The Week Ahead
Saturday 22nd May until Sunday 13th June
The Master's Voice
Speech Day notes. We are planning a bumper Speech Day next week, with the focus, as with The Queen�s visit, on the pupils themselves, not adults. The ceremony in the Sports Hall in the morning, which will last one hour ten minutes for the juniors and one hour twenty for the seniors, is built around the �Eight Aptitudes� and pupil performance, with much music, some dance and plenty of high spirits: I�d much sooner parents saw and heard rather than heard about what our young people have been doing. It is also the opportunity for the annual �state of the union�, when parents will hear some important announcements, and when we also bid farewell to our very distinguished Chair of Governors, Sir Anthony Goodenough, to be succeeded by Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of British Telecom. The middle part of the day, as always, is given over to exhibitions, picnics, cricket and Field Gun. It concludes with the half an hour mini pageant and �Master�s Callover� on South Front, a tradition lost in the mists of time (a full two years for the pageant, and over 100 years for �callover�). Over 400 pupils will either be performing or collecting prizes and certificates earlier in the day, and every single pupil comes up onto the South Front stand for �The Wellington Tick�. I hope you will also be able to join us at the eve of Speech Day festivities. We are expecting over 4,000 on the day. If we all pray for good weather, surely we can make the possible happen! Can I also ask parents help ensure that only pupils eligible to drink have any alcohol at lunch, and that they do so in a restrained way?
PS The rhododendrons, azaleas and the laburnum walk are coming out nicely for Speech Day: I would warmly encourage you to include a walk in the college gardens and Master�s Lodge gardens.
General Events
As GCSE, AS and A2 exams approach, please note the rules for Study Timetable, when normal lessons are suspended to allow pupils in exam years to study according to their own needs and examination schedules. Pupils are expected to stay in College where they can benefit from access to teachers, revision workshops and resources. Only with the mutual agreement of HMs and parents will they be allowed to work from home. All pupils have access to a central schedule of revision workshops and are encouraged to see their teachers by appointment during what would normally be lesson times in order to go through practice papers and revision questions. It is vital that pupils in the exam years plan their studies with the aid of a study timetable and we would ask all parents to encourage good study habits, which include time management, working in a quiet place, taking short breaks, repeated self-testing, taking notes rather than just reading, and doing plenty of practice papers.
Pupils' personal examination entries and timetables can be accessed via the on-line parent portal (http://parents.wellingtoncollege.org.uk). Pupils should have checked their own entries and timetables in houses but we also ask all parents to check and to contact the Examinations Office if they have any questions. Other information about exam study, revision workshops and exam well-being can be accessed via the college intranet.
The next parents' Golf event will be held on Saturday 22nd May at the Wellington College golf course. It will be a nine hole event and parents should meet at the golf course for 9.30 am. They can of course come earlier for a few holes of practice to warm up or have a coffee in the Vand A before playing. Any interested parent should contact David Rennie by email.
Saturday 22nd May is a closed Saturday night for the Third Form as Third Form Grandparents Day is on Sunday 23rd May. There is a full school (aside from the Third form) Eucharist on Sunday 23rd May at which Canon Keith Wilkinson, the Senior Chaplain at Eton College, is officiating. Parents of pupils in the Picton are warmly invited.
Grandparents Day is on Sunday 23rd May, starting at 10:00 am with coffee and then Third Form Chapel at 10:45 am. Parents are welcome to coffee and Chapel but for the rest of the day we are very short of space. For those Grandparents who have booked spaces, after Chapel there is an Arts Performance in Great School followed by lunch and tours of the school.
Jonty Driver, as many of you will know, was the 11th Master of Wellington. A programme - with a slightly misleading title of "The Whites Who Fought Apartheid" - tells the fascinating, moving, important and relatively unknown story of the African Resistance Movement, a group, mainly of whites, who fought apartheid in 1960s South Africa. the programme was re-scheduled because of the election and is now be at 5:00 pm on Sunday 23rd May, still on BBC Radio 4. It is the real life story which inspired C.J. Driver�s critically acclaimed novel of 1969, Elegy for a Revolutionary.
There is a LAMDA Junior Showcase Evening on Wednesday 26th May at 7:30pm in the Theatre.The parents of all 3rd and 4th form LAMDA students are invited to an informal evening of drama and public speaking. Students have been invited to perform one of their exam pieces, and the evening will be concluded with a brief award ceremony. Please confirm attendance by emailing Mrs Katy Hamilton so that we can order a suitable number of drinks and biscuits!
