Development plan 2005-2015
1. Mission.
Our core aim is to make Wellington College one of Britain's, and the world's, leading and most inspiring co-educational schools for boarding and day pupils. We aim to be a 'world class' school, which compares with the very best establishments anywhere in the world, in Europe, North America and beyond. We seek to be a vibrant and challenging school which opens the minds and hearts of our pupils, teachers, parents and all other members of our community. We wish to provide a transformative experience, developing to the full each pupil's 'Eight Aptitudes' (set out below) including their intellectual, artistic, sporting, spiritual and social faculties, while ensuring that each grows to understand that serving and caring for others brings the highest rewards in life and the greatest likelihood of long term happiness and fulfilment. The College will build upon its honourable past, dating back 150 years, while adapting its values and traditions for the 21st century. Wellington is a Christian foundation, though remaining open to and respectful of children from all religious faiths. A commitment to leadership, service and an international outlook lie at the heart of its values.
2. 150th anniversary: 1859-2009.
Wellington College was founded in 1859 by Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister of the day, Lord Derby, as the national memorial for the first Duke of Wellington, the hero of Waterloo and twice Prime Minister, who died in 1852, and who was buried in a state funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral. He was described by Queen Victoria as "the greatest Englishman who had ever lived". The school is imbued with the history of the Iron Duke's times, and many of the Houses are named after key figures in his career, notably at the Battle of Waterloo. The school is situated 40 minutes west of London in 400 acres of Berkshire countryside, on a campus and with buildings the match of any school in the world. The Royal Family remain very close to the school. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, is our Visitor, while her cousin, His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, is College President. His Royal Highness the Duke of York is President of Wellington Academy, while the present Duke of Wellington is an active figure in school life.
3. Twelve core themes, 2005-15.
1. Academic Excitement. We seek to ensure that every child realises his or her academic potential to the full. We do not believe in achieving this merely by instructing or 'providing the answers', which ends up boring students, but rather by offering them challenging, demanding and exciting lessons, put across by passionate, learned and dynamic teachers. The curriculum is rich and dynamic, with all pupils studying Philosophy and subjects as diverse as Mandarin and History of Art being available to all pupils. The focus is on providing inspiring teaching, and on innovative teaching methods. The growing use of 'Harkness Tables' in classrooms, a round-the-table tutorial setting where the pupils take primary responsibility for their learning rather than relying on the teacher, is just one manifestation of Wellington's commitment to academic excitement, and preparation of children, not for exams, but for university and the life beyond. We are pleased that breadth has not been at the expense of academic results, with the Financial Times rating Wellington College the most improved school in Britain from 2005-07. Our A level results in 2009 of 92% A and B grades placed us in the premier devision in the Telegraph league tables. In the Sixth Form, pupils have a choice between the new style A Level and the International Baccalaureate. This offers six subjects (rather than A Levels' three or four), a compulsory theory of knowledge paper, an extended essay and credit given for work in community action and service. Wellington believes that the choice of taking either A level or IB is ideal for pupils, rather than limiting them to one system. In the first three years we are now offering the Middle Year's Programme of the IB organisation alongside the more traditional GCSEs.
2. Educational debate and openness. Wellington seeks not just to follow, but to shape and lead the education debate, and use the virtue of its independence to be innovative, rather than merely confirming to the status quo. Wellington is genuinely pioneering, we believe, in extending our linkages with the community and in starting academies and partnerships, in the teaching of well-being and happiness, in offering the 'Eight Aptitude' model of education, in 'student voice' or pupil leadership, and in starting schools abroad. Everyone at Wellington is a learner. The philosophy is one of openness to new ideas exemplified by a determination to seek out the new and innovative around the world and bring it to Wellington College. Very simply, we are far more interested in what goes on outside British independent schools than we are with what goes on inside: if a school or institution anywhere in the world is doing something better than we are at Wellington, we want to know about it, and if appropriate, to adopt it. Every term there is a parents', a pupils' and a staff forum where we meet together to debate how to make our community still stronger. We hold a wide variety of conferences and seminars each term, for state as well as independent schools. Innovative conferences have been held at Wellington on a host of topics, such as on the teaching of Mandarin and Hindi, well-being and happiness, multiple intelligences and the 'Eight Aptitudes', going to university in the US, and dynamic pastoral care.
3. The 'Eight Aptitudes'. Wellington is deeply committed to all-round or holistic education, and the development for each member of our community of their individual gifts to the full. This approach is underpinned philosophically by a belief that each child and adult has no less than eight principal faculties or intelligences, and that, if these are not nurtured at school, they can remain under-realised for the rest of life. We draw our inspiration from a number of sources, including Kurt Hahn's six pillars, which underpin 'Round Square', the work on multiple intelligences of Howard Gardner of Harvard University, and that of Rabindrinath Tagore. Wellington aims to nurture the following faculties within us all:
1. Logical-mathematical and scientific understanding
2. Linguistic-ability in English, Languages, Humanities; written and spoken communication
3. Social-awareness of the feelings of others; relating to and working with others
4. Personal-becoming master of one's own mind, body and emotions
5. Cultural-artistic, dramatic, musical skill and interest
6. Physical-dexterity, agility; sporting and dance prowess
7. Spiritual-thinking and awareness beyond materialism and the self
8. Moral-personal responsibility/courage; having firm principles and adhering to them
All schools claim to be developing the all-round child. Wellington
embodies this by its deliberate focus on the 'Eight Aptitudes', with each child filling in at the start of each term their aims for what they hope to achieve in all eight areas over the term, and reviewing it at the end of each term, to form a core part of their end of term report. At the end of the Sixth Form, each pupil 'graduates' and is presented with a certificate embodying their overall record in all 'Eight Aptitudes'.
