The Week Ahead
Saturday 21st November until Sunday 29th November
The Master's Voice
Wellington College remains the most influential school in Britain for another year, we are told, with more articles in the press and stories on television and radio than any other single school. This week, for example, has seen a whole page in The Times on 20th November, and a discussion on Radio 4's "All in the Mind" discussing the pioneering work on well-being we are undertaking. We had a ground-breaking conference last week on 'The Thinking School', with Tony Buzan, Julian Baggini and Ty Tingley of Phillip's Exeter, and a conference this week on what universities seek from schools, with Lord Lucas and Geoff Parks (OW), Director of Admissions at Cambridge, as two of the key speakers. We have been visited by a range of high-powered thinkers in the last few days looking at Harkness Tables and the Middle Years Programme, and I will be writing shortly to 3rd Form parents about the choice next year between MYP and GCSE. Actually, I care far more about the quality of education in the school than whether we are leading the education debate outside, and I know you think the same way, so I am glad to report an excellent level of performance in the school so far this term. I have spent this week looking at English lessons across the school and have been delighted by the virtuosity of the teaching and learning at all age groups. My lunches, dinners and conversations with pupils reveals exceptionally high levels of consumer satisfaction with their lessons and their teachers. We had a remarkably upbeat Parents' Forum last night, which was very heartening.
Is any parent who is temporarily not working interested in the following? The Sunday Times and Wellington College are hosting the inaugural Festival of Education, which will become an annual event at Wellington College, on the weekend of July 3rd /4th 2010. The Festival will showcase the most exciting innovations and ideas in education, featuring keynote speakers, debates, presentations, workshops and lectures. It will cater for state, independent, secondary, primary and higher education with Festival attendees being anyone who has an interest in or passion for education: parents, teachers and students. We are seeking to appoint a Director of the Festival, which will be an honorarium position, to oversee the organisation, in particular the programming, co-ordinate fundraising and sponsorship. Hours will be flexible (although the post will be a busy one!) and there will be a team of post-graduates to assist in research and organisation. We would like the Director to start as soon as possible and will be working directly with Lucy Pearson, as well as with me. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact Lucy directly.
From the Archives
Tuesday December 1st sees a brief visit from Her Majesty the Queen to formally open the Modern Languages Institute. The Palace has requested that it be a pupil-centred occasion and therefore with regret there will not be the opportuntiy for parental involvement other than for those parents whose children are performing for Her Majesty. Those parents will receive a seperate e-mail inviting them to attend.
Below are some images from her previous visits from the archives. They include images from a visit during the war when the Master's Lodge had been destroyed and the then Master killed, the visit for the opening of Queen's Court, the visit for the opening of the current Hopetoun and a visit in 1959 for which I don't know the reason!
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General Events
Tickets are now on sale for The Ragged Child, still being performed in the Wellington Theatre on the Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November. The first musical production of this academic year, this show is directed and written by Jeremy James Taylor formerly of the National Youth Music Theatre. Tickets are priced at £7.50 for adults and £5.00 for students and can be ordered from boxoffice@wellingtoncollege.org.uk Seating is allocated so please state clearly your name the date of the performance required.
Sunday 22nd November sees our Confirmation Service to which friends and family of the confirmands are invited. The officiating bishop and preacher is the Reverend Bill Down, formerly Bishop of Bermuda.
We have our two Christmas Carol Services on Friday 18th December. The Junior Carol Service for pupils in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Forms and their parents will start at 5:00 pm. The Senior Carol Service for pupils in the LVIth and UVIth and their parents will start at 3:00 pm. There will be 120 spaces available for parents at the Junior Service and 260 spaces at the Senior Service. These places can be reserved on a first come first served basis by emailing Tarla Woolhouse on Tuesday 24th 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 son or daughter via their HM. If you do not receive a reply from Tarla, 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 13th December at 8:00 pm as there are always spaces available at that occasion.
The Remus Azoitei violin master class scheduled on Tuesday 24th November has, unfortunately, been cancelled.
There will be a concert in Old Hall on Wednesday 25th November when the Duke of Kent visits Wellington College. A limited number of tickets are available through the Music Office.
On Wednesday 25th November there is a fund raising event organised by Jackie Howells for the Wellesley charity. Anyone is welcome. Do come along and watch an enjoyable floral demonstration and get some great ideas for Christmas. Rosie Orr will be demonstrating how to put together some table decorations and Xmas Wreaths. Please support this event and bring your friends, everyone welcome, refreshments will be provided. Further detai can be found here.
