The Month Ahead
Saturday 10th October until Sunday 8th November
A bumper version to cover the forthcoming week and the week after the Exeat. The Exeat is fast approaching - with school trips to Russia, China, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, India, Uganda, Japan and Nepal you might struggle to avoid Wellingtonians during the two week break!
The Master's Voice.
Valuing what we have. I attended a two day leadership retreat last weekend. A poem was read during it which had an enormous impact on me, and has made me think about the time that I spend with my own children. I place it below, lest you are able to read it. It was initially a poem, turned into a song by Harry Chapin, an American ballad singer who died in 1981 aged 37. I hope you all enjoy half term. Next week, you will receive a (fairly brief) half term letter, which will be despatched by email from my office. The title of the poem is "Cat's in the Cradle"
| 1 |
A child arrived the other day, |
2 | And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you coming home Dad?" "I don't know when, But we'll get together then. You know we'll have a good time then." |
3 | My son turned ten just the other day. He said, "Thanks for the ball Dad, come on let's play. Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do." He said, "That's okay." And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed, Said "I'm gonna be like him, yeah. You know I'm gonna be like him!" |
| 4 | Well he came home from college just the other day, So much like a man I just had to say, "Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?" He shook his head, and he said with a smile, "What I'd really like dad is to borrow the car keys. See you later, Can I have them please?" |
5 | I've long since retired and my son's moved away. I called him up the other day. I said: "I'd like to see you if you don't mind." He said. "I'd love to dad, if I could find the time. You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's have got the flu, But it's sure been nice talking to you dad. It's sure been nice talking to you." And as he hung up the phone, it occurred to me, He'd grown up just like me. The boy was just like me. |
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General Events
The evening of Saturday 10th October is a closed one for the Third, Fourth and Fifth forms as we are holding our annual "Rumble in the Jungle" - a fund raiser for our Round Square charities.
The Lower Sixth Parents' Supper on Sunday 11th October is now sold out. Please check the intranet for details of future events.
Also Sunday 11th October sees a Full School Service of the Word in the Chapel at 8:00 pm to which the parents of the Hill are cordially invited. The preacher is the Reverend David Picken, the Diocese of Oxford inter-faith officer.
On Monday 12th October there will be an Informal Concert in the Concert Room between 6:15 pm and 7:00 pm- everyone is most welcome to attend.
The deadline for handing in your Fourth form son or daughter's Master's Prize project is on Monday 12th October at 6:00 pm. Finishing touches are still being applied in our household. The Exhibition will be held in Great School on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th October from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm for all to see the exhibits. There will be more than 160 projects on show and it promises to be another fantastic array of diverse ideas and creations. The Head of Fourth Form would like to invite all parents to view the projects on Thursday and Friday during the opening times along with a glass of wine. Please contact Jonathan White if there are any issues.
Tuesday 13th October is the Upper Sixth Parents' conference. Details about it can be found here.
Wellington College Theatre announces a special premiere of "Boney and the Billy Ruffians". Adapted by Dr Hetty Clews from The Poor Gentleman by George Colman and Raising the Wind by James Kenney as performed in front of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Midshipmen and Ladies of HMS Bellerophon on the occasion of his being transported from France to Britain before his exile in St Helena. Performances will be held in The Theatre at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 14th October, Thursday 15th October and Friday 16th October. Running time including interval is about two hours and twenty minutes. Tickets are available at £5 for adults and £3 for students from BoxOffice@wellingtoncollege.org.uk. please ensure you include details of your name, whether you are a pupil or an adult, the night of the performance and the number of tickets you would like. Payment should be made at reception or at the door on the night.
On Wednesday 14th October the Chapel Choir sing Evensong at 6:30 pm to which parents are cordially invited.
Local Prep Schools attend Wellington College on Thursday 15th October for the annual Orchestral Day; the day culminates with a short performance to which you are invited in Old Gym at 5:30 pm.
Wellington College is hosting a Conference on Social Enterprise on Thursday 15th October. The key note speaker, Tim Smit of the Eden Project, is an inspirational leader and Phil Wall (HopeHIV) is a charismatic speaker and together they promises to make for a vibrant and memorable conference. The conference is open to all parents and senior students with an interest in the values of Enterprise and Leadership. For further details or to book your place contact Brynn Bayman .
The Exeat begins after sporting commitments on Saturday 17th October and we look forward to welcoming back the boarding pupils on Sunday 1st November at 9:15 pm.
