Meet the team

Dr Ahmed Hussain is currently the Executive Director of the Institute of Learning for Wellington College China. This position involves working across the Wellington College China group on all academic related matters along with working with education institutions in the Chinese state sector to contribute to education reform.

Professional and research experience
Following an initial career as a post-doctoral research scientist and lecturer at University of Nottingham, Ahmed trained as teacher of science with the school of education, Durham University. Following a number of teaching and leadership positions, Ahmed was appointed as a Lecturer of Education at Durham University. Here he led on training and developing teachers, teaching on Masters and EdD courses as well as undertaking research in the fields of curriculum analysis, assessment and teacher professional development. Ahmed took up a number of senior leadership positions in schools in the UK and Dubai along with working in the education reform project in Abu Dhabi. Here he led projects on senior leader and teacher professional development along with supporting the development and rollout of national standards for school leaders and teachers in the UAE. Upon taking up the role of Director of Schools with Wellington College China, Ahmed has played a key role in establishing Wellington College China a leading education group regionally and internationally.

Contribution to education in China
The Institute of Learning comprises a team of senior educators and researchers with a rich experience in leading school improvement, professional development, education reform and research. Through a number of partnerships with state education in Shanghai, Hangzhou and at national level, the Institute of Learning contributes to education reform through:
• Exchange of ideas and experience
• Training and development
• Research projects
Examples of impact include developing the capacity of teachers in Shanghai to implement formative assessment practices. Research in this field has demonstrated that the use of formative assessment practices not only improved student achievement in paper and pencil tests but is also associated with higher levels of motivation and self-efficacy.
Other areas of research activity include:
• Language acquisition within bilingual schools in China
• The impact of assessing levels of student wellbeing and involvement on quality of teaching and student achievement
• The influence of professional learning approaches on collaborative teacher efficacy (CTE) and distributed leadership
• Comparative analysis of leadership in Chinese, bilingual and international schools
Ahmed has published in a range of fields including:
• Plant physiology
• Science education
• Assessment
• Curriculum analysis
• Bilingual education
• Education reform in China
Ahmed is a passionate educator who was drawn to the Wellington College China group because of the educational values, ethos and commitment to a truly holistic education. He is married with two boys, and as a family they are truly embracing the rich heritage and culture of Shanghai and China.

Fiona, Director of Academics (Early Years) at Wellington College China. Fiona has thirty years of experience in education and specialises in Early Years. After rising to the position as Head of Early Years in local government in the UK, Fiona led many of the high impact improvement projects and was instrumental in the successful implementation of the new curriculum and assessment developments in Early Years.

Fiona’s values and vision are to support the creation of conditions which maximise learning in this unique age group whilst ensuring that solid foundations are in place to develop independent, communicative and creative thinkers. Fiona graduated from The University of Sheffield with a bachelor’s degree in education.

Suisui Yu is the Director of Academics (Chinese) for Wellington College China. With over 17 years’ experience in education, Suisui has worked as a school leader, teacher trainer and education inspector. She has recently played a central role in leading a bilingual school from start up to maturity. As an education inspector, Selina was responsible for evaluating teaching quality in public schools in China. Selina was actively involved in the second phase of Shanghai curriculum reform programme and led mathematics teacher training in Shanghai.

Kirsty Anderson is currently Director of Academics (Initial Teacher Education) at Wellington College China.

Kirsty joins the IoL having previously served as assistant professor in the school of education, Durham University. There she led English for Primary Education working with hundreds of future teachers. During this period, she provided professional guidance for teachers through the authorship of books and leading academic research focused on helping teachers develop skills working with children who have English as an Additional Language.

Kirsty has been an educator for over 20 years having worked with worked with a wide range of different children and schools as a classroom teacher, deputy head, regional advisor for literacy and since 2014 in initial teacher education and research.

In her spare time, Kirsty enjoys running and has completed 6 marathons to date. She enjoys film and reading contemporary literature. She avidly listens to podcasts from various genres, which keep her company on runs or as she travels to new places. 

Coco Li is the Director of Facility for Wellington College China. She is a specialist of construction industry with over 17 years’ experience. Within depth knowledge of the overall lifecycle of construction business, from land obtaining, project planning, architect design/blue print, to construction planning and large-scale construction project management/implementation, handover till property/facility maintenance and management. Many large-scale multi-function projects were delivered successfully through her strong project management skills and leadership. Coco decided to join in Wellington College China and devote herself to build the first-class educational space with high quality and standard.

Nicole Graduated Shanghai Jiao tong University with Master degree in Public Administration. She started her career in well-known international hotel group. Following many human resources leader positions in property level, Nicole was appointed as Head of Recruitment in Greater China Region, leading senior leadership positions recruitment for more than 160 properties across china. With great passion and strong believe in wellington educational values, Nicole joined Wellington College and she is committed to making Wellington College China as one of the best employers among International schools worldwide.

Sunny Chen is the Project Manager for Wellington College China. She has rich working experience both in private and public sectors. She worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch at the beginning of her career and then joined the British Consulate Shanghai providing services for both UK and Chinese financial institutions. Sunny has led various financial services projects including the 2018 UK Prime Minister visit and 2019 China International Import Expo. Sunny graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, majoring in Civil Engineering. She continued her overseas study at University of Sydney and obtained master’s degree in International Business.