The Week Ahead
Saturday 22nd November until Sunday 30th November
Sir John Major comes to Wellington to speak on Monday - details of how to get tickets are below. Nearly every current Wellingtonian was born in his time as Prime minister! This is a great opportunity to get an insight into life at the top of the British political world.
The Art Department have been busy this week putting up pupils' work around the buildings. Do try and have a look. There are a lot of paintings on the walls down at the Bursary end of the College and more specifically an exhibition of GCSE coursework in the V&A. Looking at some of these paintings you will not be surprised to hear that the theme is "Sweets"! It also provides an ideal excuse to go into the V&A to sample the coffee whilst admiring the skills of our talented artists. Several of the paintings are features in this Week Ahead.
The Master's Voice
I have had an invigorating week this week inspecting Dulwich College, a school with which we have had long connections. Indeed, in our founding year, 1859, the Duke of Wellington was appointed Chairman of Governors of Dulwich College.
"When is a carrot cake not a carrot cake?'" This is a question that would challenge some of our brightest philosophers in the U6th, and indeed at Oxbridge. The answer has to be "when it is a mango cake". There have been rumours circulating all term, about which I have become deeply concerned. The subject goes right to the very heart of what Wellington College stands for. I know that parents will understand that I feel the time has now come to be candid about it. The topic is the alleged deterioration in the quality of carrot cake at match teas in the Master's Lodge and/or Great School. Repeated assurances were made from the catering department that the single layer and, frankly, somewhat heavy cake that was masquerading as carrot cake was indeed carrot cake. But in a moment of honesty, which I find quite admirable in a school, the head of catering admitted that the said cake was in fact mango. Parents will be relieved to hear that from this Saturday the status quo will be restored and that carrot cake will in fact be carrot cake. It is in cases like this that a school comes fully into its own, and I am proud to be Master of a school at such a moment in our history!
General Events
Saturday 22nd November sees the start of a weekend leave after sporting fixtures. The weekend ends on Monday 24th November and we ask for your children to be back by 7:30 p.m. prompt on that evening for a callover.
This is because we have what should prove to be one of the highlights of the school year on Monday 24th November when we are honoured to have a lecture from Sir John Major. After his period as Prime Minister, Sir John has kept a strong profile in British politics with, for example, a recent brilliant attack in the Times last week on the responsibility of Labour for the current economic crisis. We ask for all boarding pupils to be back by 7:30 p.m. to their houses for call-over to be able to get them seated in the Sports' Hall by 7:45 p.m. Day pupils have been asked if they wish to attend and if they do, we would ask you get them to college to meet the same time deadlines.. There are also some tickets available for parents and they are being distributed on a first come first served basis.
Entry for parents is by ticket only at £10 each. If you have requested and paid for your tickets, these may be collected by your son or daughter or yourself from Reception from Friday 21st November - this will avoid any delay to get to your seat on the night. Uncollected tickets, as well as tickets not yet paid for, can be picked up on the night from the Reception area at the Sports Centre from 6:30 p.m. The doors open at 7:00 p.m. For parents who have already picked up their tickets, we ask you to enter by the doors adjacent to the Astro Turf. The Cherry Court Café will be open from 6:00 p.m. Please ensure you are seated by 7:45pm at the latest. We still have a few tickets available - if you would like some of these tickets please call Tarla Woolhouse on 0773 3305249 by midday on Monday 24th November. Some copies of the official biography "Major: A Political Life" by Anthony Seldon will be available for sale in the Cherry Court Café - £20 each (cash/cheques only). All monies raised to charity.
The Lynedoch organised a collec of sporting equipment for Sport4kids earlier in the term and are doing another one this weekend. If you do have any sporting equipment taking up space in your attic do please bring it back to school after the Leave Out. The Lynedoch are having another collection - their flyer is to the right.
On Wednesday 26th November at 7:30 p.m. in the Theatre, students from all age groups will be performing a variety of dance styles which includes ballet, jazz, contemporary, hiphop, flamenco and musical theatre.Olivia Crabb-collins ( OW Orange ) Will be returning from The Central school of ballet London to perform a piece from her repertoire.
On Thursday 27th November we will be holding the second of two information evenings for Fifth Form parents to provide insight into academic life in the Sixth Form. The events will focus on the International Baccalaureate, the new A Levels and university applications. This will be held in the Theatre commencing at 6:00 p.m. and will be followed by refreshments in the V&A.
A reminder for Hill parents that on Friday 28th November there is the Hill music Evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Rooms.