4. The Arts and Performance. Wellington is one of the outstanding schools in the South East of England for the Arts, offering top quality Art, Creative Writing, Dance, Drama and Music. The annual Wellington Arts Festival is becoming a regular feature of the national Arts circuit, with recent stars including Jeanette Winterson, Sebastian Faulks, OW, and Rory Bremner, OW. All pupils have to exhibit their creative talents, in the belief that artistic gifts lie within every single child, and that our duty is to give them the opportunities to shine and to release that inner creativity. It seems, sadly, to be the case that talent for painting, creative writing, dance, drama and music that is not uncovered before the age of 18 all too often lies dormant for the rest of one's life.
5. Community and Service. We do not believe that it is sufficient for a child just to concentrate on their own strengths and building their own career. We believe that every child should be engaged in positive works and service to others, if they are to have a proper education and become full human beings. We seek active partnerships with our neighbours, and look to forge mutually beneficial relationships with state schools and the local community. The College does not wish to be an ivory tower, removed from our local community in Berkshire, or indeed from the 93% of the country educated in state schools. The founding of the Wellington Academy in Wiltshire, our independent state school, is just one of many ventures in which we endeavour to serve the community more widely. Our aim is that every Wellington pupil does community service as well as spending a period of time at a school working on a project in the developing world. Looking after others lies at the very heart of the mission of the school. This applies to caring for others within the school itself, with as strong a peer support and anti-bullying ethos as you will encounter in any school anywhere. Combined Cadet Force, Community Service, Round Square, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and a host of other Wellington initiatives, provide just some of the opportunities for the pupils to offer their commitment, love, care and talent to others.
6. International outlook. Wellington is very aware of the increasingly global environment in which our pupils will live and work. China and India, Brazil and Mexico, will all be countries with which our students will have regular contact, and where they will quite possibly live for part of their working lives. The College has forged close links with schools in China, North and South America, Australia, India, Africa and the Middle East. We are in the process of founding a number of schools abroad, and are deeply involved in the work of Round Square, the body set up by Kurt Hahn to promote an understanding of internationalism, community, leadership and service in schools around the world. Every child will go on several overseas trips during their time at Wellington, and should spend a part of their time in the developing world.
7. Leadership for all. The school will build on its historic legacy of leadership, dating back to the 1st Duke of Wellington, and has established programmes to offer each pupil training and opportunities in leadership and team-building during their time at the College. We believe that pupils perform best when they are given trust and responsibilities. The school runs the annual inter-school leadership conference in September for school head pupils, and is pioneering the MBA in school leadership in association with the Institute of Education at London University. Leadership is about taking responsibility and accepting challenges. Every single Wellington child will have such opportunities from which to learn, above all from each other.
8. The wider Wellington family. The school aims to be second to none in its activities for and openness to parents. The 'Wellington College Association' offers an extraordinary range of intellectual, social and cultural events and trips for parents to enjoy in Britain and abroad. Every adult, whether parent or indeed teacher, is a learner, and we believe the best schools are ones where opportunities are offered for the whole community to learn and to develop themselves. We seek similarly to embrace our alumni very warmly into a host of activities both at the school and outside, in the United Kingdom and abroad. The Old Wellingtonian Association is a truly thriving alumni body, and is exceptionally supportive of younger Wellingtonians as they make their ways in the world.
9. Pastoral care and warmth. We believe we are a warm, supportive, orderly, courteous and civilised community, with strong moral values. We seek to achieve this through self-discipline and the active cooperation of students, rather than the traditional discipline approach, with its fear of punishment. The students' pride in Wellington and the mutual trust and respect which exists between them are quite extraordinary and are real characteristics in the school. Wellington pupils are caring, quite exceptionally proud of their school and fiercely loyal to each other. We do not believe in long lists of rules, nor in harsh penalties, and punishments at the school are rare. The 'honour code', one of several innovations borrowed from American schools, underpins the whole pastoral care philosophy. The honour code is rewritten afresh by the pupils each year, and embodies the values that they believe in. Overseeing pastoral care at this school is a remarkable body of sixteen compassionate and impressive housemasters and housemistresses underpinned by a team of no less than five house tutors in each house. Students quickly learn that, if they misbehave, they are not damaging an impersonal and remote school, but fellow students.
