Friday 27th February until Sunday 7th March
Welcome back from the Exeat. I do hope that you managed to get some form of rest with your children.
The Art Exhibiton from before the Exeat is still up - do drop into the V & A to see the range and variety of work our oldest artists can produce. A couple of the pieces can be seen here.
The Master's Voice
As part of the long standing programme of events planned for the 150th, I travelled over half term to China, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - as part of a programme which has received substantial OW sponsorship. The social highlights included a party given by an OW for 90 Wellingtonians in Vaucluse, and another with similar numbers at Hong Kong Cricket Club. I held meetings with those I hope will be our partners in our school in Tianjin, near Beijing, and in Kuala Lumpur. At Geelong Grammar, where 130 staff have been trained in positive psychology, I held extensive discussions on the teaching of well-being - they are the most developed school in the world in its teaching. The two facts that struck me most deeply from the whole trip was the reality of climate change - seeing the parched Victoria at close hand was deeply sobering, and I think we need to be doing still more to educate our children about it. Second, we can and will be doing much more for our children from overseas: we will be offering more at weekends, and for foreign nationals, whether from Russia, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, etc, we will be offering much more to recognise and celebrate their own nationalities and cultures.
General Events
On Friday 27th February there will be an Orchestral Masterclass given by four members of the London Mozart Players. The players are: David Juritz (Leader), Sebastian Comberti (Principal 'Cello), Angela Malsbury (Principal Clarinet) and Peter Wright (sub-Principal Trumpet). Our students will be involved with sectionals and full orchestra rehearsals from 3.30 - 6pm and a performance will follow at 8pm in the Old Hall to which you are all warmly invited (admission is free). The programme will be Symphony in F Major by Boyce and the 'Cello Concert in C Major (1st movement) by Haydn - 'Cello soloist, Anton Crayton (Wn). The concert will be conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton. Please use this link to find out more about this internationally famous ensemble.
Saturday 28th February is a closed Saturday for the Lower Sxith as we have organised a Dinner for them all then.
The WCA Daffodils walk on Sunday 1st March is now fully booked. Look out for more walks next term!
There is a full school Eucharist on Sunday 1st March at which the preacher is Mr Robert Marsh from Combat Stress. Parents of boys in the Benson are invited.
Over this term we have been running a Wellington Apprentice competition and the finals were early this week. As part of this competition, the pupils have reaised over £2000 for Hope and Homes. To celebrate this, on Monday 2nd March, parents are invited to join some pupils in the V and A to listen to Nick Hewer speak about the Apprentice and life in business from 5:15 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Nick is Sir Alan Sugar's right hand man on the Apprentice and is an exceptional businessman and a supporter of Hope and Homes who will be happy to answer your questions. We are going to ask for donations of £3 for Hope and Homes for Children to help us to continue to fundraise for this superb charity.
The Jesus Christ Superstar show is sold out for the whole of its run from Tuesday through to Friday. If for any reason you can't attend and you have tickets, do please tell reception.
The next meeting of the business networking group The Business Forum will be on Thursday 5 March at 7:15 a.m. in the Wellesley Dining Room. The theme for the February event will be "Is the Zone of Distortion having an impact on your business?" and the talk will be given by Kieran Maloney, Partner at the Kaleidoscope Partnership Consultancy. The zone of distortion is the area in which intentions get distorted leading to a different output from those intentions. How often do our customers not receive the goods and services we intended, in the style intended? Where does the distortion lie, what are the potential causes of distortion and what can we do about them? Kieran will outline the concept, draw on some examples he has encountered and invite attendees to reflect on their own potential zones of distortion and discuss how this can impact us all. He will then lead a discussion based around this theme calling on attendees to put forward their own views or experiences. The Business Forum combines a relaxed informal gathering for business networking with a forum for discussing key business topics. It meets once a month on the first Thursday of each month at 7.15am, finishing by 9.15am. Each meeting gives attendees a chance to network, introduce themselves and participate in the forum. The cost is £18 and includes a full English breakfast. For more information and a booking form please go to the web site or contact Sue Heddon on sue@heddoncommunications.co.uk or 07774 267280.
The weekend of Saturday 7th March and Sunday 8th March is a weekend leave and pupils are able to go home after fixtures on the Saturday. We welcome the boarders back at 9:15 p.m. on the Sunday.