On Thursday 26th November College Couch presents Wellington's very own Singer-Songwriters performing their own material. The event features Imogen Halsey, Dicky Addicott, Will Bennett and Jonny Furness, Henry Counsell, Theo Byrd, Luke Bowler, Julian Bourne and Samantha Glover and starts 8:00 pm in the Old Hall.
The weekend starting Friday 27th November is a Weekend Leave. Pupils will be free to go home after their lessons on Friday - which will be at 4:20 pm. This is not the case for the Lower Sixth who have their Parents' Conference then. This takes place in the Sports Hall from 4:30 pm; you should already have received a letter from Murray Fowler, Head of Lower Sixth, about it - a copy of that letter can be found here. . The pupils will arrange appointment times with their teachers so that you can catch up with their progress and prospects in their IB or A Level subjects. For those parents unable to come, it may be possible to attend the 5th Form Conference on January 29th as an alternative, or to make individual arrangements via your son or daughter's tutor. Our apologies for the inconvenience that the clash with the 150th Ball has caused for some parents.
We look forward to welcoming your children back to Wellington by 9:15 pm on Sunday 29th November in the case of boarders and for lessons on Monday 30th November for day pupils.
Guests at the WCA Shaken and Stirred Ball on Friday 27th November should now have received their wine list and pre-ordering forms by email. A copy of the lsit can be found here. Please return these with payment to Steve Blosse by Monday 23rd November. If you have not yet received your form, or have any questions, please contact Denise Cook. There will be changing facilities in the Bigside Pavilion for Lower Sixth parents who are attending the ball and the parents' conference. Please contact Steve Blosse for details.
On Saturday 28 November in the Wellington College Chapel at 7.30pm, Crowthorne Choral Society is to perform Haydn's Great Organ Mass, Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer,Finzi's Lo the Full final Sacrifice and Handel's Hallelujah Chorus for BBC Children in Need. Tickets are £10 for adults and £2 for students and can be purchased in advance from 01344 778185.
We are aware that for some parents it might be easier for their son or daughter to travel by public transport to avoid Friday traffic and it is of course also a more environmentally friendly option. We will therefore be offering a minibus service to Wokingham station. From there, pupils can get trains to Reading (which is a major hub for the rest of the country and also has a regular Rail air bus link to Heathrow) which run about every 15 minutes or to London Waterloo. The most obvious train times for us to focus on will be those leaving Wokingham between 5:15 pm and 5:45 pm. There is also the Crowthorne train service to Wokingham (taking just 5 minutes) which runs at 4:43 pm and 15:38 pm which some pupils could use. From Crowthorne it is also possible to go to Guildford / Gatwick airport and beyond. Those pupils wishing to take advantage of a minibus trip need to inform their HMs by the evening of Tuesday 24th November at the latest, indicating what time train they would hope to catch from Wokingham and their destination. We can then work out the logistics.
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. Tickets are all sold out for our first debate '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.
There are a number of pupils who have bad colds or flu like symptoms at present. The school is doing all it can to minimise the spread of illness, but it would be a great help if children who are ill can be kept at home until they are clear of all symptoms.
You should have recently received correspondence from the College's Finance Office about the introduction of a facility to pay school fees by monthly or termly Direct Debit. There is quite a tight deadline to achieve - return date Friday 27th November. If you would like to start this for the Lent Term 2010 fees, please complete and return the mandate form in the pre-paid envelope provided. Should you not receive this information by Thursday 19th November or have any queries regarding the Direct Debit Scheme, please contact Sally Clark, Fees Supervisor.
During the summer the Old Wellingtonian Cricket Club commissioned the internationally renowned cricketing artist Jocelyn Galsworthy to paint the scene of the 2009 Speech Day on Turf in order to commemorate the 150th anniversary of College. Indeed those of you who strolled around Turf on Speech Day may well have seen her at work. Her outstanding work is now complete and the original painting is now hanging in the Monro Sports Pavilion. n electronic copy can be seen to the right of this paragraph. The OWCC has commissioned a limited edition of 250 prints of the painting, each of which has been signed by the artist. These signed prints are on sale for £100. All profits from the sale of these prints will go towards the funding of cricket equipment at the new Wellington Academy. Jocelyn's presence on Speech Day resulted in a substantial amount of interest and the majority of the prints were sold before the painting was finished. However there are signed prints still available - if you would like to order one please e-mail Mark Milliken-Smith, Chairman of OWCC, as soon as possible at milli@haslemere.com.
