provide a caring and supportive full boarding environment in which every child and adult is happy and safe.We will provide a caring and supportive full boarding environment in which every child and adult is happy and safe.
2.Academic
We will provide excellent teaching and learning to enable every student to attain the qualifications necessary for entry to the world's top universities.
3.Enrichment
We will provide a broad range of opportunities for students to discover their passions and develop their talents, learn new skills and enhance personal competencies.
4.Extension
We will stretch, challenge and mentor students as they deepen their understanding, demonstrate creativity, and prepare for higher education and beyond.
5.Community
We will enable students and staff to engage with their environment, collaborate with partners, showcase their talents and provide opportunities to support lifelong learning.
1/International School of the Year Award
Central to the success of our holistic education is the wellbeing of all the students and it was with great pride that I received, on behalf of the whole school community, the award of International School of the Year 2022 from the Boarding Schools’ Association. The judges for this international organisation recognised the supportive environment and excellent opportunities for personal growth provided at WASCZ to all students.
2/Wellbeing Counsellors
Last year we appointed Ms Gemma Sun as our first Wellbeing Counsellor. She was able to have an immediate positive impact within the school community. To enhance the work of the Pastoral team further, we are happy to announce the arrival of Ms Danyang Liu as an additional Wellbeing Counsellor. Ms Liu will live on campus and be available to our boarders at weekends. Both Counsellors are bilingual.
3/Tutorials
In the Upper School (G7-12), each student has been a member of one of our 12 Houses. Each House has a team of Tutors, and each Tutor has been assigned a small group (usually about 6) of tutees. The Tutor has met individually with each of their tutees every week. They have set and reviewed targets, discussed academic progress, explored opportunities for learning new skills, recognised the development of personal competencies, and celebrated successes.
4/House Teams
Each Upper School Boarding House now has three resident members of staff: the Housemaster/mistress, the Assistant Housemaster/mistress and a Resident Tutor. In addition, each House will have at least ten Tutors who oversee Tutor Groups and visit the House to support students with their independent study. The detailed information of HSMs with their Houses can be traced in Welcome Letter which already been sent by email.?Since the start of term, we have been very pleased to welcome Mr Max Fielden (already Head of Grades 9-10 and Teacher of Chemistry) to Newton House.?He has replaced Mr Stuart Hunter, who was promoted to the post of Deputy Head at WASNJ.
5/Full Boarding
We have continued to offer our distinctive full boarding model and encouraged students to become full boarders as they progress through the school, in preparation for their transfer to international universities.
6/Inter-House Competitions
Friendly competition and opportunities for teamwork and leadership have been important parts of our educational philosophy. They've allowed all students to be involved and represent their House team, earn House points and experience both the thrill of victory and the necessary skill of dealing with defeat in a positive way. In addition to weekly House meetings for G7-12 and regular Inter-House competitions throughout the year, we have introduced weekly Inter-House competitions for G5-6 into their timetable and have also been running an enhanced programme of Inter-House sports competitions every weekend.?
7/Plan of Day
This semester, we have implemented a new Plan of Day across the whole school. The major advantage is that all phases of the school (from K1 to G12) will be on the same time schedule, with 50-minute periods of time for lessons, activities, and breaks. This has enabled the most efficient use of school resources, facilities, and specialist staff. An example is that all children in K1-G6 now have a timetabled swimming lesson every week.
8/Break Times
Last year, break times had been reduced in length to accommodate the required lessons in the Chinese National Curriculum. We received many complaints from students and staff that breaks were not long enough and, on some days, non-existent if students had other obligations. We've been all aware of the need for students to balance their time between work, rest and play to achieve their best. It has been therefore essential that we addressed this matter and increased the length of breaktimes. We've chose 50-minute break times for several important reasons.
1.?The school day has broken down into 50-minute units from morning to night to give the maximum flexibility and allow us to schedule the best teachers for each class and offer the wide range of options to our students, so it made very good sense to follow this pattern for breaks.
2.?The whole school (K1-G12) has been on the same time schedule, giving the best use of facilities and enabling us to utilise specialist teachers across all school phases.
3.?The timetable has been consistent from day to day, so everyone can be safely tracked, and time allocated fairly to students and staff.
We have been also aware that breaktimes will get used for things other than rest, so 50 minutes will allow a division between, for example:
As you can see, there are many things that have already taken place in break times. These are all important things but should not take students away from academic lessons. It is therefore essential that break times are longer, and 50 minutes gives us the flexibility.
