Dulwich College Beijing - The College Magazine Winter 2018

Winter 2018 

Dulwich College Beijing Celebrates... 

United on One Campus 

An Early Years Classroom Explained 

New Junior School Head and Deputy Head 

Tips: How Dulwich College International’s University Visits Help Your Applications

C O N T E N T S 

Snapshots 

News 

Moonlight Madness ............................................... 4 

Spider & Pumpkin Show ....................................... 12 

Junior School Sports Day ...................................... 24 

Dulwich Shakespeare Festival ............................... 32 

Summer Photo Competition ................................... 6 

British Embassy Open Day ...................................... 6 

Visit from Master of Dulwich College .................... 22 

Chinese Debate Competition ............................... 26 

IGCSE Highest Marks in China .............................. 26 

Enterprise Fair ....................................................... 30 

HakD in Shanghai ................................................. 30 

Spotlight 

Summer Construction ............................................ 7 

Early Years Classroom Explained ............................ 8 

Cross-Curricular Learning ..................................... 10 

Learning Through Play .......................................... 11 

Getting to Know JS Head & Deputy ..................... 23 

Junior School Wellbeing & Enrichment ................ 25 

From the Headmaster’s Desk ............................... 2 

Guest Speakers ........................................................... 5 

Art ................................................................................... 13 

Charity & Service...................................................... 16 

Music ............................................................................. 18 

Sports ............................................................................ 20 

Alumni ........................................................................... 27 

TIPS! 

University Counselling............................................ 28 

By Cher X 

13 

17 

18 

Cover: Alice T, Year 8 

Editor, Design & Layout: Harmony Liau Mueller 

Editorial Support: Kasia Baran 

Contributors: John Astbury, Shaun Barton, Ann Carmichael, Jacob Dong, 

Lucien Giordano, Maggie Goddard, Jeffrey Harmon, Danielle Harris, Simon 

Herbert, Stephen Hurworth, David Mumford, Andrew Walton, and many of 

our wonderful students 

Graphic Design: Faye Zhang 

Photography: Kids Photo, Faye Zhang, and DCB students and teachers 

20 

The College Magazine (Beijing) 

1

From the Headmaster’s Desk 

The life of a Headmaster is never dull, as many parents 

have commented to me this term! Famous Headmaster 

Dr Bernard Trafford comments, in Expert Advice for 

Changing Times (2007), that a Headmaster has to be a 

visionary, sergeant-major, slave-driver, mentor, career 

coach, marriage-guidance expert or even bereavement 

counsellor. And he is only referring to relations with staff. 

If one adds parents, wider community and of course 

students into the mix, the job remit widens further and 

becomes even more of a challenge, and privilege. 

Every school in which I have worked has been busy 

and event-filled, but a strong international school 

has additional layers of complexity, which add to the 

challenge but also the fun. We are constantly guiding 

and advising parents into the Dulwich ethos and culture, 

learning from our local context and trying to adapt 

flexibly. We are helped in our understanding of the local 

context by a loyal and knowledgeable support staff and 

a superb Director of Government and Public Affairs, Ms 

Xiaoxiao Qin. This is not a role that exists in a UK school 

and indicates just how seriously we take compliance, 

collaboration and cultural insight. 

At the time of writing, I can safely say that in terms of 

busy weeks, this has been no exception. It has included 

pastoral conversations with students and parents, 

staff recruitment interviews, Head Boy/Girl interviews, 

completion of feedback chats with all new members of 

staff, a speech at a hospital linked to our art department 

project, an opening address at a Chinese first language 

conference with 40 visiting schools, an appearance by 

a steamroller to press wood reliefs (no students were 

flattened, thankfully!), a special educational needs Beijing 

network gathering, a visit from the Master of our founding 

College in London, two parent-teacher evenings and a 

tour of the China National Ballet. That is just what I can 

remember off the top of my head! 

With such dynamism in the school every week, the 

beginning of term back in August seems like an age 

away. We returned after the summer to a newly designed 

environment in many areas of the College, and we are 

now enjoying these new spaces to the fullest. From 

Early Years classrooms, through to new art rooms, Senior 

School library and university counselling and humanities 

areas, it now seems as if the new design has been with us 

forever, and our College has improved its aesthetics and 

educational offering as a result. 

Our staff and students never cease to amaze me 

through their ideas and energy, and I am pleased that 

we continue to foster an environment of trust and risk 

taking. We trusted our IB leaders with their idea of the 

first IB awayday summit at the Kempinski Hotel at Yanqi 

Lake. This was a huge success, and it was enriching to 

hear visiting speakers, including two DCB parents and 

our DCI Chairman, inspire our Year 12 and 13s with their 

entrepreneurial journeys. Students in turn were trusted 

to hold the first DCB Enterprise Fair, which saw them 

selling their own products alongside 25 outside vendors. 

Three students had the idea to ‘debate for change’, a 

combination of charitable work and debating, which was 

so well conceived that ACAMIS asked permission to run 

it as an annual event – another first for DCB students. In 

the same vein, for the first time our students are acting as 

real life tour guides at the Song Art Museum. 

Not only this, I am proud to relate that DCB students 

have been well rewarded by the Dulwich International 

Group for their ‘Pioneering Spirit’, one of DCI’s key 

themes. We trusted them to produce exciting innovative 

and sustainable projects and were not disappointed. 

Of the 32 applicants across the whole Dulwich College 

Group, there were 10 winners, of which five came from 

DCB and were awarded a hefty grant to help their 

projects. 

We are not only trusting of our students but in turn are 

well trusted as a College to perform at the highest level, 

to run events smoothly and to welcome visitors warmly. 

The ‘Bernstein at 100’ was a fine example this term, with 

200 local school students invited to enjoy the interactive 

concert. DCB was the school selected by the government 

With Mr Tom Ulmet, Chair of ACAMIS, and our student 

Debate for Change organisers 

Students from the Early Years Koala class receiving 

Headmaster’s Commendation 

2 beijing.dulwich.org

From the Headmaster’s Desk 

to represent international education as part of the China 

Investment Forum. Over 30 international guests from 

a variety of sectors enjoyed a presentation and tour of 

DCB, culminating in a visit to the creative and innovative 

SE21 zone. We were also the only international school 

present at the British Embassy Open Day, where our 

student scientists gave such engaging demonstrations. 

Representing international education was a privilege 

for me as Headmaster when the UK-China All Party 

Parliamentary Committee of six MPs came to Beijing, 

and just yesterday (at time of writing) I was able to tour 

the China National Ballet and meet the President of that 

organisation, with whom we hope to establish strong 

links. 

Responsibility is one of our key values, and all three 

schools have encouraged students in this direction. We 

now have school councils in all three schools, and the 

children are making mature decisions affecting their work 

environment. Student-led tours and student questionanswer 

sessions on Open Days have been very well 

received. The DCB students are our best ambassadors, 

and we know that their work ethic, holistic approach to 

life here and service-oriented approach are attractive to 

our many visitors. Our fourth pillar of service to others 

has been truly in evidence this term, from the excellent 

Laos and Yunnan trips, to the art project in SmileAngel 

Hospital and the enthusiasm of students of all ages in 

raising awareness for Breast Cancer Research during 

‘Pink Week’, amongst many other charitable events. 

Our support staff and academic staff have provided 

the best model for students of ‘learning for life’. The 

Friday lunch salons, where members of support staff 

present to others, have continued most successfully, and 

our November professional development days illustrate 

how expertise from within can be garnered to propagate 

best practice. The skillset of the DCB staff really is broad 

and deep, and we are extremely grateful to all those who 

mentor, guide, advise and present to their colleagues. 

Culturally, what better way to learn from colleagues than 

through language enrichment, which is exactly what 

is happening, thanks to Mandarin and Dual Language 

Teachers offering classes to their expat colleagues. 

Finally, parental engagement has increased this term. 

For example, more parents are reading English stories 

in Junior School classrooms. The induction period at 

the beginning of term saw parents presenting to Senior 

School staff on workplace expectations for the graduates 

of tomorrow. Our wonderful Friends of Dulwich 

committee members and volunteers are dedicated to 

helping our College, not only raising money for charity 

but also helping to create a welcoming community for 

newcomers. There is more support for our DCB Lions at 

the football pitches, basketball and volleyball courts, and 

swimming pools of Beijing. We have plans to engage 

parents further and do not wish to overlook such a rich 

source of support, ideas, career expertise for our students 

and even internship possibilities! 

On a personal front, I have seen our eldest son begin 

life at a UK university, after studying for six years here at 

DCB; as a parent I have survived the IB years, university 

applications and the eventual departure of our first born. 

This has enhanced my understanding of what our parents 

go through in their Dulwich journey and will help support 

future conversations with students and their families. 

May I thank you for reading this brief summary of the 

term. Many wonderful events, activities and adventures 

have not been able to be included, but those who read 

the weekly newsletter will know they have been covered 

elsewhere. 

A very happy Christmas holiday to all and a wonderful 

new year for 2019. 

Simon Herbert 

Headmaster 

With Dr Spence at the SmileAngel Hospital 

art exhibition opening 

At the British Embassy Open Day with Mrs Herbert 


3

Snapshots 


Guest Speakers 

The Honourable Alexandra Shackleton Visits DCB 

We were delighted to listen to tales of leadership, loyalty, and 

resilience as told by the granddaughter of one of the greatest 

explorers in the twentieth century. Dulwich College Beijing was 

privileged to receive a very special guest in September – the 

Honourable Alexandra Shackleton on her first ever trip to China! 

