Ready, Set, Go! The checkered flag has been waved as we confirm two education related lectures to be conducted by senior management teams from Dulwich College Beijing and Harrow International School Beijing at the 2014 beijingkids and JingKids Spring School Choice Fair taking place at the Hilton Beijing on March 1 and 2.
The pre-registration period kicked off on Wednesday, January 15 for a chance to get the discounted buffet meals from the Elements restaurant from our Taobao shop. We will also have a kids corner for different age groups. Don’t forget preregistration is required for the fair — click here to register: www.beijing-kids.com/scf
To kick off the fair’s lecture series will be Dulwich College Beijing hosting two talks on March 1 from 10.30am to noon. The lectures will be held in English with no Chinese translation. ‘Creativity in Schools. How a Creative Curriculum Impacts Your Child’s Learning’, with Head of DCB Junior School, Ruth Grant. Ruth has worked with the school past seven years and has been teaching in British International Schools for 30 years working in places such as Zambia, Bangkok, the Caribbean and other locations. She started teaching in an small school in Cheshire.
Ruth will be followed by the Head of DCB Senior School, Simon Herbert as he talks about ‘What’s Needed for Success? How Pastoral Care Facilitates Positive Educational Outcomes’. Simon joined the school in 2012, and was formerly head on modern languages, and senior housemaster, at Fettes College in Edinburgh, UK. While at Fettes College he introduced Mandarin and IB programs. He holds a bachelor of arts in French and Latin from the University of Nottingham and has worked in both Kenya and France.
Dulwich College Beijing is affiliated to Dulwich College London that was founded in 1619 as an independent school. DCB was formed in 2005 and now has over 1450 students. It is part of the Dulwich family of international schools with sister schools in Shanghai, Suzhou, Seoul, Zhuhai and Singapore.
After the lunch break from 1-2.30 pm, Harrow’s Lynne Oldfield, Headmistress; Alasdair MacRae, Director of Studies and Nick Rickford, Head of Sixth Form will be conducting a lecture on the following topic, ‘Leading the way in international education with a perfect fusion of creativity and tradition to produce leadership for a better world.’ This lecture will be in English and simulatinous Chinese translations.
Lynne Oldfield joined Harrow Beijing in August 2014 after a number of senior leadership posts in schools in Suffolk and Norfolk in the UK. Earlier overseas experience as an Education Management Consultant in Rwanda wetted her appetite for overseas education and the new experiences. After visiting gorillas in Rwanda, pandas in China promised to be one of the many attractions of a post in China.
Alasdair MacRae has been working in schools for 16 years, equally split between the UK and China. He joined Harrow Beijing in its first year – 2005. He has played a number of roles in the development of the school as it has grown; as Senior tutor, he established the house structure, and as Director of Studies developed the online reporting system. Immediately before moving to Beijing, he was Head of Science Faculty at a large state secondary school in the UK. Prior to that he worked as a Senior teacher, seconded part time with the Local Authority to develop science teaching and train teachers across 29 secondary schools. His move into teaching was the result of a year-long adventure in Peru, where he discovered his passion for education while teaching English.
Nick Rickford has been Head of Sixth Form at Harrow Beijing since August 2013 and held a similar role at a large state secondary school in the UK since September 2009. Previous educational roles include that of Director of Learning at a different secondary school elsewhere in the UK. Before training as a teacher, he was based in London where he worked for several years in the corporate events industry. During his time at the University of Edinburgh, he would often be found scaring unsuspecting tourists while conducting ghost tours through the underground vaults of Scotland’s capital.
Harrow International School Beijing is affiliated to the Harrow School in the London that is an all boys boarding school founded in 1572. The school is part of the Harrow Family of schools which comprises of John Lyon School, Harrow International school Bangkok and Hong Kong. Harrow is open to international students only and offers the National Curriculum of England and Wales culminating in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE and IGCSE’s) and A Levels.
This blog has been updated with biographies of the Harrow International School Beijing team.
Photos courtesy of Harrow and Dulwich
