The Week Ahead
Saturday 6th February until Sunday 28th February
A bumper version covering next week and the week after the Exeat!
A congratulations to the Lynedoch as all thirteen of the Wellington entrants finished last Sunday’s Tough Guy race - a team including including a father, an uncle and the HM (near the front of the field and totally unscathed) It was a fantastic effort and they well surpassed their aim in raising over £4000 for their charity.
The Master's Voice
My vision of a good school is one where parents learn as well as just children. One of the key ways of making this a reality, alongside the trips for parents, are the visiting speakers. Sir Roderick Lyne of the Chilcot Inquiry panel is just one of those coming next term. Antony Beevor and Peter Hitchens have already come and gone this term, but famous Judge Sir Alan Moses, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, NHS reformer Lord Darzi, political and racing pundit Robin Oakley, Harvard luminary Howard Gardner and former Tory leader Michael Howard are all to come later this term. You are always welcome to bring family and friends to these talks, as you are to the debate on the Sunday evening we return from half term, in the same series as the Richard Dawkins debate here last term. Please see below for details. It should be an extraordinarily interesting and timely debate..
General Events
The House Singing Competition is at 7:30 pm on Saturday 6th February (a closed Saturday night for the whole school as there is a chapel service for all bar day pupils on Sunday morning) in the Newsome Hall and there are a limited number of tickets available to parents. Applications for those tickets should be made through the Music Department
10:00 am on Sunday 7th February sees a Full School Mattins at which the preacher is Miss Naomi Pendle, who left the teaching staff here last term. Parents of pupils in the Hardinge are warmly invited to attend.. Also on Sunday 7th February sixteen Music Scholars will be going to South Hill Park - the local Art's Centre - to perform a short recital at 3:00 pm . Tickets are available through South Hill Park 01344 484123 or southhillpark.org.uk The WCA’s Wine Tasting and Diamonds evening scheduled for Sunday 7th February has been postponed until next term. 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. On Wednesday 10th February we welcome Lord Justice (Sir Alan Moses) to give a Master's Lecture entitled "Wiggery Pokery" in the Driver Lecture Room at 8:00 pm. He is the current Lord Justice of Appeal. Sir Alan Moses was QC for the prosecution in the notorious Matrix Churchill trial in 1992; In 2003 he was trial judge at the Old Bailey in the Soham case of Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr in connection with the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Among the trials he has presided over as a judge at the prosecution of the MI5 officer David Shayler for passing classified information and documents to the press in breach of the Official Secrets Act. Sir Alan Moses has an artistic side and loves opera and choral singing. His favorite transport is a Harley Davidson motorcycle! Also on Wednesday 10th February, from 5:00 pm until 6:00 pm, the Modern Foreign Languages Department has invited a (different to RDFZ!) Chinese professional troupe, with acrobats, singers, martial arts masters and musicians, for a great show in the Theatre. It is free of charge and the objective is to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The Third Form Parents’ Conference is to be held on Friday 12th February in the Newsome (Sports) Hall. The event coincides with the start of Half Term. This is a chance for you to talk to those who teach your sons or daughters for their subjects, and to get an update on their progress. The Conference will also help with the MYP and GCSE decision-making process. Conference timings are as follows: 4:30 pm– 5:15p m Parents’ Interviews; 5:15 pm – 5.30 pm Address from the Master and Head of Year; 5:30 pm – 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 available and for catering purposes please reply via email to Mrs Sally Yarnton, by Monday 8th February. The Exeat starts after the pupils last commitment on Friday 12th February.For the majority other than the 3rd Form this will be at 4:20 pm. We look forward to welcoming back the boarders by 9:15 pm on Sunday 21st February and the day pupils back for school on Monday 22nd February. On the Exeat, 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 9th February at the latest, indicating what time train they would hope to catch from Wokingham and their destination. We can then work out the logistics. Speakers for the motion are David Davis and Philip Stott. David Davis is a highly-respected Conservative MP and former Shadow Home Secretary who famously resigned as MP in order to force a by-election focused on the perceived erosion of civil liberties in this country. He is an outstanding parliamentarian, and a highly-skilled debater. Philip Stott is Emeritus