The College Magazine Summer 2021

Live Worldwise
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.
28 beijing.dulwich.org