In both auditorium and more intimate settings, she met with 

students, parents and staff and answered questions about Sir Ernest 

Shackleton’s expeditions as well as about what it is like to travel to 

the Antarctic, which she has done five times. 

Through the talks, DCB students gained insight on Sir 

Shackleton’s qualities that held the 28 men together when they were 

stranded in the Antarctic during the Endurance Expedition 1914 – 

1916. These qualities included pragmatism, the ability to maintain 

morale, and also, the courage to stand up to peer pressure. Sir 

Shackleton gained loyalty from his men because he was loyal to 

them; the wellbeing of his men came first. He did not separate the 

officers from the rest of the crew; everyone did menial jobs, and 

groups were put together according to personalities, not rank. 

“It was unusual for leaders 100 years ago”, said Alexandra 

Shackleton of her grandfather in an interview with DCB Head Girl 

Yi Wen L, “He took lots of trouble to get to know his men – their 

strengths and weaknesses.” 

By the way, the name Shackleton is no stranger to Dulwich. 

Ernest Shackleton was a graduate of the founding College in 

London. There, you can visit the James Caird, the famous life boat 

that braved 800 miles (1,287 km) of turbulent sea to reach South 

Georgia. Here in Beijing, we have enjoyed listening to the inspiring 

stories as told by his granddaughter. 

“What’s in It for Me?” Author Julia Cook Answers 

How do we motivate our kids? Why do they need to fail? How 

do we allow technology to add to our children's life as opposed to 

taking from it? 

These, and many more topics, were discussed in student, 

parent, and staff workshops across two days in September with 

national award-winning author Julia Cook. Ms Cook is a former 

teacher and counsellor and has presented at hundreds of schools 

and conferences and appeared on television across America. DCB 

was delighted to welcome her back for a visit. 

Drawing from her extensive research and experience, Ms Cook 

gave many useful tips and fresh perspectives on everyday parenting 

and, on the flip side, growing up dilemmas. 

Using her books as well as audience participation, she touched 

on several life skills with Junior School students, including taking 

risks, forming good habits, staying focused, and being responsible 

online. For each topic, she gave compelling reasons as to why it is 

worth it for the kids to do so; in other words, what’s in it for them? 

Hence, parents and educators should refrain from saying “you 

have to do this” but instead, say “you get to do this”. It is important 

for parents and educators to provide an engaging environment for 

children but with clear boundaries. “Kids need a safe place where 

they can screw up,” said Ms Cook, because the best predictor of 

success is grit. Grit is “passion and perseverance for very long-term 

goals”. 

Conversely, video games provide instant success – no value in 

real life. With regards to technology use, parents should serve as 

role models. So parents, put away your phone when your child is 

speaking to you! 

With so much positive feedback from students, parents and 

staff, we thank Ms Cook for her great no-nonsense tips and advice. 


5

News 

Summer Photo Competition 

Winners: Student Category 

Congratulations! 

1st Place: Tony H, Y12 2nd Place: Ethan Z, Y10 3rd Place: Alice T, Y8 

Winners: Parent & Teacher Category 

1st Place: Harry Man 2nd Place: Laurence Calvet 3rd Place: Harry Man 

DCB at British Embassy Open Day 

On 15 September, the British Embassy hosted its fourth annual 

Open Day to showcase British businesses, food and innovation. 

Once again, Dulwich College Beijing was the only international 

school represented at the event, even bringing top-notch evening 

entertainment in the form of our very own DCB Jazz Combo, led by 

a Year 12 student, Jason R! 

British Ambassador Dame Barbara Woodward opened her 

residence to over 2,400 local visitors to experience the best of what 

modern UK has to offer. The DCB stand showed the best of what 

an international school education can offer and provided a fun 

photobooth backdrop as well. 

Also present were our Year 12 students Cherin Y and Scully F and 

DCB Head of Chemistry, Dr Nicholas Law for the Royal Society of 

Chemistry at the Science & Innovation Zone. The students recount 

their day as student helpers: 

To start us off, Professor David Evans from BUCT demonstrated 

a series of flash bang experiments. The spectacular show was 

followed by a photo area featuring some eye-catching solutions 

so the young children could take photos and an experiment where 

they compared the vitamin C content of an apple and paprika. The 

final highlight of the day was our opportunity to meet the British 

Ambassador. It was truly satisfying to see the children walk away 

murmuring, "Wow, I should eat more paprika." 

It was an honour for Dulwich College Beijing to be invited to 

this special event – an opportunity to further strengthen the bridge 

between China and the UK. 


Spotlight 

Summer 

Construction 

Three new libraries 

Early Years library 

Junior School library 

During the summer months, well actually 

beginning in April, DCB underwent a huge 

refurbishment programme. The programme 

was initiated due to taking approximately 

170 families from the Riviera complex into the 

Legend Garden Campus, which necessitated 

a requirement for 15 new classrooms, three 

new libraries and various other upgrades 

such as the Main Reception area and offices 

for the Headmaster and AMC (Admissions, 

Marketing and Communications). 

The work encompassed building third 

floor extensions that enabled DCB to create 

spaces that are fit for enabling delivery of 

the very best education throughout the 

three schools. Not only were there new 

classrooms, play spaces and a library built for 

the EY students but new rooms and a library 

for JS and significant space for SS including 

another library and a STEAM area that we 

Main Reception area 

From this: 

can all be proud of and has proved to be a 

star attraction to numerous visitors. 

I had the honour to present to a multitude 

of education experts and professionals in 

Beijing this year, and it is a fantastic sense 

of achievement and accomplishment when 

I can talk about what we have taken from 

concept to implementation, when many 

schools and colleges are still talking about 

what they want to do. Our timescales were 

very tight, and we have learned some major 

lessons from the construction work. However, 

what has been achieved really does prove 

that ‘Students Come First’ and that DCB is 

a progressive College that is willing to invest 

into world class facilities that enable world 

class learning. 

– Shaun Barton, Director of Business 

Administration 

Senior School library 

To this: 

New building third floor 

From this: 

To this: 


7

Spotlight 

Writing area 

Writing areas should 

offer a range of writing 

materials to write on and 

with. There should be 

opportunities to write for 

a number of purposes, 

for example, menus, 

postcards, shopping 

lists, etc. 

Early Years classrooms have changed a lot 

over the years and often reflect the interests 

of the children, their age and culture, the 

style of teaching and to some degree, the 

personality of the teaching team in the 

class. The central idea is that the classroom 

enables the children to learn in a way that 

works best for them. 

Staff should be asking a number of questions 

when they develop the learning area. Here 

are some key ones. 

• Is it enabling the children to make their 

own choices in the way they learn? 

• Is the area suitable for the learning 

taking place in that area? 

• Are there areas of learning available for 

range of experiences? 

• Are there opportunities for collaborative 

and individual learning, and busy and 

quiet places? 

• Does the layout support good lines of 

vision and flow in the room? 

Here are areas that you see in most Early 

Years classrooms at DCB. 

– David Mumford, 

Head of Early Years 

Small world 

These areas are for children to 

act out ideas and stories but using 

smaller toys like dolls, Lego people, 

Playmobile, sets of animals and 

miniature features of the world 

around us. Transport equipment 

like cars and railway sets are 

also part of the resources 

offered in small world areas. 

Maths area 

An Early Years 

Block play 

Block play areas use large 

wooden blocks of various sizes 

and shapes. They can be solid 

or hollow blocks and require 

good storage and a large area 

to use them. They are good for 

large construction play – great 

for developing gross motor 

skills and collaborating with 

other children. 

Role play area 

These areas provide 

opportunities for children to act out 

their ideas and develop language and social 

skills. In the past, these areas were quite often 

home corners. The theme of the role play area 

can be provided by the teacher, using perhaps, a 

central theme for learning at a particular 

time or from the interests of the children. 

Resources often feature clothes to dress 

up in and objects that can be used in 

“pretend” play. Some areas are known 

as deconstructed role play areas, 

where resources/objects are used by 

the children to create their own 

role play area from scratch. 

Maths areas can 

have a wide range of 

maths games, counting 

resources, measuring 

equipment and much 

more. The resources can 

be used in the area 

Reading/Book area 

or taken into other These areas are usually more 

areas. 

enclosed and are quiet areas with soft 

furnishings to enable children to feel 

comfortable whilst they read or browse. 

The books in the area should be from a wide 

range of different genres, including fiction, 

non-fiction, magazines and comics. They 

should also feature 

children’s own selfmade 

books. 


Spotlight 

Classroom Explained 

Music area 

The music area in a 

classroom offers a chance 

for children to play and 

experiment with a range 

of instruments. More often 

than not, these are percussive 

instruments; but there can be 

other ones too. This area may 

also include recording devices 

and instruments made by the 

children. 

Mezzanine platform 

Some of the classes have a 

mezzanine platform. These can 

increase usage of floor space, 

allowing a cosy area 

underneath and an 

upper level for some 

quieter time. 

Construction area 

These areas can contain 

many types of construction 

equipment and toys to enable 

children not just to build 

buildings but to to build a story. 

As usual, space to enlarge the 

area is important. 

