Western Academy of Beijing

New Employee Orientation Guide

Welcome to Western Academy of Beijing

Dr. Marta Medved Krajnovic
WAB Head of School

Welcome to Western Academy of Beijing!

We are all excited to have you joining our community where our vision is WAB = We All Belong. We have invited you to contribute to it and start living our mission of connecting, inspiring, challenging, and making a positive difference in each other’s lives and beyond.

Since the founding of WAB 30 years ago, one of our core values has been the celebration of the diversity in our community. Diversity brings energy, ideas, and beauty to a group. Each of you has been specifically recruited to bring your strengths, talents, and stories to WAB, and we look forward to all the contributions you will make to our inclusive, innovative, and passionate learning community. I hope that soon you will feel that you belong here too.

Equally important to WAB is your continued growth. WAB is a learning environment for our teachers as well as our students. With opportunities for professional development and for you to share your expertise, we are dedicated to helping you pursue your strengths and interests for the good of our students and for the further development of your career. It is our sincere wish that your time at WAB will be challenging, rewarding and joyful.

I wish you all the best for the coming months and look forward to welcoming you in person in August.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Marta Medved Krajnovic
Head of School

We are all so excited to welcome you to WAB ES! There is a buzz in the air knowing that you’ll be joining us. Everyone here is so curious to get to know you better and help you settle into Beijing. Each year that brings new people to our community strengthens us and reaffirms our connections. We are looking forward to welcoming you and sharing all our favorite things about WAB and life in Beijing with you.

WAB is an inspiring and challenging place to work. We value hard work and challenging ourselves to find new and innovative ways to enhance learning for our students. With teams empowered to try new things, systems are constantly changing to support innovation. Teams share their thinking and successes with others which inspires others to take action to improve the way we work to support our learners. The 2024-25 school year marks another year on our 2022+ strategy to focus on sustainability and IDEAS (inclusion, diversity, equity, anti-racism, social justice)

We look forward to adding your enthusiasm, talent, and professional passion to the WAB community and can’t wait to see how you will choose to make a difference.

See you soon,

Catherine Pierre-Louis
Elementary School Principal

Marina Frias-Gavidia
Middle School Principal

It is my sincere pleasure to welcome you to WAB’s Middle School. I came to WAB August 2006; now my children and I consider it our home. I hope that you find working here as inspiring as I do! My second daughter and son graduated from WAB HS, developing talents, interests and unique, loving personalities. Even my eldest daughter, who works as a clinical counselor in Canada (and graduated from HS before we moved to Beijing), appreciates WAB as a learning community so much that she volunteered as an art therapist several years ago.

WAB recognizes that the Middle School years are pivotal and abound with individual potential and opportunity. WAB’s Middle School is designed to meet the developmental needs of young adolescents and bridge the transition from Elementary School to High School. This is done in a variety of ways, including our International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, Social and Emotional Learning, Outdoor Education program, China Studies overnight or day trips and activities, Day 9, and WABX activities, as well as special events for students, teachers and parents.

Middle School staff members at WAB are highly committed to the growth and development of young adolescents. They engage students in a transformative learning journey that is joyful and challenging, intentional and iterative, and will prepare them for promising futures.

WAB’s Middle School is housed in the Middle School Building and HUB (Center for Music/Visual Art/Theater/Design and Sports). Together these buildings, which are adjacent to each other, total more than 10,000m2 and create an outstanding student-centered environment for our 340 Middle School students.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I am very pleased that you will be joining us, and look forward to seeing you soon!

Sincerely,

Marina Frias-Gavidia
Middle School Principal

Welcome to the Western Academy of Beijing and to the high school family! The 2024 – 2025 school year is going to be an incredible year. One significant reason is that you will be joining the WAB community, bringing your creativity, expertise, and passion with you!

WAB is known around the world for being an innovative and deeply connected community dedicated to growing and learning together. I am genuinely looking forward to seeing each of you thrive within this rich, diverse, passionate learning community. With each of your identities, experiences, and passions, you are adding to the fabric that weaves through WAB and high school. Your colleagues are thrilled about you joining our family and how each of your personalities and professional capacities will make our thriving community even greater.

Transitions can sometimes be challenging, please know that you are not alone in your shift to WAB and Beijing. We are here to support you along the way, please reach out if we can help you in any way. I look forward to meeting each of you and this incredible journey with WAB together!

Jaime Brianna Pustis
High School Principal

Carol Feng
HR Manager

Hunter Shang
New Employee Orientation Week Program Coordinator

你们好！北京京西学校欢迎你们
Hello everybody, and welcome to WAB!

We are your guides on the first days and weeks of your journey in Beijing. At WAB, our New Employee Orientation Week (NEOW) and the entire orientation program, which continues even beyond the first weeks, provides planned formal support, as well as informal on-the-spot assistance to our new staff members. The challenge and complexity of moving to a new city and beginning a new job can be both exciting and overwhelming, and we encourage you to ask questions as the need arises.

Pre-Arrival at WAB and Beijing

Prior to your arrival to Beijing we want to support your transition through our ‘Buddy Program’. If you have not already received it, we will soon send you information that will include the name of a personal buddy for information sharing and details about the role of your buddy at WAB.

Over the next few months our Human Resources and Legal Affairs Departments will work with you to:

Process your visas transfer from your current employer to WAB
Liaise with you about your travel arrangements
Give you information about our medical insurance

Arrival to Beijing and Getting Started at WAB

Your arrival in Beijing is possibly the most important stage of the whole transition process, as first impressions are often lasting. During this time, we will assist you to become familiar with your new job and the school’s culture.

After you have settled into Beijing and WAB, transition support will continue to be available, and our school counselors provide support as necessary. At WAB, we encourage you to ask questions and seek the support that you need.

We wish you well as you prepare to pack up and say your farewells, and we look forward to welcoming you soon.

Kindest regards,