Wellington College International: Establishing a world-class family of schools
Wellington College Family of Schools
Hiba Academy Bay Area (Coming soon)
Wellington College (Founding School)
Wellington College Prep
Wellington College International Lagos (Coming soon)
Wellington College International Pune
Wellington College International Tianjin
Wellington College International Shanghai
Wellington College International Hangzhou
Hiba Academy Shanghai
Hiba Academy Hangzhou
Hiba Academy Nantong
Wellington College Independent School Jakarta (Coming soon)
Wellington College International School Bangkok
“We work exclusively with partners who have shared values and a passion for delivering an exceptional Wellington education. Our schools are genuinely outstanding and distinctively Wellington. We aim to build a network of schools where each additional school increases the possibilities and potential for all stakeholders to include partners, staff, and every student. We hope here to give you a sense of what a high quality, purposeful and ambitious organisation WCI is, and an understanding of the values that we share with our global network of schools.”
Paresh Thakrar Managing Director Wellington College International
Wellington College International as a Licensor
All schools in the Wellington College Education (WCE) network enjoy authentic educational links to Wellington College and are connected to Wellington College International (WCI), UK at governance level. Though each school is unique to the location and communities it serves, they all share the values and ethos of Wellington College, and are committed to absolute academic and all-around education and the best outcomes for all pupils.
Wellington College International continues to expand and explore the potential to broaden our education impact and bring the opportunities of a Wellington education and the strengths of a network of worldclass schools, to more students around the world. The key to success in this is not only to find the right location, though this is critical, but to find the right partner. To this end Wellington College International seeks partners who share the values and ethos of Wellington College, and who share the vision for a holistic education and excellence in all areas where great examination results are just the start.
The WCI team’s role is to:
• License the brand, IP and expertise of Wellington College
• Support and guide development and operation of each school, at all levels
• Quality assure positively, to maintain world class standards
• Network our outstanding schools together, enhancing educational and brand strength across the partnerships
• Carefully build and protect the global Wellington College brand to maximise its profile and value.
Each WCI school that joins the Wellington College family of schools will become a leading education establishment for its region. To achieve this goal the WCI team work very closely with our business partners, supporting them in every aspect of school development to include but not limited to:
• School design and build
• Recruitment and team building
• Marketing and admissions processes
• School development planning
• Curriculum planning
• Developing a thriving Wellington community
• University admissions
• Governance.
We seek only premium sites in key global locations where we can found a market-leading school with a truly international outlook. Each school will join the network to, not only gain critical support, but also further enhance the experiences and opportunities for all Wellingtonians.
Unique
Our schools are aligned to Wellington in their vision and ethos, however it is fundamental that they respect and embrace local culture, language and pedagogical practice. We work in close collaboration to develop unique schools embracing the very best of both, specifically tailored to serve and to celebrate their own communities.
Network
As we grow, we build connection at all levels through our Wellington College Education network, meaning our schools also support each other as an incredible, extended resource of world-class expertise and experience. The network further offers unparalleled opportunities for all in the Wellington College Community from student exchanges to leadership strategic alignment.
Community
In addition, Wellington Connect, our thriving alumni and the Wellington Community global network, inspires and supports all the students, staff and parents through life, as a social and professional network offering career opportunities, fundraising, and community connection and events.
Brand Profile
WCI also actively builds and protects the Wellington brand itself, through our thoughtful expansion, our unstinting focus on excellence, and our education development and leadership initiatives, for the benefit and assurance of all those who have in any way ‘invested’ in us. Among many other things, our international reputation supports us to attract the best teachers from around the globe to our network.
Partnership
We continue to build partnerships, and a network, where each school established increases the possibilities and potential for all stakeholders. Together we can pioneer in education, build greater inter-cultural understanding, and broaden access to an excellent education.
The WCE network of schools is founded for the long term, to lead in their regions, to drive innovation and education debate and create new futures for their communities. Each school builds its own unique character and history, just as Wellington College has been doing for 160 years.
Wellington College Education
Wellington College Education (WCE) is the global educational network of Wellington College, whose purpose is to align and maximise the impact of all our global education activities, directly or through partnership, with the ultimate aim of the whole being significantly greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Encompassing ten co-educational schools and approximately 8,000 students around the world, as well as hosting Festivals of Education in the UK, China, Thailand and the US, WCE expands educational opportunities, fosters cultural connectivity through leadership, innovation and international collaboration, and empowers young minds.
As a part of Wellington College Education our international family of schools share the values, ethos and unerring ambition of Wellington College, and are authentically Wellington. They are not clones of Wellington however, but from a shared vision they deliver exceptional quality education that is brought vividly to life through a dialogue between pedagogies
and cultures and uniquely tailored to their communities. It is this shared vision that now delivers so much enrichment to the intellectual and cultural development of our students and their communities.
