"Educate our children to reach their full potential in
a warm and caring community that fosters excellence and responsibility."
Philosophy
The Western Academy of Beijing offers a challenging and caring,
community based educational environment in which students are active
participants in the learning process. The Western Academy fosters
critical thinking and enquiry-based skills to ensure its students
achieve to their full potential as individuals and as members of
the global community. In this setting, students, staff and parents
co-operate in the educational process guided by the following principles.
The Western Academy Educates the Whole
Child
The Western Academy of Beijing seeks to develop the intellectual,
social and emotional, physical and aesthetic potential of each child
along with moral sensitivity. Western Academy children will learn
how to analyze, synthesize and evaluate new situations, knowledge
and rapidly changing technology with ease, confidence and creativity.
The Academy's educational program provides its students with a fundamental
respect for the beliefs and values of other peoples, and will take
full advantage of the culture of its host country, China.
The Western Academy Champions its Staff
The staff teaches with an international perspective. They are selected
for their professionalism, high qualifications, skills and creativity.
Individual professional development is both supported and expected,
while the Academy creates an atmosphere in which the staff's expertise
and talents enrich the school community as a whole.
The Western Academy Involves the Parents
Parents are encouraged to participate as partners in the education
of their children and in the continuing development of the school.
The Western Academy supports, respects and desires such an active
role for parents. The Western Academy of Beijing, a community of
students, staff and parents, is committed to the creation and support
of a dynamic model school with high academic, social and ethical
standards.
WAB Core Values
WAB educates the whole child, champions its staff and involves
parents. Our Core Values, living realities, which inform decision-making
and ensure that we fulfill our mission, are as follows:
"Where each member of the WAB Family is an inquiring, critical
thinking Learner, and where all decisions are made and actions
taken to enhance, strengthen and deepen the lifelong learning process."
To realize and sustain the dynamic WAB learning community, all
members must strive for:
• Excellence
• A Community of Life Long Learners
• Supportive Learning Environment
• Learning for a Purpose
• Holistic Learning
China Global Coherence
Where we strive to nurture socially responsive global citizens
bound together by China – the common interconnecting thread
woven throughout our diverse Family Mosaic.
Recognizing, understanding and actively living this coherence
between China and The World empowers each member of the WAB Family
to become:
Global Citizens who in their understanding of themselves, their
community and the world, undertake compelling initiatives for common
good. At WAB, such caring Global Citizens effect positive change
embrace:
China as a Platform for Learning, where:
• The host country, culture and language are integrated throughout
the curriculum,
• The study of China is used as a means to better understand, learn
about, and respond to the world’s – and our own – diversity.
Language Study, with particular emphasis on the study
of:
• English – the main language of instruction ensuring (at
least) one common language of fluency among all members of the
WAB Family.
• Chinese language – to increase the depth and quality of
communication between all members of the WAB Family and Chinese
people, and to foster better understanding about China, and its
place in the WAB Family and Global Community.
• Mother Tongue and Other languages– to better understand
and communicate about our own and other countries and cultures,
and their place in the WAB Family and Global Community.
Cultures and Societies Study, with a particular emphasis on the
study of:
• Chinese culture – in synergy with the study of the Chinese
language, and to foster a greater, more holistic understanding
of China, its people, history and future.
• Mother and Other Country cultures – in synergy with the
study of Mother and Other languages, and to ensure the better understanding
of ourselves and our roots as we strive to comprehend the world
and our role(s) within it.
Interconnections between the Individual, Family, China
and the World, where we:
• Respect our differences, recognize our common humanity, and better
grasp the relationship between the two
• Better understand our responsibilities for service in the protection
and enhancement of the world and all that it holds.
• Model a spirit of shared purpose and commitment to effect positive
and sustainable change in ourselves, the WAB family and the communities
where we live and work.
