The Week Ahead
Saturday 23rd January until Sunday 31st January
The Master's Voice
Pressure on university places. Places at top universities will be harder to get in 2010 and 2011 for a variety of reasons. Cutbacks on university spending means fewer places. ‘Access schemes’ are meaning ever greater numbers applying from state schools. Competition from the EU and beyond is also increasing year on year. What all this means for Wellington pupils, not only in the U6th, but in every year group, is that our young people need to work more purposefully and with greater determination than ever. It does not mean in many cases that they have to work harder, nor does it mean they need to stress themselves. It does mean that they need to work in some cases differently and in all cases wisely. This will be the theme of my address to the whole school in assembly this Saturday. It is quite extraordinary what they can achieve if the whole community puts their mind to it.
General Events
The evening of Saturday 23rd January is closed for the Fourth Form as they have a Dinner Dance that night.
Sunday 24th January sees a Full School Eucharist at which the preacher is Cllr. Bob Wade, Mayor of Bracknell Forest. Parents of pupils in the Beresford are warmly invited to attend.
On Monday 25th January at 6:15 pm there is the usual Informal concert - this time focussed on MYP 3rd form music students. It is in the Old Gym.
Tuesday 26th January between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm sees a violin masterclass with Remus Azoitei in the Lewis Room. It is open to everyone, but there is limited space, so please make contact with the Music Department.
The Fifth Form Parents' Conference will be held on Friday 29th January in the Newsome Sports Hall. The event coincides with Weekend Leave. This is a chance for you to talk to those who teach your sons or daughters for their GCSE subjects, to get an update on their progress. It is also an opportunity, of course, to continue discussion about their IB/A level choices. The timings are as follows: 4:30 - 5:15 pm Parents' Interviews; 5:15 - 5:30 pm Address from the Master and Head of Year; 5:30 - 7:00 pm Parents' Interviews. In the days leading up to the Conference, pupils will organise a series of appointment times with their teachers to last no more than 4 minutes. Tea and coffee will be served for the duration and Cressida Henderson looks forward to catching up with many of you there. Any questions to Mrs Sally Yarnton, Senior Academic Administrator please.
A small number of LVIth parents were unable to make the November conference, and opted instead to meet teachers at this one. The Head of LVIth, Murray Fowler, would like to ask all those LVIth parents who intend to do this to contact him so that he can ensure that the relevant teachers are present.
The Weekend Leave starts for pupils after their last commitment on Friday 29th January - either at 4:15 pm or after the Conference depending upon which year group is involved. We look forward to welcoming back your sons and daughters by 9:15 pm on Sunday 31st January.
On the Weekend Leave, we are aware that for some parents it might be easier for their son or daughter to travel by public transport to avoid Friday traffic and it is of course also a more environmentally friendly option. We will therefore be offering a minibus service to Wokingham station. From there, pupils can get trains to Reading (which is a major hub for the rest of the country and also has a regular Rail air bus link to Heathrow) which run about every 15 minutes or to London Waterloo. The most obvious train times for us to focus on will be those leaving Wokingham between 5:15 and 5:45 pm. There is also the Crowthorne train service to Wokingham (taking just 5 minutes) which runs at 4:43 pm and 5:38 pm which some pupils could use. From Crowthorne it is also possible to go to Guildford / Gatwick airport and beyond. Those pupils wishing to take advantage of a minibus trip need to inform their HMs by the evening of Tuesday 26th January at the latest, indicating what time train they would hope to catch from Wokingham and their destination. We can then work out the logistics.
On Sunday 17th January the school heard a Chapel presentation from Mrs. Fay Cox, Operations Director of Wind, Sand and Stars, concerning a trip to Cairo and the Sinai Desert to be hosted by the Senior Chaplain, Fr Tim Novis. This trip will occur during the October half-term break. If you and/or your son/daughter are interested, kindly return the information requested, found on this letter of invitation.
As unfortunately some parents seem not have received the consent form for heart screening that was in the End of Term booklet, I now attach another copy. If you would like your child to be screened, please return the request form, along with a cheque for £68 made payable to Wellington College as soon as possible. We will be starting the screenings on Monday 1st February.
The tour of India for 3rd and 4th form is now full. Please email Katy Granville-Chapman if you would like your son or daughter to be put onto the waiting list.
