The College Magazine Summer 2021

C The 

OLLEGE 

Summer 2021 Beijing 

......................................................................................... 

Dulwich College Beijing Introduces... 

Leaders in the Making 

......................................................................................... 

Meet our New Heads of School 

The Relevance of ECAs to University Applications 

Developing Student Superpowers

Friends of Dulwich 

Singing to Convey Love and Positivity across the Community 

By Willa AuYeung and Haifeng Cao 

Like singing? Yes! 

Like choir singing? Yes, I guess so. 

How about a cappella? Sounds cool! Never tried before… What’s a cappella? 

Originated from chapel style music in Italy, a cappella nowadays simply 

refers to singing without instrumental accompaniment. By combining different 

music style in its melody and harmonic structure, a cappella music gained an 

incredible amount of popularity in recent decades. 

In November 2020, the DCB’s a cappella choir group was launched as many 

families could not enjoy the usual holiday gatherings due to the pandemic. The 

Friends of Dulwich (FoD) committee sensed the emotional needs of parents on 

time, and offered a Cloud Choir project for parents to learn one song over 2-3 

online and offline sessions, show love and support to each other, and spread 

good holiday cheers. The recruitment for the Cloud Choir project started and 

over 70 parents joined the group, including graduates parents and families 

trapped abroad during the pandemic. 

FoD invited AcaLab, a music organisation dedicated to promoting a cappella 

music in China, to support the choir. After some heated discussions, parents 

voted for their favourite songs: Pin Fan Zhi Lu and See you again. Mr Taylor 

Hartwell, the co-founder and creative director of AcaLab, made new musical 

arrangements to combine these two beautiful songs. After practising very 

hard for a month, parents gradually found they enjoyed every note of the 

song, and some even conquered more than two vocal parts. In this process, 

parents felt that the atmosphere of trust and encouragement, along with the 

joy of overcoming a challenge, mattered more than the singing itself. A video 

production of 90 song videos covering 5 vocal parts from soprano to bass was 

distributed to the DCB community in December as the warmest greetings for 

the holiday season. 

The a cappella choir was invited by FoD to join its Christmas Brunch & Carols 

event. 23 parents rehearsed intensively for two weeks after work and children’s 

bedtime, faced frustrations and challenges together and finally presented 

their first live performance at the Winter Garden of Indigo mall. Followed by 

enthusiastic applause and cheers, the performance was incredibly successful 

and touched the audience on the spot. A moment of pure joy in that warm 

winter afternoon! 

The DCB parent a cappella choir now rehearses every Friday. Choir members 

enjoy systematic training (including breath, rhythm and intonation) to improve 

their singing skills. There would be no more panic when holding several pages 

long music notes. Parents sometimes even try impromptu singing conducted by 

Mr Taylor. A new journey has begun, singing along with our songs! 

Tremendous thanks to the parents who have participated and continued 

participating in our a cappella choir. Your support and participation exemplifies 

the Dulwich Values and makes our community shine with splendour! 

beijing.dulwich.org

C O N T E N T S 

Head of College Message ................................................ 2 

Meet our New Heads of School .......................................... 4 

Meet our New Head of Early Years ................................................... 4 

Meet our New Head of Junior School ............................................... 6 

Student Leadership ......................................................... 8 

Leaders in the Making: the Early Years Student Council ................... 8 

Hear from the Junior School House Captains! ................................ 10 

Hear from the Junior School Student Council! ............................... 12 

What does it Mean to be a Prefect while Preparing the IB? ............14 

Live Worldwise ................................................................ 18 

Sustainability at Heart .................................................................... 18 

The Relevance of ECAs to University Applications ........................ 20 

A Brief Guide to the World of University Applications .................... 24 

Let's Meet Again in 15 Years! .......................................................... 26 

Getting to Know the Duckers .......................................................... 28 

Learn Worldwise .............................................................. 30 

Developing Student Superpowers .................................................. 30 

Educational Technology and Innovation ........................................ 32 

Ranking 9 th at the Oxford University Computing Challenge! .......... 34 

Learning Journey: from an Extended Essay to a Research Paper ... 36 

Visual & Performing Arts .................................................. 36 

Spotlights ........................................................................ 46 

DCI News ......................................................................... 56 

Cover: Dica W, Luis C (DCB Early Years students) 

Back Cover: Kevin M, Michael L Jr, Yi Xin L, Sophie P, Mink L, Jessica T, 

Jadelle C (DCB Class of 2021) 

Editor, Design & Layout: Kalyana Marechal, Yadi Zhou 

Editorial Support: Cecilia Liang 

Contributors: Hetal Ascher, Willa AuYeung, Becky Bush, Haifeng Cao, 

Laura Clark, Anthony Coles, Sally Corben, Jacob Dong, Stephen Ducker, 

Tracey Francis, Jacinth Gurdon, Jeffrey Harmon, Yosef Karasik, Liz 

Mawson, Joseph Stewart, Yvette Stride, Iyabo Tinubu, Bernd Widemann, 

our colleagues across the DCI network and many of our wonderful 

students and alumni. 

Graphic Designer: Faye Zhang 

Photography: Kidsphoto Studio, Dulwich College Beijing students and 

teachers 

The College Magazine (Beijing) 

1

Head of College Message 

As we are approaching the end 

of the 2020/21 academic year, 

it is my privilege to write a 

short reflection. 

The past year was indeed not a 

usual one. It was full of unexpected 

turns and challenges due to the 

pandemic and its related restrictions. 

However, when looking back, I feel 

extremely proud of the achievements accomplished 

by our DCB community and the resilience, positivity, 

and teamwork that every member demonstrated 

throughout the year. 

In the latter half of the year, the College resumed 

much of its pre-COVID activities, and campus life 

sprang back with full force. 

The new student leadership team was formed. In 

Senior School, we appointed the new Prefect Team, 

including four Head Prefects (Head Girl Dorothy A, 

Head Boy Ethan Z, Deputy Head Girl Lauren Z, Deputy 

Head Boy Isaac C) along with thirty-one other Student 

Prefects, including five Heads of House. Junior School 

and Early Years also have their Student Council leaders 

and House Captains. The student leaders have been 

proactively contributing to students’ learning and 

wellbeing at school, conveying the students voice 

and reflecting their perspectives in a wide array of 

activities including learning, ECAs, sustainability, 

wellbeing, and community service. Student agency is 

one of the key priorities for learning at DCB and we 

are proud to see the various student-led programmes 

flourishing across the College. 

From January onwards, we have been 

receiving great news from universities 

around the world. Each of the eighty-one 

students of Class of 2021 has determined 

his/her own pathway in medicine, film 

production, law, or a lifetime of academia, 

and they continue to receive prestigious 

offers from the most selective universities 

and programmes across all disciplines. To 

name but a few, at the time of writing, our 

students have offers from KAIST (the Korea Advanced 

Institute of Science and Technology), the University of 

Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Imperial College 

London, the University of St Andrews, Carnegie 

Mellon University, the Rhode Island School of Design 

and Art Center College of Design, Dartmouth College, 

University College London, and UCLA. The list will 

continue to grow through the summer as we receive 

more updates. 

We are particularly proud of our Class of 2021, not 

only because of their exceptional offers, but also for 

their incredible resolve, adaptability, and resilience as 

they navigated through unprecedented challenges and 

uncertainty over the past eighteen months. They have 

demonstrated that they have the skills and confidence 

to deal with their future world of study, work, and life. 

2 beijing.dulwich.org

Head of College Message 

At DCB, learning of courses stretches far beyond 

the classroom, and academic excellence is not the 

only objective our students strive for. When our 

students returned onto campus, they were delighted 

to have opportunities to engage with a vast array of 

ECAs, sports, music and performing arts, visual arts, 

and service projects. All three schools also had their 

Sports Day with a wide range of sports activities and 

residentials across Junior and Senior Schools have also 

returned in this last term. 

At DCB, we believe that learning is effective when 

it’s adapted and applied. In light of that learning 

principle, we are now partnered with Amazon Web 

Services to bring Artificial Intelligence technologies 

into the curriculum to better support students to 

apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems. 

Looking ahead into the new academic year, DCB 

has confirmed three strategic key priorities: Live 

Worldwise, Community of Learners, and Learning 

Pathways. Under each of these headlines, there is a 

number of areas that we intend to focus on next year. 

Our IB and IGCSE Visual Arts students put on 

amazing exhibitions, displaying their artworks on and 

off-campus. In the Chinese New Year celebrations, 

spring student concerts, and the recent MADD 

Around the World Festival, our students and teachers 

put on professional performances and fully expressed 

the DCB vibe. The ECA groups came up with creative 

ideas for serving the community and promoting 

sustainability such as the accessibility lift and the 

greenhouse and garden designs. 

We look forward to continuing our partnership 

with the whole DCB community, working towards 

our strategic priorities, to create another year of 

exceptional experiences for our students. 

Anthony Coles 

Head of College 


3


Meet our New Head of Early Years 

By Tracey Francis 

It is a great honour to have been chosen 

to lead such a wonderful school, and to 

be a part of the legacy of educational 

excellence that is synonymous with Dulwich 

College International. The confidence that the 

DCB community has placed in me to build on 

the great things already happening in Early 

Years is humbling, and a privilege that I will 

use to ground how I support and direct Early 

Years as we move forward together. 

My background 

I am currently the Head of Pre-Prep in a school in Kuwait, 

a role I have held for three years, and I am responsible for 

the 3-7 year-old students. Prior to this, I was a Headteacher 

and a Head of School both in London primary schools that 

catered for 3-11 year-olds. In fact, most of my career has 

been in London primary schools; but I worked, for a short 

spell, in Oman. Additionally, I have been a programme 

director for summer schools in Cambridge and Ascot in 

England. 

Why did you choose DCB? 

Several things attracted me to the role. Foremost, 

students come first, which is at the heart of all decisions 

at DCB. I was fortunate to meet the student council. They 

were full of energy, charming, and inquisitive. I also met 

some parents who are actively involved and engaged in 

school life. They are clearly keen to work in partnership 

with the school. This is a great starting point for any 

new Head. Furthermore, the staffing team and college 

leadership are highly skilled, committed, and passionate 

about providing a timeless education. Inheriting a great 

team, who are full of ideas and have the capability to 

make them happen, is appealing. Undeniably, I wanted 

to be a part of this team! In addition, DCB invests in 

high-quality resources and facilities to facilitate teaching 

and an amazing extracurricular offer. Ultimately, it is 

a wonderful opportunity for me to work in a phase of 

education (Early Years) that I am at my happiest, in a wellrespected 

organisation that is steeped in tradition and has 

a renowned reputation. 

My excitement about joining DCB 

Since learning of my appointment, I have experienced 

a mixture of emotions. Mostly excitement, but also 

anticipation about the beginning of a new chapter in my 

life, and everything that that entails. Children will encounter 

similar feelings as they embark on one of the most 

momentous events in a person’s life. The 

significance of a family’s decision to join 

the DCB community; to form a relationship 

of trust with us to effectively nurture the 

development of their child, will not be 

taken for granted. My excitement includes a 

desire to strive for the best for our students, 

and to work with the community to create 

something special. 

