Principal’s Message
Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Friends of WIS,
Our vision is for every learner to be the best they can be. It was great to see our Year 12 students receive their final GCSE grades on Thursday and for us to live by our word. 93% of students have attained Grades A*-C. Many students attained the very highest levels with 56% of all grades being either A or A*. Exceptional academic performance by many learners. Well done to them and thank you to teachers and families who have worked together to nurture such successful learners.
Being the best you can be is not about comparing yourself to others. It is about knowing what you can achieve, giving yourself a personal target and then putting your best efforts in place to get there. I am as equally proud of students with learning challenges and have worked extremely hard to achieve their personal best. For some, the examination system will not measure their real strengths or their value – but they are real and exist in all of us.
For some, even though they have tried hard (or perhaps holding back on their effort), if you have not achieved the grade you sought, it’s a gift. Most people gain more understanding of themselves from the things that didn’t go to plan. Making failure your best friend and turning it into learning is the real art to success. iGCSE grades are one signpost in a lifelong journey of rich possibility for us all.
The Higher Education and Careers Counselling team have all but completed their work with our Alumni and I have included the diverse range of destinations (Year 13 Placements as of 24 August 2018) for our learners. The best university is the one you want to go to – not the one which gets the most likes on Facebook. I would like to give a shout out to Navya Kapoor who has been accepted into Hong Kong University to study Dentistry, our first non-Chinese student in ten years. Well done Navya!
During our assembly on Monday we were able to share the news of student achievements with the whole school. We also talked about our Guiding Statements and their importance to us. We have worked really hard to refine these so they are succinct, meaningful to everyone and we can live by them. Our focus in particular was the need to use values and knowledge to become a responsible global citizen and we shared the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We will return to these goals during the year and highlight what we can do to solve some of the ongoing and most difficult tensions our world is facing.
We also shared introductions to new staff with our students and I have included some short biographies here. New tutors will have written to you by now but please feel free to initiate contact if needed.
Finally, two upcoming events for you to note. Michael Carr-Gregg is visiting Hong Kong and WIS is hosting his talk, Raising Happy and Resilient Young People, open to all ESF parents on 4 September at WIS. As we begin a number of mindfulness course with students, parents may also be interested in taking the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stressed Reduction Programme) for themselves to improve well being and balance. Cathy Ziengs has kindly offered our parents a reduced rate and I couldn’t recommend it more highly – for your own well being, to learn skills to support young people and for the insights it might bring about living well.
A reminder to be dressed for best on Monday and Tuesday as TechniPhoto will be with us for the annual of the memory shelf.
Have a great weekend.
Yours,
Christopher Sammons
(Principal)
