The Week Ahead
Saturday 8th December until Thursday 13th December
General Events
Firstly in this Week Ahead, the last of the term, may we take the opportunity to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and thank you for your interest and support through the year.
Parents of pupils in the Third Form are reminded that it is a closed Saturday on Saturday 8th December for that year as they are going up to the West End.
The last Informal Concert of the term will take place on Monday 10th December at 6:15 p.m. in the Concert Room and will feature music from Harry Lee (piano), Katie Jillings (violin), Poppy Deakin (guitar), Joey Nam (piano), James White (piano), Oliver Marjot (oboe) and Steph Tress (saxophone).
Also on Monday 10th December in the Theatre at 7:30 p.m. for one night only, there is a Dance Extravaganza. Do come and see the work produced in Dance at Wellington this term. Prepare to be astounded! Tickets should be booked with James Baker stating clearly who the tickets are for.
The following evening, on Tuesday 11th December, you can get into the Christmas spirit with some festive jazz in the Old Gym at 6:15 p.m. The Wellington Big Band will perform some new arrangements, College Voyces will sing, and there will be solo items from Isabelle Wilkinson, Ollie Ralph, Ella Yarnton, Priyanka Baxter, Phoebe Paskin-Orr. The programme (which will last approximately 60 minutes) promises to be great fun. Please come if you can.
On Wednesday 12th December, the Master has been asked to give a talk on his latest book "Blair Unbound". Friends and family are of course welcome. Copies of the book will be available for signing for Christmas presents at the greatly reduced price of £15.00. Profits from this book, as from all Dr Seldon's writing and broadcasting go to charity. There will be a reception in Great School from 7:15 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. where you can collect your reserved signed copies and enjoy a drink and mince pie to put us in the Christmas spirit ! We will also have Christmas Carols. The Master will speak from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Theatre and if you wish to have your book personalised, you may do so after the talk. Advance orders would be appreciated as we are expecting this to be a well attended evening. Please let Tarla Woolhouse know if you wish to attend by Monday 10th December and how many copies of the book you might wish to purchase on the evening. P.S. Quite a number of you have already ordered copies - you do not need to reapply.
As a result of the growth in pupil numbers we have split the normal single Carol Service for pupils into two separate services, one for the Lower and Middle School (3rd, 4th and 5th Forms) at 3:00 p.m. and one for the Senior School (Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth) at 6:00 p.m. , both on Thursday 13th December. Unfortunately, the Chapel is not big enough to accommodate all of those parents who wanted to come and we are thus forced to limit numbers. This ticket application was been done through the Reception and was done on a strict quota by house in proportion to the number of pupils of the relevant year groups in house. You should by now know whether you have tickets or not and we are sorry that some parents were unable to have tickets.The tickets will be delivered to houses on Wednesday 12th December for collection by pupils. If you have any other questions, please contact Paul Hucklesby, the Chapel Warden.
These two Carol Services mean that your sons and daughters will be free to be picked up at different times on Thursday 13th December depending upon their age. Those pupils in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Forms (with the possible exception of some of the 5th Form rugby players) will be finished at 4:00 p.m. and those in the Sixth Form will be finished by 7:00 p.m. Clearly members of the choir will be involved in both services!
A reminder from the Director of Music that the invoices for Instrumental Music lessons will be sent out shortly for next term's lessons. Payment will be due promptly at the beginning of next term so that instrumental teachers are paid in advance. There have been a number of very delayed payments this term and he would really appreciate happy, smiling visiting teachers next term!
For several years we have been sending out a College Booklist at Christmas. This year, partly to save paper (since it is the Green Czar who compiles the list!), and partly to make it easier to update the booklist in the course of the year, we are publishing an online version. It is available here. We hope there's something there that will take your fancy, and please let either Ant Peter or Nic Amy know your views about the new arrangement.
For those parents who like to plan ahead, the school calendar is now available on the intranet. It should be printed for the end of term and go out with the end of term material.
For your information, the Colege Website, Intranet and Webmail will all be down on the Thursday 20th December for necessary hardware upgrades.
We look forward to welcoming your sons and daughters back to Wellingotn at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday 6th January.
Sport
From Saturday 8th December, our rackets playing are competing in the Public Schools' singles Championships at Queen's Club, London.
Saturday 8th December sees our last block fixture of the year with the hockey teams taking on Epsom and the rugby teams playing Tonbridge. The badminton team also play the Wellington Sport's Club home team.
All of our Rugby and Girls' hockey results will be on the schools' sport website again this year.
Further Ahead
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. 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. Alternatively contact Reena Price (marked Hollywood Ball), Ludford House, Canon Hill Drive, Bray, Berks SL6 2EU. Tel: 01628 622355 Fax: 01628 632948. Mobile: 07778 205 112 Email: reena_price@hotmail.com
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.
The Geography Department is running its 15th annual LVIth Field Trip to Serre Chevalier in the French Alps in the summer, from the 29th June to the 4th July. Please could parents of LVIth Geographers send back the relevant forms to Murray Fowler as soon as possible.
