The week ahead
Sunday 26th November until Sunday 3rd December
General Events
Sunday 26th November is the Feast of Christ the King and sees a Eucharist service in the Chapel at 7:30 p.m. with the preacher being the Chapel Warden, Mark Lovett. Parents of the Orange are warmly iinvited to attend. The Orange are going to join the Blucher in supporting the Nabukenya Primary School in Uganda as we want the school to be up and running as soon as possible. The Orange will initially raise money for Phase 3 of the building programe which means site clearance and the construction of a further classroom block. The site clearance will cost about £500 and the construction work about £5,500 hence we need £6,000 to get Phase 3 completed. The pupils want to support this project because they recognise how fortunate they are to have such a privileged education and they realise that in countries like Uganda, even just a basic education can make such a difference to a child's propsects and future. The school is in the Diocese of Mityana to the West of Kampala where 51% of the population has no access to medical care, life expectancy is 42 years, 55,000 children are Aids orphans and 74% of the population are subsistence farmers.
On Tuesday 28th November there is a conference at Wellington College on the Political and Educational Environment for State and Independent Schools. Lord Adonis joins David Willetts and Gordon Brown's biographers, at this conference. The College is hosting this major conference for all seriously involved in education as what will happen over the next five years. Parents interested in attending are most welcome at a heavily subsidised rate of £60 per delegate. Please register your interest by sending an email to Tarla Woolhouse. If you follow the link to conferences from the website, you will be able to download the programme and application form.
On Friday 1 December at 8 p.m. in the Old Gym the 2006/7 Wellington Symphony Orchestra players will give their first concert of the season and there will also be a chance to hear the newly formed Concert Band. There will be items from other musical ensembles - all in all, a wide-ranging programme of music with something to suit everyone. Come and enjoy a mince pie and a glass of wine while you appreciate all the hard work put in by the College musicians this term. If you wish toreserve a ticket, please e-mail the Music School.
On Sunday 3rd December (NB the correct date) at 3:00 p.m. at South Hill Park there is an event entitled "Wellington Music Scholars in Candlelight Recital" Tickets can be obtained by phoning 01344 484123.
Also Sunday 3rd December sees the Advent Procession with carols in the Chapel at 7:30 p.m.. The third and fourth form are expected to attend this and we welcome all parents to the service.
During the first few weeks of this term, the Chapel Choir directed by Simon Williamson worked very hard to produce a CD of Christmas Carols which was recorded in Chapel (with Oliver King, College Organist).
The CD has arrived and now is the time to order your copy (or copies) in good time for Christmas. It contains a fantastic selection of carols, old and new, traditional and modern, with some organ solos and some soloists from the choir. We think the CD will make an ideal Christmas present for family and friends, for OWs, and simply for inspiration in the car or at home whilst carrying out all your Christmas preparations in the coming weeks. The cost is £10 (with a reduction for choir members). Please send orders enclosing a cheque (payable to Wellington College) to: College Reception, Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berks RG45 7PU. Alternatively cash or Credit card payments can be made in person in Reception.
The Orange are selling hand made Christmas cards in aid of their charity - Nabukenya Primary school, Mityana - Uganda. They will be on sale in the Orange in Mrs Raabe-Marjot's office at "visiting times" - break, lunch, p.m. and between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Please consider supporting this worthy charity by buying a card or two.
For those who missed it last week, the Master wants to inform parents that Wellington is joining the ranks of leading independent schools which are holding discussions on a possible partnership with one of the new government funded Academy Schools. The particular proposal is for Wellington to partner a school in Wiltshire, which would have not only boarding but also a CCF. The main reasons why we are considering doing this are:
- It ties in very closely with our heritage, a school founded as the public memorial to the Duke of Wellington and partly funded by service and public subscriptions.
- It allows us to help and support a community and enable us to do something for the public good. This is not only a good thing in itself but also helps Wellington College to justify our charitable status should this ever be called into question in the future.
- It will demonstrate to our pupils the importance we attach to service to the community and will thus contribute to the quality of the education we offer.
