The week ahead
Sunday 28th January until Sunday 4th February
General Events
The weekend of Saturday 27th January is a Leave Out weekend but please note that it does not include the Monday, whatever your son or daughter might say!
The Inter-House Singing Competition will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday 3rd February in the Sports Hall. This competition will be keenly contested and therefore vigorously supported by all the pupils but there will be approximately 150 seats available if any of you would like to come along to enjoy the fun - and see if you agree with the judges! Please contact Reception who will allocate seats on a first come, first served basis. (You will be advised by email only if your application is unsuccessful).
This is also another opportunity to say that the weekend of the 3rd February is closed until after Sunday chapel for the whole school as we are holding the House Singing Competition on the Saturday evening and a service on the Sunday morning. This is a full school Eucharist on Sunday 4th February in the morning to which parents of boys in the Beresford are warmly invited. The preacher is the Chaplain.
There is also a message from the school medical centre. If your children have not yet had a flu jab, they are still available until half term. Please make an appointment with the medical centre on 01344 444111. Day pupils that are not registered with the Medical centre will be charged £5. All boarders are registered, therefore theirs are free. Also don't forget if your children are travelling abroad this summer and need travel vaccines, we can do them. Please contact our travel nurse who is available on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Finally the Master has been keen to stress some "basics" to the pupils this term and they are summarised in a list of seven points. This link should take you the intranet page with them on. Any support you could give to these points would be appreciated.
Sport
Sunday 28th January sees our rugby Development XV play Farnham R.F.C. U19 at 11:30 p.m. on Bigside. This is their second warm-up game for the Daily Mail competition.
On Tuesday 30th January, the squash teams travel to Cranleigh and the basketball teams take on Haileybury.
Thursday 1st February sees the netball teams travelling to Charterhouse, the rackets team at St Paul's, the squash teams playing Eton, the fencing team competing with Marlborough and the polo team playing Harrow.
On Saturday 3rd February, the hockey players compete with Eton, the netball teams take on Pangbourne and the football players compete with Tonbridge. The runners and the badminton teams are at Harrow and the basketball team is at Pangbourne.
This link will take you to the Wellington intranet where details of hockey sports' fixtures (team lists, pitch details, etc) can be found. For netball click here and for football click here. To keep overall track on how the teams are doing click here for hockey, here for football and here for girls' netball.
Further Ahead
On Monday 5th February Wellington hosts a conference on teaching "happiness" and well-being. Further information is available on the website. If any parent is interested in attendingat a reduced rate of £59, please contact Tarla Woolhouse.
As you may know, Wellington has announced its plans to offer the International Baccalaureate alongside A Levels from September 2008. That means that the IB will be available to pupils currently in the 3rd and 4th Forms and to all those who come after them. We would like to invite you to an initial information evening on Monday 5th February at 7:30pm in the Theatre, followed by an informal reception and chance for discussion with teachers afterwards. If you are interested in coming, please e-mail Justin Garrick.
On Tuesday February 6th the Under 15 Daily Mail rugby squad travel to Bedford for their quarter final clash. Bedford were last year's winners, so the Wellington squad can be assured of their most difficult game of this year's competition. Kick off time is 2:30 p.m. and any support would be appreciated.
On Wednesday 7th February, the rugby 1st XV play K.C.S. Wimbledon in the U18 Daily Mail Quarter Final on Bigside at 2:45 p.m. All support welcome.
Also on Wednesday 7th February at 8:00 p.m. in the Concert Room, world-class Japanese violinist Mayuko Katsumra will give a recital accompanied by Gordon Back, one of the top accompanists in the world - prior to their Wigmore Hall appearance on 25th February. Admission is free - this is a fantastic opportunity to see international talent on our doorstep. More details next week.
On Friday 9th February Simon McDonald addresses the W.C.A. with a lecture at 8:00 p.m. entitled "On the Middle East and the current Israeli position" in Great School at 8:00 p.m. Middle East politics are daily on our television screens and newspapers. Will Israel and Palestine reach an agreement? What will happen in Iran? Will Iraq be attacked? How real is the threat posed by Al Qaeda? Come and listen to a talk by Simon McDonald, the recently departed British Ambassador to Israel and now working at the F.C.O. in London. Mr. McDonald is also a Wellington parent.
W.C.A. events in the future include the Out of Africa Ball on Saturday 24th February. Due to last minute cancellation we can offer 4/6 tickets for a shared table. The ticket are £50 each. Please contact Reena Price or phone 07778 205 112 (Mob) or 01628 622355 (H). This will be a fun night!
On Wednesday 14th March at 7.45 p.m. the Round Square Committee will be hosting a World Café discussion event: 'Towards A Green Wellington'. This will be an opportunity for all interested members of the Wellington community to join in a structured sequence of discussion groups whose purpose is to pool ideas for an environmentally friendly school. You can learn more about the 'World Café' format here. Places in the Café will be allocated on a 'first come first served' basis so if you have expertise, ideas, or are just plain interested please email Ant Peter, our 'Green Czar' .
Further ahead on a weekend late next term, Saturday 17th March, we plan to take all the Fifth Form to the Theatre in London. We did this with the Fourth Form this term and the event worked well. Therefore we would ask that you do not arrange anything for your sons in the Fifth Form for that Saturday night. The cost of the evening will be of the order of £40. If there are any problems with this trip on either issue, please contact John Arton-Powell as soon as possible as we need to get on and book tickets.
There is an apartment for rent in Val D'Isere. Dates available throughout the Easter holiday 2007. All proceeds from this go towards sending the Wellington College Ski teams to competitions. The apartment sleeps 4 people and is centrally located in Val D'Isere. The cost is £350 per week. Please contact Mr John Gale on if you are interested or require more information.
From the 11th May to the 13th May the W.C.A. are running a trenches trip. We've had a great response to this and it is nearly three quarters full. We need to confirm exact numbers of rooms with the hotels very soon so if you're thinking of coming please apply soon as the list will shortly close. An application form went out with the Master's beginning of term letter or you can e-mail Bill Price for one.
Further ahead there is the Summer Ball on Friday 25th May. The sale of tickets are going very well. We have already sold over half the tables for this event. Please send in your forms and cheques to avoid disappointment. PLEASE, PLEASE, COMPLETE THE BOOKING FORM IN BLOCK CAPITALS WITH THE FULL NAMES OF GUESTS, THE HOUSE NAME, AND PLEASE SEND A S.A.E. SO WE CAN SEND YOU YOUR TICKETS. This event, like any others take up a lot of time and effort in terms of organisation and doing the above would be very much appreciated and help us hugely. Tickets are £90 each. For further details contact Reena Price or phone 01628 622355.
Please could any more requests for the 3rd form French Trip come in? We have spaces for nearly all the year in a youth hostel in St Malo in Brittany from Sunday 24th June to late Thursday 28th June. Activities will include town tours, coastal walks, beach games and mountain biking. We will also visit the Normandy beaches and possibly Mont St Michel.