You are warmly invited to come and kick-start the Speech Day weekend celebrations with our Eve of Speech Day concert on Friday 28th May at 7:30 pm in the Combermere Quad. The Wellington College Big Band and Concert Band will perform a variety of popular arrangements, while fish and chips will be sold in aid of the charity Stop Hunger. Refreshments will also be available for purchase.
We look forward to welcoming you to what will be a wonderful Speech Day on Saturday 29th May. Tickets for the prize giving events are now with Housemasters � please ensure your son or daughter collects the allocated three tickets per student (one for the student and two for parents), this is based on the assumption that all parents will be attending. Please note that we do not have any extra tickets for the junior event. A copy of the programme for the day can be found here.
Speech Day marks the start of the Exeat and we look forward to welcoming back your sons and daughters on Sunday 6th June at 9:15 pm for the boarders or 8:15 am on Monday 7th June for the day pupils.
As long as it remains possible that ash from the Icelandic volcano could cause disruptions to flights over the UK, all pupils in the 5th, Lower 6th and Upper 6th Forms who have exams after the up-coming half term break are advised to think carefully about air travel plans and pay close attention to advisory warnings. The examination boards have indicated that all examinations will go ahead as scheduled regardless of flight disruptions, so pupils stranded overseas could miss their examinations. We therefore advise pupils in exam years to consider the necessity of travelling overseas in the half term break if they can stay in the UK with family or guardians. Those who do have to travel should aim to return to family or guardians in the UK before the final weekend of the half term break if they have exams in the first few days back. Please note, however, that times for return to College itself will remain as normal on Sunday 6th June.
Picton 3rd form parent Gretchen Cerveny has asked us to pass on details of the Mad Hatters Millener�s show on Wednesday 9th June, a fashion show in aid The Children�s Trust Tadworth. clicking on the image should open the programme in a separate window where you should be able to read the detail.
Calling all parents of pupils who left in 2009. We hope you�ll join us in the Monro Pavilion on Sunday 13th June at an informal supper for last year�s leavers parents. The time is 7.30 for 8.00: so drop off your younger children, then drop in. Tickets �10, including dinner and wine. Details from Denise Cook
Also on Sunday 13th June, there is a full school Service of the Word in the Chapel at 8:00 pm at which the preacher is Father John Connell, Chaplain to the Bishop of Reading. Parents of pupils in the Orange are warmly invited.
All parents of pupils in the Fifth Form are asked to advise Mrs Sally Yarnton of details of your son�s or daughter�s work experience. Click here for more information.
The Bursar has asked me to include the following paragraph about an Independent School Fees survey: "I am writing to ask if you would kindly contribute to a national school fee survey in which Wellington College is participating. It shouldn�t take up more than 10 minutes of your time.The research is being undertaken on behalf of independent schools in the UK by mtmconsulting, a company which has been closely involved in the independent schools sector for many years. This is being undertaken in the interests of understanding the pressures on parental budgets in undertaking the payment of school fees, both now and in the future. Very little detailed research has ever been undertaken in this area and, now more than ever, independent schools need to understand the pressures parents are under, so that they can try to respond accordingly. It is expected that around 100 schools will participate in this survey and that the main findings of the research will be published during the autumn.The survey will be conducted on-line via a secure website. To access the questionnaire you will need to log onto the following website address and enter a code that will identify the school only. Your own entry will not be traceable to you personally in any way. Please complete the 25 questions which just require a �click� and then submit electronically by pressing �send.� The survey will be open until Sunday 30th May. I can give you a categorical assurance that your response will be anonymous and will be treated in the strictest confidence by mtmconsulting. You will not be required to divulge any information that would identify you personally and no individual responses will be disclosed either to the school or to any third party.I appreciate that all of us are approached by phone or electronically to respond to surveys of all types. However, we believe that with a positive response by each of you a valuable piece of robust research will result, with some important conclusions and findings which will be invaluable to the school in its forward planning. Many thanks in anticipation for your support." The website is http://www.surveyserver.net/?fees , the password is fees and the School Identification Number is 1001.
