Saturday 7th March until Sunday 15th March

Wellington has increasingly strong links with China, whether through pupils whose home is China, student and staff visits there,  mandarin is an subject on the increase at Wellington.or through a variety of meetings and conferences. Walking into the foyer of Queen's Court this is all brought home by the life size terracotta warrior purchased by the History department on their recent trip to the country. That with a few images from that trip are worth looking at the next time you are in that area of the school.

On a different note, next term's calendar is now available and can be found here.

The Master's Voice

The scholarly mind.  Last Thursday I spoke to 270 parents and pupils from the 4th, 5th and L6th at an Oxbridge evening.  Parents have since asked to see the ten characteristics of the scholarly mind, and the ten book recommendations which I gave (I myself am quarrelling with my list already).  The list can be found here. We are becoming more scholarly and intellectual - and cultural - as a school year by year (it is a moot point how many of the ten characteristics of the scholarly mind are exemplified by Oxbridge dons and colleges - a topic for another day!).  Evidence on culture in the last four days was the stunning orchestra concert with the London Mozart Players on Friday and Jesus Christ Superstar which opened this week.  But we have a long way still to go to become the kind of reflective, scholarly and cultural school that I know we can be. Computers, about which I was talking on Friday's Today Programme, will only ever be a part of the solution: gifted teachers who point the way for pupils to learn will always be far more important.  We will get there..

General Events

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

On Monday 9th March we have two lectures at the College.  The first one at 6:30 p.m. in the Driver Lecture Room is on "21st Century Schools and Universities: Education for a post-materialistic age".  This lecture is the Master's  inaugural lecture for the College of Teachers.    He is deeply embarrassed about inviting anybody to his lecture.    I know he would be delighted and flattered if you were able to make it.  After the lecture there will be a reception in the Driver Committee Room from 7:30 p.m.  until 8:15 p.m. If you would like to come please contact Tarla Woolhouse.

Also 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 through 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 day, 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)

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.

Friday 13th March  at 8:00 p.m. in the Old Gym sees the annual 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 is £7.50 and tickets available from Music School: 01344 444201  All proceeds go 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 will be performed by Wellington Chorus and Crowthorne Choral Society.  Also Steph Tress will be playing Elgar's Cello Concerto.  Tickets are £10 (students £2) and are available from Reception or Music School.

The night of Saturday 14th March is closed for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Form as we have a variety of activities for them then. On Sunday 15th March there is a Mattins service for all those pupils, to which their parents are welcome. The preacher is Mr. Jonathan Paul, the Jewish Tutor at Eton College. Pupils are able to go home after that service.

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.

A letter has gone home to all parents of Fifth Form pupils with details about Work Experience. A copy can be found here.

Sport

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.

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. In a calendar addition another U18 sevens team travels to Portsmouth Grammar School for a tournament.

Tuesday 10th March sees the hockey players in action against Reed's School and Kingston Grammar School, whilst the rackets players welcome Tonbridge. The cross country team compete in the Ardingly Relays, the golfers are in the Gerald Miklem at Woking and the basketball players welcome Winchester. Thursday 12th March sees other hockey teams taking on Kingston Grammar School (and in a calendar change there are no Reed's fixtures but the 1st XI travel to Cranleigh for the semi-final of the boarding school cup), the lacrosse team travelling to  Marlborough, the rackets and squash teams to Harrow and the fencing team are at  Charterhouse .

On Saturday 14th March, the big fixtures are hockey with Cheltenham College, netball with Bradfield and football with both Epsom and St. Paul's. Also on this day the cross country team take part in the Pat Bagnall Trophy and the sailing team make a potentially chilly start to their season competing with Eton and Magdalen College School.

Sunday 15th March  is another busy sporting day with the National Schools' Polo Tournament at the Longdole Polo Club, a sevens tournament at London Irish for the U16 team, the netball teams playing Latymer School and WCAFC playing the Corinthian Casuals.

Netball, hockey and football fixtures and results can be found on the Wellington College Intranet.

Further Ahead

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.

Looking to the end of term, many parents use Prestige cars - a local taxi firm. They do say that with so many last-minute requests, it is difficult to meet them all. They would ask  parents to pre-book taxis for the last day of term.

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! Tickets can only be obtained from the box office on 020 7222 1061 or www.sjss.org.uk. In preparation for this 1st May concert, all College Orchestra members will need to back in College for 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday 15th April for a rehearsal at 6:00 p.m. in the Old Gym.

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.

From the Archives

	We have many images of the main buildings early in their time but fewer of the buildings less central to the school. These two are of the Benson and the Picton very early in their lives. The Picton as you can see is so new that the windows have yet to be fitted!
	The buildings externally haven't changed much in their 130 yearish history to judge from the two images taken over the last few weeks. An extension to the Benson gives the building a much better "shape." The Picton also has an extension. The landscaping has made a huge difference and taken away the "harshness" of the buildings when new.

Let us hope that the more modern architecture of Wellington will look as comfortable in its surroundings as these two buildings in a hundred years' time.