Sunday 8th March in the Sports Hall from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. sees our annual GAP fair. Aimed mainly at L6th and U6th pupils, we encourage parents to come along too as they bring sons and daughters back after the leave-out. Relatives and friends are very welcome to come along and there is no charge for entry. The event is organised by ISCO's Expanding Horizons team. This link has details of exhibitors.
The WCA Parent Reps evening on Sunday 8th March is at 7:30 p.m. in the V&A - open to all parent house reps and also to any parents who would like to find out more about becoming WCA house reps. If you have not already signed up/confirmed your attendance and would like to come, please contact Denise Cook .
Parents are most welcome to have a school lunch in the Main College Dining Room on Saturdays. Lunches will be available to parents between 12: 30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. and the cost is £2.50 per head (cash please) for a two-course lunch. Even if you will not be staying for a match do come along, make yourself known to the Duty Catering Manager who will guide you through the system. It is not the formal occasion that it used to be!
On Saturdays in the V & A the counter is open for coffee, tea, milkshakes and goodies between 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon. Between 12:00 and 10:00 p.m. the catering department will provide flasks of coffee and tea in the V & A for people to assist themselves. If you have any queries concerning these arrangements do either e-mail the Bursar ( 01344 444020) or the Catering Manager, Phillip Stockwell.
On Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. by appointment there is the opportunity for consultations with the Educational Support Department regarding your child's specific educational needs. Please email Carole Blunden-Lee to make an appointment .
Letters Home
To try and 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 plan to use this section of 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 - details are further up in this Week Ahead. 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.
On Saturday 14th March, there is a Sports Dinner for the girls and their parents. Tickets for the sports dinner are selling and your presence is warmly invited. If you would like to attend, here is a copy of the invite with more details.
A letter has gone home to all parents of Fifth Form pupils with details about Work Experience. A copy can be found here .
Sport
A sporting picture from the U15 Daily Mail action before the Exeat - a match we unfortunately lost. Thanks again to Mr Davidson for the image.
The main fixtures on Saturday 28th February are a netball one with Downe House and a football one with Sevenoaks. There is a limited hockey fixture with Marlborough , another few football games with Cranleigh, the cross-country team run in the Charterhouse Cup, the golfers compete with local counties, the basketball players welcome Eton and the badminton team take on our own Sports' Hall badminton team.
Sunday 1st March sees the start of the sevens season with our senior teams in the Mount St Mary's College and Windsor tournaments and the U16 side are in the RGS Guildford tournament. The U16 golfers compete with Charterhouse and Cranleigh whilst the seniors take on the might of the OWGS Halford Hewitt squad.
Tuesday 3rd March sees two of our netball sides travel to St. Gabriel's, the rackets team are further afield at Cheltenham. The golfers travel to Woburn to play Bedford and the squash team welcome Charters. Thursday 5th March seems even busier with netball teams coming from Cranleigh, our U14 netball team play in the SE Berkshire netball tournament, the lacrosse team travel to Charterhouse , the golfers and the basketball players are away to Harrow and the fencing team welcome RGS High Wycombe.
Saturday 7th March sees a big hockey fixture with Bradfield, netball matches with Epsom and football with KCS Wimbledon. In addition the cross country team compete in the Bruinval's trophy.
To complete a busy sporting week, on Sunday 8th March our polo teams are entered in the national novices competition, the rugby U18 sevens team play at Bryanston and the U16 and U14 compete at QE Barnet whilst the squash team are entered in the Roehampton Invitation..
Netball, hockey and football fixtures and results can be found on the Wellington College Intranet.