Creative/Art area 

A creative or art area should 

be as open-ended as possible in 

the range of resources it provides 

and the different types of equipment 

it has available. It will often have 

materials like boxes, lolly sticks, card 

and craft materials for the children 

to choose and explore with. Key 

resources in this area are paint 

brushes, glue, paints, pens, hole 

punches, sticky tapes, staplers 

and pencils. 

Water and sand 

area 

These are key areas for 

the children to explore 

and play in, especially 

to involve maths, science and 

literacy. You can add measuring 

jugs, small world toys, letters, 

numbers and many other 

challenges. 

Split classrooms 

DCB EY classrooms can be 

individual classrooms or operate as 

units. KS1 has sliding doors to enable this 

to happen and the Foundation Stage has 

arched doors. In both cases, children can use 

the space either as a stand-alone classroom 

or as a double class or unit. This means that 

in some of the areas, like the role play 

area, both classes can share a larger 

and more effective space. 

Sensory and/or science 

area 

This is an area for 

experimenting with all 

the senses and science 

exploration – a place for 

sights, smells, hearing and 

sometimes tasting. 


9

Spotlight 

What Is Cross-Curricular Learning in Early Years? 

In our Key Stage 1 Early Years classes, 

themes for learning are developed using 

stories as a stimulus. 

A fantastic range of resources and 

provocations are set up in the learning 

environment to stimulate the children’s 

curiosity and support their learning. The 

children learn through teacher-led and 

independent activities. The teacher-led 

activities are carefully planned to ensure 

children cover the curriculum objectives. 

The story of Bog Baby is used to plan 

literacy, mathematics, science, geography 

and personal, social and emotional 

development. 

These are examples of sections of the 

literacy, maths and science that will be 

covered using the story. 

Teacher-Led Activities 

Literacy - Responding to the Text 

• Look at the picture on the front coverwhat 

is this creature? Where might it 

live? What would we like to find out 

about it? 

• Choose a page in the book to do picture 

exploration. Focus on the pictures of the 

pond and wood environment. What 

clues can we see? 

• Book talk – The teacher asks the children 

to talk about what they like, dislike, to 

ask questions and look for clues. 

• Book talk – The teacher asks: “Why 

does the girl keep the Bog Baby a 

secret? Why does the Bog Baby not try 

to escape?” 

• Writer talk – The teacher focuses on the 

features of texts, looks at the different 

size font, the use of the bold font, the 

different font used for the first letter on 

the page, and how the word “magic” is 

printed. 

• Writer talk – How does the author 

describe the Bog Baby? E.g. word 

choice, different sentence types. How 

does this make the reader feel? 

KS1 Science Focus (Y1 Animals Including 

Humans) 

• Identify and name a variety of common 

animals, including fish, amphibians, 

reptiles, birds and mammals. 

• Identify and name a variety of common 

animals that are carnivores, herbivores 

and omnivores. 

• Describe and compare the structure 

of a variety of common animals 

(fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and 

mammals, including pets). 

• Identify, name, draw and label the basic 

parts of the human body and say which 

parts of the human body is linked to 

each sense. 

Maths - Measurement 

• Make a Bog Baby that is 20cm long 

• Build Bog Baby a boat that is 40cm long 

Trips and Home learning 

The teacher arranges a trip to a zoo/ 

farm/aquarium in order for children to have 

real life experiences observing animals. 

Children bring in pets from home, so 

children can talk about them, research more 

facts about them and learn how to look after 

them. 

Independent Activities 

Children may decide to focus on their 

favourite animal and research all about it, 

draw it, label it and write about it. 

Children might decide to build an 

environment using junk materials or art 

materials for Bog Baby or another animal. 

They then might make a book all about the 

environment they created. 

Reflection 

There is a strong emphasis on children 

talking about their learning, discussing their 

next steps, for example, how they can get 

better at something and take initiative to 

be independent and discover things for 

themselves using a range of resources. 

– Maggie Goddard, Assistant Head of Early 

Years 


Spotlight 

Learning Through Play 

If you walk around the Early 

Years areas in DCB, you will see 

many examples of children engaged 

in what is sometimes termed “play”. 

What do we mean by this and why 

do we believe that this is an effective 

way for learning to happen? 

One of the ways that this is 

explained is a theory termed 

“constructivism”. This essentially 

means that children are constructing 

their knowledge about the world as 

they interact with it, both physically 

and mentally. Play can develop 

children’s knowledge and provide 

opportunities to develop skills in 

many areas as well as encourage a 

positive learning disposition. This 

way of learning is based on the 

model of “scaffolding”, an idea 

proposed by Vygotsky early in the 

20th century. The idea of scaffolding 

is that a peer or adult can provide 

just the right amount of support for 

a child to move a step beyond what 

they can independently achieve. 

In our classrooms, this is a process 

that can be seen in many areas and 

through many skills including an 

environment that offers chances for 

collaboration and through teacher’s 

questioning skills. 

The Reception teacher has sourced these boxes, which arrived 

flat. After supporting children in preparing the boxes, the teacher 

then used questioning to help children think about what they 

might do with these boxes and then how to do this successfully. 

Reception children are deeply engaged in the feel and effect 

of the water moving in the containers and in the rubber gloves. 

Children making choices and 

being active in their learning is 

also an important part of how play 

is considered effective. The idea 

is that children learn best through 

first-hand experiences and that 

play promotes this as it motivates 

and supports children in all areas of 

development, at least in classrooms 

that are well resourced and planned. 

The environment and set-up in 

the rooms mean that children can 

use and apply their knowledge in 

different areas and in different ways, 

and can return to practising skills not 

yet mastered. I myself have watched, 

fascinated, day by day as children 

learned through experience how 

to master the climbing frame in the 

Foundation Stage area. 

The adults in the setting are also 

key to the whole process as they use 

many different approaches and skills 

in engaging children in activities that 

help them learn, for example, by 

ensuring that number and problem 

solving are included in routines or in 

role play. Adults help to encourage a 

positive disposition, and in line with 

our school values, to have a go, take 

a risk, and not mind if children make 

mistakes. Adults must also carefully 

plan the resources and set up the 

classroom in ways that help promote 

these attitudes. Much of our work 

in DCB Early Years is around these 

areas, encouraging respect, working 

together, listening and taking care 

of each other and the world around 

them. 

Lots of research and writing has 

been done about how play benefits 

children. While this isn’t the place for 

exploring research, it is worth looking 

at a 12-point list (see right) on the 

features of play, created by Professor 

Tina Bruce, a UK academic in the 

field of early childhood education. 

1. Children use first-hand experiences from life. 

2. Children make up rules as they play in order to 

keep control. 

3. Children symbolically represent as they play, 

making and adapting play props. 

4. Children choose to play – they cannot be made 

to play. 

5. Children rehearse their future in their role play. 

6. Children sometimes play alone. 

7. Children pretend when they play. 

8. Children play with adults and other children 

cooperatively in pairs or groups. 

9. Children have a personal play agenda, which 

may or may not be shared. 

10. Children are deeply involved and difficult to 

distract from their deep learning as they wallow 

in their play and learning. 

11. Children try out their most recently acquired 

skills and competences, as if celebrating what 

they know. 

12. Children coordinate ideas and feelings and 

make sense of relationships with their families, 

friends and cultures. 

The girls were engaged in something at once familiar but then adapted to 

their surroundings. They were playing symbolically, definitely had an agenda 

in what they were doing as well as practising some quite delicate skills. 


These are the core beliefs underpinning what we hope to do in 

our Early Years classrooms here in DCB. We want the classrooms to 

be dynamic and safe places where all of these aspects can be seen 

on a daily basis so that children can not only learn about the world 

around them but can help create that world through their play. 

– John Astbury, Deputy Head of Early Years 

11

Snapshots 

“It’s big and it’s mine, but it’s stuck on the 

vine, and Halloween’s just hours away!” 

That was the trouble the witch and her 

friends had trying to harvest a huge pumpkin 

for her pie! 

On Halloween, 45 talented Early Years 

mums put on an annual show called “Spider 

and Pumpkin” to the delight of some 350 

excited little faces. Based on a children’s 

book, the story was adapted for the scary 

occasion, with added characters to fill the 

big Wodehouse stage and to include more 

mums. The performance opened with 

dancing witches and black cats and closed 

with boogying skeletons. The energetic 

production was of very high calibre and even 

worthy of an appearance by the Chinese 

Vampire Queen! 

Spider & Pumpkin Show 

by Early Years Mums 

In her second year as Director and 

Producer, Barbara Tsui began preparations 

four weeks before the performance. 

Dedicated parents organised to craft the 

props, decorations and stage set, as well 

as source costumes, make visual and sound 

effects, and of course, rehearse. Also filling 

crucial roles were Viki Shen for serving as the 

Korean community liaison, Lucy Lu for art 

direction, and Gigi Lam for leading one of 

the dances. 

With their creativity and professionalism, 

the Dulwich Early Years mums have once 

again shown the children what people can 

achieve if they put their hearts and minds to 

it. 

“Don't hide your potential,” said Barbara, 

“Anything is possible if you do it for your 

kids.” 