My hopes for the future… 

I believe that it is important for people 

to stretch beyond what is comfortable, and 

challenge themselves to do things that seem 

just out of reach. With persistence and determination, this 

is achievable. It is through trying our best and not giving up 

that we can experience success. It is these successes that 

help us to build character and the confidence to pursue 

our dreams and aspirations. 

I hope our community will work together to see children 

as individuals, and recognise that diversity builds strength 

and creativity. We can support the needs of all our students 

so that they develop holistically. Our community will be 

formed on firm foundations and positive relationships. 

I hope we will instil confidence and a sense of self in our 

students so that they believe in themselves; encouraging 

them to demonstrate curiosity and to take risks in their 

learning. Our provision and care should nurture them. It 

should enable them to feel safe and secure, healthy and 

happy. 

People make a school unique, and the best schools 

utilise this strength. A significant impact on children’s 

development will be the key people around them (staff, 

peers, parents) modelling the expansion of knowledge and 

skills, and supporting deeper understanding. Equipping our 

community to authentically represent the school’s values is 

also vital. I would expect those values to be evident in not 

only the children’s behaviours, but a part of how their key 

adults behave and reflected in our Early Years’ systems. 

I hope that through rich experiences and interactions, 

our students will demonstrate high engagement and talk 

enthusiastically about DCB now, but also in the future 

when they look back fondly at being a part of DCB. 

I look forward to getting to know the DCB community 

and I am open to hearing from you. We will continue to 

talk throughout my time at DCB. 


Onboarding with the Early Years Student Council 


Hello, my name is Ms Francis. I have been sent lots of wonderful questions that 

I am going to do my best to answer, so let's get started! 

2NS Do you think sustainability is important? What 

will you do to make sure we are a green school? 

Yes, of course. It is so important. I will need to find out 

what is already happening at DCB. I understand that 

sustainability is one of your key priorities, and you have 

been working really hard for quite some time to be a green 

school, so I would love to hear your ideas to find out what 

your plan for the future is, what you would like our school 

to look like in an ideal, dream scenario. How could we 

become even more of a green school, and what would we 

need to do? And I would love to support you with that. 

2DD What languages can you speak? Can you speak 

Chinese? 

English, fluently. I can speak a few other languages but 

just to a basic degree. I cannot speak Chinese and so I am 

learning Mandarin to a basic level. I am going to need a lot 

of help. So, will you help me when I arrive? I hope so! 

2LW 

What is your Chinese zodiac animal? 

Let me give you a clue… I am a ssssssssnake. 

2DS Are you excited to come to our school? 

I am so excited to be joining DCB! I have been 

building up the excitement over the last couple of months 

and I really can’t wait. I am looking forward to meeting you, 

seeing the school, and to getting started. 

2JS How can you stop bullying? What will you do if 

you see this? 

Bullying is never ok. It is important for us as a school to 

have a shared understanding of what is acceptable and 

what is not acceptable. For the most part, we make good 

choices, and we get really good consequences. Sometimes, 

we make wrong choices, and we have to understand there 

is a knock-on. It is also important to have a fair system to 

ensure that everyone is listened to and respected. If we 

use our school values to support this process, then we all 

understand how to treat each other with kindness. 

1HG Do you have any children? What are their 

names? 

I have one daughter. Her name is Jadah. She is 25, and she 

lives in the Netherlands. 


1LH What do you like to do at the weekends? 

I live in a place called Kuwait, which is very quiet. 

Currently, we have a curfew, so I don’t get to do an awful 

lot at the moment. When things are in a better place, I 

enjoy reading and drawing. I love going to the beach, and 

I really enjoy yoga and playing sports, for example, netball 

or basketball. 

1LC What was your favourite book when you were a 

child? 

I was a child quite a long time ago, but don’t tell anyone. 

So, it is hard for me to remember that far back but I would 

probably say The Tiger Who Came to Tea. 

1JB 

What will your job be at our school? 

I’m going to be the new Head of Early Years. 

1CB Why did you want to become a Headteacher? 

I have been a teacher for many years and really 

enjoyed that role. Some of the schools I have worked for in 

the past asked me to take on further responsibilities to help 

them to improve. So, I felt lucky to have that opportunity. 

That role has grown and evolved over the years and 

eventually, I was asked to be a headteacher. Instead of just 

getting to know and interact with the children in my class, I 

can do that on a much bigger scale and get to know all the 

children in the school and their parents. It is a great job! 

When I wake up in the morning, I am excited to come to 

school, and I feel lucky. I am even more excited to do this 

job at your school. 

I can’t wait to meet you all in person. I hope you will 

make me feel welcome because I will be new and will 

need some support. I will need some kindness, and I am 

sure you can all help me with that. I can’t wait to meet 

you in person and get to know you. Take care. Bye! 

- Ms Francis 

5


Meet our New Head of Junior School 

By Jacinth Gurdon 

My name is Jacinth Gurdon, and I 

am pleased to introduce myself 

as the new Head of Junior School 

at Dulwich College Beijing. I feel incredibly 

privileged to join a school whose vision and 

philosophy match seamlessly with my own. 

With over 20 years of teaching experience, 

including 15 years as a senior leader, I have 

gained a BA (Hons) in Special Education from 

Goucher College, a Masters of Education 

in Elementary Reading and Literacy from 

Walden University and an Education 

Specialist degree in Educational Leadership 

from National Louis University. I have lived 

and worked in New York City, Florida and Dubai. The 

large majority of my teaching career has been with Junior 

School-aged children at a British international school, 

notably leading on curriculum implementation and the 

teaching and learning of the British National curriculum. 

Over the years, I have held various leadership roles, 

including a Reading Coach, Head of Learning Support and 

Student Services and most recently, Deputy Head Teacher 

of Academics. My plethora of experience has cemented my 

firm belief in inclusion. I think that the primary emphasis 

of a school is to develop every child's full potential. No 

two children are the same, and each child has different 

qualities that need to nurture and develop. Children with 

one or more abilities developed to a level significantly 

ahead of their year groups are no exception. Children learn 

best when they have fun and are engaged in practical, reallife 

activities, and this approach will continue. 

I also believe that we are educating children for jobs 

that are not created yet. Therefore, we need to teach 

children hard skills (reading, writing and maths) alongside 

soft skills. Soft skills are a combination of people skills, 

social skills, communication skills, character traits, 

attitudes, mindsets, and social and emotional intelligence 

(teamwork, collaboration, flexibility, problem-solving, 

innovation, perseverance and decision making). These 

skills are transferable to any future jobs and will remain 

indispensable. 

My core values are kindness, respect, responsibility, 

challenge and collaboration. These values match with 

DCB's. Children are unique individuals who need a secure, 

caring and stimulating atmosphere to grow and mature 

emotionally, intellectually, physically and 

socially. Under my leadership, I will ensure 

that DCB Junior School continues to support 

all children to meet their fullest potential by 

providing a safe environment that promotes 

risk-taking, collaboration and thinking 

outside of the box. 

I fully recognise the impact that fostering 

strong parental partnerships plays in 

students achievement and wellbeing. 

Parental engagement is one of the critical 

elements of an outstanding school, and I see 

this as part and parcel of school life. I believe 

that strong relations with parents and the 

wider community are vital in ensuring that 

children are supported as they move through the school. 

To that end, I celebrate the home-school partnership. I 

feel strongly that it is essential for the Head to be visible 

around the school. A smile is a perfect way to start each 

day, and I relish the opportunity to meet and greet children 

and parents at the gate each morning. 

With a passion for educational excellence and an 

unwavering determination to see the best in all children, 

I will drive and maintain positive change, motivate and 

inspire others to improve in their practice while working 

toward a shared child-centred vision of global citizenship 

for all. I am excited to provide a new perspective to the 

Junior School, ensuring DCB maintains its place as a 

global leader in providing a world-class education. I will 

work closely with other schools to guarantee a smooth 

transition as children move through the school. 

Outside of school, I love to travel and experience 

different cultures, primarily through food. I am a big foodie 

and live by the saying, "I'll try anything once (most of the 

times)." Since being grounded due to COVID-19, I have had 

no other option than to rely on the Discovery Chanel and 

National Geographic to fulfil my desire for travel. While 

it is not the same experience, this has satisfied the void 

until the world is open again for global travel. I am thrilled 

about relocating to Beijing and cannot wait to discover and 

explore my new home city and country. 

I am delighted to be working together with students, 

staff, parents and everyone else involved with Dulwich 

College Beijing for all the children's success, achievement 

and welfare. I look forward to seeing you in school. 



Onboarding with the Junior School Student Council 

Hello, I'm Ms Gurdon. Thank you to the Student Council for sending through some 

thought-provoking questions. I look forward to meeting you all. 

3CE Is there anything you are feeling worried about 

as you are moving to a new country and school? 

I am feeling slightly worried about the weather. I have lived 

in warm countries for the past 18 years. I know Beijing gets 

really cold, so slightly worried about that. I do not have any 

worries about the school. I have had a very warm welcome, 

and I'm sure that will continue once I get to the school. 

3BC 

6JL 

What is your favourite food? Do you like Beijing 

food? 

I do love Chinese food very much. Especially the spicy 

ones. I love spicy food. And I am looking forward to tasting 

the specific foods that are native to Beijing. 

3IT 

6SS 

What will you do differently in Junior School as 

the Head of School? 

I know the past Head of Junior School has been there for 

many years. I've heard some amazing things about the 

school and about you. I am looking forward to carrying on 

all of the Dulwich traditions and maintain an outstanding 

education. Students voice is extremely important to me, so 

I look forward to hearing from you what you would like me 

to do differently as the new Head of Junior School. 

3VT 

6CL 

What is your favourite thing to do? What do you 

do at the weekends? 

I like to just relax. I like to take most weekends to maybe 

take a long walk, to read a book, to catch up on emails, to 

catch up on conversations with family members. Just spend 

time with myself and my family. 

4NC What was your favourite subject at school? 

My favourite subject at school was, and still is, 

maths. Why? Because 1 + 1 always equals 2; there is always 

a right answer and a wrong answer. And there's always a 

formula or some easy tricks to do it. It's straightforward 

and not very complicated. 

4NC Can we have more visits to places out of school? 

There are so many places we can now visit virtually 

without leaving the school building! So you will absolutely 

be able to experience outside of the classroom. Maybe 

actually visiting these places, but for sure, virtually. 


4NH 

5TR 

What brings you to DCB and have you been to 

Beijing before? What are you most excited for? 

I have not been to Beijing, so I am very much looking 

forward to visiting but, more importantly, living and 

exploring Beijing and the surrounding areas. Dulwich has 

an amazing reputation throughout the world. And it also 

had the same educational ethos as I do. I am most excited 

to meet you - the children. 

4NH What has been your best teaching experience? 

In 2019, I was given the opportunity to travel to 

Senegal with other teachers, parents and students to 

build a school. We got to not only build a school from 

scratch, but also stayed with a local family in their house, 

learning different traditions and different customs, working 

alongside the students who would then go to that school. 

5JB Are you strict? 

I would say that I am firm but fair, and definitely 

consistent in my approach. I also have extremely high 

expectations of the staff, of the students, but especially of 

myself. 

4NH How many languages do you speak? 