The Wellington College Parent Portal is up and running and all current parents should now have accounts. This means that parents can log on to our website from anywhere in the world and view their child�s reports, internal and external exam timetables, results and other relevant information. Besides being more convenient for parents it will, in the long term, allow us to cut down on the amount of printing we do - all part of our sustainability drive. Follow the instructions you have received and you should have access straight away. There is some information about the Portal here.
Sport.
Saturday 22nd May sees a block fixture in cricket against Eton , an athletics match at the K2 Stadium Crawley aganist Cranleigh, boys' tennis taking on Radley as well as competing in a tournament and the girls' tennis taking on Downe House and Cheltenham Ladies College.
On Tuesday 25th May the swimmers welcome Cranleigh and the sailing club Winchester. Thursday 27th May sees the boys' tennis players taking on Tonbridge and the girls Charterhouse whilst the polo teams play Uppingham and Oakham.
Friday 28th May sees the now traditional 20 over game between the WCCC and the OWCC as a prelude to the full game on Saturday 29th May.
After the Exeat, the Junior golfers take on Radley and Bradfield at Radley, the polo team have a chukka with Harrow and the swimmers take to the water against Bradfield on Tuesday 10th June.
Saturday 12th June sees a block cricket fixture with Tonbridge , county athletic championships in Bracknell, tennis matches with Cranleigh and a sailing match with Oundle.
Further Ahead
The Eagle House Children�s Literature Festival runs from Monday 14th June to Friday 18th June. Throughout the week we will be joined by some of the top children�s authors including: Jamila Gavin, Anne Fine, Marcus Sedgwick, Tim Bowler and Brian Patten. One author of special interest for older students is Mark Billingham, author of the DC Thorne novels, writer of the Triskellion series for younger readers and a renowned stand-up comic. All authors will be giving talks and presentations and parents, children, teachers are all encouraged to join us for the events throughout the week. We will have our own Waterstones store on site, a caf� run by Capers of Crowthorne and all events will take place in our festival marquee. The link to the Festival page on our website is: www.eaglehouseschool.com/childrens-literature-festival.htm
Come and enjoy the Staff Play. On Thursday 17th June and Friday 18th June, teachers will perform �Allo Allo�. Ren� Artois is a caf� owner in the Nazi-occupied French town of Nouvien, whose humourus efforts to appease a range of opposing factions without being killed provide the unlikely scenario for this long-running hit BBC One Eighties sitcom. It will be a very funny evening! You can reserve your ticket with Reception.
A Universities Fair evening will be held on Friday 18th June for Lower Sixth students and parents. For more details, please click here.
South Africa welcomes you!!! Saturday 19th June sees many home matches at Wellington. In true South African style, we welcome you all to a bite and a beer before sports fixtures begin. Bring along your chairs for a casual South African "braai" and enjoy delicious kebabs and boerewors rolls and for the nostalgic, a complimentary Castle lager. You will find us on Turf alongside the Pink Pavilion, 12:30 pm onwards. Adults �12pp and children �5. All nationalities are warmly invited! Please contact Liz Watters.
On the Sunday 27th June Old Wellingtonian Sam Wilson (Beresford 1998 - 2003) will be competing in the 2010 Gobi March and fundraising for Mencap. The Gobi March is part of the world renowned 4 Deserts race series, a race series that takes place in the driest (Atacama Crossing, Chile), hottest (Sahara, Egypt), windiest (Gobi, China) and coldest (Antarctica) deserts in the world. The series is a set of rough country footraces that take place over seven days and some 250 kilometers in remote and culturally rich locations around the world where competitors must carry all their own equipment and food; they are only provided with water and a place in a tent each day.This years Gobi March will take place in the Turpan Basin, China, the second lowest point on earth (after the Dead Sea, Jordan) and the furthest point from any ocean. Temperatures are expected to reach highs of 50 degrees centigrade in the day and as low as 5 degrees centigrade by night. With some 37 nationalities competing the Gobi March is a truly global event and an extreme challenge to anyone.Sam will be running for the charity Mencap which is not only close to his heart but also Wellingtons. Mencap is the voice of learning disability. They work with people with a learning disability to help change laws and services, challenge prejudice and directly support thousands of people to live their lives as they choose. Sam will be at Speech Day hoping to collect donations from as many people as possible in order to support this worthwhile cause. He will be helped by a team of students all eager to support Mencap and Sam in his race efforts. Please give whatever you can to support Mencap and Sam in this epic race.