Early Years Snapshots 


Art 

Early Years Art 

Anglerfish Sculpture 

Collaboratively making octopus 

Electrical tape collage on the window 

Reception child makes starfish 

Starfish mosaic 

Year 1 children make their class 

animal collage 

Year 1 children wrap their friend into 

a mummy 

Year 2 children working on an 

anglerfish together 

Year 2 child creates fish collage on 

the wall 

– Jacob Dong, Early Years Art 


13

Art 

Bugs and Monet in Junior School Art 

Hanna L, Year 6 

James F, Year 6 Lee Y, Year 3 

Colour is a fundamental and integral part of art and design. 

Junior School students begin each academic year consolidating 

and further developing their knowledge and skills of colour mixing 

and colour theory. This year students in Years 3, 5 and 6 explored 

colour through the theme of ‘Bugs’. Year 3 students drew and 

painted bugs using true complementary colours (those exactly 

opposite each other on the colour wheel), or warm and cool colours, 

while Years 5 and 6 applied their knowledge of split, double and 

analogous complementaries, plus their understanding of neutrals, 

tints, tones and shades. Applying this knowledge of colour allowed 

students to choose from quite a range of colour families to paint 

their beautiful and detailed bugs. 

This year in Art and Design, we are exploring ‘Light’ as our 

theme. Year 4 students were inspired by the works of Claude Monet 

to explore both light and colour. One of the radical changes Monet 

was responsible for in leading the Impressionist movement was 

to paint outside, using natural light to capture natural light within 

his works. With reference to Monet’s garden at Giverny, students 

sketched from real life at Legend Garden’s water lily pond. They 

learnt how to sketch a landscape using perspective, such as 

foreground and background, and based on Monet’s principles, 

painted their landscapes focusing on colours and shapes to portray 

what they could see. These works are watercolours and pen on 

watercolour paper. 

Year 3 have been designing and sewing dream catchers, which 

look beautiful with the light passing through them, and when dry, 

sewed their bugs using running stitch and some free stitching to 

outline. Students learnt how to plait/ braid, created rope, and finger 

stitched to create the dangling tassels from their embroidery hoop. 

Sequins and shiny beads were sewn on for extra light reflecting 

sparkle. 

– Ann Carmichael, JS Art & Design Teacher and Coordinator 

Joyce W, Year 5 

Lauren C, Year 3 

Year 3 dream catchers 

Michelle Z, Year 4 Aiden Z, Year 4 Shannon L, Year 4 


Art 

Olivia W 

Rownie Z 

Tyler Y 

Art in SmileAngel Hospital Community Engagement 

Since May 2018, Beijing SmileAngel Children’s Hospital and 

Dulwich College Beijing have been working together for the "Art in 

SmileAngel Hospital" programme called "Miracles". Students from 

Early Years, Junior School and Senior School at DCB created all the 

artwork in the exhibition. Their composition brought imaginative 

visual surroundings to the hospital, contributing to a gentle yet 

stimulating environment for the young patients, their families, as 

well as the hospital staff, thus helping to alleviate the anxiety and 

pressure experienced in a clinical setting. 

The students worked together with the hospital staff to fully 

understand the role and function that art could play in the real 

world. They conducted in-depth research, interviews, measures and 

observations. The students faced many challenges but at the same 

time, found the best solutions in an artistic way. 

Twenty-seven Senior School student artists from DCB created a 

series of illustrations for the hospital environment. Inspiration for the 

illustrations came from Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Andersen 

and traditional Chinese folk tales with the aim of highlighting crosscultural, 

fundamental values shared between different countries. 

Each artwork displayed is especially designed to provide comfort as 

well as inspiration and encouragement to the young patients, their 

families and hospital staff. 

Heather L 

Lia C 

Judy W 

Jason L Mark W Andrea V 


15

Charity 

Roundabout 

Charity Book Fair 

With thousands of books on sale, this three-day event in October 

was able to raise over 63,000 RMB to help Bunina Primary School in 

Zimbabwe. A group of Senior School students had visited this school 

last summer and will be going there again to help next summer. 

Pink Week 

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, DCB’s student-led charity club, 

Interact, organised a week of fun activities to promote awareness for the disease and 

to raise money for Wheels for Life, a charity that uses mobile clinics to provide children 

and women in rural Beijing with free check-ups. Every group of the community was 

involved! Senior School Interact members took polaroid photos of Early Years and 

Junior School students holding pink balloons and wearing silly pink wigs. Junior School 

and Senior School students scavenged the school for pink balloons and savoured in 

the opportunity to throw pink wet sponges at their teachers. Teachers participated 

in the push-up competition against students and the Fitbit competition against their 

colleagues. Parents contributed to the fundraiser through Coffee & Books. Many 

members of the community had pink stickers, pins, bowties and shirts on them 

throughout the week. In total, the community raised 33,420 RMB. 


Service 

Yunnan Service Trip 

Twenty-six Year 8 and 9 students and 

four IB students for the Yunnan Project 

organised an immersive service trip to 

Kunming, Yunnan in November. Not only 

had they planned the itinerary, they had also 

created lessons for migrant school children 

and even received leadership and coaching 

training sessions from China Club Football 

coaches. During the trip, they continued 

their collaboration with a local foster home, 

meeting with foster parents and children 

and repaired and repainted the run-down 

walls. The students taught 250 children at 

the migrant school in Wuding for two days 

and also visited the migrant kindergarten. 

In addition, the students delivered 

gifts to the foster home, kindergarten and 

migrant school. Roundabout, in cooperation 

with Friends of Dulwich, donated over 200 

winter jackets and sweaters to the migrant 

students in Wuding, and China Club Football 

donated 150 football kits and 20 footballs. 

Through this fruitful trip, accompanied 

by three teachers, students gained an 

awareness of communities outside their 

own and demonstrated responsibility and 

open-mindedness. 

The new KS4/5 service trip to Laos was a 

wonderful experience that challenged and 

humbled 33 students and four teachers in 

November. Our students were given the 

opportunity to learn about a new culture 

while living and working alongside a 

local village community outside of Luang 

Prabang. They were fully immersed in 

village life through staying with a local 

family, playing with the children in the 

village, attending a traditional Baci blessing 

ceremony, visiting a village shaman and 

of course, working hard to build a school 

dormitory for children who have to travel at 

least two hours per day to and from school. 

They should all be extremely proud of 

their contribution and engagement in this 

valuable service experience. 

Laos Service Trip 


17

Music 

Early Years 

Soloist Concert 

A few times a year, DCB provides a platform to perform for students who are individually learning music. 

Junior School Soloist Concerts 

Young Musician of the Year 


Music 

Bernstein at 100 

A Young People’s Concert 

In the year of what would have been the great maestro Leonard Bernstein’s 100th 

birthday, our DCB Symphony Orchestra honoured him this October with an interactive 

“Young People’s Concert” with the theme “What Is Melody?” 

Between 1958 and 1972, Bernstein conducted a series of 53 Young People’s Concerts 

with the New York Philharmonic, which were broadcast to 40 countries around the world. 

These interactive concerts were aimed at spreading the positive value of classical music to 

young people, to inspire learning and make music performance fun. 

And fun it was for our audiences! To Saint Saëns’ Bacchanale and Bernstein’s West Side 

Story Medley, individual elements of melody were explained in an entertaining way that all 

ages could understand. And in line with Dulwich’s believe in the importance of both global 

and local engagement, the concert was held twice – once in English moderated by Mr West 

and a second time in Chinese presented by Ms Chou. Over 200 students and music teachers 

from local Chinese schools enjoyed the performance. 

In appreciation of this event, each orchestra member received a letter from Leonard 

Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein, thanking them for presenting this initiative and 

taking part in the birthday celebrations. 

Senior School House Battle of the Bands 

And the winner is… Wodehouse! 

House Battle of the Bands is always marked by wonderful displays of 

House spirit and student talent. This year was no different; ranging from 

Soong’s electrifying rendition of ‘Love Never Felt So Good’ by Michael 

Jackson to Johnson’s moving performance of ‘Lovely’ by Billie Ellish, it was 

evident that each band rehearsed religiously and poured in massive amounts 

of effort. 

This year, Wodehouse emerged champions, mashing up ‘God is a Woman’ 

by Ariana Grande and ‘In My Blood’ by Shawn Mendes; they incorporated 

various elements such as harmonies and an exhilarating guitar solo. 

Congratulations to Wodehouse for their victory and also to the other 

Houses for their magnificent performances. 

– Christopher C, Y13 


19

Sports 

GO 

DCB LIONS! 

Junior School Football 

Friday Night Football in the Junior School 

is popular as ever at DCB with over 140 

students participating in weekly football. 

The time spent out on the pitches training 

with our dedicated coaches came into use at 

the recent U11 ISAC Football Tournament. 

We had four boys teams competing here 

at DCB and two teams at BSB in the girls 

competition. Two out of the six teams 

finished in 1st place with our U11 Boys 

Phuket team walking away as U11 ISAC 

Champions. The boys beat WAB in a closely 

fought final that went to extra time. Both 

our U11 Boys and Girls teams competed at 

At the Phuket BISP Soccer 7s 

the BISP Soccer 7s at the end of November 

along with four Senior School teams. 

Senior School Football 

October marked the end of the ISAC Key 

Stage 3 Football season. All six teams 

went into the ISAC championships full of 

confidence and an eye on walking away 

with ISAC Gold. Three of the teams were 

unfortunately beaten in the final, one of which 

on goal difference and another losing out on 

penalties. The Under 12 Boys team managed 

to beat ISB in the final after losing to them in 

the group stage to claim ISAC Gold. Below 

are the final ISAC placings of 2018. 