Fluently, only English. However, being in Dubai for 

many years, I have picked up some Arabic phrases, and my 

hope is to pick up some Mandarin phrases along the way. 

4NH What do you expect from us? 

I have heard some wonderful things about the 

students at DCB. I expect to see all of the amazing things 

that I've heard. 

4NH As a female coming into the school in a 

leadership position, what are your views on 

feminism and how will you show this at school? 

I think I'm more of a humanist. I believe in equality for all. 

Regardless of gender, age, religion, or culture, everyone 

should be treated fairly and equally. 

4NH If you were a colour, what colour would you be 

and why? 

I would choose yellow. Yellow is the colour of sunshine. It's 

daylight, it's bright and it makes people happy. 

7

Student Leadership 

Leaders in the Making: the Early Years Student Council 

By Annika M and Tina Q 

As the College Links Prefect and the Communication 

and Language Prefect for this academic year, we have 

the great privilege of working with students and leaders 

from different key stages across the school. The strong 

student-to-student bond facilitated across the student 

body is evident and we hope that this bond continues 

to strengthen and grow in the upcoming years. In 

particular, the student leaders we have worked with 

this past year have continually impressed us with their 

strong interpersonal skills, teamwork and enthusiasm for 

contributing to the Dulwich community. 

The Early Years Student Council, with whom we have 

had the pleasure of working on several projects, is no 

exception. It was evident that the Early Years Student 

Council representatives were enthusiastic to participate 

in the activities they were tasked to complete. When 

faced with difficulties or adversities, they were quick to 

understand their mistakes and correct them. When asked 

to complete a task that was outside of their comfort zone, 

they persevered and produced admirable work. 

All in all, Student Leadership is an integral part of any 

student community. It gives students an opportunity to 

become more engaged in the overall community at school, 

incentivizing them to make more meaningful contributions 

and allowing them to achieve a more positive, caring and 

equitable school climate. 

The qualities that the Early Years students gain from 

such leadership opportunities are extremely important, 

and we are hopeful that when they progress through the 

years, they utilise their passion and skill sets to further 

enrich the Dulwich community. 

The Early Years Student Council consists of members 

from Year 1 and Year 2, with the council members changing 

every term. 

Throughout the year, the primary goals of the Early 

Years Student Council were to make school a better place 

as well as to give students a voice. They achieved their 

goals through various projects such as campaigning for 

International Women Day, helping to contribute with 

proposals for the FoD Enrichment Funding for the area 

outside the Early Years' classrooms, and coming up with 

ideas of how to repurpose the ice-skating rink. They also 

interviewed the new Head of Early Years and discussed 

their curriculum next year. 

The Early Years Student Council members from... 

1CB 

1HG 



1JB 

1LC 

1LH 

2DD 

2DS 

2JS 

2LW 

2NS 


9


Hear from the Junior School HOUSE Captains! 

Alleyn - Estelle, Ran, Zoe and Savanna 

Johnson - Tiger, Jonathan, Lily and Colin 

Soong – Sarah, Alan, Circle and Jessica 

Owens – Aaron, Ronnie, Vicky and Nicole 

Wodehouse - Poppy, Marcus, Isla and Sophia 

Please briefly introduce your role as a HOUSE Captain. 

Alleyn: We do lunch duty every week, cheer on our team, 

collect House points every Friday and set up Early Years 

events. As House Captains, we help other students in the 

school, not only those in our House. Our job is to be role 

models, and to help other students in everything they do. 

Johnson: We also help teachers get everything ready and 

set up for any exciting events that will take place. We have 

helped with the Early Years' Teddy Bear Gymnastics and 

Sports Day. We help Johnson discover their talents and 

unite them altogether. 

Soong: Part of our role is that we have to sacrifice our rest 

time in order to do our duties which include mask duty and 

bridge duty. We aim to enjoy our last year in Junior School 

by making other people’s year better. 

Owens: We make our House a better one and make sure 

everyone in this House is involved in any group work. 

Other than the duties, an important part is to entertain 

and inspire every member in this House when doing 

Housework. We’ll make Owens more united and support 

each other. 

Wodehouse: We help with House events, collect House 

points, and help organise our House. We sacrifice our time 

to do our bridge duties, making sure people are being safe 

and wearing masks, and we collect trophies when we win 

House events. We love contributing to DCB, especially 

when we are contributing to Wodehouse. 

What was the most fun part of being in the House team? 

Alleyn: Seeing the smiles on the little kids faces as we go to 

collect the trophies that they helped win. 

Johnson: The fun part is when we help out with fun 

activities and help the younger kids with their classes! 

Soong: Helping out Early Years activities such as Teddy Bear 

Gymnastics, and Early Years Sports Day. One of the best 

parts is when your House wins an event and you go up on 

stage and hold the trophy high above your head. 

Owens: If your House wins a House event, the House 

Captain will go down and receive the trophy, and it will 

have a House-coloured ribbon tied around it. 

Wodehouse: We love to help others when they have hard 

times. Seeing Wodehouse have fun inspires us to keep 

going and give back to our house. 

What have you learnt from this experience? 

Alleyn: I learnt that House Captain is actually a huge role in 

Junior School, and we need to be very responsible so that 

we could help our House become better. 

Johnson: This experience had made our year challenging 

especially when COVID struck. A House Captain is a big role 

and just the tiniest mistakes can mess up a big thing, so 

this year, we had to be extra cautious about everything. 

Soong: How to apply the Dulwich Values in real life. 

Respect, in respecting the teachers you work with. 

Responsibility, in wearing your House kit and remembering 

the exact dates of events. Open-Mindedness: if a child is 

different from the rest, you have to accept them for who 

they are. Confidence, when we got elected, we had to 

speak with confidence. Resilience, when our house lost, 

Kindness, we had to be kind even if a kid was mean to us. 

Integrity, when our friends did something bad, we had to 



be a role model and tell the teachers. 

Owens: We have learned how we can lead the group and 

improve ourselves, also to work as a team and learn from 

other people. 

Wodehouse: We have learnt more about leadership, and 

that teamwork can be possible even with a large group of 

people. In Wodehouse, we proved that we can trust each 

other. We aim to set an outstanding example to the whole 

Junior School and the younger students in Early Years. 

What was the biggest challenge you encountered? 

Alleyn: The biggest challenge we’ve encountered was 

within the House events. Everyone tried very hard and 

contributed a lot to Alleyn, but sometimes, other Houses 

did much better. 

Johnson: The biggest challenge to me was to keep 

everyone on the right track, and not to wander around and 

do nothing that will contribute to our House. 

Soong: The biggest challenge was that we had to set an 

example for the Junior school, also doing the bridge duty 

because a lot of students didn’t like to put their masks on, 

so we had to persuade them to do so. But we all completed 

it and proved that we can complete different challenges no 

matter how hard they are. 

Owens: The biggest challenge I encountered was always 

being the role model and organising certain activities and 

helping the Early Years. Leaders become great, not because 

of their power, but because of the way they empower 

other people. That’s what we all desire. 

Wodehouse: The biggest challenge is attempting to get 

everyone organised and being where they should be. It 

also hurts to see people from our House sad because we 

didn’t win a House event. 

Explain one of the most memorable House events you 

took part in. 

Alleyn: The most memorable House event for us was 

this year’s House Colour War themed Halloween. It was 

exciting and made our heart race. The Spooky Obstacle 

Race was a blast, Pumpkin Toss was extremely fun, but the 

most fun of all was Capture the Bat, being all those roles 

was exhilarating. 

Johnson: The most memorable House event was the 

House Game-a-Thon last year. This was great fun because 

we got to play quizzes and games and learn the history of 

games. You got to show off your knowledge of the different 

varieties of games throughout the House event. 

Soong: Our most memorable event was House Gamea-Thon 

because it was one of the most unique and 

memorable events in our four years of Junior School. It 

included a variety of games including Pac-Man, Mario Kart 

and Just Dance. There was also a great quiz to test our 

knowledge on games. 


Owens: The most memorable House event was 

House Verse Speaking because that day, all the Owens 

competitors competed and proved that Owens could 

achieve everything. 

Wodehouse: We loved all the House events from Colour 

War to Go Green for Your House. Our most memorable 

House event is definitely Tour’d Four. After many losses, 

and close hits with other House events, we finally earned a 

well-deserved victory with Tour’d Four. 

What is unique about your House? 

Alleyn can be unique in many ways. We have been quite 

successful this year as we won four House competitions. 

We feel like our House has contributed a lot and we, as 

House Captains, feel very proud to be part of this family. All 

the year groups have taken part in this run. 

Johnson is unique in every way. Everyone respects the 

school and makes the House even better by just being 

themselves. They all contributed and participated greatly 

in the House events that took place this year. 

Soong is unique in several ways. We win our own 

challenges and challenge ourselves to a higher level. 

We always try our best and help each other when other 

students are struggling. We show a lot of Dulwich Values 

and teamwork. Although we don’t win every single event, 

we try our best at everything. 

Owens might not be winning everything, but we always 

improve ourselves and we will become better. Our House 

is also unique in how we work together and try to make up 

for the previous mistakes. 

Wodehouse hasn’t won every House event this year, but 

all of us have talents, including running, swimming and 

football, basketball, and dodgeball. We all encourage 

each other to make the House better. Our House founder 

P.G. Wodehouse has left us with a great House, lots of 

fascinating stories and great people that later joined. Go, 

Wodehouse! 

11


Hear from the Junior School 

Student Council! 

Please briefly introduce your role as STUCO? 

Chelsea Z: The Student Council is a hugely important role 

to enable DCB to have the best possible environment for 

us, children, to work and learn in. 

Elsa W: It has been my first and amazing year in STUCO. 

The role means representing your year group. 

Kaden Y: As a part of the Student Council, we represent 

Junior School. We get to hear great opinions from students 

on how to make Junior School better. 

Jay Z: As a student councillor, we represent the Junior 

School student body, do surveys and organise activities. 

Julie Z: Student Council is a very important role at school. 

We help to do surveys and help the teachers to sort 

things out. We also represent the students from our year 

group to give advice and help the school to be a better 

place. 



What are some of your goals for this year? Have you 

achieved them? 

Megan K: One goal is to be confident, and I achieved it 

because I wasn’t nervous when I had to go on stage. 

Isa W: One of the goals I had for this year was to be more 

confident in presenting information. My voice used to be 

very wobbly when I spoke on stage in an assembly. After 

the experience with Student Council, I have become more 

confident. Now, my voice is very strong! 

Chelsea Z: One of the most important goals this year is to 

make the students voice to be heard. To achieve this, we 

did lots of surveys. The topics included: food, the Friends 

Shop, questions to the Head of Junior School... As a result, 

we got some valuable suggestions, we asked the school for 

some further improvements and everyone is happy. 

Kelly Z: We have solved lots of food concerns and toilet 

problems this year. For food, many students have been 

wanting better food and after a survey, we and Sodexo 

managed to provide a better food choice to the school. 

When we found out that the toilet was unhygienic, we 

made a video to inform the whole school about the 

problem. 

Kaden Y: My goal was to make some good changes to 

Junior School. Yes, I have achieved it. In our project to 

improve the snacks, I have seen a decrease in food left in 

our snack box. 