Once again, two local artists Fiona Channon and Alan Brain, are combining their impressive talents to present an Art Exhibition in the Driver Rooms of Wellington College on the weekend of Saturday 31st October. This is the fourth successive year Fiona and Alan have held an exhibition at this venue, and this year it was designed to coincide with the Craft in Focus Show being held at the Wellington Sports Centre, where the artists will also have a stand. To discover more, come and talk to the artists and see their work on the weekend of October 31st and if you make it on Saturday morning, the gentle strains of the classical guitar as played by Jim Kelleher will add to a memorable experience. Admission is free. The two paintings in this Month Ahead give you an idea of their work.
On Friday 6th November we welcome Robert Hardman (OW) Journalist and Author , who is giving a Master's Lecture entitled "Modern Monarchy in the Media Age" . Educated at Wellington and Cambridge, living in London, Robert has been writing about the Monarchy for more than 15 years, first as royal correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and now as the author of the 'How I See It' column in the Daily Mail. During a distinguished Fleet Street career, he has also been, among other things, a political sketchwriter, a diarist, a sports columnist and a restaurant critic. His royal interviews have included Prince Philip, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, the King and Queen of Norway, the Queen of Denmark and the ex-King of Afghanistan. He is the writer and associate producer of the BBC1 series A Year with the Queen. Last year's ITV series, The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip. He did the same for BBC1's acclaimed 2005 series, The Queen's Castle. Robert Hardman will also be signing copies of his latest book: The Royal Family at Work. To reserve a copy please email Tarla Woolhouse.
Saturday 7th November sees the annual Fireworks Spectacular in aid of a variety of charities. Further details can be found here.
As Sunday 8th November is Remembrance Sunday, Saturday 7th November is closed for the whole school. There is no space in Chapel on Remembrance Sunday for parents but you are welcome to attend the moving ceremony in Front quad at 10:45 am on the Sunday. in the lead in to Remembrance, each year group attends a moving Remembrance Readings and Music event in Great School. there are a very limited number of spaces for parents - the dates for the year groups are as in the calendar. If you would like to attend your son's or daughter's event please e-mail Julian Jeffrey.
A whole school photograph and the house photographs that were taken recently are now available to view and order on line To view and order your own copy of these pictures, go to the web address www.tspc-shop.co.uk/groups and then you need the following usernames and passwords - for the whole school photograph the username is welling and the password is 2009school and for the house photographs the user name is welling and the password is house2009. After you log-in to the whole school photograph, click the 'add photographs' button on the left of the screen to enter the username and password that you have also been given for your House photographs. This makes it easier for you to see all of your pictures on one screen. You can zoom-in to see a close up of your pictures and click on various frame styles to see how they look. All prices include free delivery to a UK address (overseas delivery is also available). If there is a problem viewing the site please contact the company and not me!
We are still looking for the best solution for sending out the Week Ahead. This week it has gone out the "old"way - I hope it has arrived with everyone safely. There have been several expressions of preference for that method. One thing you can do is to ensure that my address, rca@wellingtoncollege.org.uk is in your list of contacts if it is not already.
A polite request: could parents keep their dogs on leads and under control, throughout the College campus? Many schools have banned dogs from games areas and we do not want to have to go this far and hope that we will not have to.
Do you know any bright, well-organised graduates who would be available for some work experience at Wellington? The Master is currently looking for two recent graduates to work together on a research project for a major activity in 2010, starting immediately for about a month. Although it is unpaid, it will be an excellent addition to a CV. The graduates will need to be able to come daily to College by car or train. A particular interest in the media and publishing is desirable. Please call Dr David James on 01344 444193, or email David James daj@wellingtoncollege.org.uk for more information.
The Head of Educational Support is available for consultations on Saturdays from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm. Please contact Carole Blunden-Lee cjbl@wellingtoncollege.org.uk by e-mail if you would like to see her then.
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.
Sport
The rugby block fixture on Saturday 10th October is with Cheltenham whilst the hockey fixture is with Dauntsey's. In addition the golf team compete with Berks, Bucks and Oxon U18 team and the badminton team take on our own WCSSC.
On Tuesday 13th October the golf team take on Cranleigh whilst on Thursday 15th October the badminton team travel to the southern edges of Slough to compete with Eton and the fencing team welcome Marlborough. Also on Thursday 15th October in a calendar addition, the rugby U15 Round 3 Daily Mail Cup team play Forest School away.