U12 Boys – Champions 

U12 Girls – 2nd Place 

U13 Boys – 2nd Place 

U13 Girls – 2nd Place 

U14 Boys – 5th Place 

U14 Girls – 4th Place 

A huge thank you to all members of staff that 

have coached Junior and Key Stage 3 school 

football teams this year. Your commitment 

and dedication are hugely appreciated by 

all players and the PE & Sports Department. 

– Mr Hurworth, Head of Football 


Sports 

ACTION- 

PACKED! 

Volleyball Results 

ISAC Volleyball 

Varsity Boys – 1st and Sportsmanship Award 

Varsity Girls – 2nd 

JV Boys – 5th 

JV Girls – 5th 

ACAMIS Volleyball 

Varsity Girls – 6th 

Varsity Boys – 2nd 

Basketball Results 

Great Wall Shootout Basketball Tournament 

Varsity Boys – 1st 

Varsity Girls – 5th 

Winter Blast Basketball Tournament 

JV Girls – 1st 

JV Boys – 2nd 


21

News 

Top Finishes for DCB Swimmers at 

Water Cube Invitational 

It’s not just any swimming pool; it’s 

the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, 

a.k.a. the Water Cube. Forty-six swimmers 

represented DCB Swim Academy to 

compete at the first Water Cube Invitational 

Swim Meet on Saturday 10 November. 

There were 27 teams from Beijing and 

other regions, with 808 competitors, 2,805 

individual entries and 128 relay entries. The 

DCB team consisted of 20 boys and 13 girls 

under 10 years old. They were led by some 

experienced senior swimmers like Frederic L 

and Yolanda Z. 

The DCB Swim Academy did an excellent 

job, with 34 top 10 finishers and bringing 

home six medals. Two gold medals came 

from our senior swimmer Frederic L, who 

won the Boys 15 & over 50 m Butterfly with 

a time of 28.22, and a personal best time of 

25.70 to win the 50 m Freestyle. Two silver 

medals came from Tim Z (Boys 11-12 100 m 

Breaststroke) and Frederic L (15 & over 100 

m Freestyle). Two bronze medals came from 

two junior swimmers: Eleanor R in the Girls 

8 & under 100 m Breaststroke and Alvin S in 

the Boys 9-10 100 m Breaststroke. Well done 

all medallists and all DCB swimmers! 

Not only that, the swimmers performed 

extremely well in all the relay events. In the 

three weeks before the competition, they 

had spent 30 to 40 minutes every session 

on practising the relay changeover. The 

significant improvement from their hard 

work is obvious. 

Visit from Dr Spence, 

Master of Dulwich College 

Late in November, we had the pleasure 

of welcoming all the way from London, Dr 

Joseph Spence, the Master of Dulwich 

College, to our College in Beijing. Dr Spence 

enjoyed spending time with students of all 

ages, including participating in the Early 

Years assembly and meeting with Junior 

School Student Council and Senior School 

prefects. He even had a chance to chat with 

an alumnus from Dulwich College – our 

own Early Years teacher Simon Hughes! 

In the evening, Dr Spence helped open 

the “Miracles” Art in SmileAngel Hospital 

exhibition in Wangjing, where our students 

displayed their wonderful work for the 

children’s hospital. 

Dr Spence will be welcoming DCB 

students to the Dulwich Olympiad in 

London next March as part of the founding 

school’s 400th anniversary celebrations. 


Spotlight 

Getting to Know Junior School 

Head and Deputy Head 

Junior School has new leadership this year! Daniel Nichol is now Head of Junior School after having served as Deputy the last five years. 

Filling this role is Richard McIntosh, who is new to China. Let’s introduce them and ask them a few questions! 

Mr McIntosh 

Mr Nichol 

Daniel Nichol joined DCB in 2013 as Deputy Head of Junior 

School and assumed his current role in 2018. A native of 

Lancaster, he earned his BA (Hons) in Primary Education there 

before teaching Years 5 and 6 in the UK, volunteering to teach 

English in South Africa, and serving as the Year 6 Team Leader 

in Egypt. Currently, Daniel is working towards his master's 

degree in Education with the University of Bath. Outside of 

teaching, he is keen on exploring new and exciting places 

with his wife and son! 

Richard McIntosh received his BA (Hons) in Primary Education 

from Northumbria University before teaching in different 

primary schools in the UK. Among his responsibilities were 

leading Key Stage 2, directing mathematics teaching, as well 

as serving as Deputy Head for four years. Prior to joining DCB 

in 2018 with his wife Nicola (also a primary teacher) and two 

children, Richard was Headmaster of a private prep school in 

West Yorkshire for three years. His hobbies include football, 

cricket, travelling and writing. 

Q: What do you enjoy the most about living in China? 

A: The diverse culture and community. Beijing is a rich capital 

city; there is so much to see and do! 

Q: Can you sum up your educational philosophy in one 

sentence? 

A: This one is a hard one… Learning is a journey, and everyone 

should embrace the paths they choose to follow. 

Q: What changes have impressed you most in the five years 

you’ve been at DCB? 

A: I’ve been impressed with the openness and willingness 

to move education forward, to be innovative educators and 

innovative learners. 

Q: What changes can students and parents expect now that 

you are heading Junior School? 

A: Junior School will deliver one of the best international 

educations possible, in an environment that cares for its 

students – putting them at the heart of what we do! 

Q: What was your favourite and worst subject at school? 

A: My favourite subject was maths and my worst subject was 

food technology. 

Q: What motivated you to come to China? 

A: China’s rich history and fascinating culture made it the perfect 

option for an exciting new chapter for the McIntosh family. But 

we had to find the right school… 

Q: What is your impression of DCB so far and what are you 

bringing to the school? 

A: Excellent! DCB has everything I look for as an employee and 

parent – academic rigour, competitive sports, great performing 

arts and commitment to service. I bring significant leadership 

and teaching experience, having served as both a Headmaster 

and Deputy Head in the UK. 

Q: What fascinates you about teaching children in Junior School 

age? 

A: Junior School children combine innocence with increasingly 

developed personality and humour. I want each child to be the 

best version of themselves. 

Q: What are your main responsibilities as Deputy Head? 

A: I am responsible for managing curriculum and assessment. 

We want our teachers to assess students and then adjust lessons 

to give each child exactly what they need – “effective responsive 

teaching”. 

Q: What was your favourite and worst subject at school? 

A: I’ve always loved maths. It’s great we have so many talented 

mathematicians here at DCB. Art has never been my strong 

point – many of the children here are already better than me! 


23

Snapshots 

Junior School 

Sports Day 

1st - Johnson 

2nd - Alleyn 

3rd - Soong 

4th - Wodehouse 

5th - Owens 


Spotlight 

Junior School Wellbeing 

Mental health includes our emotional, 

psychological and social wellbeing; it 

affects how we think, feel and act. Positive 

mental health allows people to realise their 

full potential, cope with the stresses of life, 

work productively and make meaningful 

contributions to their communities. 

Positive mental health can be achieved 

by promoting good wellbeing. Several 

ways to maintain positive mental health and 

wellbeing include connecting with others, 

getting physically active, helping others, 

getting enough sleep and developing 

coping skills. Schools can promote 

wellbeing by creating teaching and learning 

environments that enable students to be 

healthy, happy, engaged and successful. 

Junior School students have been taking 

part in a host of activities since the beginning 

of the academic year to support their 

mental health and wellbeing. To celebrate 

kindness, they engaged in activities such 

as making leaves for the kindness tree, 

parting with kind words, and creating yellow 

bunting in aid of World Mental Health Day. 

The children have not been alone in learning 

about kindness as the Junior School staff 

also took part in a random acts of kindness 

challenge earlier in the term. 

The week of 29th October was Junior 

School’s “Week without Walls”. The focus 

of this week was for students to gain an 

understanding of their own emotions and 

wellbeing, with staff facilitating 

the activities and gaving 

attention to the learning 

environment. Activities 

during the week included 

building faces using emotion 

stones, making stress balls, 

making dream bottles, and 

making emotion wheels and 

coping strategy wheels. In addition 

to classroom activities, each Year group 

had the opportunity to stretch in a yoga 

session with professional instructor Vanessa 

Yang. Several Year 6 students said it was the 

best week at school this year, whilst others 

provided feedback to help improve the next 

“Week without Walls” by asking for more 

activities and choices. 

MUN 

Junior School Enrichment 

Genius Hour 

Horse Riding ECA 

MUN was really 

fun, and it was a 

completely new 

experience for me. 

I have always liked working in a group 

instead of working alone. I also like 

researching, then presenting what I found 

out. And that’s practically what MUN is! I 

like writing my opening speech because 

I get to say the speech after I write it, 

which helps my confidence skills improve. 

I have always been a shy kid but when 

I moved to Dulwich, I could feel myself 

getting increasingly confident. Nowadays 

I’ve started to push myself to become 

really confident in different situations, 

so this really helps. Also, for the part in 

the opening speech when you need to 

add information, I needed help from the 

team members causing me to interact 

with them, which builds my collaboration 

skills too! Overall, I really enjoyed the ECA 

last term, and Mrs Jenkins is an amazing 

teacher. I’ve already learnt so much about 

MUN! I actually think MUN might be my 

favourite ECA I’ve ever gone for! 