Andy Q: One of my goals is to make the school better and 

the Student Council and I have achieved it. We made the 

food better, the school environment better and the toilet 

better. 

Jay Z: My goal was to make Junior School a little bit better 

than the previous year. I feel I have achieved that goal 

because as a student councillor, we asked Mr Nichol to add 

more toys in the sandpit, another entrance in the maze 

and to include juice day and pizza day at the canteen. 

What was the biggest challenge you encountered? 

Irene W: My biggest challenge was to go on stage, and to 

remember all the lines 30 minutes before. 

Eileen W: The biggest challenge I encountered was to have 

the responsibility for things and people. 

Piers W: To make speeches. 

Gavin L: The biggest challenge I have faced as a student 

councillor was the responsibility I had to take, such as 

doing surveys and getting the results to Ms Tinubu on time 

and getting the answers correct. Also, to have the courage 

to face everyone in the class or in the theatre. 

Eleanor W: To speak out to the Junior School and doing 

surveys in classes. 

Mike P: I think the biggest challenge I have faced was when 

we had to stand on the stage and perform multiple times 

so we could make the school better, but I have done very 

well in the performances. We had to learn difficult lines 

and say them aloud to the whole Junior School. 


Julie Z: My biggest challenge was actually doing all the 

steps and being a part of Student Council because I have 

competed against lots of really strong students. Finally, I 

got in and also handed the video and script on time. It was 

challenging because I also had lots of other things to do at 

that time. 

What was the most fun part of being a part of the Junior 

School STUCO? 

Megan K: The most fun part of being a student councillor 

is when you get to do things like the surveys, and toilet 

video scripts. 

Isa W: It is fun going back and seeing the big change I have 

made to the school. All the hard work paid off! 

Gavin L: The best part of Student Council must be the trips 

and the extra things. Meeting with the Head of College 

Mr Coles is also one of them. Every year, I enjoy being a 

student councillor. 

Elsa W: To be on the TVs around the school. 

Kelly Z: I really liked giving out all the surveys, where we 

could find out the students' opinions on different topics. It 

was also very enjoyable to make the Captain-Clean-a-Lot 

script where we could act out different parts. 

Kaden Y: It is acting in the toilet project. Even though I had 

a challenge stepping in for a sick councillor, I still had a lot 

of fun acting it and also watching the video. 

Jay Z: The most fun part was making new friends and 

announcing upcoming events. 

Julie Z: It was making new friends and meeting new 

people. 

What have you learnt from this experience? 

Irene W: You need to be brave all the time!! 

Eileen W: I have learned about public speaking by 

presenting in the assembly in front of the whole Junior 

School. 

Gavin L: I have learned to have the confidence to speak up 

on stage, take responsibility for my actions, and to attend 

meetings on Wednesdays. 

Eleanor W: I have learnt to be responsible this year by 

doing meetings and bringing the papers and things that I 

needed, and remember lines when I needed to talk to the 

whole Junior School. I have also built up my confidence by 

speaking in public. 

Mike P: I learnt how to be responsible and confident. 

Julie Z: I have learnt to be more confident and have a go 

at anything, to never give up and to show more resilience. 

13


Class of 2022, What does it Mean 

to be a Prefect 

while Preparing the IB? 

By Ella R 

Being a Prefect gives pride to students who want to make an active change in our school community, 

as well as a facilitated route to achieving our goals. This collection of quotes from each Prefect across 

every category humorously and honestly represents the incredibly impressive and diverse leaders of 

our student body. Together, we aim to continue our community’s path towards success, and ensure a 

safe, fun and brilliant learning environment filled with opportunities for all types of students. 

Prefect Leaders 

Dorothy A (Head Girl) 

Ethan Z (Head Boy) 

"Lunch duty - the Prefect team’s 

biggest challenge." 

"Best dressed member!" 

Lauren Z (Deputy Head Girl & 

Sustainability Prefect) 

"An endless list of projects and 

goals.” 

Isaac C (Deputy Head Boy & 

Community Service Prefect) 

“We host expensive events, but 

it’s for a good cause." 



Heads of 

HOUSE 

Jason C (Soong) 

"We find ourselves 

very funny." 

Helena Z (Alleyn) 

"Thank you for reading our 

zillion Teams announcements 

posts and still saying ‘Hi’ to us 

in the hallways." 

Guan Rong T 

(Wodehouse) 

"Too bad the 

curls didn’t last." 

Anaïs M 

(Johnson) 

"Some count 

sheep to sleep. 

I go ‘IB, EE, IA, 

TOK…‘ ". 

Matthew B 

(Owens) 

"We all just go 

with the flow." 

Communications Prefects 

Tina Q (Communication & 

Language) 

"Meetings every day - but 

at least you got excuses for 

leaving class early." 

Annika M (College 

Links) 

"So when’s the next 

pizza party?" 

Zoe N (Media) 

"We’re a 

competitive 

bunch!” 

Ella R (Media) 

"Does anyone 

know what we 

really do?” 

Joy R (Alumni, 

Careers & 

University) 

"We always 

understand the 

assignment.” 


15


Community Engagement and Support Prefects 

Katrina C (Approaches 

to Teaching and 

Learning) 

"Someone? Teach 

me how to not 

procrastinate!" 

Natalie W 

(Community Service) 

"We don’t only work 

with Service ECAs and 

Ms T." 

Alex L (Community 

Service) 

"We charge money for 

free-dress." 

Clara L (Community 

Service) 

"There should be a 

mark scheme for black 

lanyard applications, 

right?" 

Angelina D (Equality 

& Diversity) 

"I only need 2 

holidays, each lasting 

6 months, every 

year…" 

Mika Y (Student 

Support Services) 

"Getting asked to help 

with everything because 

the entire Prefect system 

is about student support." 

Eojin R (Student 

Support Services) 

Taeyon L 

(Sustainability) 

"Social life? What’s 

that?” 

"So… when’s our 

handover assembly?" 

Seung Yon K 

(Wellbeing) 

"We may, or may not, 

have only met up once 

this year." 

Artem L 

(Wellbeing) 

"Maintaining a sense of 

wellbeing is generally a 

good thing!" 



Academics Prefects 

Yukino C 

(Art) 

"Do it for the 

Monet!" 

Rino F (Art) 

"In need of 

chocolates? Ms T, 

where are you?" 

Yiming S (Performing 

Arts) 

Victoria F (Performing 

Arts) 

"We are a big loving 

family." 

"Wait, who’s on duty 

right now???" 

Yann R 

(Sports) 

"Do we get CAS 

hours for this?" 

Pia M 

(Sports) 

"Sad Nike socks 

aren’t part of the 

dress code." 

Max A 

(ICT/MIT) 

Andrew Y 

(STEAM) 

"Our lanyards are on 

fleek." 

"We don’t fix 

computers." 

Jeffrey W (Debating 

and MUN) 

"We really want to let 

you into lunch!" 

Andrew Y 

(STEAM) 

“I don’t know what 

the A in STEAM 

stands for…” 

Vivian L (STEAM) 

"I didn’t realise maths was getting harder until it slapped 149.25 brain cells out 

of my single automated polarised discounted brainsale that perpendicularly 

analyses itself. It’s trIviAL.." 


17

Live Worldwise 

Live Worldwise with Sustainability at Heart 

As the world is starting to realise that we are in the 

midst of a climate crisis, major economies are 

pushing ahead to reduce carbon emissions. As an 

international school, Dulwich College Beijing has pledged 

to play its part, and the initiative towards sustainability 

involves every member of the community doing their 

part, and it starts with a committee to encourage our 

community to make informed choices, take inspired action 

and make positive impacts at individual, group and global 

levels. 

Raising collective awareness at school 

Thursday 22 April 2021 was a valuable opportunity for 

DCB (and the wider world) to acknowledge Earth Day and 

reflect on what we are already doing well with regards 

to sustainability and how we can be even better. Each 

school engaged its students in a vast array of activities, 

from acting the book Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years or 

creating a collective artwork on an environmental theme, 

to promoting sustainable consumption behaviours and 

sustainable development in general. 

But sustainability is not limited to Earth Day at DCB! 

Environmentally responsible food consumption 

According to Kevin Elliott, DCB’s Director of Business 

Administration: "Initiated by the DCB sustainability 

committee (which includes representatives of students and 

staff) and supported by members of the wider community, 

we worked with our food service provider Sodexo to offer 

more vegetarian options. The aim is to become more 

accountable when eating while not sacrificing the nutrition 

intake and taste. Compared with one of the most common 

daily proteins, pork, plant-based meat uses 78% less water 

and creates 96% less carbon emissions during production. 

Replacing 1000kg of pork with plant-based meat is 

equivalent to 192 trees being planted in terms of saved 

carbon emissions." 

Plant-based meat burger 

Plant-based 

spaghetti Bolognese 

Plant-based meat lasagna 

Rice with grilled 

vegetarian eel (eggplant) 

Lentil curry with multi-grain pasta 



Environmentally responsible resources management 

In line with the idea of teaspoons of change, the 

entire College supports collective efforts to reduce the 

consumption of plastic, and encourage the students and 

the wider community to be responsible and respectful 

global citizens on the planet that we live on. 

Some of these everyday endeavours include: 

• A significant decrease in the use of single-use plastic, 

from stopping providing plastic bottled beverages to 

disposable packaging for food. Students and staff are 

encouraged to use sustainable water bottles. 

• Back in 2012, the replacement of standard lighting 

with energy-saving lights that illuminate the entire campus. 

Now, we go one step further and start using solar energy 

lights. Currently, solar energy lights up about half the 

campus, and we will soon be fully illuminated by natural 

sustainable energy. Additionally, auto-censoring lights were 

installed in some classrooms so that when students are 

off by the end of school days, lights turn off automatically. 

Auto-censoring lighting has proven to be successful and 

efficient, and it will be implemented across different 

classrooms shortly. DCB is one of the first schools in Beijing 

to implement such a sustainable lighting system. 

• The installation of 

sustainable water fountains, to 

encourage the use of reusable 

water bottles. 

• Advising staff to be 

cautious when using 

lamination for teaching or any 

other scenarios. The general 

rule is that posters or flyers 

displayed on campus should 

not be laminated, and creative 

way for display should be considered instead. 

• The use of recycled water to irrigate all the greenery 

and gardens in DCB. 

Non-laminated poster or flyer, with the option of flyer 

holder for ones in longer usage 

• Food waste monitoring to increase the level of 

awareness across the College. 


19


By Jeffrey Harmon 

The Relevance of Extracurricular Activities 

to University Applications 

Every year as the Year 13 students prepare for 

graduation, we ask them to reflect on their learning 

journey and share advice and insights about the university 

application process. For the Class of 2021, one major 

theme was the impact of extracurricular activities (ECAs) 

on their personal growth as well as their university 

applications. 

For most students, ECAs are meaningful because they 

are a way to explore new avenues of interests while also 

making like-minded acquaintances. However, from the 

perspective of university applications, the role of ECAs is 

to bring credibility to an application, either as supporting 

evidence of a claimed passion or showing the applicant’s 

Explore or nurture centres of interests 

engagement beyond the academic programme. Common 

pitfalls, however, are to superficially engage in an overly 

wide range of ECAs or to participate in an event or 

organization merely to collect titles. While exploration and 

recognition of achievement are both valuable, students do 

need to reflect on their involvement and pare away those 

that lack depth of engagement and genuine interest. 