Also commissioned in Wellington's 150th year to celebrate the opening of the new Sports Pavilion, and to help raise funds for further Wellington developments, "Bigside" is available as a limited edition fine art print of 350. Playing downhill, Wellington are poised to score. In the distance, College proudly looks on, surrounded by glorious golden colours of autumn. The artist Sophie Collier OW says "My aim was to paint something that Wellingtononian's everywhere could instantly connect to: a bright, cold November afternoon on Bigside seemed the perfect emblem I was looking for. " The prints are fine art quality, A1 in size and available unframed (£195) and framed (£450). 50% of any profits made will go to Wellington College Foundation. The original oil painting is available to view in the new Pavilion, where it was recently unveiled, and an example of the framed print can be seen in the College Shop. Sophie was a member of the Apsley from '96-'98, and it was during this time that her love of painting took hold. Upon leaving the school she studied Fine Art at Oxford University (St. Catherine's College), and after graduating immediately took up a post teaching in the Wellington Art Schools. Pretty soon afterwards she married Beresford Housemaster and English teacher Tim Head. Subsequent success in her art business has meant that Sophie no longer teaches, but works full time from a studio on the College campus. Prints are available for immediate collection or postal dispatch. To purchase, please send a cheque made payable to "Wellington College" for £195 (unframed) or £450 (framed) to Sophie Head, Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG45 7PU. Please also include contact details. If you'd like your print to be posted please add £5 for P&P. Prints are also available from the College Shop, and from the College website . Any questions should be directed to Sophie.
A whole school photograph and the house photographs that were taken at the start of term 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!
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.
The Head of Educational Support is available for consultations on Saturdays from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm. Please contact Carole Blunden-Lee if you would like to see her then.
Sport.
Saturday 21st November sees a hockey fixture with Hurstpierpoint, a rugby fixture with Epsom (with additional games against Berkhamstead and Brighton College) lacrosse against Marlborough and the shooting team take on AWRE - hopefully with rifles.
On Tuesday 24th November the lacrosse teams go to Heathfield St Mary's and the rackets team travel to Tonbridge whilst the squash teams welcome Lord Wandsworth. Also on this day in a calendar additon our U15 Daily Mail Cup rugby team play their round 5 match when they travel to Stowe School for a 2.30 pm Kick Off
With the Weekend Leave on Saturday, Thursday 26th November sees two midweek block fixtures in hockey and rugby - both with Cranleigh. It is also a chance for the fencers to take on Winchester.
Details of the matches can be found on the intranet.
Further Ahead
The next golfing event for the parents will be held on Saturday 5th December. Meet at the Wellington Course at 8:30 am for a round of the course and then this is followed by an invitation from the Master to join him at the Lodge at 1:00pm for Christmas drinks.
Building on the support and success of the Macmillan Coffee Mornings, we will be holding a Christmas Fair in the V & A on Saturday 5th December. Doors open from 10:00 am to 5;00 pm, we have a variety of stalls that promise to deliver unique and different gifts for those special Christmas presents. All welcome, family and friends, please come and support the event and we hope, purchase a few gifts. There will be something for everyone and it is a wonderful way to meet other members of the College community in comfortable surroundings. Perhaps this could be linked into having a pre-match lunch in school? Proceeds will be divided between Hope & Homes and The Angels Charity. If you want any more information, please contact Steve Blosse.
There is the Advent Procession with Carols on Sunday 6th December. This service is for pupils in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Forms and all their parents are welcome.
In the coming weeks, the following events are scheduled by the Music Department. For further information about the Music Department or music events, please make contact with Katrina Butt (Music Administrator) via phone (01344 444201) or email.
Sunday 6th December, 8:00 pm: Advent Procession With Carols in the Chapel
Sunday13th December, 8:00 pm: Community Carols in the Chapel
Tuesday 15th December, 7:30 pm: Christmas Jazz Concert in the V&A
Duncan Christie-Miller, the Director of Christie-Miller Management Consultancy has offered to deliver a series of six workshops based on his company's very successful "Fifth Dynamic" Programme to enhance our 5th and 6th form pupils' leadership skills and employability. They will take place from 4.30 until 6.00 pm every Friday from Friday 22nd January until Friday 5th March. This course is free of charge, but future courses will cost £150. Pupils have been asked to apply for places. If you'd like more information on Christie-Miller, please visit the website.
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 try to use 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.. 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 here.
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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