– Manav J, Year 6 

Do you like learning 

about your favourite 

subjects? Well, if you do, Genius Hour is 

the best ECA for you to participate in! 

From outer space to sports, mythical 

creatures and so much more, Genius Hour 

allows you to stretch your imagination by 

creating a PowerPoint, then a video about 

your exciting theme you have chosen. 

If there are any children in need of help, 

‘genius’ Mr Castle will rush to your aid, 

immediately ready to solve the problem. 

The wide range of available topics 

further allows students to broaden 

their knowledge, combining fun and 

learning together to produce a fantastic 

presentation, generated by intelligent, 

whizz-kids. 

There is certainly no better way to 

develop speaking and listening skills 

and build your confidence than through 

making a film that will be shown throughout 

the entire school on huge screens for 

spectators to admire! 

What a fantastic ECA for Junior School 

to enjoy! 

– Ryan L, Year 6 

Horse riding is a 

very fun sport because 

when you get on a 

horse back it feels 

like you are hovering 

in the sky. At DCB 

we have an ECA, and it is all about horse 

riding and you can ride the horse as well as 

learn stable management. 

Horse Riding 

I like this session the most because 

you get to ride the horses and can go 

fast or slow. The teacher shows one of the 

Dulwich values called integrity – when he 

says something, he does it all the time. He 

let me go on a free ride when I have done 

a good job. 

Stable Management 

At last, we get to do stable 

management where you will learn lots 

stuff about the horses like the colours of 

the horse, combing a horse and name the 

things of a horse. And the teacher makes a 

very hard test every time. 

– Ricky D, Year 5 


25

News 

Zongheng Cup Chinese Debate Competition 

On 20 October, DCB hosted the third annual 

Zongheng Cup – Chinese Debate Competition of 

International Schools, which attracted 215 students 

and 33 teams from 16 international schools across 

Beijing. Divided into two age groups – under 16 and 

16 and up – the students put their public speaking 

and reasoning skills to action while receiving valuable 

feedback from professional debate judges from 

Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing. DCB had a strong 

showing, with one team placing second and another 

coming in third. 

IGCSE Highest Marks in China 

What an achievement! Congratulations to seven DCB students for 

receiving eight Outstanding Pearson Learning Awards for Highest Mark in 

China in seven GCSE/IGCSE qualification subjects! Pearson is the parent 

company of Edexcel, one of the main examination boards in the UK. 

Announced every year in November, this award is a rarity given the number 

of international school students sitting the IGCSE exams in China, making 

the competition even tougher. 

Let’s give a big applause to: 

Hayun C – GCSE Art, Craft and Design 

Marjorie Y – GCSE Art, Craft and Design 

Annika T – GCSE Psychology 

Annika T – IGCSE English Language 

Yi Jing C – IGCSE Economics 

Yeseo K – IGCSE English Literature 

Pietro P – IGCSE German 

Kevin S – IGCSE Science (Double Award) 

These are in addition to the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards 

handed out earlier in the term: Jason R for obtaining Top in China in Music 

and Mina J for Top in the World in Extended Mathematics! Angel L, who 

joined us from the British School of Guangzhou this year, achieved Top in 

the World for Business Studies. Well done! 


To all you IB students, 

Miranda says: 

The IB gave me the experience to 

handle a different workload and write 

quickly and confidently. What I had 

been told by older students that 

“nothing will ever be as intense as the 

IB diploma” has thankfully proven true. 

Alumni 

Benjamin Tan 

DCB Class of 2013 

Nationality: Singaporean 

University: University of Oxford 

Major: History and Politics 

What are you doing now? 

Literally, in this moment, I am looking at nineteenth-century 

letters in Oxford’s library archives for my undergraduate thesis 

research, which looks at the historical role of race and racism in 

Western liberal theory. I am in my final year of undergraduate 

studies. Later today, I’ve got a bartending shift at my college 

bar. 

What do you like the most about your university? 

I have come to truly appreciate the world-leading expertise 

and knowledge at Oxford. Most teaching is done through 

one-on-one classes with an academic. It is not uncommon to 

find yourself in class discussing a topic with a scholar who have 

themselves shaped the field, or wrote the textbook you read 

that week. It’s intimidating, but hugely rewarding. 

What do you miss about DCB and/or Beijing? 

Oxford is a university town, and I do sometimes miss the 

feeling of a bustling city. Beijing was a great place to spend 

my childhood; the city has such personality and a wildly varied 

landscape. I also have great memories from times in the IB 

common room. 

What would you like to say to the current DCB student? 

Be proactive in taking advantage of the resources and 

opportunities you have at school – above all, the teachers! 

If you’re graduating soon, take the time to do an internship 

or gain work experience over the summer, even if it’s waiting 

tables. It’ll make whatever comes next easier to handle. 

Employers/Internships: 

I have worked for/interned at The Straits Times, Portland 

Communications, Cerebral (a Singapore theatre company), the 

Singapore Police Force. 

Miranda Melcher 

DCB Class of 2012 

Nationality: American 

University: Yale University (undergrad), 

King’s College London (graduate) 

Major: Political Science 

What are you doing now? 

I am pursuing my PhD in War Studies at King’s College London, 

having completed my MA degree in the same department in 

2017. 

What do you like the most about your university? 

My time at Yale was amazing. I organised Yale Model UN 

conferences around the world, wrote research papers on 

my chosen topic with the support of a group of wonderful 

professors, and made a lifelong group of friends. For me, the 

best part of uni was the ability to pursue my interests more 

independently and creatively, both inside and outside of the 

classroom. 

What do you miss about DCB and/or Beijing? 

I definitely miss the food and many of the amazing teachers I 

was lucky enough to have. I don’t, however, miss the weather! 

In many ways, DCB was great preparation for personal and 

academic success in university. Beyond classes, my time at DCB 

was very much about extra-curricular activities, mainly Model 

UN and theatre; without those experiences of leadership and 

creativity my time at university would have been much less 

successful and enjoyable. 

What would you like to say to the current DCB student? 

I would encourage of course a focus on your studies, but not just 

for the sake of grades, but also to extend your own interests. 

Explore and discover what you are interested in outside of the 

classroom and find opportunities to expand your leadership 

skills, even if that means there is a risk of failure. 

Employers/Internships: 

I did summer internships at the Brookings Institution in 

Washington, DC and at the US-Asia Law Institute at NYU Law. 


27

University Counselling 

What is Fit? 

All universities focus on teaching 

students both hard skills and soft skills 

that are necessary to be successful in their 

future careers, but every university does so 

differently. Some universities emphasize 

breadth of study, making sure all students 

have foundational knowledge and a 

common understanding of many different 

subjects (a liberal arts-based curriculum), 

while others emphasize depth of study, 

making sure all students concentrate in their 

single area of study to acquire expertise. 

Because of these differences in how courses 

are taught – and that for many students, the 

university experience is about much more 

than just what happens in the classroom 

– we recommend considering "fit" in the 

university application process. 

"Fit" is the concept of considering both 

the tangible and intangible ("hardware" 

and "software") of a university and its 

environment, in addition to its overall 

ranking. Most selective universities will offer 

similar majors, facilities, and opportunities, 

but the mission and culture of the university 

DCI University Outreach 

In September 2016, Dulwich College 

International (DCI) decided to try something 

new. We wanted to see what learning 

opportunities might arise if a counsellor 

and head of college travelled to a crosssection 

of higher education institutions in 

North America. We reached out to over 

ten universities, asking for meetings with 

admissions officers, professors, student 

support services, and international 

students. We wanted to learn first-hand 

the importance of ‘fit’. We wanted to see 

how the differing cultures and ethos of the 

universities fit the cultures and students of 

our group of schools. We wanted to see 

what authentic messages the universities 

might have for our students and teachers. 

We wanted to have meaningful discussions 

about the academic and social issues facing 

international students. We did not know 

exactly what to expect. 

That first trip was made by me, Lucien 

Giordano, who represented Dulwich 

College International’s counselling teams, 

and Caroline Taylor, Headmistress of 

Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong. From 

Chicago to Boston and down the East Coast 

as far south as New York City, Caroline and 

I visited everything from tiny liberal arts 

colleges to mid-sized highly selective private 

institutions to large universities and focused 

art/design schools. The conversations were 

inspiring. We realised, for example, that the 

can vary widely. Fit should be an important 

consideration, along with selectivity, in 

making a school list and when deciding 

which university to ultimately attend. 

Fit has many components, but they can 

be separated into three broad categories: 

size, setting, and mission. While most 

components of fit are based on facts and 

numerical data, few components can be 

objectively classified as better or worse. 

Instead, it is up to each applicant (and 

their family) to decide what their individual 

preference is. 

The setting of the university has a 

significant impact on the non-academic 

parts of university. Questions to consider 

span the spectrum: What options do 

students have for eating and housing? What 

do students do for fun in the evening and 

during the weekends? How easy is it to get 

to campus, and how easy is it to travel across 

campus? How much does it snow? Most 

questions are hard to answer by reading a 

website, so visiting campus in person (or at 

type of student who will thrive personally and 

academically may be very different for two 

seemingly similar institutions like University 

of Chicago and Northwestern University. 