Our students not only emphasised how their ECAs have 

allowed them to gain exposure in a specific field of interest, 

but also advised younger students to focus their time and 

energy on activities they genuinely enjoy and connect 

these ECAs to a broader narrative. The underlying takeaway 

was that ECAs, and House leadership in particular, brought 

them a sense of belonging in their community. 

Anna I 

Erik C 

“I actively engaged 

in ECAs because they 

enabled me to acquire 

knowledge that can be 

used to narrate the films I 

make. Moreover, I attended 

the Shanghai Film Festival every summer, 

where I watched movies premiering in China 

and analysed them from the perspective 

of an audience. I was also able to meet 

professionals in the field. 

I originally went to Myanmar in Year 11 

with the intention to improve my CV, but the 

condition of the school there propelled me 

to contribute to improving the situation of 

Myanmar children, so I led a service ECA at 

school: the Myanmar School Project. This 

project was meaningful because despite not 

being a ‘somebody’, I was able to contribute 

to making the world a better place, improving 

the lives of less fortunate children.” 

“Trying out many 

ECAs helped me to figure 

out what I liked. I did a 

lot with debating in MUN, 

ended up being the secretarygeneral 

for DIMUN, ran Debate 

for Change Tournament and ran a debating 

ECA. I really liked theatre, so I participated 

in a lot of productions, supporting the 

major players. I was on the tennis team too, 

to exercise. 

Try not to overwhelm yourself, focus on 

things you are interested in and make sure 

you are not burning yourself out. If you take 

some time to relax, it actually helps you to 

be more efficient in the long run.” 



ECAs to be engaged in the 

Sungbeen L 

“House is really 

something different. 

Getting involved in 

House, whether as a 

Prefect or a House member, 

is really a good opportunity to 

meet new people, not just within your year 

group, but also outside, with teachers. It's 

just a great time. Overall, I learnt a lot being 

a House Prefect.” 

Erik C 

“I actually did not want 

to do House Prefect…for 

about one week. Meeting 

new people is really great 

and knowing people in all 

the different year groups is even 

greater. House Prefect is a lot of work but 

it’s more fun work to do. It was a great 

experience!" 

Anna I 

“I want to reemphasise 

the 

importance of House 

events because they 

allow you to engage in a 

community that is once-in-alifetime.” 

The College Magazine (Beijing) 21


A strategic choice of ECAs 

Andrew H 

“It’s best to have ECAs 

that are tailored to your 

specific, unique interest. I 

personally didn’t have a wide 

range of activities, but I did have many 

that supported the narrative I was trying to 

tell throughout my application. I had a lot 

of activities related to music and English, 

even my service projects were tied to music 

and English. So finding an angle and linking 

the activities to that angle really helped.” 

Erik C 

“I got an internship 

at the Chinese National 

Institute for Qing Research 

and ended up writing a 

6000-word essay about the 

Qing economy that was then 

published in The Concord Review. It was a 

great experience as I learnt how to write 

things properly and conduct research.” 

Kevin M 

“I have a good mix of 

activities, but the difference 

is how I’m able to use those 

activities to complement my 

application, to demonstrate growth, 

learning, intellectual engagement and 

curiosity for new knowledge. For 

example, I wrote about a service trip when 

I went to rural China to teach rural kids 

English. I talked about my engagement for 

new perspectives and being able to realise 

my privilege, linking that to my studies in 

economics—the very complicated efforts 

of development, the different perspectives 

that play into the development. Those 

aspects demonstrate intellectual 

engagement with what you do and what 

you study, and colleges really like that.” 

22 

beijing.dulwich.org


Growing through ECAs 

Michael L Jr 

“In DCB, the House system has definitely 

helped me grow as a person. I’ve been 

active since Year 10 and it grew to feel like a 

second home. House events can be very tiring, 

even extremely stressful at times but the reward 

at the end is so fulfilling that the stress all goes away. They 

develop your skills immensely. Communications, leadership 

and organisation are the three main skills I developed so 

much that looking back at my younger self would make me 

laugh! 

I was part of a choir outside of school and I remember 

being on a particularly tiring trip while being responsible for 

the props and instruments. This was one of these moments 

that test your ability to stay focused when you are tired, and to 

know what you are doing even when things are messy. I also 

was part of a baseball team outside of school where being the 

older player enabled me to help younger players understand 

the postures, and learn how to talk to younger children which 

turned out to be useful also for my Prefect role. 

Such skills are little things that add up and may not be 

noticed until the day you actually face something bigger or 

reflect back, and you realise how much you have learnt little 

by little.” 

The value of extracurricular activities lies in the multiple 

ways they enrich our students’ learning beyond the 

classroom. Not only do ECAs contribute to the intellectual 

and emotional development of young learners, but they 

also enhance their personal growth by building up lifelong 

skills related to collaboration, initiative, motivation, 

creativity, and maturity. Therefore, whether or not ECAs 

are an explicit section of a university application, they have 

an undeniable impact on preparation for university and 

life as a young adult. The specific title or position within an 

ECA is much less important than how students decide to 

challenge themselves and grow. 


23


A Brief Guide to the World of University Applications 

By Bernd Widemann 

Oxbridge and the Ivys – two names that seem 

to be synonymous with university, not just at 

DCB but in the wider international schools 

world. But those are just a slither of the 

world of higher education. 

The Bachelor system has been 

adopted beyond the borders of the 

UK and US, and the offer of topquality 

university places, taught in 

English, has increased hugely over the 

past couple of decades. Canada and 

Australia are the obvious alternatives. 

However, the EU and Asia are becoming 

increasingly renowned among the top-ranked 

universities. The Netherlands and Germany for example, 

have an increasing number of courses on offer at worldrenowned 

universities. The University of Amsterdam 

and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and Ludwig 

Maximilian University of Munich and Heidelberg University 

are just a few of many fantastic opportunities in mainland 

Europe, with perks that set them apart from their UK and 

US counterparts. Dutch universities are very much global 

players academically, but generally, their approach to 

admitting students is more liberal. Applicants may find it 

easier to be offered a place, however once matriculated, 

students are expected to deliver high-quality work in order 

to retain their place at university. German universities add 

a price advantage, as higher education is subsidised by the 

state. This means that even international students only 

pay a fraction of the otherwise high tuition fees. An added 

bonus is the relative ease of finding work and staying in 

Germany after graduation. 

But what is the key to submitting successful university 

applications? 

First and foremost, the students need to ask 

themselves what their future goals are, what 

success means to them, and to determine 

how to achieve such said success. If 

university is the best route to reach this, 

it is a healthy approach to understand 

the different types of schools and 

school cultures to have a productive 

three to four years. There are plenty 

of factors that impact one’s wellbeing, 

not just the global ranking of 

institutions. 

Answers won’t be found overnight and 

hence, the process should start in Year 10. This 

might seem early to think about what to do in the future, 

but the students’ interests and possibilities should be 

explored and discussed on an ongoing basis, involving 

parents and teachers, always keeping students in the 

limelight. It is paramount to remember that students 

need guidance, but that their interests are central to 

this process: “What are their strengths? Do they have a 

passion?” This will be also important for choosing the right 

IB subjects during Year 11. 



The process of finding what to do and where to go after 

graduating from DCB is an ongoing one, and the university 

counselling team is focused on giving the right support and 

guidance. Thorough research is key – the more students 

know about their chosen fields and university choices the 

better their educated decision will be, and hopefully will 

improve their best fit. It is important to keep expectations 

realistic – both from students and parents. The aim should 

be to find the right range of destinations in order to create 

the most productive application strategy. Additionally, 

what students need to focus on is making the most 

out of both the school and the local community. Most 

universities will be judging applications on how engaged 

and active students are – good grades are essential, but 

not everything. Of course, it is important to work toward 

the best grades possible as well as showing high academic 

rigour in all subjects. It is equally important for students 

to be involved in extracurricular activities (called supercurricular 

if the activity is related to the field of study). 

The application will then of course be supported 

by letters of recommendation, written by up to two 

subject teachers and a university counsellor. A good 

recommendation letter is written by someone who 

knows the student well, so it is paramount for students 

to communicate positively with their teachers, show that 

they are engaged and ask for help if needed – there is no 

point in quietly waiting for help. School can be a tough 

time with an ongoing mountain of work, endless deadlines 

and social pressure. Teachers and counsellors are here to 

help and support students through difficult situations. And 

hopefully, students build good enough relationships that 

they feel they can confide in their teachers during stressful 

times. The key is to build those relationships early, not just 

in the last few months of their school career. 

Some very competitive courses will require preadmission 

testing and others might ask students for 

interview. These aspects will be discussed in Year 12 

together with the University Counselling team. For now, 

the focus should be on what the students enjoy doing and 

whether they might want to pursue those interests further, 

so when it comes to the application deadline, much further 

down the line, the students can confidently submit their 

applications to their chosen universities. 

"Quality is more important here than 

quantity... it is more valuable for the 

students to explain what they have learnt 

and how they have developed through 

the activities, rather than listing endless 

endeavours." 

Universities want to see students’ interests and how 

proactive they are. Quality is more important here than 

quantity though, meaning it is more valuable for the 

students to explain what they have learnt and how they 

have developed through the activities, rather than listing 

endless endeavours. Sports, work experience, volunteering 

and courses are just a range of activities students can 

engage in, to complement their academic standing. These 

can also be used as material for the students’ personal 

statements, or essays as they are known in the US. 


25


To celebrate Dulwich College Beijing’s 15 th anniversary, 

our students came up with the slogan No Aspiration 

too Big, No Inspiration too Small to summarise their 

DCB learning journey and its impact on their stepping into 

adulthood. 

Let's Meet Again in 15 Years! 

When asked to fast forward and imagine their life 

15 years from now, the students we met all confidently 

envisioned a happy and balanced life with a professional 

career they enjoy, and safe and healthy family and 

friends, with the underlying and natural goal to positively 

impact others as they did within the DCB community. It 

was striking to observe the same calm and composed 

confidence in these students of different ages and 

personalities, a testament to the commitment of DCB to 

equip students with the necessary knowledge and life skills 

to face the challenges of tomorrow and Live Worldwise. 

“In 15 years, I hope to 

become a designer of 

sorts or an architect. That 

may change, but whatever I 

choose to pursue, I hope I can make 

a positive impact.” 

Mink L – Year 13 

“My goal in 15 years is 

to balance my work life 

and my home life. I'm very 

interested in social sciences, 

so I hope to work in research on 

sociology or anthropology and share 

this knowledge with others. I hope 

to explore my personal interests 

further, discover new hobbies, and 

really, embrace adulthood.” 

“In 15 years, I hope I'll 

be working in a field I 

really enjoy, something that 

I’ve studied for my entire life, 

not something mundane and boring. 

I hope to live comfortably, but the 

most important thing with anything I 

do in life is to make sure I enjoy it.” 