Further Ahead
On Monday 9th March at 7:30 p.m.for 8:00 p.m. in Great School there is an excellent opportunity to listen to Lady Jane Wellesley give a talk on Wellington entitled "A Journey through my Family - The legacy of an Iron Duke is a lot to live up to." All the Wellesleys in the 200 years since Waterloo have had to deal with his illustrious legacy, which Jane Wellesley puts to excellent use by writing a family saga of an original and enthralling kind in her book: Wellington - A journey thorugh my family. Her practised eye as a television film-maker gives the narrative a lively focus, darting from generation to generation and from past to present, unearthing links and excellent anecdotes. The first Duke's mother expected little of her unpromising son Arthur: 'Anyone can see he has not the cut of a soldier.' His father had died in debt at 46. But at the same age, Arthur was at Waterloo on his favourite charger, Copenhagen: on the eve of battle he was snoozing, relaxed; at supper the next da-y, having lost most of his friends, he sat in melancholy solitude. Please contactTarla Woolhouse if you would like to attend the lecture. We hope to have Lady Jane's books for sale, you may reserve a copy by emailing Tarla Woolhouse. (£20.00 cash or cheque only)
As part of The College's 150th celebrations we are trying to raise £150,000 for Hope and Homes - a charity that helps children whose lives have been ruined by war. We hope that one component of this will be an Auction of Promises. This summer, inspired by an idea from the pupils, a group of pupils and staff are swimming the Channel in aid of Hope and Homes for Children. To help raise money for such a worthy charity, Eunice Gillan and Kitty Jack are organising the Wellington College 150th Anniversary Auction of Promises on Thursday 19th March at 7:30 p.m. in the Old Hall. Your help would be greatly appreciated by all! If you have a promise or an item that could be auctioned that evening please contact Eunice Gillan or Kitty Jack. Many thanks for your help in advance! Tickets are now available for this event and can be purchased at a cost of £20. This includes a buffet meal and wine before the Auction commences. Places are limited so please hurry! Please download the reply slip from here and return to Eunice Gillan together with cash or cheque payment.
On Wednesday 11th March, the renowned clarinettist, Emma Johnson, who won the BBC Young Musician competition in 1984, will work with clarinet pupils in a masterclass at 4:00 p.m. in the Concert Room. On Friday 13th March at 8:00 p.m. Old Gym there is the Spring Concert in aid of Crowthorne Community Minibus featuring Wellington Jazz Orchestra directed by Ben Greenslade-Stanton and the Wellington Concert Band directed by Jeff Oakes. Admission: £7.50 Tickets available from Music School: 01344 444201 All proceeds to Crowthorne Community Minibus. On Sunday 15th March at 7:30 p.m. in the Newsome Sports Hall there is a Choral and Concerto concert conducted by Simon Williamson. Purcell's Ode to St Cecilia, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb performed by Wellington Chorus and Crowthorne Choral Society. Also Steph Tress playing Elgar's Cello Concerto. Tickets: £10 (students £2) available from Reception or Music School.
As another part of our 150th raising £150,000 for the charity Hope and Homes and indeed its centrepiece fund-raising event, we are asking ALL pupils to take part in a sponsored 12 mile (20km) walk, to take place on Sunday 19th April, the first weekend of the Summer Term. This will follow a circular route, departing from and returning to Wellington, passing through the many acres of forest and heathland to the east of us. Remarkably, only one road needs to be crossed in the entire route! Sponsorship will be organised largely via the JustGiving website, with appropriate pages being designed between now and the end of term; some paper forms will be available as a fall back, but it is intended that the majority will be web-based. Further details will follow in the End of Term mailing, but parents are heartily encouraged to join the pupils, Common Room and Support Staff in this community event. When the walkers have returned to College, there will by plenty of entertainment to follow.
Incidentally, for the Lower Sixth pupils this will be very good preparation for the rather longer Ridgeway Overnight Challenge that they will all be doing in the second half of the Summer Term. Last year's inaugural event went very well, but one of the consistent bits of feedback was that there had been little chance to do any kind of training. Here's the chance! Many also felt we had missed a trick in not using it to raise some money for charity, and we have a natural focus for that this year in Hope and Homes. More details of the Ridgeway Overnight Challenge will come from the Head of L6th, Murray Fowler, in due course.
There are still a limited number of places available on the Paris/Giverny trip over the weekend 24th - 26th April, please contact Denise Cook for details.
The Wellington College Orchestra, Chapel Choir, Camerata and Jazz band will be performing at St John's Smith Square, London on Friday 1st May at 7:30 p.m.. The programme will include the Haydn 'cello concerto in C Major performed by Anton Crayton (Wn). Please put this in your diaries now! Details for purchasing tickets will need to be done via the St John's Box Office and details for this will follow in due course.
Thank you to all those who have returned deposits for the WCA Trenches and Waterloo trips. The Trenches trip is full and we have opened a waiting list. The Waterloo trip has very few places left. If you have not yet returned your deposit, please be aware that while we will hold your places until the end of this term, they will become firmly booked only once your deposits are received.