Professor of Biogeography in the University of London. Stott has researched on the construction of ‘environmental knowledge’ for over thirty years, most recently in relation to energy policy, climate change, and ‘global warming’, about which he remains sceptic. Speakers against the motion are David Aaronovitch and Mark Lynas. David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on international politics and the media. He writes for The Times Comment page on Tuesdays. He has appeared on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You and made radio broadcasts on historical topics. He is a brilliant, incisive debater Mark Lynas is an Environmentalist campaigner and author of "Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet" (which won the Royal Society Science Books Prize in 2008). He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of climate change. In the Chair is the Master. For further details please contact Dr David James: daj@wellingtoncollege.org.uk Sunday 21st February at 6:00 pm in the Old Gym sees an Orchestra rehearsal. All orchestra members are expected to attend. The Wellington Squared Debate kicks off Sustainability Week at Wellington College on Sunday 21st February. The focus of the week however will be a concerted effort to highlight areas easily accessible for individuals to adjust their lifestyles and assist in halting climate change and thinking about how to create a sustainable post-oil future.. Events will include a talk from the Campaigns Director of Cornwall based pressure group Surfers Against Sewage. The highly controversial Greenpeace will also be attending to provide an insight into some of the campaigns they have involved themselves with recently. The week will also encompass an Eco-Art installation, and culminate in a display of the schools weekly food wastage in front quad. We hope both parents and students alike might be able to support all the events of the week. On Monday 22nd February there will be a Well-being session for parents, which looks at the issue of drug abuse. Elizabeth Burton-Phillips will tell the story of how her twin sons became addicted to heroin and the effects it had on her family life. Whilst drug misuse is on the decline amongst teenagers and drug addiction is still relatively rare, it is important to remind ourselves of the dangers of drug abuse and how easy it can be for some young people to fall into the trap of addiction. You can find out information ahead of time by going to: www.twentyquid.com. The talk begins at 8:00 pm, in the Theatre and will last for approximately one hour. If you would like to reserve a place, please contact Tarla Woolhouse. Thursday 25th February is the Prep Schools' Choral Day with Ben Parry. The Bursar reminds parents that the College requires one term's notice of a pupil leaving other than at the end of their Upper Sixth Year. Notice for any pupil leaving at the end of the Summer Term 2010 should be sent in writing to the Bursar on or by the first day of the Summer Term, Sunday 18th April 2010. This is to ensure that you do not become liable for paying the following term's fees in lieu of notice. If you are unsure whether or not your daughter or son may be leaving, you may consider forwarding provisional notice that he/she may be leaving and will confirm the position later in the term. Obviously, it will help us to have such decisions as early as possible so that we can ensure that places are filled. The Head of Educational Support is available for consultations on Saturdays from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm. Please contact Carole Blunden-Lee if you would like to see her then. Sport. On Tuesday 9th February the Junior Colts play Warden Park School in the Quarter Final of the Rugby Daily Mail Cup. The match will be played at Haywards Heath Rugby Club with a 2:30 pm kick off. Thursday 11th February sees a series of hockey and lacrosse fixtures with Marlborough, football fixtures with Harrow, rackets and squash fixtures at Charterhouse, cross-country at Radley and golf matches for both juniors and seniors. On Tuesday 23rd February, the hockey 1st XI play Abingdon, whilst the squash team take on Radley and Marlborough. Thursday 25th February also has fixtures with lacrosse teams welcoming Bradfield, the rackets pairs travelling to Eton, the shooting team to Marlborough, the golf team to Charterhouse and the polo teams to Fifield Polo Club to play Eton. On the same day the basketball team welcome Charterhouse and the fencing team welcome RGS High Wycombe. Saturday 27th February sees the netball block fixture with Hurstpierpoint (and additional fixture against St. Mary's Ascot) and football matches with Sevenoaks. The cross-country team compete at Cranleigh, the shooting team at Abingdon whilst the golf and badminton teams compete at home and the basketball players welcome Eton. The rugby 7s players start their season with the Mount St. Mary's tournament on Sunday 28th February. Details of the matches can be found on the intranet.