Saturday 17th October sees a big rugby fixture with Eton (and one match at Shiplake) and hockey matches with Lord Wandsworth.
After the Exeat, the First XV compete with Bryanston at Winchester RFC on Tuesday 3rd November whilst on Thursday 5th November there are hockey fixtures with Cranford house, lacrosse against Haileybury, rackets against Eton, squash with Radley and Marlborough, golf with Radley and Bradfield, fencing at Bradfield and a calendar addition with the rugby 3rd XV playing Harberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy 1st XV at home - a busy day.
Saturday 7th November sees the girls entered into a variety of county 6-a-side hockey tournaments and the rugby is house-based.
The Director of Sport sent out a letter to all parents recently. A copy can be found here.
Details of the matches can be found on the intranet.
Further Ahead
The WCA newsletter for October is now up on our intranet page. If you do would like to receive this link by email, please contact your house rep (see intranet pages) or Denise Cook
After the Exeat, the Music School have scheduled the following events:
6th November, 7.30 pm: 'Wellington Jazz Club' performance in Old Gym
13th November, 7:30 pm: Orchestral 'Celebration of British Music' concert in Old Gym
14th November, 7:00 pm: 'Sing & Swing' gospel concert in the Chapel (tickets through Reception)
20th November, 7:30 pm: Guildhall Brass concert in Old Gym
26th November, 8:00 pm: Songwriters' concert in the V&A
28th November, 7:30 pm: Crowthorne Choral Society concert in the Chapel
6th December, 8:00 pm: Advent Procession With Carols in the Chapel
13th December, 8:00 pm: Community Carols in the Chapel
15th December, 7:30 pm: Christmas Jazz Concert in the V&A
For further information about the Music Department or music events, please make contact with Katrina Butt (Music Administrator) via phone (01344 444201) or email.
Baroness Cox of Queensbury will present 'The Story of South Sudan' at a lecture to parents on Monday 9th November. She is also hoping to thank and inspire Wellington further in its support for building a school in South Sudan. To reserve a seat or for further information please e-mail Naomi Pendle.
The Master's London walk has been postponed until Sunday 15th November, and there has been a change of lunch venue to the River Lounge. For details of itinerary and menu contact Denise Cook
Apologies but the calendared event of Thursday 19th November "An Evening with Iain Duncan Smith, MP" has been postponed. We will put up details when we have them of the new date..
If you have applied for tickets on the Waiting List for the Grand Finale Ball, thank you for your patience and we will be contacting you before half term.
If you are attending the Grand Finale Ball on Friday 27th November and would like to make a night of it, a number of rooms at preferential rates are available at the Hilton, St Anne's Manor (Wokingham). Preferential rates inclusive of accommodation and breakfast will be £69.00 per room, per night for single occupancy and £79.00 per room, per night for double/twin occupancy. Further details from Denise Cook. Alternatively to help getting to the Grand Finale Ball and back, there is likely to be a 51 seater coach leaving Central London - Victoria - for Wellington at 6:30 pm on Friday 27th November and returning from Wellington to Victoria at 1:30 am on Saturday 28th November if there is sufficient demand. The cost per head would be £11 if all seats were taken.Anyone interested should contact Chris Potter in the OW office at Wellington before Sunday 18th October.
Wellington Squared is a new partnership between Wellington College and Intelligence Squared, the world's leading forum for debate. We'll be bringing the greatest authorities to Wellington to battle it out over the crucial issues of the day and you'll get the chance to cast your vote at the end of the evening. Our first debate is 'Atheism is the new fundamentalism' on Sunday 29th November. Doors open at 6:00 pm and the debate will start at 7:00 pm. Does God exist? Has atheism replaced religion as the faith of the secular age? Are the new atheists as blinkered and dogmatic as they claim religious believers to be?
Speakers for the motion are Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford (and OW!), and Charles Moore, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator. Speakers against the motion are Richard Dawkins, Professor Emeritus at Oxford University and best-selling author of 'The God Delusion' and A C Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at the University of London. The debate will be chaired by the Master. Details of how you may obtain tickets will be announced nearer the time.
Contact us
This newsletter and past editions are on the Wellington College website as is a version of the school calendar with details of all activities going on at Wellington for the rest of this term.
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