10. Sport. Wellington over many years has been one of the strongest schools for boys' sport in Britain. With the coming of co-education in 2006, it is rapidly becoming one of the strongest co-educational sporting schools too, with girls' sport rivalling the standard of the boys'. Our golf, chess, shooting, rugby and netball teams rival the best in the United Kingdom, and our pupils perform at a very high level in a wide variety of different sports. The philosophy is that it is better to play well than to win, and we aim to consolidate our reputation as one of the most courteous and hospitable of sporting schools in the country. Our philosophy is also that it is better for each individual to play sport to the best of their ability, even if this means they are in the fourth or fifth or sixth team in their year group, rather than struggle to play at a level beyond them. Praise is equal for those in the lower teams as much as it is for those who play for the top teams. Doing one's best, in sport and in every other facet of Wellington life, is the key.
11. Spirituality. The commitment to developing spiritual awareness and depth of each child in our community lies at the very core of the school. We believe the life of the spirit is too easily neglected in schools in favour of the life of the mind and body, and of materialism. Yet it is spiritual values and meaning, not material wealth, which alone will make for a happy, satisfying and fulfilling life.
12. Well-being. One of Wellington's distinctive contributions in education is pioneering classes in well-being (colloquially called 'happiness' classes) in association with Cambridge University's Institute of Well-being and other academic institutions. The approach is aimed in particular at developing the personal and social 'aptitudes'. These classes help pupils learn how to look after their minds, their bodies and their emotions better, how to develop relationships and pursuits which will nourish them throughout life, and how to identify their priorities to fulfil their own goals and aspirations for their lives.
4. Co-education and size.
Wellington College first admitted girls into the Sixth Form in 1975 and, from September 2006 began to accept girls into all year groups, with girls starting in both the Third Form (year 9) and the Fourth Form (year 10). By September 2007 there were girls in every year group in the school, with a total of 220 girls that year, 260 girls from September 2008, and over 310 girls in September 2009. We believe that full co-education provides the ideal environment for both boys and girls in which to learn and flourish, and to develop into rounded and balanced adults. The school will take 110 boys and 60 girls into each year group from the ages of 13, and at least an additional 30 girls and 20 boys at the age of 16 into the Sixth Form. The exceptional growth in popularity of the school, the reduction in boys' numbers, and the number of girls' spaces available, has meant considerable pressure on places. A 'pre-test' entry exam at the age of 11 was introduced from September 2006, although selection is not on academic merit alone, but also on all-round potential and likely contribution to school life. The 'Eight Aptitudes' are a core part of our assessment process, as are the interviews and the report from the feeder school's Head, on which we place considerable stress. We are capping school numbers at 980 after the refurbishment of the Houses, a figure large enough for us to offer a full range of academic, artistic, sporting and service options for both girls and boys, but small enough for each pupil to be known as an individual and as a distinctive human being. The Master considers it of great importance that he knows the individual pupils and, where possible, each family. He invites pupils to lunch or dinner into the Master's Lodge with his wife at least once a year, interviews all pupils individually in his study at least once a year, visits pupils in their houses once a year, and tries to teach at least all the newcomers at 13. Parents similarly are invited into the Master's Lodge on many occasions each year, including match teas and before concerts and other special events. The personal contact is a core feature of Wellington College.
5. Wellington Academy.
Service to the community has been a characteristic of Wellington College ever since its inception in 1859. In June 2007, the Governors of Wellington College decided to open an 'academy' to be called Wellington Academy at Ludgershall in Wiltshire, an action made possible by the generous gift of £2m from two Old Wellingtonians. The school opened in September 2009 and eighteen months later it will move into entirely new buildings, made possible by a grant of over £30m from the Government. Wellington Academy will be based on many of the core features of Wellington College, including the 'Eight Aptitudes', a commitment to service and challenge, academic excellence, well-being, and pastoral care and boarding. There will be opportunities for pupils and teachers to meet each other, and indeed to spend short periods of time at the other school. Wellington has been in the lead in saying that all major independent schools should either form academies themselves, or enter into partnerships and federations with state schools. Standing entirely apart from state schools is, we believe, no longer tenable morally or indeed politically.
6. Institutional advancement: the development office.
In 2007, the school opened a Development Office, to oversee development, funding and plans all the way from the College's 150th anniversary in 2009 to the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015. It has begun work from a strong position, with much of the extensive £20m refurbishment programme of Houses already completed over the previous four years, with the capacious Modern Languages Institute opened in September 2008 and with the new Monro Sports Pavilion opened in September 2009. A principal part of the development quest is to find funding for bursaries, for children from all backgrounds to attend Wellington College, irrespective of means. We are also raising funds for our extensive commitment to the less-fortunate in Britain and abroad. Wellington already boasts unrivalled facilities, but we are also looking for funds to build a new Performing Arts Centre, which will also have extensive use for the local community, an extended library and an athletics track. The aim is to ensure future generations will be able to attend a school which is one of the leading schools in the world, not only in terms of the quality of teaching and pastoral care, but also in the facilities that it offers.
Anthony Seldon, Master