secondary team

Mr. Nathaniel Wilson is from Cape Town, South Africa, and has been teaching since 2006. Moving abroad in 2008 initially to work as teacher in South Korea, and he relocated to China. Nathaniel holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry, awarded in 2005 while conducting neuroscience research in a clinical setting, along with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Nottingham, awarded in 2020. Before his teaching career Nathaniel spent a decade in the domains of postgraduate healthcare research and medical education. Nathaniel has been living in Shanghai since the 2009 working as a science teacher in IB, AP or A-level programmes. Other than furthering his skills in leadership, data science and computer programming, Nathaniel particularly enjoys a wide range of thoughtful discussions on topics that matter, and also keenly participates in activities that are good for supporting mental and physical health, e.g. jogging, swimming, yoga and reading, as well as playing piano, board games, football or anything involving a spherical object being hit with either a bat, racket or stick to achieve perfect projectile motion. Nathaniel spends his off-campus time with his wife and their dog, Boo.

Dingxiang Wu

Jiawei Wang, born in Heilongjiang, and received her B.A. in English from Mudanjiang Normal University and M.A. in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages from Beijing Language and Culture University. She taught Chinese at North China Electric Power University, Beijing Language and Culture University and Tsinghua University. Before joining WISS, she was an editor working on Chinese teaching materials including IB Chinese textbooks for Chinese learners in Joint Publishing (H.K.). A life-long learner, she brings her passion and commitment for working with students and the skills to meet the unique challenges and opportunities that a diverse student body brings.

Ms. Frasquier is from Barcelona, Spain. She has received a Bachelor of Translating and Interpreting English, French, Spanish and Catalan and a Master in Teaching at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Prior to coming to China, she lived for four years in Nebraska where she taught French and Spanish for native and non-native speakers. She is in Shanghai with her husband who works as a chef in a restaurant in the French Concession. Before coming to WISS, she worked at Hangzhou International School as a long term substitute for French and Spanish. Ms. Frasquier is very passionate about teaching Spanish and is excited to be part of the WISS community.

Ms Vanessa Ness is originally from Wales but has spent time teaching English as a foreign language in Greece and Taiwan.  More recently she spent the last five years teaching English Literature and Language in an inner city London secondary school.  Vanessa has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and a Master’s degree in English Education.  Vanessa is now part of the WISS community along with her son Max.  Her hobbies include reading, travelling and personal development.  She enjoys discussing literature with children and being part of the creative process literature can inspire in us all.

Mr. Piotr Obidzinski comes from Poland, where he studied and obtained a master’s degree in mathematics with specialty of applications and teaching. For a dozen years, Peter worked as a research scientist and taught mathematics subjects for economists at the University of Szczecin and at the same time, he also worked in several international schools in Poland with the IB program, teaching mathematics. He is excited to be a part of the WISS community. His goal is to share with students his passion for mathematics and to support students on their own path of inquiring exploration. His hobbies include an interest in sport activity, playing guitar and traveling around Asia as often as possible.

Miss Kelsey Gibb is from Falkirk in central Scotland.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Studies and Professional Education from the University of Stirling in 2013.  After teaching in Scotland for 5 years, Kelsey decided to take the leap in to international teaching and is very happy to be a part of the WISS staff as a humanities teacher.  She enjoys visiting a variety of countries and learning about different cultures so she is happy to be a part of the international Shanghai community.  Her hobbies include socialising with friends, fitness and hill walking.

Ms. Laura Guay is Canadian and met her husband while teaching in South Korea – it was love at first flight. She and her husband Todd Hurst have lived and taught in South Korea, Canada, Wales, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and now China. Laura has a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of New Brunswick and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in Art Education from Concordia University. Laura loves art and believes that she is the luckiest teacher in school because her subject is the most colorful. She loves running around her children Miles and Ella who are students at WISS and she loves crochet, yoga, books, sketching, painting, traveling and laughing… a lot of laughing. She loves inspiring students to find art in the world and let it inspire them.

Ms. Vanessa Vanek has been an art and design educator for over 20 years with sixteen of those being as a certified teacher. She started teaching art in the Kansas public schools and moved overseas in 2007 to teach art in international schools in Bangkok, Thailand and Songdo, South Korea. In 2014, she taught art and design classes at an international school in Tanzania. Vanessa has a BFA in Design with a concentration in Textile Design and has her graduate teaching certificate in Visual Art Education both from the University of Kansas. She is originally from Lawrence, Kansas and is excited to join the WISS community, to be back in Asia, and to be able to visit places where some of her relatives lived at one time in Shanghai and Suzhou.

Suzie has done several jobs, including sales, cashier and administrative work. This year she joined our school as a driver and also as an assistant in the school office. She is now attending East China Normal University to obtain a Bachelor of Traveling Management. Susie is very cheerful and has been a wonderful addition to our school office.

Mr. Tony Anderson holds a Bachelor of Physical Education from Brock University, a Teaching Certification from St. Bonaventure University, and a Master of Educational Leadership and Principal Certification from The College of New Jersey. He has 23 years of experience in teaching and as an administrator in various schools in Ontario, Canada, in Dubai, UAE and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has a passion for sports, is an avid ice hockey player, and relaxes with long rides on his custom chopper! He is at WISS with his wife Renee and daughter Emma.

Mr. Paul Matheson has a BA: History and Political Science from the University of British Columbia, a BEd: Secondary Education degree from the University of Toronto, and he has recently completed an MEd: International School Counseling degree. Mr. Matheson is committed to international education, and has taught at schools in South Korea, Kuwait City and The Bahamas. Before becoming a teacher, he worked as a software engineer at Apple, developing the iWork suite. His hobbies include traveling, kayaking and playing the piano. Mr. Matheson is so pleased to be working at WISS!