A change of venue for the Songwriter Concert on Friday 28th November due to exams in the Old Gym - this concert will now be held at 8:00 p.m. in the V&A - which should provide a suitable ambience to enjoy the talents of the best of Wellington's songwriters - Gina Kuschke, Isabelle Wilkinson, Imogen Halsey, William Barns-Graham, Richard Addicott, Luiz Pastore, Julian Bourne.and more to come. There will be food and drink available to buy and it is also an ideal chance to catch up with the Art featured at the top of this Week Ahead.
Sunday 30th November sees our Advent Procession Service at 8:00 p.m. in the Chapel. This is a service to which we "invite" the Third, Fourth and Fifth Forms as well as any of their parents who might like to come. We hope that many of you will take up the option.
The Wellington Players are recruiting NEW MEMBERS! We meet on Wednesday evenings 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and would love more parents to get involved. Whether you've dabbled in acting before or are a complete novice then come along for guaranteed fun! Email Amelia Morse for more information.
New format reports for the Third, Fourth and Fifth Forms will be arriving home in the next week. We hope parents were pleased with the new simplified effort grades and the new working grades included last time as well as the new A4 format. Full reports for the Lower School this time include class positions in most subjects as well as overview comments from Tutors, HMs, the Master and the pupils themselves. Comments will be more concise than in the past to assist parents and pupils in identifying the important messages. More detailed information on changes to reports was included in the letter sent to all parents with the last interims. Full reports for the Lower and Upper Sixth Forms will follow later in the term, as both year groups have recently had Parents' Conferences.
The Petrol Heads Club has been a resounding success this term. A great number of parents have offered their time and services and the students are most grateful. We have had a full array of cars from a 1930's Bentley on the left here to a Aston Martin DB8, Ferrari and a Classic MG to mention only a few. We will be running the club again next term and if there are any Petrol Heads out there who are willing to bring over their Sports Car or Classic Car, we would be most grateful. Please contact Brynn Bayman.
An Old Wellingtonian, Robin Lake, and his wife offer the opportunity for pupils to brush up their oral French by staying with them in their house near Montpellier in the South of France. If you want more details of costs etc., please contact Chris Potter, O.W. Secretary.
The Bursar writes that there has been a change in the law regarding Childcare Vouchers and Fees. Parents who have younger children and who are, in terms of taxable status, employees, will be aware of the Childcare Voucher Scheme that most employers offer. This is a salary - sacrifice scheme whereby an employee taking vouchers to the maximum value free of tax and National Insurance can save up to £1,196 pa. The saving is open to both parents if both are remunerated under PAYE, bringing the family saving to almost £2,400pa. From 1 September of this year, there has been an extension of the definition of qualifying child care; its effect is that parents can now use vouchers in payment or part payment of either a school's charges for boarding for any pupil up to and including the summer term of the academic year in which the child celebrates his or her 15th birthday ( 16th birthday if disabled) or a school's ordinary tuition fees for any child aged three (or rising three) up to and including the summer term of the academic year in which the child celebrates his or her 5th birthday. If any parent would like to pay part of a boarding fee with Childcare vouchers, please contact the College Accounts office first as we will have to re-issue the fee invoice with a slightly different presentation. If they do not do so already, you may like to encourage your employer to offer Childcare vouchers.
She would also like to draw some of your attention to the Mitchell Bursaries. These are Sixth Form Bursaries offered by the Mitchell City of London Charity and Educational Foundation. Every applicant must have a definite connection with the City of London. To be more precise the applicant, or one of his or her parents, must have lived in the City of London for at least 5 years or one of his or her parents must have worked in the City for at least 5 years. The London Postal Districts EC3 and EC4 lie almost entirely within the City. The southern portion of the EC2 district, the south-eastern corner of EC1 district, a very small part of the E1 district and a small part of Chancery Lane and Bell Yard WC2 are also in the City. All other postal districts are entirely outside the City. A Mitchell Bursary is for two years of Sixth Form study at any fee paying secondary school. Applicants must be recommended as suitable for a bursary and be expected by the school to do well in the GCSE examinations; parents of applicants are asked by the Clerk to the Foundation for particulars of their financial circumstances. All applications for a bursary require recommendation by the applicant's Headteacher. Application forms are available from the Bursar ( Susan Meikle / Tel: 01344 444020) and will need to be completed and returned to the school by 5th December.