Jeffrey W – Year 12 

Yi Xin L – Year 13 

“I see myself as a 

scientist in 15 years 

because science is my 

favourite subject and I find it 

interesting.” 

Thomas M – Year 7 

“I see myself in a place 

where I'm happy and 

doing something I'm really 

passionate about, perhaps in 

the field of sciences. Hopefully all my 

friends and family will be all healthy 

and safe by then.” 

Seung Yon K – Year 12 



“I’d really want to come 

back to Beijing in 15 years 

because it is the familiar 

environment I grew up in, so I 

really like the atmosphere here. I 

hope to have a really stable job so I 

can enjoy the rest of my life.” 

Alex L – Year 12 

“I hope I'm at a place 

where I'm happy and 

doing something I'm 

passionate about, and all 

my close friends and my family are 

healthy and happy. I also hope there 

will more equality in the world and 

the planet will be a better place for 

everyone. And I hope to be a part of 

that change.” 

Diana T - Year 11 

“When I think about 

the goals of a job, 

it would be to create 

something and enjoy it. For 

me, working in Computer Science, or 

Technology in general, would mean 

I could create something to change 

people’s life which I really enjoy and 

feel lucky about. I really see myself 

in a big technology company as 

they are integral parts of our lives, 

or in the field of automated cars, or 

even NASA: I would love to explore 

the space in a rocket I would have 

designed!” 

Eddy J – Year 10 

“I enjoy my drama 

classes, so I think maybe 

in 15 years, I might be 

doing something related to 

that field.” 

Timm R – Year 10 

“I rather enjoy maths 

lessons, so in the future, 

I may want to find some 

role related to that subject but 

I'm still not quite sure what specific 

role I want. These are quite hopeful 

wishes.” 

Junyi L – Year 9 

“I see myself as a lawyer 

in 15 years because I love 

debating in school and out of 

school, and I also love speaking in 

different ways. It's just so much fun!” 

Sissi S – Year 8 


27


Getting to Know the Duckers - A Long Term DCB Family 

An interview with Stephen Ducker, a DCB parent since 2005 

Please tell us more about your experience as a Dulwich 

College Beijing parent. 

We arrived in Beijing in 2004 with three children, James, 

Chiara and Joe aged 9, 7 and 5. We enrolled them at 

another international school at first, then transferred them 

to Dulwich College Beijing (DCB) as soon as the campus 

opened in August 2005. 

For the next five years, all three children attended DCB 

as Junior School and Senior School students. They then 

moved to the USA, but a year later, we decided that the 

best option for James would be to come back to DCB as an 

IBDP student, and he graduated successfully from the Class 

of 2013. 

Their younger sister and brother, Dani & Matthew, also 

joined DCB in 2017 in Year 1 and Reception respectively 

and are now close to completing Year 4 and Year 3. As of 

today, if you add up all the "children-years" at DCB, I think 

it comes to 25! 

What were your key expectations as you were initially 

searching for an international school for your children? 

We were looking for a high-quality international school 

providing a balanced approach to education. We wanted 

academic rigour for our children, but strongly believed that 

they needed to also develop in other areas, be it sports, 

music, arts or drama. It was also critical for us that the 

school showed the willingness and ability to support our 

children’s individual capabilities. 

How did DCB meet your criteria at that time? 

DCB was new at that time, so it was a bit of a leap of 

faith, but given the “DNA” of the school and our initial 

impressions, we felt comfortable with our choice. Dulwich 

College in London is a very well-respected school in the 

UK with which I was familiar, so we expected the style of 

schooling to be what we wanted. 



In your perspective, how has the College evolved over 

the past 15 years? 

The biggest change has been in the demographics of 

students, reflecting the changing expatriate population 

in Beijing. This has inevitably, and quite rightly, led to 

the evolution of the curriculum and teaching style to 

respond to this changing population. We also observed 

the growth in terms of student numbers, new campus 

and buildings, but at its core, DCB in 2021 still feels very 

similar to the school we had chosen back in 2005, and we 

very much appreciate this ability to adapt to the changing 

environment while remaining true to its core values and 

identity. 

What drove you to also enrol your younger children at 

DCB? 

We had the same academic expectations as before, but 

because Dani and Matthew are half Chinese, we had a 

much higher expectation of the Chinese language side of 

the curriculum. We did look at other options to be sure we 

were not missing anything, but in the end, it was an easy 

choice: DCB had been an excellent platform for my three 

elder children, so we had no reason to change. Knowing 

their elder siblings had been at DCB made the transition 

for Dani and Matthew much easier. 

Would you share some unique moments you have 

experienced as a DCB parent? 

There are too many to mention, however, I would 

highlight James’s IB graduation, but also Joe’s Early Years 

graduation: we’d never seen anything like that before! 

On the sports side, I keep memorable images of Chiara 

and James representing DCB during sports fixtures, in the 

Girls Soccer and Rugby Varsity teams respectively. And of 

course, I have fond and fun memories of myself playing in 

the traditional Parent vs Students cricket tournament! 

The most recent moment 

I still vividly recall is when 

James returned to Beijing 

on holiday after graduating. 

He gave a presentation to 

a group of DCB students 

about his experience at the 

University of San Diego, and 

a marine biology research 

voyage he had been on as 

part of his degree studies. 

His younger siblings Dani 

and Matthew were in Year 

1 and Year 2 then, and they 

were able to sit in and watch. The photo that was taken of 

the three of them at the end of the session is very special 

to us. 

According to you, what are the main life skills your 

graduated children have learned from their DCB journey? 

Maturity and independence. 

What influence did DCB have on your graduated 

children’s educational growth? 

Their DCB journey taught them self-confidence, broad 

cultural awareness and acceptance of diversity, and 

“learning how to learn”, all of which have set them in good 

stead for their subsequent studies at school and university. 

How did DCB influence your view of international 

education, or education in general? 

It is reassuring to see an institution evolve with the 

changing times, and yet stay true to its core values. We 

strongly believe that the school, together with the whole 

overseas lifestyle, created (and continues to create) a great 

platform for our children to achieve in higher education 

and beyond, creating confident, well-rounded, culturally 

integrated, young adults. 


29

Learn Worldwise 

Developing Student Superpowers: 

How DCB’s English Additional Language Programme Supports Students in Reaching their Potential 

By Hetal Ascher, Liz Mawson and Becky Bush 

Our DCB student body is comprised of a range of 

nationalities across our three schools (Early Years, Junior 

School and Senior School). Despite the rich range of 

nations represented, it’s important to note that a high 

percentage of our students are actually learning English 

as an additional language. These students, often referred 

to as English Additional Language (EAL) learners, may join 

DCB as early as three years of age and stay for up to fifteen 

years, while others may join at any point throughout the 

student journey, and may even just stay for a year or two. 

At whatever point students join our DCB community, 

there is a need to clearly identify the strengths and needs 

of our language learners, so that we can 

provide the support to help them fulfil not 

only their language learning potential, but 

their potential in ALL areas. 

What is our philosophy for language 

learning? 

At Dulwich, we believe that students come 

first. DCB students who are learning English 

receive excellent language support so that 

they are able to fully access the curriculum 

and other learning opportunities available 

here. 

At DCB, we value multilingualism because we know that 

language is an important part of a child’s identity. We also 

know that multilingualism is like a superpower! Aside from 

being able to communicate in different languages, research 

has shown that multilingual people have increased 

concentration skills, as well as increased critical thinking 

skills and a more creative mind (Kapa and Colombo, 2013). 

The benefits of multilingualism are numerous, but they 

also take time to develop. Researchers believe that it can 

take up to 7 years, and sometimes longer, to develop full 

academic proficiency in a language. Because of this, at DCB, 

we carefully tailor language instruction to meet the various 

needs of our students. Additionally, our mainstream 

teachers also receive regular professional development in 

order to support students throughout their entire school 

day. 

“As students come first at DCB, we aim to ensure that 

students with English as an additional language are 

fully able to enjoy the benefits of the safe, secure and 

stimulating environment that the College offers. We 

provide English language support to enable students to 

"We value 

multilingualism 

because we know 

that language 

is an important 

part of a child’s 

identity. " 

reach their full academic, sporting, creative and social 

potential.” (Dulwich College Beijing, 2017) 

How do we identify the strengths and needs of our 

learners? 

After a careful vetting process, DCB decided to align our 

EAL provision using the WIDA (World-Class Instructional 

Design and Assessment) programme. This internationally 

renowned programme not only ensures consistency within 

DCB but will also allow for collaboration and teamwork 

with other Dulwich College International EAL departments 

who utilise the system. 

WIDA will ensure that all students from Early Years to 

Junior School to Senior School are assessed 

in a similar way so that there is continuity 

as they transition throughout the different 

stages of the school. An initial screener for 

all students in Early Years and Junior School 

will take place once a year so that we know 

where each student’s strengths lie. Senior 

School will assess students as needed. The 

WIDA model builds on linguistic strengths 

with ‘can-do’ descriptors identifying any 

needs in the four domains of language: 

listening, speaking reading and writing. 

We believe that formal, systematic assessment is one 

part of a holistic approach to English learning. A variety 

of factors, such as classroom assessment and qualitative 

data, will be used to determine EAL provision for each 

student. With the WIDA model, all students will benefit 

from some embedding of strategies into the curriculum, 

ensuring that every learner is able to achieve more 

linguistically…. and to develop their language superpower! 



What does language support look like in the 

different schools? 

In Early Years (Nursery to Year 2) a dual-language 

model is at the core of language learning, recognising 

the important role of the home language in supporting 

further language acquisition. The powerful tool of 

‘translanguaging’, the act of multilinguals accessing various 

linguistic features and modes to maximise communication 

(Garcia, 2009), is used frequently by the children and our 

bilingual Assistant Teachers and Dual Language Teachers. 

The Early Years EAL Team, which is made up of both Dual 

Language Teachers and native English-speaking teachers, 

assesses children using the WIDA model, identifies 

language objectives, collaboratively plans with class 

teachers, co-teaches (whole class, small groups or oneto-ones 

as needed), and develops resources to support 

language learning. As all teachers are viewed as language 

teachers, language learning is embedded throughout the 

Early Years curriculum, across a range of disciplines. 

In Senior School, students who are identified as English 

language learners take a smaller, more supportive English 

Language Arts class which follows the mainstream 

curriculum. In Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11) and Key Stage 

5 (Years 12 and 13), teachers carefully determine the best 

language courses for students in IGCSE and IB, and place 

students accordingly. 

In Junior School (Years 3 to 6), an English Support (ES) 

team will use WIDA to embed EAL strategies into the 

day-to-day curriculum. In addition, ES teachers provide 

in-class support, small pull-out groups and one-to-one 

interventions. They support language learning by providing 

additional resources, materials and strategies for students 

based on needs. Members of the Junior School ES team 

also hold training sessions for class teachers in EAL 

strategies for the classroom. These strategies frequently 

benefit the language learning of all students. 

Final thoughts 

The journey of aligning language learning across the 

whole DCB remains a key priority as we move towards 

the end of this school year and plan ahead for the next. 

We know that when we learn a language, we are not 

only learning the language but the culture behind that 

language: languages are a tool needed by our students to 

“make a positive difference to the world” and to continue 

“building bridges to the world” (Dulwich College Beijing, 

n.d.). 