Sport
On Saturday 23rd January, the block hockey fixture is with Eton, the block netball fixture is with Lord Wandsworth (as well as two matches with Cranleigh) and the football teams take on Tonbridge. On a busy day, the basketball teams compete with Pangbourne, the cross-country team are in the Berkshire School Championships and the badminton players travel to Harrow.
Tuesday 25th January sees our senior netball teams in action againstCharterhouse, lacrosse against Heathfield St. Mary's and rackets at Winchester.
With Saturday being a Weekend Leave, Thursday 28th January is a busy sporting day with a hockey block fixture against Cranleigh, rackets against Radley, cross country at Harrow, basketball at Winchester, squash at Eton, fencing at Marlborough and polo taking on Harrow and Radley.
Details of the matches can be found on the intranet.
Further Ahead
Looking ahead to the following week: on Wednesday 3rd February, you are all warmly invited to 'Animated Gallery', a celebration of the Arts at Wellington. The evening will include music, art, film, poetry and stories, drama and dance, most of it the pupils' own created work. Start time is 8:00 pm in Old Hall (note the change of venue); admission is free.
The next meeting of the business networking group The Business Forum will be on Thursday 4th February at 7:15 am in the Wellesley Dining Room. The theme for the February event will be "Do your presentations achieve maximum impact? Learn the secrets and improve your effectiveness” and the talk will be given by Peter Francis, Director of On Your Feet. Many business presentations are poorly thought out and consequently under-deliver on expectations. The talk and subsequent discussion will outline the elements required to construct and deliver successful presentations. 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. The cost is £18 and includes a full English breakfast. For more information and a booking form please go to the website on www.thebusinessforum.biz or contact Sue Viney on sue@vineycommunications.co.uk or 07774 267280.
The House Singing Competition on Saturday 6th February ( a closed Saturday for the whole school) has a limited number of tickets available to parents. Applications for those tickets should be made through the Music Department.
Don’t miss the WCA’s Wine Tasting and Diamonds evening at 7:30 pm on Sunday 7th February in the Monro Pavilion. Re-acquaint yourself with some old favourites while discovering new ones under the expert guidance of Laithwaite’s wine team – stock your cellar or just enjoy an evening of good wine tasting. Also a chance to browse look over a selection of fine diamond jewellery: any sales made on the night will be at 50% discount on the retail price – just in time for Valentine’s Day! Limited entry, £20 per head. Please book through Denise Cook .
The Brass masterclass with James Watson on Monday 8th February has been postponed to next term, but the informal concert will still go ahead as planned for the same evening.
The Marrakech trip is now SOLD OUT – see the WCA List for details of future trips.
The History Boys production dates have changed since the Calendar went to press last term. The new dates of Wednesday 24th, Thursday 25th and Friday 26th February, as published in this term's Arts Diary, are the correct ones. Our apologies for any confusion.
It is now possible to book a ticket to hear Professor Howard Gardner on Thursday 11th March. Details of how to book are here. More details about the lecture will follow.
Wellington is organising a joint staff and pupil leadership conference on Tuesday 16th March. If any parents are willing to present on the importance of service leadership in business for this conference, please would they get in touch with Katy Granville-Chapman ?
The Choral Society and Choral Concert will be on Sunday 21st March. Parents and friends are warmly invited to join the 'Wellington Chorus' to sing Karl Jenkins' Requiem. Copies of music are provided, and there are no auditions! Rehearsals begin on 18th January from 8:00 pm until 10:00 pm. Please contact the Music Department if you would like to be involved.
Arty and Geeky bit
The intranet is a very extensive resource. some of it is still very much work in progress and not all of the site is not as pretty or as current as it should be. Some of it however is starting to form the backbone of a very useful educational resource - and indeed looking at our hit statistics, people are looking at sections of it from all around the world. For instance the home page of the maths intranet page was visited from a variety of countries last year - as the map to the left shows. Some were a surprise - we weren't expecting someone from Iran to be looking on our maths site!
As an exemplar of how effective the intranet can be at sharing information, I recommend you to look at the History of Art section. All pupils are attending a lecture a term on History of Art as part of their general education and the material for those lectures can be found here. Do teach yourselves!
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.
If you do not wish to receive further copies of this weekly newsletter, please accept our apologies for sending it to you unsolicited and press here to unsubscribe. If you want it sent to another e-mail address or you know someone wants a copy of it but is not receiving it at present then please click here. If you have any comments about the newsletter please click here.