HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, visited Tianjin on 10th September 2010, to preside at the Inauguration Ceremony of Wellington College International Tianjin.
The Governors and Headmaster of Wellington College International Tianjin welcomed HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York as guest of honour at the Inauguration of the College on Friday, 10th September 2010. Prince Andrew gave a short speech before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the occasion. The College’s partner school, the prestigious Wellington College in the UK, is a royal foundation, dating from the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19th century, and has very close ties to the British royal family. Prince Andrew’s visit signalled the extension of these ties to the new Wellington College in Tianjin.
Occupying a striking location in the heart of Tianjin, the new College has the aim of becoming the leading international school in China. The buildings deliberately evoke the classical style of Wellington College in the UK, while inside they house state-of-the-art facilities, including a modern theatre, indoor swimming pool, a sumptuous library and up-to-date laboratories, computer suites and design technology workshops, in addition to the very best in educational resources and materials.
The Founding Headmaster, Mr David Cook, explained “we want to create the ideal environment where staff, students and their parents can form a genuine and meaningful educational community. Nothing has been left out. In our vision for the students, their academic performance will always be central, but we recognise that the building of responsibility, respect for others and self-esteem, so vital for success at adulthood, comes equally from participation in the many other areas of school life, all of which we cater for at Wellington”.
The partnership with Wellington College in the UK is pivotal in the establishment of the College in Tianjin. Steeped in 150 years of tradition and heritage, Wellington has always enjoyed an excellent name in British education. More recently, under the inspirational leadership of Dr Anthony Seldon, it has acquired an enviable reputation for innovation and experimentation, producing a stimulating and exciting educational environment for everybody in the school. At the heart of the school ethos is the idea of child-centred learning, or as Dr Seldon described it: “To flourish in the knowledge economy of the 21st century, children need to have the confidence, strategies and skills to lead their own learning and not be solely reliant on teachers to impart knowledge.” This is the approach to all forms of education at the College in Tianjin.
Mr Cook stressed another invaluable benefit for Wellington in Tianjin from the partnership with Wellington UK: “our teaching staff are crucial. They are fully-qualified, highly motivated and drawn from all parts of the English-speaking world, in short a group of professionals who will ensure our students realise their full potential, whatever the subject or activity. The link with Wellington College in the UK has gone a long way towards ensuring that we attract such men and women to Tianjin. The renown of Wellington has gone before us.” In a further illustration of the strength of the link between the two schools, Dr Seldon attended the Inauguration, where he and Mr Cook held a question-and-answer session with new parents to conclude the historic visit of Prince Andrew.
Further Information:
Wellington College
(Motto: Virtutis Fortuna Comes, or Fortune Favours the Brave)
Wellington is one of the great independent co-educational boarding schools in Britain. Situated in the Berkshire village of Crowthorne, thirty miles from London, the College was founded by Queen Victoria in 1859 as the national memorial to the Duke of Wellington, the country’s outstanding military leader in the Napoleonic Wars and immortalised as the victor in the Battle of Waterloo. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is the College’s Visitor and on her last visit to Wellington in December 2009 she took great interest in the plans for the new school in Tianjin.
The College is fully co-educational and has consistently achieved excellence both in and out of the classroom. All students are encouraged to pursue their goals with self-belief and ambition, while seeking out those areas in which they can excel, supported by the highly-committed staff and the outstanding facilities at their disposal. The College is now generally recognised as one of the strongest schools academically in Britain. Many of the exciting educational initiatives associated with the College are features of Wellington in Tianjin. See www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk
Wellington College International Tianjin
The opening of Wellington College in Tianjin represents a very exciting educational opportunity for the city of Tianjin and all the future students, teachers and parents. The initial intake of students will be at all year groups from ages 3 to 13, after which the school will grow naturally up to age eighteen. The core of the curriculum will be the English National Curriculum, modified and strengthened by elements from the International Baccalaureate Organisation, culminating in the leading pre-university qualification, the Diploma Programme. Registrations have now commenced. See www.wellingtoncollegeintl.cn
Dr Anthony Seldon
Dr Seldon is the 13th Master, or headmaster, of Wellington College and a leading authority on contemporary British politics and history. He is the author or editor of over twenty books on history, politics and education, including his acclaimed biography of Tony Blair, the recent British prime minster. His latest book, “Trust: How we lost it and how to get it back”, was published in October 2009.
A graduate of Worcester College, Oxford, Dr Seldon gained his PhD. at the London School of Economics, to which he has added two honorary doctorates. He is Professor at the College of Teachers, as well as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. He also founded, with Professor Peter Hennessy, the Institute of Contemporary British History. Dr Seldon appears regularly on television, radio and in the press, writing for several national newspapers, while his views on education have regularly been sought by all the leading British political parties.
Mr David Cook
The Founding Headmaster of Wellington College International Tianjin, Mr Cook has wide experience of international education, having served as a head in Dubai, Thailand, Colombia and Qatar, as well as in England. An historian, he studied at King’s College, London and Lincoln College, Oxford, before embarking on his teaching career at Westminster School in London. He has had various historical works published and more recently collaborated with his wife, Debbie, on an acclaimed travel book on Malaysia and an as yet unpublished biography of Dr Mahathir, the former Malaysian prime minister.
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