Last Saturday, Wellington College Hangzhou welcomed over 2000 smiling faces onto campus as one community celebrating Summer Carnival. Perhaps it was to celebrate the grandest festival in the International Community in Hangzhou, the sun hid behind the clouds, transforming the otherwise scorching weather into a cooler summer day. The gentle breeze bringing big smiles to everyone’s faces.
The powerful introduction to our school performers was the unique sound of the Scottish bagpipes capturing the attention of the audience of pupils and parents and setting the tone with the famous and festive melody.
The undeniable talent of our pupils from Nursery through to Sixth Form was impressively showcased by a number of heartfelt performances choreographed by our Performing Arts team. Second up centre stage was the Wizard of Oz Youth Edition WCH Musical Production performers giving us a taster of what’s to come in the much-anticipated production taking place this week. Followed by our wonderful Wellington College Hangzhou choir. The audience was rapturous in their applause and delighted by the children’s clear happiness in being able to perform in front of their peers and parents.
Families were invited into our grand theatre for the next performance to accommodate the array of large musical instruments and maximise the acoustic sound quality of our live WCH Orchestra. An impressive set of four instrumental pieces of music was played by our pupils and conducted by our Head of Music, a former conductor at the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Then we were whisked back outside to focus on centre stage to experience the rock music talent of our Primary Huili Band and Junior High Band, respectively. Both of them performed to moshpit-style cheers from the audience. The final set on stage centred around a series of solo and duet performances in dance, singing, piano, violin and guitar. With pupils once again being stars of the stage and showing true Wellington values of courage and responsibility in front of a live audience.
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In addition to the main events on centre stage, an impressive equestrian dressage show featuring expertly trained horses of magnificent breeding heritage left some children in awe of their capabilities.
A break for all to explore the abundance of activities and excitement available on campus. Themed inflatable bouncy castles, trampoline velcro wall, basketball hoop challenge, Snow Hopo ride to VR helicopters and 360° time travel games. An eclectic summer fair of tradition meets technology catered for all interests.
True to a traditional carnival spirit there was an atmosphere of revelry and much partaking of international food and refreshments from various stalls around campus. Friends of Wellington College Hangzhou had an impressive 23 stalls showcasing the partnership between pupils, parents and school, which leads to great success for our whole Wellington community.
The Summer Carnival was also a chance to give back to the wider community. With service and charity being one of the characteristics of a Wellington education, it was wonderful to witness the impressive commitment to fundraising by staff, pupils and parents. Beneficiaries include The Dream House project, The Library Project and the Environmental Charity Committee (EEC). The latter will enable funding for our school to plant trees in Inner Mongolia.
Last but not least, over 2,000 raffle tickets were sold with 20% of the proceeds in support of our partnered charity, Smile for Mothers. Thank you to our sponsors for providing some amazing prizes worth over 80,000 RMB in total.
Overall, a magical day with many of the pupils involved in Summer Carnival having honed their skills through participation in our school SA programme and the confidence and holistic growth of our pupils was uplifting. Their dedication and commitment to practice have resulted in fantastic achievements and they should feel an immense sense of pride. We at Wellington College Hangzhou are equally proud of our pupils.