Network Positive
As we grow, we build connection at all levels through our Wellington network, meaning our schools also support each other as an incredible, extended resource of world-class expertise and experience. The network further offers unparalleled opportunities for all in the whole Wellington Community to include student exchanges, summer school programmes, UK university pathway programmes, student internships and teacher secondments to leadership strategic alignment across the globe.
“I can think of no better way for us to deliver our purpose of pioneering education to help serve and shape a better world than by sharing the very best in educational practice and provision across our global Wellington College Education network. We are so lucky to have such passionate and progressive partners, and we can all strive to improve and make a positive difference in the world around us through collaboration, learning from each other, and our network positive approach.”
James Dahl 15th Master of Wellington College
The Founding School: Wellington College
Wellington College is a place like no other and our mission is to provide an education like no other. This was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s vision when they founded the school in 1853, and this desire to pioneer to do things differently, and to make Wellington the most inspiring and interesting place to live and learn burns as brightly today as it did when our first pupils arrived.
True to the classical roots of the word ‘education’, the College aims to provide an ambitious and aspirational environment in which the potential of each pupil is nurtured and developed across all aspects of themselves as unique individuals.
Wellington College’s desire to extend outwards internationally dates back to our 13th Master, Sir Anthony Seldon. We continue to be inspired by the creative possibilities which we knew would flow from the meeting of Eastern and Western pedagogies. We are deeply aware of the significant strengths of other educational systems and traditions and, as befits a school which wants to fuse the best of tradition and heritage with modernity and an eye to the future, we knew that we had as much to learn from the experience as any potential partners.
From the very beginning, this was designed to be a partnership where we all benefitted from true collaboration and a shared vision.
Then
The Founding School, Wellington College (Crowthorne, England) was the vision of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Granted its Royal Charter in December 1853, with Queen Victoria laying the foundation stone in 1856, the school opened in 1859 as a national monument to Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and one of the country’s most renowned military figures and statesmen. Its purpose was to provide an education to the children of soldiers who died in service. Once built Wellington College was opened in 1859 as a boy’s boarding school for the education of orphans of servicemen and women in the British armed forces but has now expanded to become one of the nation’s greatest co-educational boarding schools.
Now
Today, Wellington College is a globally acknowledged, leading British coeducational boarding and day school providing a world-class holistic education within an inclusive community. Wellington College offers educational excellence in the heart of England and can now justly claim to be one of the world’s great boarding and day schools for pupils aged from 13-18 years. A mix of tradition and innovation is seen not just in the school’s 400-acre campus and impressive buildings, but also in the College’s restless desire to provide the most exciting and interesting education of any school in the United Kingdom. Wellington College Prep is situated on an adjacent woodland campus next door and educates children of 3-13 years of age and offers academic excellence and widespread opportunities, helping children reach their full potential in a happy and exciting environment.
Wellington College is a values-based organisation founded on a purpose to pioneer education to serve and help shape a better world. The College is founded on a purpose to serve, and students learn that the most rewarding lives are focused on a desire to serve and lead, combined with a deeply held sense of inclusivity and a moral desire to make the world a better place.
Under the direction of the 13th Master (2006-2015) and now current Founding Director of Wellington College Education, Sir Anthony Seldon, the College acquired an admirable reputation for its approach to education, underpinning an academic foundation with innovative ways of developing the emotional, physical and spiritual sides of its pupils. This has continued ever since, now under the leadership of the 15th Master, James Dahl.
Wellington College boasts a diverse student body with pupils representing 44 nations and speaking 25 languages. A significant number of students, 122, reside overseas, contributing to the school’s vibrant and internationallyminded community. This rich tapestry of cultures and languages makes Wellington College an exciting and enriching place to learn and live.
Offering both A levels and the IB Diploma, the academic provision is second to none. Academic results, and Oxbridge and Ivy League offers, consistently place the school at the top of the league tables, but are not the only markers of Wellingtonian’s educational success. A world leader in educational research, Wellington College lessons are typified by a wealth of subject knowledge and top-tier pedagogical practice. One of the first schools to embrace the Harkness Philosophy, Wellington College places its pupils at the heart of their educational journey and allows them to learn the values of rigorous research and lively debate. The College is also world leader in wellbeing, and continues to pioneer in this area, helping students to nurture their own wellbeing to support them through life.
Wellington College Results 2024
38.4pts
IB Diploma average score of 38.4 points across 120 students, with 44% scoring 40+ points
Over 20 students achieved three A grades at A Level or better
Wellington College is among the top-performing academic schools globally.
