The Week Ahead
Saturday 24th November until Sunday 2nd December
General Events
On Saturday 24th November, we are holding our annual "Rumble in the Jungle" event which is a social for the younger pupils as well as being a fund raiser for the Round Square projects. This means that there will be no Leave Outs for the Lower and Middle School on that Saturday evening.
The Informal concert at 6.15 p.m. on Monday 26th November in the Concert Room will feature two of our leading violinists, Claire Sledd and Sabina Virtosu, playing movements from concertos by Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky - their audition pieces for music colleges and conservatoires for places to study next year. The concert will also feature Nick Jupp (cello) and Oliver Marjot (oboe) - well worth a trip to College to hear music of this standard.
From next year Wellington will be offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) as an alternative to A levels. On Thursday 29th November, there will an IB Information Evening for parents and pupils of the 4th Form. If you would like to attend then please email the Director of IB, Dr David James to confirm numbers. The evening will start at 7:00 p.m. in the Theatre and there will be drinks afterwards in Great School.
Also "Highly Recommended" is the Orchestral Gala Concert on Friday 30 November at 8:00 p.m. in the Concert Room. The Concert Wind Band will begin the programme with The Showstopper, Oye Como Va, and The Incredibles. Camerata will play Rutter's Suite for Strings and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and the Senior Brass and Percussion Ensemble will play Harry Ledger's Carillon and John Williams' Imperial March from Star Wars. The orchestra, conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton, will perform in the second half of the concert - their programme is Glinka's Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla, Beethoven's 8th Symphony, Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.1 and the Serenade by Derek Bourgeois. This really is a feast of music and not to be missed - all the groups have been rehearsing very hard and would love to see a large and appreciative audience on Friday.
Parents of pupils in the Fifth Form are reminded that it is a closed Saturday on Saturday 1st December for that year as they are going up to the West End.
Also on Saturday 1st December at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel Simon Williamson will conduct the Crowthorne Choral Society in a programme featuring Durufle's Requiem, Handel's Coronation Anthems and Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium. Tickets are £9 and are available on the door.
On Sunday 2nd December, we are having our Advent Procession with Carols in the Chapel at 8:00 p.m. The Lower and Middle School attend this service and this means that there is space for parents for what is always a moving service.
Next week the Wellesley day girls' house will be starting their fundraising for their chosen charity, Plan. Through this organisation the girls hope to sponsor a child in a deprived area of the world and provide them with latrines, food, teachers, a playground, vaccinations and a loving education that would give the students hope for the future. To raise money they will be selling 17cm chocolate Santas around school, which can be delivered as a small gift to any member of the Wellington community. Should you wish to participate in this, please contact Miss Eunice Gillan.
Sport
Saturday 24th November sees the rugby teams taking on High Wycombe, Shiplake and Lord Wandsworth, the hockey and badminton teams playing Bradfield and the shooting team competing with R.G.S. Guildford. There have been some changes to the matches and paretns are advised to look at the website.
Tuesday 27th November sees the round 5 of the Daily Mail Competitions with 1st XV playing against Sir William Borlase School at home with a 2:15 p.m. kick off and the Under 15 side playing R.G.S. High Wycombe, also at home, with a 2:30 p.m. kick off. Also on Tuesday 27th November, the senior girls' hockey teams travel to Sevenoaks, the rackets team go to Tonbridge and the squash team visit the Oratory.
Thursday 29th November sees the U14 hockey team travel to Kingston Grammar School, the shooting team travel to Harrow and the fencing team take on Winchester.
Saturday 1st December sees both our rugby sides and our hockey sides playing Cranleigh (with one rugby game against Lord Wandsworth College)
Looking to the future, Wednesday 5th December sees our Prep Schools Rugby tournament sponsored by SchoolsTrader. We look forward to this big event.
All of our Rugby and Girls' hockey results will be on the schools' sport website again this year.
Further Ahead
On Monday 3rd December , we are lucky to have Andrew Roberts giving a lecture entitled "Battle of Waterloo" in Great School or the Theatre at 8:00 p.m. It should porve to be an exciting presentation as he is a renowned author and journalist. He was born in 1963, took a first class honours degree in Modern History at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he is an honorary senior scholar. As well as appearing regularly on British television and radio, Andrew Roberts writes for The Sunday Telegraph and reviews history books and biography for that newspaper as well as The Spectator, Literary Review, Mail on Sunday and Daily Telegraph. He is perhaps best known to transatlantic audiences for his seven-hour NBC broadcast with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and his CNN broadcasts at the time of the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. In 2005 he co-anchored the NBC broadcast of Prince Charles' wedding to Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.
The Christmas Jazz Concert will take place on Tuesday 11th December at 6:15 p.m. in Old Hall. Come and enjoy music by Wellington College Big Band, www.blues band and soloists performing Christmas favourites arranged by Michael Roberts, Head of Jazz.
The Master has been asked to give a talk to parents about his new book, "Blair Unbound". It has been described in The Spectator as "brilliantly researched: it will say far more than Tony Blair will in his own memoirs", in the Sunday Times as "the last word", and in The Observer as "fascinating and monumental". Even David Cameron held the book up in his response on the Queen's Speech and quoted it back to Gordon Brown on the floor of the House. He will speak from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday 12th December. Copies of the book will be available for signing for Christmas presents at the reduced price of £15.00. Profits from this book, as from all Dr Seldon's writing and broadcasting, goes to charity. Further details will follow, but please indicate to Tarla Woolhouse if you wish to attend and how many copies of the book you might wish to purchase on the evening.
On Thursday 13th December we are holding two carol serivces, one at 3:00 p.m. for the Lower and Middle School and one at 6:00 p.m. for the Upper School. Pupils will be able to leave after their service if their HMs are happy with the state that they have left the house. Parents are invited to these services although there wil be somehwat limited space. We will be asking your sons and daughters after the Leave Out if their parents anticipate coming to these services to help us gauge demand.
On Saturday 19th January, we have a closed weekend for the Fourth Form boarders when we are running a trip to the West End to see a "big" show. The pupils have certainly enjoyed these trips in the past and are being asked now if they wish to go as we need to book tickets as soon as possible. The cost will be between £40 and £50 per head. If for any reason you do not wish your son or daughter to go on one of these trips, please e-mail John Arton-Powell as soon as possible because tickets need to be booked in the next two weeks.
The Hollywood Ball on Saturday 9th February is " a must not miss event" or you will be very sorry!! Letters have gone out to all the parents and the tickets are selling fast. However a few are still available so act NOW and send in your completed form with your full payment. You can use your best English and re-do it if you like. Although it seems a long way ahead, we need to get on with finalising details. If you have lost the letter, an application form can be found here and full details can be found on the website.
Nick Diver would like to remind parents that places for the Third Form trip to the First World War Battlefields from 20th to 22nd March 2008 are going very quickly and are nearly over-subscribed. Anybody who would like their son or daughter to go on the trip, or who would simply like more information, should email him as soon as possible.
There will be a Roman Catholic Confirmation in Crowthorne on Friday 6th June 2008 and classes will start in March. If you wish your child to be confirmed please e mail Dr Boscher .