All parents should have received an e-mail from me giving you a password to open a file of contact details for pupils in your son's or daughter's year group. The page with these files on is here and is in the section of the intranet entitled info@community then current parents. There seem to have been two problems related to this. The first is that older versions of Adobe - the programme that opens pdf files - had bugs in them, particularly version 6.0 my more technical experts inform me. There is now a link on the contact details page enabling you to upload the latest version of Adobe. the second problem to catch more out was the fact that the page is in part of the password protected part of the site. This means to open the page at all you need the username and generic password. The username is COLLEGE\victoria N.B. the back slash - if you are offered three boxes COLLEGE is the domain and victoria is the username. A third possibility, if both of these fail to work, is to use victoria@wellington.net.uk in the domain/username box. The general parents' password is the name of the O.W. on the plaque by the Round Square noticeboard at Queen's Court and must be entered in capitals. Hopefully your son or daughter can supply that information. I sent it to you recently too but if you haven't got it, then ask Roger Auger! There is information on the intranet to help you and this can be found at http://intranet.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/login_help.htm
Sport
Saturday 22nd November is quiet by comparison with a set of rugby fixtures against RGS High Wycombe, RGS Guildford and Shiplake and the house competitions for hockey. In a change to the calendar the 1st XV and Junior Colts 1st XV matches have been postponed, the Colts 2nd XV and Yearlings 6th XV matches have been cancelled and the Yearlings 3rd and 4th XVs are now at home.
Tuesday 25th November sees our rackets team around the M25 to Tonbridge. Thursday 27th November sees the U14A hockey team travel to Kingston Grammar School, the squash team go to Charterhouse, the shooting team go to Harrow whilst the fencing team welcome Winchester.
In an addition to the calendar, Wednesday 26th November sees the next 1st XV Daily Mail Cup game, away against Bloxham School. The kick off is at 2.30 p.m.
On Saturday 29th November the main block fixture for both hockey and rugby is against Cranleigh. Some rugby teams play Lord Wandsworth, the shooting team take on the OWs and the badminton team compete with Bradfield.
Rugby and Hockey fixtures and results can be found on the Wellington College Intranet and the rugby results are on the internet as are those of hockey.
Further Ahead
Angels are performing two fantastic concerts at Wellington this December; our Special Community concert is on Saturday 6th December in the Sports Club (tickets £7 and concessions £5 tel: 0780 1022 763) and our magnificent Gala Evening where the Angels will perform with Wellington students is on Wednesday 10th December (tickets £40 each to include a 2 course dinner tel: Wellington Reception on 01344 444000). The Angels this year are from Tiger Kloof School which has long been associated with Wellington so there is much excitement that they are able to visit us for a change! For any other information regarding Angels please ring Clare Walters on 07831 093 499; any sponsorships would be particlulary welcome.
Ben Greenslade-Stanton will direct the Wellington Jazz Orchestra on Tuesday 9th December at 6.15 p.m. in the Old Gym - everybody welcome for this early evening session of hot jazz. Gina Kuschke, Isabelle Wilkinson and Dougie Chung will be singing with WJO.
The Junior Carol Service for pupils in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Forms and their parents will start at 3:00 p.m. on Friday 12th December. The Senior Carol Service for pupils in the LVIth and UVIth and their parents will start at 5:00 p.m. on the same day. There will be 220 spaces available for parents at the Junior Service and 310 spaces at the Senior Service. These places can be reserved on a first come first served basis by emailing Tarla Woolhouse on Tuesday 25th November or thereafter. No emails will be considered before that date. When requesting tickets please specify your son's or daughter's name(s) and house and which service you wish to attend. I am sorry but nobody will be allowed to attend both services if they have children in both sections of the school. If last year was anything to go by, parental spaces will go quickly so do please get your emails in promptly. Successful applicants will receive an email confirming their status and tickets for the event will be given to your sons or daughters via their HM. If you do not receive a reply from Tarla within two days, then you will not be on the list of successful applicants. If you are unsuccessful do please consider attending the Community Carol Service on Sunday 7th December at 8:00 p.m. as there are always spaces available at that occasion. if youwishto do so, please inform Reception.
Parents of Fourth Form should please be aware that on Saturday 17th January we are planning to take all the Fourth form to the Theatre in London. This will be a closed weekend for all of the Fourth form. The trip will cost between £40 - £50. Your son or daughter will soon be making their choice of show. If your son or daughter is not able to attend this event, please let us know by Friday 14th November.
Many thanks to all of you for your interest in the Eve of Waterloo Ball next term. We have had an unbelievable response and it is truly magnificent to have our parents enter so enthusiastically into the spirit of the school. The bookings have been stretched to maximum. We are now full and regret that we cannot accept more enquiries. We do so hate to turn anyone away, please do try again early when another ball is on the cards.
Letters Home
To try and 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 plan to use this section of 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 - details are further up in this Week Ahead. 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.
The Master wrote to all parents by e-mail just after the Exeat. You can find a copy here.