Both are highly ranked and accept low 

percentages of applicants. Both are similar 

sized. They are separated by a thirty-minute 

drive. Yet, the way you study, live and how 

you come to view your future aspirations can 

be vastly different. This is reflected in the 

way applications are read. This can account 

for why a student whose application boasts 

similar numbers may get into one of these 

universities and not the other. We learned 

that our schools’ reputations are based on 

records of integrity, trust that what we say 

we offer students is meaningful and true, 

that the letters our counsellors write are 

integral to the application process, that how 

a student engages in their communities 

back home is one of the most differentiating 

factors in an application. 

Our trip convinced us that it was our duty 

to our communities throughout the DCI 

group to continue helping our heads with 

their professional learning around higher 

education pathways, with vital correlative 

outcomes being that 

–– 

universities in North America can know 

us better and understand our students’ 

applications more thoroughly; 

–– 

our heads can return to their schools with 

the very least talking with a current student 

or alumnus) is extremely helpful. 

One of the most difficult parts of fit is 

that parents and their children often have 

different sets of priorities. This is normal, 

but the most successful applicants are 

those who are able to communicate with 

their parents (and teachers and university 

counsellors) what their own determination 

of fit is, and notably when they need to talk 

with others to refine their sense of priorities. 

Discussions of our values are not debates 

to be won over by logic alone, so both 

parents and students need to be respectful 

and open-minded in these deeply personal 

interactions. 

– Jeffrey Harmon, DCB University Counsellor 

When we travel to 

universities in the United 

States, we do not need to 

introduce the Dulwich 

name. Our schools are 

respected and trusted. We 

are known throughout 

the world for a high 

standard of education and 

an informed, competitive 

student applicant pool. 

innovative ideas about how to support 

the academic and extra-curricular 

programmes around the group; 

–– 

the observations from career offices at 

universities about career trends can filter 

down to our schools, 

so that we can graduate students who are 

more prepared not just to get into these 

excellent universities but to thrive during 

their undergraduate years at an institution 

that fits them – one that will send them off 

happy and prepared for fulfilling adult lives. 

In September 2018 we completed our 

fifth trip. To date, 13 Dulwich representatives 

have made the trip, including Heads of 

Senior School, Heads of College, DCI’s Co- 

Founders, DCI’s Director of Counselling, 

and DCI’s Director of Admissions and 

Customer Experience. Our conversations 

and experiences have been diverse and rich, 

bringing us to over 30 universities in Canada 

and the United States. See the table at the 

end of this article for the full list. 


University Counselling 

I wanted to share five takeaways from 

the most recent trip that we believe are 

most relevant to our students and parents, 

though it is fair to say these takeaways echo 

those of all the previous trips. 

1. Ivy League case study – authenticity 

At one of the Ivy League institutions 

we visited, we had the chance to role play 

an admissions case study. After learning 

more about the institution, we were given 

a file and asked to decide for ourselves 

if the “applicant” should be admitted. 

We noticed that the test scores weren’t 

perfect and that the grades were not all 

As. What stood out was that the student 

had an authentic sense of self. He knew his 

strengths and weaknesses. He had genuine 

interests and had followed through with 

those interests throughout high school. 

His teacher and counsellor letters were 

written about the person he claimed to 

be. The true strength of his application 

was authenticity. You could see him fitting 

into that institution’s culture; you could 

see how he would make campus life more 

interesting; you could imagine him thriving 

as a person, well beyond the classroom. 

We voted amongst the four of us on the 

trip: 3 admits to 1 deny. We let him into the 

institution. At the end, we found out that we 

read the application just like the admissions 

officers had. The lesson: students who know 

themselves, who are authentic and unique, 

who truly put more time and care into their 

high school academics and extra-curricular 

passions rather than test prep and those 

activities they think universities want to see 

are the ones who get in. 

2. Consistent messages & understanding 

of each uni/college are paramount 

To the same point as above, applications 

must show consistency from applicant to 

teacher to counsellor. The student should 

choose a university based on its distinct 

qualities. Relying on rankings will hurt 

application chances because they are not 

indicative of the institution’s identity. Work 

with counsellors early to develop this type of 

understanding. Communicate openly and 

often with counsellors. 

3. Holistic admissions – ENGAGEMENT 

The buzzword is “engagement”. Be true 

to yourself. Follow your passions. Engage in 

the subjects and extra-curriculars you love as 

a student. Evidence of that engagement is 

a massive help in competitive applications, 

especially when the focus and approach to 

that engagement mirrors the culture of the 

universities to which you apply. 

4. Careers in creative industries are 

booming! 

The evidence is there now. Students 

who develop creative skills in art/design 

courses, who study interdisciplinary, who 

can apply learning from diverse educational 

experiences to even the most traditional 

professions are getting hired and paid. 

Graduates, for example, of Maryland 

Institute College of Art’s Class of 2018 are 

already 96% employed or in graduate 

school. They have truly impressive careers 

underway! 

5. DCI schools are recognised and unique 

This is simple but important. When we 

travel to universities in the United States, we 

do not need to introduce the Dulwich name. 

Our schools are respected and trusted. We 

are known throughout the world for a high 

standard of education and an informed, 

competitive student applicant pool. One 

of the reasons is that there are very few 

international schools making this type of 

investment in outreach and professional 

learning. 

In addition to outreach in North America, 

Dulwich College International is committed 

to outreach wherever our students are likely 

to apply. To date, I have worked on behalf 

of all schools in the DCI group to visit over 

60 universities in North America, Europe, 

the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South 

Korea. 

– Lucien Giordano, Director of University 

Counselling, Dulwich College International 

DCI university outreach visits 


29

News 

Make or Break: Real World Business at DCB Enterprise Fair 

Seventeen student start-ups showcased their products alongside 25 local vendors 

Saturday morning came early for Year 

10 and 11 STEM and Business Studies 

students one November weekend. Having 

spent many a late night making last-minute 

preparations the previous week, students 

started arriving at school by 8am to do final 

setup of their booths, help visiting vendors 

set up theirs, and finish preparing the lobby 

and SE21 spaces to receive guests for the 

inaugural, student-led DCB Enterprise Fair. 

In the weeks leading up to the event, 

DCB’s Year 10 STEM and Business Studies 

students prepared products for sale, while 

the Year 11 STEM students were busy 

organising the event itself. A massive 

undertaking for both year levels, all money 

raised will go to support future STEM and 

Business Studies projects at DCB, while the 

richness of learning opportunities that were 

encountered could only have been revealed 

in this real-world environment. 

Following in the footsteps of last year’s 

cohort, and eager to out-do them, DCB’s 

Year 10 students divided themselves into 

teams of 3-4, typically assembled with a 

balance of strengths in product design, 

marketing and finance. Teams then set 

about ideating, trying to settle on business 

ideas that would be cost and time effective, 

and which showed promise to yield high 

returns on both the micro loans they took 

out to fund their start-ups, as well as their 

investments in time and energy. 

Event organisation and promotion is no 

easy task, let alone the first time through, 

and the Year 11s can certainly confirm 

this. From finding vendors in addition to 

DCB student businesses, to finding event 

sponsors, logistics and promotion, the class 

of 22 students tackled the entire list over the 

past several weeks. Along the way, students 

adjusted and grew their plans based on 

the advice of peers, teachers, respective 

engaged DCB departments, and vendors 

and sponsors themselves, who, once signed 

up, became the team’s clients. 

The DCB Enterprise Fair behind 

them, Year 10 students are now working 

on improving their businesses for the 

remaining weeks of this project, as well as 

on new opportunities to sell their goods. 

Year 11 students will now reflect upon this 

experience to fuel their own growth and 

help the next cohort take on this challenge 

in an ever-improving cycle of development. 

They will then be moving on to their own 

Kickstarter projects, where they can apply 

learning over the past two years to develop a 

top-tier idea they hope will get the attention 

of an even larger audience. 

DCB and the SE21 team would like 

to thank Tech Kids, Procter and Gamble, 

Fuwah International Group and Laiwa & 

Ferid (Beijing) Technology Inc. for their 

generous support, all the customers, as well 

as everyone who helped make the event 

possible. 

– Andrew Walton, Design & Technology 

HakD in Shanghai! Dulwich Students Guard Against Cybercriminals 

“Lock It Down!” was the theme at the 

second annual HakD – a three-day studentled 

hackathon in October hosted by 

Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong with 100 

students participating from four Dulwich 

schools. Eighteen students and two teachers 

represented the DCB delegation, with Year 

10 students Max A and Paul L winning the 

“Pioneering Spirit” award for their creative 

design and hard work. 

How did the students “lock it down”? 

Max A reports: 

We worked together with students from 

other Dulwich College schools to design, 

code and build products that push the 

boundaries of innovation. Scenarios were 

as wide and open as systems that protect 

gold from criminals and programmes that 

help users generate and remember safe 

passwords for their electronic devices. 

This year not only were there prizes 

for each scenario, but a new award was 

introduced as part of the new Pioneering 

Spirit initiative that rewards students for 

innovation, hard work and collaboration 

amongst other important values that are 

quintessential to the development of new 

and profound technologies. 

