Our Educators
Sebastien Pelletier
UISZ Head of School
Over the past 20 years, Mr Pelletier travelled the world to pursue his passion for travels, cultures, and Education, of course. His interest to see the world as both a unique AND diverse place led him to work in Canada, Egypt, Syria, India, and the USA with various curricula (Canadian, French, British, US, and the IB), through which he can see their subtleties, commonalities, and can act as mirrors of our global society. Sébastien spent the first 13 years of his career as a French as a Second Language teacher at all levels. After a Master in Educational Leadership at Lehigh University, he has been leading school divisions and campuses.
As UISZ’s new Head of School, he is particularly keen to launch different community building projects and is interested in the data-driven decision process. Mr Pelletier and his family, Valentine (also a UISZ teacher), Lila, and Achille, are proud to call UISZ home for the years to come.
Jennifer Verontaye
UISZ Head of Primary
Jennifer is entering her 17th year as an educator, the past 8 as a school leader. She received her BEd degree from the University of Alberta and is currently working towards her MAed with the University of New Brunswick. She spent 14 years in Canada, where she began her career teaching secondary students a variety of subjects including English and Art IBDP before moving into leadership. As a school leader, Jennifer has served as Department Head of English, Department Head of Arts, Vice Principal, Assistant Head and now Head of Primary here at UISZ. Jennifer is passionate about teaching and learning and strives to meet the needs of the children by building capacity in others. She is joined by her family, including a daughter entering Year 2 and her husband who spends the days caring for their 2-year-old son.
Mohammed Zawid Naseem
UISZ Head of Secondary
Mohammed, in his 26th year of teaching, is joining UISZ after finishing his tenure at the United World College (UWC) Changshu and establishing a new IB school in Suzhou. He has worked in international and IB schools in the Maldives, Qatar and India. As a former IBEN member of the Asia-Pacific region, Mohammed has evaluated and verified several schools for IB programmes, led workshops for various subjects, coordination, ATL skills and IB programme understanding. He is a former IB recognition Ambassador for India. Mohammed has an insatiable zeal for learning – he holds a Masters’ degree in Marine Biology (Berhampur University, 1990), Educational Leadership (Lehigh University, 2011), and Biological Science (Miami University, 2020).
Wayne Grant
UISZ Head of Boarding
Mr Grant is entering his 7th year in China and 17th year of teaching. He joined UISZ in August 2018 and has extensive experience in physical education, leading PE and sports development in London, Shanghai, Malaysia and Beijing. Mr Grant joined as the Athletic Director and in 2020, merged the role with the Head of Boarding. In 2021 he will solely focus on leading and developing the boarding program. Mr Grant is here with his wife and two children.
