The Week Ahead
Sunday 2nd September until Sunday 9th September
General Events
Firstly I am delighted to welcome the parents of the 280 pupils new to the school. I do hope that you and your sons and daughters are looking forward to the next few years at Wellington.
The Week Ahead is e-mailed out weekly before each weekend to all parents to try to improve communication between the college and home. If you want to contact us about anything then details can be found at the bottom of each copy of the Week Ahead. Copies also go up on the internet if for some reason you can't find the e-mail version.
All new pupils are arriving at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday 2nd September and current pupils are expected back by 7:15 p.m. on Monday 3rd September. Could I remind the new parents of the need to have filled in the various pieces of information we need about your sons and daughters before they arrive? For all parents there should be your copy of the school calendar in your son's or daughter's room - please do take them home with you!
On Monday 3rd September at 6:30 p.m., just before you have to drop off your child at Wellington, the Garden Opera Company will present Puccini's La Boheme, sung in English, in the Common Room Garden. It promises to be a fantastic evening. Whether or not you are a traditional opera lover you will enjoy Garden Opera's entertaining, intimate and approachable production of one of the most popular operas. Tickets will be £55 a head and this includes drinks served at 6:00 p.m. and a buffet supper served during the first interval. Please contact the Campaign Office on 01344 444023 to reserve tickets.
As some parents would know, Head of P.E., Richard Halsall, has strong links with Sussex Cricket Club and its players. Richard has asked that we advertise a charity dinner - being held on the evening of Monday 3rd September - for cricket enthusiasts in aid of the charity 'Help A Poor Child'. Here is the information about the dinner for those who would like to attend (please note the star-studded guest list) or who know of others who might be interested. It is being held at the T.K.C. Banqueting Suite, Lady Margaret Road in Southall, Middlesex from 7:00 p.m. onwards and will celebrate Mushtaq Ahmed's 100 Championship Wickets last
season. The event will be 100% for charity under the charity "Help A Poor Child" . and the event will be broadcast on ARY Digital - Sky Channel 792. Tickets will be £55.00 each or a table of 10 for £500.00 and these prices include a 3 course meal. Not only will Mushtaq Ahmed be there, but also Saqlain Mushtaq, Neved Rana, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Harbhajan Singh, Chris Adams, Mark Ramprakash, Azhar Mahmood and also we are expecting a very big name from the current Indian Team (yet to be 100% confirmed). There will also be a raffle to win Gray Nicholls bats and also to visit their factory to have your own bat made.
From Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th September the W.C.A. is running a Parents Battlefield Trip to Verdun. Wellington parent Philip Stevens will guide this tour. For booking and further information please contact Mr. Stevens on innings@aol.com or 01252 843544.
Saturday 8th September is a closed evening for the Third Form and the Lower Sixth with events laid on for them. For the Lower Sixth this is a dinner dance and so do please get your son to bring back a Dinner Jacket or Suit and your daughter the equivalent. On Sunday 9th September, we are organising a walk from Stratfield Saye - the seat of the Duke of Wellington - to Wellington for our new Lower Sixth Form pupils. If any parents would like to join us in a very rural 12 mile walk , please contact me.
In trying to improve communication between home and school, you can now access the school intranet from outside school. Its address is https://intranet.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/. Note the S in https ! This is a SECURE website, because you may be logging on or filling in forms. To begin with, you will only see 'public' pages. You should see a LOGIN link near the top of the screen. By clicking it, the computer will check who you are and will try to give you access to more pages - ones which are password protected. Because you are at home, the computer cannot check who you are, therefore it will ask you for your details. Staff and pupils at Wellington should use their own college username and password. We have supplied a username and password for parents. The username is Victoria and the password is the name of the person on the plaque outside the RITS. You have to type this name in CAPITALS. Your son or daughter will be able to find out this name if they don't know but if we gave it out in this newsletter, then it would not be secure! When you click on the login button, you will be challenged for a username and password. If you see two boxes, please type COLLEGE and a back slash prior to your user name. If you see three boxes, please type COLLEGE into the third (Domain) box instead. This information will go on the intranet as a reminder, on this page. One of the pages just put up that you will need to log on to is a page of letters home. It now includes the end of term material. There is also a draft version of the school calendar available here.
Sport
After a successful pre-season tour to the West Country, W.C.R.F.C. and our Colts team take on Colstons on Tuesday 4th September at Wellington.
Saturday 8th September sees our first rugby block fixture and it is against Whitgift College. On this day the girls will be having their hockey trials.
On Sunday 9th September, our Junior Colts team are entering the South Coast King's Rugby Tournament.
Further Ahead
The Music School is looking forward to an exciting term of events and would like to invite you all to the first concert in our newly refurbished concert room on Monday 10th September at 6.15 p.m. when our Head of Jazz Studies, Michael Roberts, will perform with some of our visiting instrumental teachers - Pete Cook on saxophone, Ray Smith on percussion and Dave Harvey on bass guitar. Please try to come along as they are all fantastic musicians and it should be a really exciting session.
On Friday 14th September, Simon Williamson (Director of Music) and Oliver King (College Organist) will perform an organ recital - which they have entitled "Some French music, a dance and a trifle"...for further explanation please try to go along! It will be in the Chapel at 8 p.m.
A date for the diaries of new parents is Sunday 23rd September with the Wellington College Association Drinks and Canapés Party for New Parents from 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity for the Wellington College Association to welcome new parents to Wellington, and for new parents to meet and get to know the W.C.A. Committee members and Common Room staff over an informal drink in one of Wellington's most historic rooms - Great School. To assist us with numbers please email Tarla Woolhouse with "W.C.A. Drinks and Canapés" in the subject box.
Looking further ahead from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th November, Ian Botes, a Wellington parent and member of the W.C.A. committee, is leading a pre-Christmas trip to Vienna for 30-40 parents, staff and friends of Wellington College. If you are interested please contact Tarla Woolhouse (+44 (0)1344 444085) or Ian Botes for further details. The cost for the inclusive break is £475 per person with a single supplement of £65. The programme is outlined on the college website. To book contact Kevin Collins or Suzanne Wade at Weekend a la Carte (01722 744695) The deadline is the 30th September.