Both mornings we gathered in the 

cafeteria for a quick talk on the expectations 

and other instructions for the day. On 

Saturday morning, we each attended 

two workshops – we chose from an 

impressive selection of seven. Topics such 

as cryptography, web app design and the 

IoT were just some of the cutting-edge 

skill-based workshops we could choose 

from. After the morning break, we worked 

in groups of four and gathered equipment 

that was used in the ensuing 10 hours to 

create our projects. 

Products and ideas were then 

developed, from proximity alarms on doors 

to robotic sentries. Each group created 

a video that documented their research, 

prototyping and final product. These videos 

were shown to everyone and used by the 

judges to determine the winners of each 

category. 

All in all, it was a spectacular event, and I 

think it’s safe to say that everyone is excited 

to go to HakD 2019! 


Around DCI 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Suzhou 

Dulwich College Suzhou showcased a very unique adaptation of William Shakespeare's 

'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Students from Years 8 - 12 were tasked with creating a 

directorial vision for the play, taking into consideration the qualities of the worlds we 

encounter in the play. In groups, the students created their own individual design concepts, 

thinking about set, costume and intended impact. From these workshops came the idea for 

our future performance. The students themselves have created the vision for this play and 

were very involved with making this become a reality. 

Dulwich Puxi Wins Prestigious Global Award 

The Dulwich tradition of curriculum 

innovation creates a forward-thinking 

culture. With this sentiment, we are 

delighted to announce that Dulwich Puxi 

has been awarded a highly coveted, 

international education award called the 

“Pioneering Spirit Grant” to develop China’s 

first SOLE lab. 

What is SOLE? 

SOLE is characterised by discovery, 

sharing, spontaneity and limited teacher 

intervention. A Self-Organised Learning 

Environment, or SOLE, can exist anywhere 

there is a computer, internet connection, 

and students who are ready to learn. Within 

a SOLE session, students are given the 

freedom to learn collaboratively using the 

internet. An educator poses a Big Question, 

and students form small groups to find the 

answer. 

What is a SOLE Big Question? 

Big Questions are the spark that ignites 

a SOLE session. Asking an interesting 

and relevant question fires up students’ 

imagination and curiosity and leads them 

on a genuine process of discovery. Big 

Questions are the ones that don’t have 

an easy answer. They are often open and 

difficult; they may even be unanswerable. 

Many will tie in with what students are 

learning in the curriculum. The aim is to 

encourage deep and long conversations 

rather than finding easy answers. These 

questions encourage students to offer 

theories, work collaboratively, use reason 

and think critically. A good Big Question will 

connect more than one subject area. “What 

is an insect?” for instance, does not touch 

as many different subjects as “What would 

happen to Earth if all insects disappeared?” 

Big Questions aren’t just about getting 

the “right” answers, but about learning 

the methods and skills needed to find the 

answers. 

Congratulations Sarah Leonard for 

leading the successful bid for our students. 

This exciting global initiative will complement 

and enhance our existing curriculum and 

enable our students and staff to collaborate 

with their peers across the Dulwich family 

and beyond. To support this development, 

we are working closely with Professor Sugata 

Mitra, the globally recognised and highly 

distinguished educationist and a TED prize 

winner. Professor Mitra inspired students 

and teachers alike when he visited Dulwich 

Puxi in February. We are honoured that he 

returned to work with us again in November. 

Year 6 Voice Acting Trip in Seoul 

This year’s Chuseok theme at Dulwich 

College Seoul is ‘K-Cartoon’ and we 

have invited a special guest to support 

acknowledging the theme. Ms Kim Seo 

Young, a mother of two children in the 

Primary School, who is a famous voice 

actress in Korea, came to school to share 

her expertise with the students on Monday 

10 September. She has demonstrated 

some of her work in animations and movies 

during the workshop and gave students five 

important tips to become a voice actor. 

After this session, students who were 

interested in voice acting auditioned to take 

part in a short animation clip that was shown 

during Chuseok assembly. The successful 

candidates were invited to a voice acting 

workshop last Saturday and each student's 

voice acted as one of the characters from 

the clip at a professional dubbing studio. 

Ms Kim’s workshops were offered to other 

year groups in the Primary School during 

our Chuseok celebrations at the Friday 

assembly. 


31

Around DCI 

Dulwich College (Singapore) Honours 100 Years of Remembrance 

In this special 100th anniversary year of remembrance, the 

College had a number of moving and emotional remembrance 

assemblies to join together across year groups, remember and 

respect the lives of those lost in war. Beautiful choral pieces, solos, 

drama performances and poetry made up the orders of service 

which were compared by our Junior School Head Boy and Head 

Girl and our Senior School music team. 

Every year, we take time to specifically honour the 534 Old 

Alleynians who served and died in the Great War. A particularly 

emotional moment was when Junior School students were told that 

in the audience of their assembly, they were joined by an incredibly 

special Guest of Honour and her family. Patricia was the 95-yearold 

great-grandmother of two of our current students. We were 

honoured to welcome Patricia, who had flown all the way from the 

UK to be a part of the service and to remember her brother, Garth 

Edgar Carpenter, who was an Old Alleynian. He was gazetted to 

the 13th/18 Royal Hussars in May 1950 and joined his regiment in 

June that year. He was sadly killed in Malaya and was buried near 

Malacca. Students were so touched to be joined by this special 

guest, together with four generations of her family. 

The Alleyn Theatre was filled with students from Years 2 to 12 as 

well as many parents and staff paying their respects to those who 

made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries and loved ones. As 

the Last Post sounded, poppies fell from the roof of the theatre as a 

sombre reminder of those who gave their lives for the hope of today. 

Dulwich College (Singapore) reflected on war, those lost in war and 

the lessons we are still learning today. Lest We Forget. 

Rise Against Hunger at Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong 

“Rise Against Hunger” is a food packing and distribution event 

in which members of our community join together to address 

poverty in China. The Rise Against Hunger organization (www. 

riseagainsthunger.org) mobilises volunteers to produce nutritious 

meals that are distributed to impoverished communities worldwide, 

working towards a world without hunger. 

On Saturday 13 October, Rise Against Hunger arrived at Dulwich 

College Shanghai Pudong to facilitate the biggest school-based 

event in the Asia Pacific region. Our funding partner for the event 

was Kraft Heinz - the third-largest food and beverage company in 

North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company 

in the world. Kraft Heinz employees joined our students and staff 

to fulfill their commitment to a well-established Corporate Social 

Responsibility programme. 

The aims of the event were to: 

• Take direct action to reduce poverty and hunger in China 

• Develop servant leadership in our community 

• Enable multi-national companies such as Kraft Heinz to broaden 

their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes 

• Inspire our students to make a conscious and tangible positive 

difference for others less fortunate than themselves 

Over the course of three hours, more than 550 volunteers working 

in 30 assembly lines successfully packed 220,000 meals. Students 

were organized in vertically-aligned groups from Year 3 to Year 

13. The older students and Kraft Heinz employees acted as “older 

siblings” for the day, with an emphasis on active collaboration. 

Rachel Crossland (Head of Junior School PE) and Neil Crossland 

(Deputy Head of Senior School) have a long-established relationship 

with Rise Against Hunger from their previous work in Singapore. It 

was their mission to bring Rise Against Hunger to Dulwich College 

Shanghai Pudong in 2018. The goal is to extend the event next year 

to feed ‘a million mouths’ in a day. Nothing is impossible at Dulwich 

College Shanghai Pudong. 


Snapshots 

7 Dulwich Schools x 3 Days of Shakespeare = 

1 Brilliant Festival 

The Dulwich Shakespeare Festival 2018 has been spectacular this year, with 

exceptional practitioners and energetic, creative students tackling Shakespeare plots 

and characters in an array of workshops. Each night, Dulwich schools performed their 

interpretations of a Shakespeare play. The quality of the performances just keeps 

getting better year on year. They were truly a joy to watch, with such varied styles and 

approaches used to hook the audience in. It has been a pleasure hosting this year 

and the DCB students have made us incredibly proud, welcoming and attending to 

our visitors so hospitably. We are already looking forward to 2019 in Singapore! 


33

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENTS 

2018 IGCSE RESULTS 

116 

students 

996 

IGCSE COURSES 

38% 

of all grades 

were A*s 

69% 

were 

GRADES 

A* or A 

61% 80% 81% 

English 

Literature 

received 

History 

A or A* 

Mandarin First 

& Mandarin 

Foreign 

Language 

98% 

received an 

A or A* 

in Triple 

Award 

Science 

93% 

received an 

A or A* 

in Additional 

Mathematics 

2018 IB RESULTS 

DCB 

World 

45 

37.7 | 29.78 

Average Score 

out of 45 

70% 30% 

3 of students who took 

Mandarin received a 

perfect score (7/7) 

of DCB students achieved over 

40 points in IB examinations 

99% 

pass rate for those who 

entered the full diploma 

Bowdoin 

College 

UC 

Berkeley 

University of 

Bristol 

Johns Hopkins 

University 

The University 

of Melbourne 

University of 

Hong Kong 

University of 

British Columbia 

University of 

Cambridge 

King’s College 

London 

Parsons School 

of Design 

Seoul National 

University 

Imperial College 

London 

University of 

Chicago 

Brown 

University 

Rhode Island 

School of Design 

University of 

Edinburgh 

Durham 

University 

and other top universities worldwide!

Dulwich College Beijing - The College Magazine Winter 2018

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