Mosaic of Diversity
"Where each in the WAB Family makes unique
and irreplaceable contributions that, when combined, create the
Dynamic Whole"
To realize the intrinsic and unlimited potential of this WAB Family
Mosaic, each member within the WAB Family strive to be:
Inclusive in spirit, action and outlook. This inclusiveness fosters:
Kindred Spirits throughout WAB, where all aspire to embody:
• tolerance of ideas, dissent, and differences
• rejection of preconceived prejudices
• focus on the good within all humans
• empathy for others
Equitable Access for all within WAB, where we sustain
and nurture:
• Quality education and learning
• Diverse viewpoints, information and ideas
• Intellectual freedom
Sensitivity by each member of WAB, where we recognize
and respect:
• the individual within the group and learning process
• dissent, especially when it is counter to the majority
• the need for intellectual honesty
• individual and group social responsibility
Participation by all in WAB as we foster a learning environment
where:
• Collaboration welcomes contradiction
• Consensus embodies dissent
• Pioneering inquiry and action embraces tradition
WAB 工合 (Gong He) Spirit
"Where with a spirit of commitment, enthusiasm and shared purpose,
each member of the WAB Family selflessly contributes to the betterment
of the Whole."
The WAB Spirit fosters the belief in self and community where,
sharing both vision and purpose, all are eager to (nu li
gan, yi qi gan) / Work Hard, Work Together, knowing that great
and exciting things happen when individuals combine their commitment,
social responsibility and energies into a creative effort for the
common good.
To live this value, WAB and its Family members are:
Pioneering/Creative, meaning we:
• Dare to dream the impossible dream – and make it come
true
• Encourage creative, out-of-the-box solutions,
• Are progressive thinkers, innovative, and are willing to
push the envelope
Enthusiastic / Can Do, meaning we:
• Believe in ourselves and the community,
• Are independent in spirit and action
• Set and exceed our own high expectations, by finding a way
forward and a willingness to say ‘yes’
• Model the determined and pioneering spirit of WAB’s
genesis
Cooperative / Grass Roots meaning we:
• Encourage bottom-up initiatives where all have access to
participate and become involved
• Take personal ownership and pride in group endeavors
• Expect each to contribute their personal best to the whole
by fostering in each the desire to help others,
• Embrace and draw the margin / periphery into our core and
expand the power of the whole
• Advocate participatory and collaborative approaches to problem
solving and learning
艰苦朴素 (jianku pusu) / fearless of hardship. In realizing
our dreams we will:
• Embrace simplicity and enable greater generosity to others,
• Be self-reliant and independent in spirit and action
• Optimize our diverse range of resources and accomplish more
with less
Caring
"Where we value and respect all living things, and are committed
to creating an environment that sustains and nurtures healthy relationships
with and life-long responsibilities to self, Family, the World,
and each individual within the Whole."
WAB's Caring Community fosters self- and world-awareness, where
each member of the WAB Family is empowered with and acts from a
spirit o
SERVICE & RESPONSIBILITY to enhance the human and world condition
by harnessing the power and commitment of individuals and communities
to effect positive change. Such commitment is the basis for our
EMPATHY & COMPASSION, where we:
• Understand and are open-minded to the other side/perspective,
• Uphold the principle of the equality of humanity,
• Work to improve the human condition
NURTURING, where we:
• Recognize and value individuality
• Actively care for, promote and encourage the realization
of individual potential.
CONSERVING OUR ENVIRONMENT, where we:
• Identify, develop, and implement initiatives to reduce (our
consumption of), reuse, and recycle our resources to ensure a sustainable
and more equitable worl.
SHARING, where we:
• Embody and live a generous spirit,
• Feel discomfort at excessive (inappropriate) consumption
which causes us to reflect how to better share our own resources
in more equitable and inclusive ways.
Spirit fosters the belief in self and community where,
sharing both vision and purpose, all are eager to 
(nu li
gan, yi qi gan) / Work Hard, Work Together, knowing that great
and exciting things happen when individuals combine their commitment,
social responsibility and energies into a creative effort for the
common good. 