“Wellington College Education aims, building on its pioneering work, to shape thinking about what education means and schools can be, and to promulgate a new more holistic education for the mid-21st Century, attuned to the history and traditions of the countries in which we will be operating. AI alone is changing every single aspect of education and the world we are preparing young people for. We need to be educating the young to think globally, entrepreneurially, creatively and responsibly if they, and the world, are to flourish.”
Sir Anthony Seldon Founding Director of Wellington College Education
Wellington College China
Wellington College China (WCC) established their first school in Tianjin in 2011, followed by Shanghai in 2014 and Hangzhou 2018. WCC also now have 3 bilingual schools under the name Hiba Academy Education. Together, their schools educate nearly 5,000 day and boarding pupils from 3-18 years. A further bilingual school is planned to open in The Bay Area, San Francisco in 2027. All deliver an outstanding education of all-round excellence and are very tangibly Wellington.
WCC at a Glance
• WCI Shanghai is ranked second top international school in all China, and achieved an average 37.1
• WCI Tianjin achieved 60% A*-A grades at A Level and 70% A*-A in IGCSE in 2025
• Like Wellington College itself, many of their WCI students enter the world’s top universities each year
• Hiba Academy schools deliver the Wellington values and ethos within a highly innovative bilingual education
• Hiba Academy became the world’s first fully COBIS accredited bilingual school.
WCC University offers in 2025
• WCI Hangzhou – 50% of best offers were from QS world top 20
• WCI Tianjin – 34% of best offers were from QS world top 20, plus two places at LSE, one at SNU, one at Cambridge
• WCI Shanghai – 22% best offers from QS world top 20; including one Oxford, and one from Cambridge.
Wellington College International School Bangkok
Wellington College International Bangkok opened in 2018, with the highest first year student numbers of any international school in the city despite a highly competitive market. The school has already built a formidable reputation and made history by becoming the first international school to achieve full COBIS accreditation in its first year.
• GCSE 2024: First cohort results show an average grade of ‘A’, with a value-added score of +0.3
• Shortlisted for ISP International School of the Year in 2022.
WCI Bangkok’s beautiful campus was designed specifically to support the unique Wellington pedagogy and offers a unique, collegiate experience that supports our vision and ethos.
Wellington College International Pune
Wellington College International Pune opened in September 2023, bringing a Wellington College education to India for the first time. WCI Pune is a beautiful, bespoke design inspired by Wellington College itself, and is a platinum IGSC certified sustainable campus offering incredible facilities in the vibrant and dynamic city of Pune, near to Mumbai.
WCI Pune at a Glance
• Three founding heads of school come from other WCE schools
• One of the first British Independent school groups to establish in India
• One of the first schools in India to achieve platinum IGBC sustainable building status
• Received the Prestigious IBDP Accreditation in 2025.
WCI Pune will become a leading school in its region. It shares the vision and ethos of Wellington College but will also be proudly unique to serve its own community.
WCE Network Educational Development and Opportunities
The Bridge, based at the Founding School, is the centre for educational research, development and professional learning at Wellington College with a pioneering agenda to lead in the development of excellence in education, for the benefit of all our schools and teachers, and far beyond.
The Bridge is more than just a centre for Continued Professional Development (CPD). It’s a strategic imperative, aligning with Wellington’s pioneering spirit to develop not only its own teachers, but also to enable those in a wide range of other schools to have access to the very best of educational thinking. In this way, it works in synergy with the Festivals of Education around the world.
All our international schools will contribute to, collaborate with, and benefit from the educational development and learning from The Bridge and this supports WCI in delivering the WCE network vision.
The Festival of Education was founded by Wellington College in 2010. This annual festival seeks to celebrate the cause of education, and lead in the education debate and impact by providing a platform for all teachers to engage in contemporary education thinking, bringing forward the strongest ideas and professional development to continuously evolve and improve teaching for tomorrow’s learners.
Festivals are now hosted in China, Thailand and the USA to bring together both international and local teaching professionals to ensure those who inspire can find their own inspiration.
Broad Social Impact Cultural Connection
A wide education impact well beyond the boundaries of all our schools is delivered above and beyond the bursaries and scholarships that have underpinned our school since its inception. Internationally, all our schools work with local communities and join regional education networks to support teaching quality and education debate and advancement across their regions.
WCI is dedicated to the cause of building greater dialogue, respect and understanding both within our schools and beyond. We seek to develop a network of outstanding Wellington College International schools that connect our cultures, with a focus on developing a global outlook and understanding in all Wellingtonians. To facilitate this connection our international schools organise student and teacher exchange programmes, teacher secondments, summer schools, collaborative projects and competitions, and knowledge and expertise sharing opportunities.