9/New Academic Programmes
We have introduced several new academic programmes for students this semester:
10/Individual Lessons
In addition to our large (and growing) number of instrumental lessons, we've been introducing one-to-one and small group classes in Dance, Speech and Drama, Boxing, Fencing, Tennis, and Swimming.
11/Faculties
For greater efficiency, sharing of best teaching practices and staff appraisal, we have grouped together departments to form Faculties within the school, each with their own faculty leader. For more information, please check the Welcome Letter which already been sent earlier.
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12/Integrated Curriculum
Following communications with parents, one of our main areas for development this year will be the implementation of a fully bilingual integrated curriculum in the compulsory years of education.
13/Immersive English Environment
We've also been placing a greater emphasis on creating a fully immersive English-speaking environment. There are many opportunities to support the use of the English beyond academic lessons, such as:
14/IELTS Centre
We are very pleased to announce that WASCZ has been awarded the status of an IELTS Examination Centre. IELTS is the internationally recognised English Language test required for visa applications and entry to universities in English-speaking countries such as the UK, USA, Australia, and Canada. We are now be able to host IELTS assessments here on campus, giving much greater support and convenience for our candidates.
15/Cambridge Certified English Progress Assessments
We've also been rolling out a programme of English assessments from G1-G10 that certifies the levels and progress of all children in the acquisition of English Language. Further details of this programme have been shared later this semester.
16/Exam Results and University Destinations
We were very proud of the achievements of last year’s graduates. They returned excellent A-Level examination results and are now preparing to start a wide variety of academic courses at top universities.
42% of all examination results were grades A*/A
75% achieved grades A*/A/B
85% of all students received A*/A in Further Mathematics
100% of G11 students who took Mathematics a year early achieved A*/A
Popular university destinations this year included:
Imperial College London (UK)
University College London (UK)
London School of Economics (UK)
University of Manchester (UK)
University of Edinburgh (UK)
University of California, Santa Barbara (USA)
University of Boston (USA)
University of Toronto (CAN)
University of the Arts London (UK)
University of Melbourne (AUS)
University of Warwick (UK)
University of Durham (UK)
University of Bristol (UK)
University of Sydney (AUS)
17/ASDAN Competitions
In cooperation with top universities around the world, we will be making use of extension materials, then preparing and entering students into international competitions in Science, Technology and Mathematics. This is a key part of delivering our Extension Aim and one branch of the preparation with which we provide students for higher education.
18/WAS Global Alumni Association
Earlier this year we launched the WAS Global Alumni Association for graduates of our growing group of schools. We want to provide support for our alumni as they continue their studies and professional qualifications and then navigate their way into careers. We also want our current students to benefit from the experiences and advice of the alumni, who might act as mentors and influential contacts. All future graduates will automatically be enrolled as members of this global community.
19/Friends of WAS
We also want parents and other associates of the schools to part of a wider network of friends who can provide each other with support, advice, and professional links. We've been sending further information about social and educational events to all current parents, and we encourage you to include your wider group of friends. If you can offer opportunities for students to benefit from placements or work experience in your companies or businesses, we would also be very grateful to hear from you.
20/Collaboration with WAS
We are very pleased to have greater collaborations between our schools. This has already included support with staff training (Professor Wang of East China Normal University delivered seminars to Chinese Language teachers from WASCZ and WASNJ on how to teach the new Chinese curriculum in an interactive and attractive way), recruitment of teachers and coaches, planning for joint trips and expeditions and joint reviews for policies.?
21/Staff Professional Development
The induction, training and appraisal of staff is central to delivering excellent learning for our students. We are investing in more time for these activities and opportunities for teachers to gain experience, skills, and further qualifications. A new robust appraisal system will match staff with the school’s five aims and their impact on student progress.
22/Summer and Winter Camps
Following a very successful set of Summer Courses for all age ranges, which saw over 550 children on campus in July and August, we have been making plans for future Winter and Summer Camps. If you have ideas or suggestions, please get in touch with us.
23/10th Anniversary of WASCZ
This school year marks the tenth anniversary of the opening of our school in Changzhou and the matriculation of our first cohort of students. Much has changed over the course of the last decade, but we are very proud to have witnessed the growth of the WAS brand here in China and to be celebrating the successes of our graduates. Please look out for further up-dates regarding our special celebrations.
Conclusion
I would like to close by thanking you for your continued support and for trusting us with your children. And I look forward to welcoming you to enjoy your campus life at several different events throughout the year.
With every good wish,
Dr Paul Silverwood
WASCZ Headmaster