Story of a Dream

WAB was founded in 1994, at a time when there was a real need for additional school spaces to accommodate the growing expatriate community. It was founded with a strong sense of purpose, recognizing that there was also a need for a truly international, child centered school that put children at the center of its efforts, embraced the experience of being in China and was responsive to its community. Through the vision and energy of its individual and corporate founders, and the passion and dedication of a group of committed teachers, WAB was established.  Through the ongoing support of successive groups of staff and parents our school has thrived along with its students.

The "Story of a Dream" is the story of those values that drove the creation of WAB, and that continue to inspire us. Here it is, as recounted by one of our founders, Sabina Brady:

"In any close-knit community stories are shared so that all know of the roads traveled together, the paths chosen, and the reasons for the journey itself. WAB is just such a community, thus the desire and need to tell our story.

Why WAB? At the very beginning the answer was simple - demand. Back in the early 90's, there was only one English-language international school in Beijing, and it was bursting at the seams. Families refused to move to Beijing and employees in the foreign investment, business and diplomatic communities turned down postings to China's capital city for lack of schools for their children.

The founders of WAB believed that a new school could also fulfill yet another equally pressing need - that of providing greater educational choice. Instead of merely cloning the existing international school, the dream was to create something different: a non-profit independent school for foreign children in Beijing that embraced Chinese language and culture, had a truly international curriculum, and most critically, accomplished all within a child-centered and inquiry-based learning environment. The demand for places was an opportunity to create something unique.

This dream had strong personal and philosophical roots, for at the time, the educational options in Beijing could not meet the needs of many different, yet talented and gifted children. The WAB dream was of a school that celebrated the joy of learning. A place where all could realize their own personal levels of excellence and light candles instead of merely complaining of the darkness. A place where all would be equipped to go out into the world confident of themselves and of their power and responsibility to light candles for others. This was and continues to be WAB's vision.

Realizing this dream in China involved sailing in uncharted waters. WAB was literally an experiment on all fronts - as an independent community school established and operated by foreigners in China, and as a school implementing an international, as opposed to nationally based curriculum. It was an attempt at something completely new in host and international educational environments steeped in their own hard-to-change traditions.

The yearlong struggle to found WAB and open its doors in September 1994 included countless 'war stories', deadlines narrowly missed, and a dream nearly lost many times over. From the very start everyone understood the difficulties involved. Fortunately, this understanding didn't diminish the intensity of the aspiration - from securing all requisite approvals, to finding a site, to opening our doors with enough students to ensure that WAB could become a viable and sustainable institution. Throughout, our dream guided us. Identifying our site is a good example.

Before it became WAB, our school site was part of an economically troubled state-owned factory in search of tenants and rental income that was run-down and reflected its precarious financial condition. And yet, if a true dreamer looked hard enough, possibilities glimmered through the sad and tired veneer: laughing kids, a large sports field with real grass, meandering gardens and sunken sand pits, a greenhouse cum performing arts studio, and bright cheerfully lit and networked classrooms. It was all there, if only the community could be convinced of this future reality by enrolling their children - albeit in a school that had yet to open its doors, in a place where the first open house had (unaccountably) no electricity, and where the predominant color indoors and out was grey.

But the dream held because the dreamers grew in number. On September 1, 1994, WAB opened its doors to 146 children, welcomed by its community of believers, all clapping hard as we cut the ribbon and began our first day of school. WAB exists today because of this community. We flourish because we embrace our diversity as our bedrock, because our focus is upon the realization of each child's gifts, and because our lowest expectation for ourselves is on the achievement of personal and institutional excellence each and every day we are in session.

We believe WAB will continue to grow and flourish as long as we ensure that these expectations stretch beyond the imaginings of any one single individual and as long as we keep dreaming our dreams together."

In August 2001, WAB realized the dream of moving into a purpose built facility that would reflect its values and spirit. In the years since, WAB has developed beyond anyone's expectations. It continues to dream and seek excellence. The founders of the Western Academy of Beijing are recognized in WAB's "Founders' Theatre".