Further Ahead Musical events coming up include: On Thursday 11th March at 8:00 pm we welcome Professor Howard Gardner who is giving a lecture entitled "Five Minds – How to Function Successfully in the 21st Century", Eminent psychologist Howard Gardner's theory on multiple intelligences has set the agenda in the psychology and educational theory communities for twenty five years. Now Gardner discusses the five cognitive abilities (the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind and the ethical mind) which equip a person to deal with what is expected in the future, as well as what cannot be anticipated.5 Minds for the Future inspires lifelong learning and provides valuable insights for developing leaders - today and tomorrow, skills that will be sought and cultivated by leaders in the years ahead. The venue is the Theatre and tickets cost £20 per person (£10 for students) For bookings you download the booking form at www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/eventsandlectures or r 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 annual girls' sports dinner is due to take place this year on Saturday 20th March. All parents are warmly invited to join the celebrations in congratulating all girls who have represented Wellington College in the sporting arena this year at the black tie dinner. Please download and return the attached form if you would like to join us for this fun evening. 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 until10:00pm. Please contact the Music Department if you would like to be involved. Parents might be interested to hear that tWellingotn is hosting a summer PHAB course. This modelled on the very successful courses running at Westminster and Merchant Taylors. It will run from Tuesday to Sunday and involves both disabled guests and volunteer student hosts from Wellington's Lower Sixth year group. The students will be the guests' carers for the week as well as work with them on a variety of tasks and challenges. The emphasis of the week is fun for all within a structured programme of workshops and activities. There is a huge shortage of such courses in the UK. The opportunity will present the guests and student hosts with an unforgettable experience while also giving the families a break from the 24/7 job of caring for a disabled relative. 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.Wellington College is delighted to welcome the RDFZ Students’ Art Group on Monday 8th February but now I am afraid all tickets have been sold. The High School Affiliated to Renmin University (RDFZ) Performance Art Troupe (37 students) will be performing martial arts, dance and singing in a 90 minute programme that will simply astound you! The RDFZ school with which we have many links is THE top school in Bejing, if not the whole of China.The standard of these young people is simply breath taking and this is a rare opportunity to appreciate diversity of culture and art. If you were disappopinted not to have got a ticket for this event do please consider watching the other chinese troupe coming to Wellington on Wednesday - further details below.
You can now book tickets online for the next Wellington Squared debate to be held on Sunday 21st February in Chapel. The motion is: "The prophets of global warming are guilty of scaremongering.” Placesare very limited, so please book early. Please click here to book: http://events.intelligencesquared.com/current-events.php?event=EVT0217 A limited number of tickets will be sold for £10 to Wellington College students; please email Tarla Woolhouse for this special offer.
Wednesday 24th February sees a Master's Lecture delivered by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (OW) entitled "My Life and Work" in the Driver Lecture Room at 8:00 pm. He graduated with Honours from the Architectural Association in 1965 and immediately started his own practice. His buildings of the 60s and 70s gained recognition for their innovative approach to construction and detailing. Grimshaw was formed in 1980 and over time has cemented a reputation for rational building that draws on rigorous engineering combined with the fundamental principles of architecture and a profound understanding of the materials. He has lectured in 21 countries worldwide. He is a registered architect in England, France, Germany, Spain and New York. Sir Nicholas Grimshaw was elected a Royal Academician in 1994 and President of the Royal Academy in 2004. He is also an Honorary fellow of the AIA. He was knighted in 2002 and continues to actively lead his practice as Chairman of the Board.
Saturday 6th February has three block fixtures: netball with Cranleigh (including a calendar addition of a fixture for the U14E netball team away at Cranleigh); hockey with Tonbridge; football with St. John's Leatherhead. Also the cross country team compete in the Wellington relays, the basketball teams travel to Bradfield and the badminton team to Abingdon.
College Couch have feverishly been recording artists for a Charity Album which will be released at a launch event on Friday 5th March (not the Friday 26th February as calendared) Imogen Halsey, Dicky Addicott and Gina Kuschke are among those who have created original material for the release. The event promises to be extremely exciting including the promise of quadraphonic sound. All profits from both the sale of the cd and the event will go towards Miss. Pendle’s efforts in South Sudan. Tickets are now available.
Friday 5th March: 7.30pm, Old Gym, Orchestra concert
Friday 5th - Sunday 7th March: Wellington College music students participating in the Woodley Festival
Friday 19th March: 8pm, Old Gym, Jazz concert in aid of Crowthorne Community Minibus
Sunday 21st March: 7.30pm, Newsome Sports Hall, Choral Society and Concerto concert.
Monday 22nd March: 6pm, Concert Room, Montgomery Competition heats
Wednesday 24th March: 7.30pm, Theatre, Othello, and Far East Tour open rehearsal"If you can go there with your mind you can go there with your body ". Uri Geller will be part of a double bill of an inspirational management conference at Eagle House School on Tuesday 9th March and you are cordially invited to attend. Although the morning session is about education methods, Russell Prue, the IT evangelist, is renowned for his presentations in the commercial world. Details of the conference can be found at http://www.dcbeagle.com/smtconf.htm or contact Douglas Buchanan at douglas@dcbeagle.com.
eserve tickets by contacting Reception on 01344 444000 – quoting Ref: X43333. You are also able to purchase a copy of 5 Minds for the Future for £15 + £2.50 (p&p).
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