We are confident that as we continue to put students 

at the forefront of our decision-making related to the 

provision of support for English language learners, we 

will continue to see students reaching their potential in 

language learning, as well as other areas. Bring those 

superpowers on! 


31


Educational Technology and Innovation 

By Yosef Karasik 

As part of the Dulwich Digital Difference initiative 

by Dulwich College International, beginning from next 

academic year, Dulwich College Beijing will have a 

brand new, whole-College team focusing on educational 

technology and innovation! 

The team will work across the three schools to enhance 

the integration of technology and digital citizenship into 

the curriculum, align the student journey throughout the 

College, and support students and teachers with innovation 

in teaching and learning. 

Meet the team! 

The team will be led by 

Mr Yosef Karasik, who will be 

assuming the role of Director 

of Educational Technology and 

Innovation. Mr Karasik will be 

starting his fifth year at DCB 

where he is currently Senior 

School EdTech Coordinator. 

He also teaches Technology 

and Computer Science and 

Mathematics at the IBDP level. 

We are lucky to have Mr Jeff 

Brunet joining the team as a 

Learning Technology Coach 

and the Digital Safeguarding 

Lead. With 18 years of teaching 

experience, out of which three 

were spent at DCB, Mr Brunet 

will bring his expertise and 

passion for Design Thinking and 

Project Based Learning. 

The third member of the new 

team, also taking up the role 

of Learning Technology Coach 

is Mr Jared Rigby, a Computer 

Science teacher who will be 

joining us after spending the last 

three years teaching at Dulwich 

International High School in 

Suzhou. Mr Rigby is a specialist 

in gamification of learning and 

is a perfect person to support 

innovative teaching and learning 

approaches across the College. 

Integration of technology, computational thinking, and 

digital citizenship 

Technology has been a major part of education for 

many years. This has been accelerated further due to the 

COVID-19 pandemic, and the consequent forced transition 

to online and hybrid learning. We pride ourselves, at 

DCB, for having meaningful integration of technology 

in the curriculum. The team will work with curriculum 

leaders to further enhance the use of technology for 

learning as well as map ICT and digital citizenship skills to 

better fit the student journey. Students will engage with 

more meaningful, technology-rich projects with real-life 

applications to further strengthen the connection between 

school, academia and industry and make their learning 

real. One great example of this comes from one of our 

seniors, Richard H, who built on his passion for Computer 

Science to further research into the application of Machine 

Learning in solving Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke. 

The College invests substantial resources into 

technology provisions. Students develop technological 

and computational literacy when they are in Early Years 

through the use of iPads and a variety of STEM kits. We 

then build upon it as they progress to Junior School where 

they develop their computational thinking, and finally in 

Senior School where these skills are put into the Design 

Thinking framework. The team will support our teachers 

to plan with technology in mind, and embed the skills our 

students will need when they graduate from DCB. 

Innovation: AI and other emerging technologies 

In addition to integration of EdTech, the team will work 

to build, support, and sustain a culture of innovation in the 

College. Pioneering Spirit is one of our group values and as 



Introduction of AI is a two-fold project. On the one hand, 

we want to expose our students to AI and develop their 

understanding of the complex concepts from a young age. 

This will be done through hands-on experience of AI in 

Early Years and Junior School, and work with AI in Senior 

School. On the other hand, we are designing curriculum 

materials to integrate AI projects across the College. In 

addition to teaching AI, we are investigating AI-powered 

EdTech tools and platforms that can enhance the teaching 

and learning at the College. 

a leading international school, we want to ensure that 

we are practising innovation as well as embedding it in 

our curriculum. In recent months, we have been forming 

relationships to collaborate on new and exciting innovative 

ideas. One of our focuses was the enrichment of our 

curriculum with Artificial Intelligence. Recently you may 

have read about Velocity, our newly founded DeepRacer 

club. This student-led club is one of 13 founding members 

of China’s DeepRacer league, where students train 

Reinforcement Learning models and deploy them on 

real autonomous cars to compete against other schools. 

Despite being newly founded, the club had remarkable 

success in their first race, having two teams finished first 

and third in the league. 

We are excited to be working with our students, parents, 

and teachers to support a meaningful integration of 

technology as well as further developing the innovation 

culture at DCB. Students are at the heart of our mission 

statement, and we invite parents and other partners to join 

us and enrich the student DCB experience to ensure that 

students learn worldwise. 


33


Ranking 9 th at the Oxford University Computing Challenge! 

We would like to congratulate Eddy in Year 10 

on his outstanding achievement in this year's 

Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC 

2021) finals. Eddy began his journey early this academic 

year as he achieved a Distinction award in the annual 

BEBRAS computing challenge. Together with 90 other DCB 

students, he qualified to compete in the first round of the 

Oxford University-sponsored contest. Eddy achieved an 

outstanding result and placed in the top 20 in the Senior 

category, mostly competing against Year 11 students across 

the world. Eddy secured the ninth place in the final round 

of the competition, finishing an amazing personal journey! 

We had the pleasure of meeting Eddy to learn a little more 

about him! 

My preparation itself is a mix of technical preparation, 

like going through past papers to get used to the types 

of questions, and mental preparation to stay focused on 

the day. As you know, programming skills are built up over 

time, with 50% coming from the actual technical skills, and 

50% coming from the thinking process. I usually prepare 

on my own in a quiet environment to remain focused and 

avoid potential distractions. 

What would you tell your peers to encourage them to 

engage in similar challenges? 

It is all about passion. I discovered Computer Science 

when I was in Year 1, and started to be involved in more 

complicated programming in Year 4 when my mom 

mistakenly signed me up for a Python programming 

workshop intended for older children. But when it came 

to the final contest of the workshop, at the age of 9, I 

defeated my 14/16-year-old peers, and it really motivated 

me to keep going. This is how I really started learning 

about programming and discovered how I enjoyed doing 

so. Enjoying what I do helps me to learn and improve a lot 

faster, so my top tip would be to do what you enjoy and 

enjoy what you do. 

Is there one thing or one person who particularly inspired 

you to pursue your interest in Computer Science? 

My exposure to simple Computer Science in Year 1 is 

what led me to where I am today. Most importantly, my 

parents were always supportive of my interest and they’ve 

always encouraged me to pursue this interest further. 

How do you feel about your participation in OUCC and 

your achievement? 

I’ve participated in these challenges since Year 7 and 

made the finals three times out of these 4 participations. 

I tend to set high expectations for myself. However, I 

realised it’s not healthy to constantly stretch myself. I’m 

really happy I achieved 9 th place, even proud because these 

challenges are definitely not easy, both technically and 

mentally. 

How did you prepare yourself for the competition? 

I have competed in other events such as USACO (USA 

Computing Olympiad) and they are really, really, hard. So, 

I know I need good preparation to achieve a good score: I 

push myself a little and I feel it’s necessary to step out of 

my comfort zone when I get prepared. But I have learnt 

that it is very important to remain calm and focused during 

the actual competition. In other words: stress before but 

not during the event. 

A person who inspired me a lot was Ms Stevens, former 

Head of Technology at DCB when I started participating 

in competitions. She has always encouraged me to move 

forward and recently sent me her regards through my 

teacher. Knowing a former teacher still knows what I’m 

up to is really motivating. Having my family, my peers and 

my teachers’ support certainly pushes me to continuously 

improve. 

Quick choice of words. 

Cat or Dog? Cat. 

Great Wall or 798? 798. 

Analysis or synthesis? Analysis. 

Marathon or sprint? Marathon. 



Learning Journey: From an Extended Essay to a Research Paper 

As an IB student, Richard H chose to write his 

Computer Science 4000-word extended essay (EE) 

about the efficiency of curriculum learning and 

the impact of specific parameters on paediatric facial 

recognition accuracy. Reading about the news led him 

to use his extended essay’s research to tackle the realworld 

problem of Paediatric Vehicle Heatstroke (PVH), 

and come up with an algorithm that detects and reports 

the presence of children forgotten in vehicles, thereby 

helping to prevent the occurrence of Paediatric Vehicular 

Heatstroke. This research work earned him an outstanding 

Honourable Mention award from the highly recognised Yau 

Mathematical Sciences Center. We have met Richard to 

understand how he designed his PVH alert system. 

How do you feel about your award and your overall 

journey in this competition? 

I am very grateful to receive an Honorable Mention 

in the competition. I knew I was going against some of 

the strongest competitors, many of whom had research 

teams backed by professors from universities. Looking 

back, I think the entire research experience was extremely 

valuable and meaningful. It taught me a lot, from technical 

aspects (maths and programming) to social aspects 

(coordinating volunteers to obtain training data) and 

personal aspects (perseverance despite setbacks and 

challenges). It was exhausting because I constantly faced 

the fear that my method would end up as a failure. Luckily, 

everything worked out in the end. 

Tell us more about the application and selection process, 

from your first entry to receiving the award? 

The preparation and research phase lasted for almost 

an entire year. Research papers were submitted by 1500 

teams, then go through three rounds of preliminary 

viewings by the judges. The top 240 teams were selected 

for the semi-finals, in the form of a viva voce at Tsinghua 

University. 90 teams (15 teams for each of the award 

categories in Maths, Physics, Computer Science...) were 

then awarded with the First Prize and promoted to the 

finals. 

How did the idea of using computer vision to detect 

children come to your mind? To which extent did your EE 

contribute to this idea? 

I opted for a computer vision-based method because 

it’s more practical than alternative solutions that I’ve 

investigated: weight sensors under the car seat could be a 

simple and reliable solution, but on larger vehicles (such as 

buses), installing a sensor under each seat is impractical. 

Thermal cameras could detect the heat from a human and 


a single camera can 

view a large area, but 

the technology is too 

expensive. 

My essay revolved 

around investigating 

the effectiveness of 

a technique called 

“curriculum learning” 

to enhance the 

performance of machine learning algorithms for age 

classification. The results I obtained in my EE became a 

subcomponent of my research project for this competition. 

Why face detection? 

Face detection algorithms merely identify the presence 

of faces in an image, while facial recognition algorithms 

are capable of distinguishing the faces of different people 

by looking at the relative positioning of different facial 

features. Face detection is an extremely mature, robust, 

and reliable technology. It allows the algorithm to detect 

the presence of humans with high reliability if a frontal 

face happens to be visible. Plus, once a face is detected, 

the algorithm also runs an age classification procedure to 

determine whether the face belongs to a child or an adult. 

Are there any next steps to this research and if so, what 

are they? 

I have plans to look into other sensors, such as 

microwave radars that can penetrate through thin barriers 

(e.g. seat backs of cars, in a larger vehicle such as a bus) 

and detect the presence of a human. However, existing 

products that use microwave radars are quite costly. 

Your advice to younger students regarding machine 

learning? 

I would recommend students to familiarise themselves 

with programming, because it is the “language” that one 

must speak in order to explore and apply machine learning. 

Another important aspect that is often overlooked is 

mathematics: in order to concretely grasp the theories 

behind machine learning, one needs to know at least 

the basics of multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and 

statistics. 

You are about to start a new journey in your life. What’s 

your take-away from your DCB journey? 

I’m glad that I was able to get to know so many friends. 