- The College also believes that it is important for the school to have a wider role in the national education system, and to be seen to be having that role.
Wellington is keen to stress that any involvement it has will not distract the school in any way from our main purpose of giving your children the best education in the country but must offer real opportunities for enhancing the lives of our pupils and indeed teaching staff. Mr Paul Hucklesby has been appointed by the Wellington Governors to be the lead figure for the College on any discussions. They themselves are taking a close interest and some of them will be actively involved in discussions. It is important to stress that the discussions are only exploratory and that there is no definite commitment from the Wellington Governors to this, or indeed any other Academy project.
There was a very supportive article in the Financial Times and one is planned in the Sunday Telegraph.
My apologies to our AOL addresees and many thanks to those of you who replied to my e-mail about whether you were receiving the week ahead or not. I did reply to everyone but several messages got blocked by AOL. We are continuing to try to reolve this with AOL - all we can suggest at the moment is to ensure that my e-mail address is in your address list or book.
Sport
Our rugby teams continue in the Daily Mail competitions with the under 15 side playing Aylesbury on Thursday 30th November at 2.30pm at home and the under 18 side playing Claires Court away on Wednesdy 29th November at 2:30 p.m.
On Tuesday 28th November, the rackets team play Tonbridge, the squash team play the Oratory and the shooting team takeon Chobham Rifle Club.
Saturday 2nd December sees the Rugby teams playing Cranleigh and Marlborough whilst the hockey teams playing Bloxham and Dauntsey's.
The Master would like to thanks parents for supporting their children on the touchline this term by inviting them to Lodge for drinks - mulled wine and mince pies - at 1:30 p.m. On Saturday 2nd December parents of those with with sons in the senior and junior colts rugby teams and those with daughters in the junior hockey teams are invited and on Saturday 9th December parents of those with with sons in the colts rugby teams are invited. Unfortunately the yearlings boys and the senior girls have no more home fixtures this term but something will be arranged for next term. We do hope that you will able to come to one of these events.
This link will take you to the Wellington intranet where details of rugby sports' fixtures (team lists, pitch details, etc) can be found. For girls' hockey click here. To keep overall track on how the teams are doing click here for rugby and here for girls' hockey.
Further Ahead
Just a reminder that any parent wishing to attend the Bigside Pavilion fundraising dinner on Monday 4th December as described in Mr R Looker's letter of invitation should let the Campaign Office know in the next day or two on 01344 444023 . Do come . It promises to be a very good evening with Rob Andrew in the chair.
Please be aware that internal exams in the 3rd and 4th forms start very soon. The 4th Form exams start on Friday 8th December and the 3rd Form exams start on Monday 11th December. Both sets of exams finish at lunchtime on Thursday 14th December. Exam reports will be sent to parents after the end of term. 5th Form mock exams begin as soon as pupils return from the Christmas and New Year break and public AS & A2 modules for the LVI & UVI year groups start on Wednesday January 10th and continue until Thursday 1st February. All pupils have been given revision planners and a schedule of the public exams will be sent to all relevant parents by the Head of Sixth Form, Mr Mike Fielder.
This year the Drama Department and the AS Theatre Studies students will be celebrating Christmas early with our performance of the Pantomime Cinderella. The production features our very talented A-Level students, with some surprise gust appearances by members of staff. We will be running for three performances only, a schools matinee on Wednesday 6th December at 1pm, which has only a few tickets remaining. There will also be two evening performances on Thursday 7th December and Friday 8th December, both starting at 7:45 p.m.. Tickets are free of charge, and can be obtained by emailing our Theatre Technician Rob White. Please state the names of each individual requiring a ticket and which performance you want tickets for. It promises to be a really fun show, so do bring the whole family along.
On Monday 11 December there will be a Christmas Jazz concert at 6:15 p.m. in Old Hall when the Wellington Jazz Orchestra and jazz ensembles will play under the direction of Michael L. Roberts, the new Head of Jazz Studies at Wellington College.