Don�t forget to book tickets to hear the London Mozart Players perform on Sunday 27th June at 8.00 pm in the Old Gym. With a programme featuring works by Mozart, Gluck, Britten, Wesley and Arnold, performed by Wellington�s widely-renowned Orchestra-in-Residence, this is a concert not to be missed. Tickets can be booked through Reception on 01344 444201.
Wellington College proudly presents Billy Elliot The Musical! An invigorating, exciting and uplifting show, Billy Elliot will be performed throughout Arts Fest, with our opening night on the Monday 28th June running until Thursday 1st July in the Theatre. Tickets are on sale now, but hurry as we have already begun to sell out! To order tickets contact reception at boxoffice@wellingtoncollege.org.uk
On Tuesday 29th June, as part of the Wellington Arts Festival, the leading fashion designer Amanda Wakeley will be interviewed by the FT�s Mrs Moneypenny about the business of fashion, her life and what inspires her designs. As part of the evening, Amanda is looking for at least two mother/daughter combinations (or even teacher/pupil) to model some of her current clothes and show how they work across the generations. Her clothes include day and evening wear and go up to size 16, so you don�t need to be catwalk standard sizes to volunteer! Fittings would be during half term at the Amanda Wakeley flagship store in Chelsea. Amanda Wakeley launched her signature label in 1990 and over the last two decades has developed an international reputation for designing stylish, supremely luxurious, womenswear and accessories. This year Amanda was awarded an OBE for her services to the fashion industry. She is the winner of several awards including three British Fashion Awards for Glamour and is Founder and co-Chair of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, a charity through which she has helped raise over �10m for Breast Cancer research. Please email Bridget Bowen at Amanda Wakeley if you would like to volunteer to model as part of this event.
A diary date for all Upper Sixth pupils and parents is the Leavers� Service, Graduation Ceremony and Ball on Friday 2nd July. This event runs from 1:30 pm onwards with two graduation ceremonies and breaks for tea, followed by a champagne reception in houses and dinner and ball in the marquee. For those parents who will only be able to attend the Graduation Ceremony in Chapel (i.e. between3:00pm to 6:15pm), the occasion will be free of charge, and there is no need to apply for tickets. For those pupils and parents attending the whole event, the charge will be �80 per person for the dinner and ball to include half a bottle of wine per person. Please note, leavers will only be able to apply for dinner and ball tickets if their parents are attending or with a nominated guardian from the pupil�s house. Details and booking forms should be with you but a copy of some information can be found here. If you have any queries please contact Tarla Woolhouse, Event Organiser on 01344 444085.
Influential Tory philosopher and adviser Phillip Blond will be appearing at the Festival of Education on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th of July, joining more than 70 leading figures from the worlds of education, culture and entertainment, including David Puttnam, Germaine Greer, Toby Young and Greta Scacchi. The event is being held at Wellington College and tickets are on sale now from the Festival website at �27.50 for a One Day Festival Pass.
We are delighted to invite your 15 � 18 year old sons and daughters to Wellington�s Summer Leadership Course from the 3rd to 5th August. The course will be a stimulating balance of practical activities, theory and discussion. Students will experience the challenges and rewards of leading a team and gain an understanding of leadership across a broad range of contexts. The course will provide an excellent opportunity for development of leadership attributes and build confidence in a structured, encouraging and enjoyable environment. Previous course students said: "The course is one of the best experiences I've ever had...there are so many things that I can take from this course into later life"; "The facts I will take away from this course are GOLD!"; "I learnt more than I thought I could". For more information, please visit http://intranet.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/page.aspx?id=6408; email Gareth Pearson or Katy Granville-Chapman.
Letters Home
To try to cut down on the amount of paper we send out and to try and not bombard parents with large numbers of posting, e-mails and information generally, we try to use the Week Ahead to include letters we would normally send out - either electronically or by post. If there are parents who would still rather receive everything on paper, please e-mail the College Secretary. We still anticipate sending out paper copies of reports, bills and the Master's letters. To open some of these letters you will need to log on to the intranet as the page they are saved on is only viewable to those in the Wellington community. Do contact me if you need the password.. All letters home of this sort are stored here. If for any reason you want to see a back copy of the Week Ahead they are all available on the internet here.
Contact us
This newsletter and past editions are on the Wellington College website as is a version of the school calendar with details of all activities going on at Wellington for the rest of this term.
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