The Week Ahead
Sunday 4th February until Sunday 11th February
General Events
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.
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 attending at 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.
There is a busy week of music ahead with three of our A level pupils presenting their recital programmes as part of their exams - on Monday 5th February at 6:15 p.m. in the Concert Room Bryn Davies will perform Haydn's Trumpet Concerto, movements 1 and 2, and music by Elgar and Tchaikovsky, followed on Friday 9th February at 8:00 p.m. in the Concert Room by recitals from Emily Winkworth (Ap) - a programme of song - and from Toby Ranger (T) on voice and clarinet.
Midweek we have a wonderful opportunity to hear one of Japan's most brilliant young violinists, Mayuko Katsumura, accompanied by Gordon Back, a most distinguished accompanist, who is Professor of Accompaniment at Guildhall School of Music. They will perform in the Concert Room at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday 7th February - the programme of Grieg, Stravinsky, Mozart and Enescu will be the one they will take to the Wigmore Hall on 25 February, but we have a chance to hear it first here at Wellington. Admission is free. For further details please contact Ros Dunmore on 01344 444201.
On Thursday 8th February at 6.00 p.m. in the Driver lecture Room Mr David Gateley is coming to give a lecture entitled "An update on Trauma Surgery in the UK". Mr Gateley, father of Ben in the Lynedoch LVI, is a consultant plastic surgeon at St George's Medical School NHS Trust in Tooting. The talk, which will include some graphic pictures and allow questions and answers, is aimed at anybody interested in medicine or in more general biology. Parents are welcome.
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 the Driver Rooms (please note the new venue) 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. It is not necessary to pre-book, but if you are intending to attend we would appreciate it if you could email Tarla Woolhouse so we can ensure we have the correct venue.
Saturday 10th February sees the start of the Exeat at 10:45 a.m except for those involved in the Lower Sixth Conference. Details of that conference can be found here.
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.
A reminder for parents that many have not yet responded to the invitation to the St. Paul's event on Friday 4th May. Reminder that deadline is FRIDAY 16TH FEBRUARY. Tickets will not be issued for applications after that date but we still need a response as to travel arrangements after the service for their son/daughter. If there is no response we will take it that the pupils concerned will return back to the College on the coach. A copy of the form can be found here. Can we also stress that parents who have already responded DO NOT NEED TO REPLY AGAIN. No responses by email please. Thanks in anticipation for your help with this.
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. If you need more information please contact Sam Gutteridge.
Finally friends of WCA lectures will be very saddened to read of David Rattray's tragic murder in South Africa at the weekend. Parents went to hear David speak in London last summer and we were trying to arrange for David to talk at Wellington this year.
Sport
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.
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. Also on Tuesday, the cross country team travel to Radley and the squash teams take on St. Edward's.
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. Over 1000 spectators are expected to the game and so there should be a wonderful atmosphere. Please do come and support. We now have a curtain raiser before the 1st XV game on Wednesday and it is Shrewsbury House 1st XV v St. John's Beaumont 1st XV starting at 1.30 p.m. on Bigside 2.
Thursday 8th February sees a big football fixture against Marlborough, the rackets and shooting team take on Charterhouse, the squash teams play Radley, the basketball players and fencers compete with Bradfield and the polo team play Eton. Later in the day, the lacrosse team take on Charterhouse.
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 Thursday 22 February the Chapel Choir will sing Evensong in Salisbury Cathedral at 5.30 p.m. - all are welcome.
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 Friday 2 March at 8:00 p.m. in the Old Gym the Wellington Jazz Orchestra (under Michael L. Roberts, Head of Jazz Studies) will perform in their first concert this year, along with small jazz ensembles and also the Wellington Concert Band (under Jeff Oakes, Head of Woodwind). This concert is an annual event to raise funds for the Crowthorne Community Minibus and is always much appreciated by the local community. Tickets cost £7.50 and are available from Ros Dunmore in the Music School.(cheques made payable to Wellington College).
A group of parents have become involved in setting up a charity to help a school in Kaduna, Nigeria. They are holding an Irish Night on Saturday 3rd March (with an Irish band and caller) in aid of the Angels Choir which is a children's choir from Kaduna, Nigeria whom we hope to bring over to sing for us in a Gala Evening to be held here in October. We are also holding a Dinner Dance on Friday 1st June. For anyone interested in attending either event please contact either Sara Blosse or Clare Walters for further details.
On Sunday 4th March from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Sports Hall, Wellington hosts its annual Gap Fair (organised by ISCO). Over 50% of Wellington leavers take a Gap Year and this free event is an ideal way to see what sorts of things there are on offer and talk to representatives from Gap organisations. This event is open to all, but is aimed mainly at the Sixth Form pupils. Parents, we strongly encourage you to come along with your children as you return them from the weekend leave.
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.
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.