They all excel in different ways that complement what I’m 

good at, and together we had many great memories that I’ll 

treasure going forward. 

35

Visual & Performing Arts 

Sustainable Artworks in Early Years 

By Jacob Dong 

Sustainability has been considered as 

our priority in learning Art in Early Years 

throughout this academic year. Recycle, 

Reuse and Recreate is our motto when we 

were planning and making our projects and 

clearly translates our goals. 

You might find that a variety of recycled 

or plastic materials has been transformed 

into some amazing artworks, for example, 

recycled colour paper, boxes, plastic 

bottles, straws, bags, and fridge magnets, 

etc... 

John X 

Year 1 collaborative collage Nathan L Thomas L Della C 

Year 1 collaborative drawing 

Alex Z 

Lucas F Skyler Y Sarah W Ruei Hsuan H Nichole C 



Natural bamboo circles were also used to create sculptures with sustainability in mind as well. We 

hope that the awareness of sustainability can be raised by our efforts in artistic expressions. 

Another exciting experience for us is that Toddler children have been working with me after the 

Chinese New Year holiday, and are now they are the youngest artists in DCB! 


37


Junior 

School 

Art 

By Sally Corben 

This project linked closely with the book The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Students in 

Year 5 used this picture book as part of their On the Move topic. Students learned 

about proportion and scale while drawing these portraits. They have also developed 

their drawing techniques by learning to create a range of tonal values. Whilst 

drawing, we were able to discuss the features in our faces that give clues to our 

heritage. Each student also chose a piece of headwear that was important to him or 

her. 

Jayden L Ella H Daniel L Mike P 

Lawrence Z 

Maggie T 

Max S 

Siting F 

Norah T 

Pearl Z 

Tiger N 

Yitong C 

38 

beijing.dulwich.org

Stella G 

Suri Y 


Alex Q Amanda F Andy Z Angela W 

Ashton W Bowen F Carrie W Jonathan J 

Camille B 

Kelly Z Ella L Freya M 


39


IGCSE ART 

Mylene R 

The piece is based on 

the theme facade, 

which incorporates 

both buildings and the 

deceptive outward 

appearance of a person. 

The mirror represents 

the inner character of a 

person which is hidden 

behind the made-up 

veneer. 

Julia Z 

The distorted perspective 

makes the usually firm 

medieval wooden 

structures less capable of 

allowing any household to 

go inside these buildings. 

The whole architectures 

seem absurd, making 

them incapable of any 

proper use. 

Michelle Z 

The piece reflects the theme of childhood by conveying 

an idea of those precious memories swimming away 

along with the cranes. Childhood is an experience you 

cannot keep hold of any longer once the time is up. 

Cathy M 

The scene comes 

from the Beijing opera 

Peony Pavilion which 

conveyed the emotions 

of two lovers when 

they separated, then 

found each other again. 

The tone used on 

the watercolour is to 

create and express her 

emotions. 

Sofie H 

This piece of garlic, corks, leaves and a phone convey the 

theme of time. Inspired by the artist Sam-Taylor Wood, I 

incorporated different textures and food to achieve the 

idea of time, as it can be shown through objects as they 

age. 

Agatha Z 

The watercolour is of the 

sunset passing through 

a window and reflected 

onto the wall. The piece 

is kept to be minimalistic 

and concise. The colours 

used in the piece emit a 

long-lost feeling, however 

indescribable. 



IB Visual Arts 

Year 12 

By Yvette Stride 

Year 12 students have begun 

their IBDP journey in Visual 

Arts, and here we see a taste 

of what’s to come in next year’s 

show. 

Lauren Z 

Emma Z 

Jessie Z 

Yukino C 

Clara L 

Esther K 

Ava L 

Rino F 

Katrina C 


Alice Z 

Sally L 

41


IB Visual Arts 

Year 13 

Cher X – An Afternoon 

Olivia W – Girl, Umbrella and Mask 

Ruthie L – Will it Stay with Me? 

Mark W – These are all things out of your control. 

You can't really think of solutions to them. Maybe you 

should stop maddening yourself thinking about them 

Tyler Y – Tabletop Ecosystem 



By Yvette Stride 

Congratulations to our graduating Year 13 students and the incredible achievement of their final 

exhibition presently gracing the walls of DCB. Mr Stewart led this courageous group through their final 

year, with previous teachers Mr Daniel Hickey and Ms Jennifer Knowles being Zoomed in for the final 

show! A great variety of artworks is on display, with talent seen across traditional and contemporary 

mediums. Accomplished oil paintings, sensitive charcoals and striking woodcuts stand alongside evocative 

installations, imaginative digital and mixed media works. The outstanding work is a credit to all the students 

and teachers involved. We wish these students well and hope their ‘Golden Paintbrush’, issued at the 

exhibition opening, is a happy memento of the art spirit cultivated during their school years. 

Leah S – The Mask 

Ariana L – Hope 

Nathan L – Healing the Blind 

Jenna H – Make a Larger Fire 

Henry K – Acrophobia 

Rownie Z – I'm a Mess 


Karen K – Location Tracker 

43


MADD FESTIVAL 

44 

beijing.dulwich.org

Early Years Summer Production 



45

Spotlights 

Early Years 

Sports Day 

Senior School 

Basketball 


Spotlights 

Junior School 

Sports Day 

Junior School 

Swimming 


47

Spotlights 

HOUSE LEADERS 

A Glimpse of 

HOUSE SINGING 


Spotlights 

HOUSE Events 

HOUSE BATTLE OF THE BANDS 

HOUSE SINGING 


49

Spotlights 

By Joseph Stewart 

HOUSE ART 

DCB students entered the fabulous world of 

face painting for a recent House Art Competition. 

Students had to work collaboratively to design 

five distinct looks based on the five Chinese 

natural elements: Wood, Earth, Water, Fire 

and Metal. Each House demonstrated amazing 

creativity and initiative through interpreting, 

planning and hand-painting their themes in 

unique and original ways. 


Spotlights 

Go Green for Your HOUSE 


51

Spotlights 

CELEBRATING OUR 15 TH 

ANNIVE 


RSARY AT FOUNDER'S DAY ! 

Spotlights 


53

Spotlights 

Festive Spirit at DCB 

54 

beijing.dulwich.org

DCI News 

Dulwich is Coming to Shenzhen! 

By Dulwich College International 

We are incredibly excited to share that we are bringing 

the Dulwich Difference to Shenzhen with an all-new 

Dulwich Early Years Centre. 

The Dulwich EY Centre Shenzhen provides studentcentric, 

holistic and experiential education to instil 

in our youngest students a spirit of exploration and 

curiosity about the world around them, and develop their 

confidence as learners. 

This year, five of our China-based schools were ranked 

among the top 100 in the Hurun report, with all four of 

our China-based International Colleges ranked among the 

Top 20 schools open to foreign passport holders. We are 

especially proud of Dulwich College Beijing, which is ranked 

first for the second straight year. 

While rankings are just one indicator, we are delighted 

that our holistic and experiential approach to education 

has resonated with the industry. We aim to continue 

delivering the best holistic and experiential education for 

our students, and are excited for the opportunity to bring 

the Dulwich Difference into Shenzhen. 

Dulwich EY Centre: the newest member of the Dulwich 

family 

As part of the Dulwich College International family, our 

new EY Centre will draw on the unique strength of being 

part of our global network to benefit our students with a 

wealth of expertise, resources and opportunities, enabling 

them to Learn, Graduate and Live Worldwise. 

Like in all our schools, the EY Centre is committed to 

developing the whole child and preparing each child for 

the future. This includes making sustainability, service and 

global citizenship a lived experience for students from an 

early age, and equipping them to make a difference. 

Beyond environmental conservation, Dulwich places a 

balanced focus on wellbeing, character development and 

service, educating students in age-appropriate fashion at 

every stage of their learning journey so that they develop 

as empowered global citizens. 

Nine Medals in the UK Chemistry Olympiad 

By Dulwich International High School Zhuhai 

Dulwich International High School Zhuhai Year 12 

students participated in the UK Chemistry Olympiad 

(UKChO) and achieved brilliant results. The awards include 

one Gold medal, six Silver medals and two Bronze medals. 

Among these excellent results, Ivan K and Jason L have 

received the Honorable Mention Awards in the Chemistry 

category of the S.-T. Yau High School Science Award in 

December 2020. 


55

DCI News 

Learning to Build a More Sustainable Future, 

One House at a Time 

By Dulwich College Seoul 

“How could we design our homes to help save our planet?” 

This was the question Year 3 students at Dulwich College 

Seoul grappled with as part of the school’s effort to link 

their learning around Sustainable Development Goal 11: 

Sustainable Cities and Communities. 

Students learnt about the impact cities and a heavilybuild 

environment have on our planet and were tasked 

with a guided home-learning enquiry project to investigate 

how we could redesign our homes to make them more 

sustainable. 

Over several weeks, students got a clear understanding 

of what sustainability is and researched where they could 

source sustainable building materials for their houses, and 

which types of energy would most limit its impact on our 

environment. Students then combined all their knowledge 

and design ideas to build a home that could most likely 

exist in harmony with nature. 

Many students chose to include features such as wind 

turbines and solar panels as sources of sustainable energy 

and had to consider how they could “bank” energy in 

seasons that were less sunny, which posed a challenge. 

Others focused on finding innovative ways to insulate 

their houses to avoid using too much energy, grass being a 

particularly sustainable option that one student discovered. 

Students went one step further with their architectural 

designs and included a garden to grow their own food, 

thereby decreasing their carbon footprint. 

Throughout their research, students continued to 

return to their original designs, to implement changes and 

improvements as their knowledge grew. Although this back 

and forth was a challenge for some, they understood that 

this was part of the design process. 

Some students were then asked to present their houses 

during assembly, honing their presentation skills by sharing 

their learning with their peers. During the assembly, 

students explained the different features of their houses in 

detail and answered questions from audience members. 

Ultimately, the design exercise helped to demonstrate 

how housing impacts our environment and how we need 

to make better choices as responsible global citizens who 

care deeply about building a more sustainable world. 


DCI News 

Earth Day 2021: #RestoreOurEarth 

By Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi 

On Thursday 22 April, the world celebrated Earth 

Day 2021. Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi was proud to 

participate in this important international cause, hosting 

one of three officially registered Earth Day events in 

Shanghai, our Life on Land ceremony. 

The ceremony officially unveiled our campus signage 

promoting United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 

#15, Life on Land. 

loss of natural habitats and land degradation. Promoting 

a sustainable use of our ecosystems and preserving 

biodiversity is not a cause. It is the key to our own survival” 

GlobalGoals.org 

Our Life on Land signs showcase the native bird species 

that frequently visit the campus, and provide us with a 

unique teaching opportunity to highlight the importance 

of preserving natural habitats for future generations. 

Together, let’s support Earth Day and #RestoreOurEarth! 

Global Goal 15, Life on Land: "Protect, restore and 

promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, 

sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and 

halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity 

loss." 

“A flourishing life on land is the foundation for our life on 

this planet. We are all part of the planet’s ecosystem and 

we have caused severe damage to it through deforestation, 


57

The College Magazine Summer 2021

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