The Week Ahead
Friday 25th September until Monday 5th October
I could not resist giving you a sneak preview of the full school photograph taken earlier this term. There are details lower in the e-mail as to how you can order a copy on-line.
Meat-Free Mondays - it is our aspiration to move towards one day a week when we exclude meat from our menu. We are not seeking to convert everyone to a vegetarian diet - indeed, the Green Czar, Anthony Peter, has no intention of giving up meat altogether - but there is strong evidence to suggest that the meat industry as it currently exists contributes significantly to the production of greenhouse gases. Evidence to support this is available on the intranet. . We are aware that this is a contentious issue, but would like to draw people with us and will be introducing new style vegetarian options in the next few weeks. We are not committed to a sudden change - as conveniently easy as that would be - and hope to persuade people that it might be a good thing to modify our eating habits just a little for sustainability reasons. We hope to have enough backing for this to introduce at least one meat-free meal a week after Exeat this term. May we ask that views be channelled through Philip Stockwell, the Catering Manager?
The Master's Voice.
The BBC's Mark Lawson on Tuesday was the latest luminary to visit the school, talking about the revolution in technology in broadcasting. Two points he made particularly struck home. The first was about the Clinton White House eventually deciding they would stop rebutting foolish questions from the media. The final straw, Lawson said, was when the White House were asked about whether aliens had landed on the White House lawn. The White House press office said it was rubbish, which resulted in a mass of stories about 'White House desperate to deny stories about aliens landing at the White House'. I thought of this earlier in the week when I learnt that the Daily Telegraph wanted to talk to me about the Tories apparently making me a minister in the next government. The story is doubly nonsense: they are not thinking about it and I have absolutely no intention of leaving here. Following advice that it is better to talk otherwise they can get things even more wrong, I gave them a statement but they skewed my response. I am sympathetic to what the Tories are thinking of doing in education, but I have absolutely no intention of leaving Wellington until I have done the job I was asked to do, and when I do leave, I do not think it will become a minister! Another point Mark made was much more serious. He spoke about a joyful prize-giving where he was guest of honour in Gloucestershire this summer. He remembered one particular girl who came up to him thrilled to bits to receive three prizes. That same girl is the one who threw herself off a motorway bridge last week because of cyber-bullying. I will underline the message here when I next speak to the pupils, as will my colleagues. It is an unbelievably tragic story, and we repeatedly need to remind children of the terrible damage their bullying can do.
General Events
The whole school will be taking part in the WOW weekend from lunch time on Friday 25th September. The details are managed by the Heads of Year who you should contact if you want further details. Some information can be found on the intranet.
The Third Form will be at Wellington on Friday night and out camping on the Saturday night.
The Fourth Form are involved with the CCF and will be away all weekend.
The Fifth Form CCF are also away whilst those not in the CCF will be involved during the days in a full programme.
The Lower Sixth are busy planning all aspects of their camping/walking trips for the WOW Weekend and will be away all weekend. We have made it clear to the pupils that their accommodation options are either tents, or, if they fancy a hint of luxury, a Youth Hostel! Last year several groups made use of holiday homes and so on - please do not say yes to such requests this year!
The Upper Sixth have a one day leadership programme and sessions on the UCAS University application process. They will be free from 6:00 pm on Saturday.
This term sees a return of the highly popular WCA golf mornings; the first is this Saturday September 26th, and the next will be on October 17th. Please meet at the Course at 8.30 am For more details, please contact David Rennie on drennie@tesco.net
Sunday 27th September sees a Full School Service of the Word in the Chapel at 8:00 pm to which the parents of the Stanley are cordially invited. The preacher is John Woodburn from Gideon's International.
The Informal Concert scheduled for Monday 28th September has been postponed. The next Informal Concert will be held on Monday 12th October.
However still on on Monday 28th September is a lecture entitled "Bridging the Divide between Science & Art" by Mark Lythgoe at 7:30 pm for 8:00 pm in theTheatre.
Mark is an eminent neuroscientist. His website can be found at www.mlythgoe.com
On Wednesday 30th September, at 7:30 pm for 8:00 pm in the Driver Lecture Room we have a Master's Lecture when we welcome Brigadier James Cowan, OBE, OW who is talking to the tile "The challenge of counter insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan". After an education at Wellington College and Pembroke College Oxford he got a commission into The Black Watch in 1987. After a variety of posts including Berlin, Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and Lesotho. He took command of The Black Watch in 2003. This included a deployment to Iraq with fighting in Basrah and Al Amarah during the Sh'ia uprising of 2004. At the end of this period, an American request for troops resulted in The Black Watch being sent north to near Fallujah where The Black Watch worked under American command at Camp Dogwood. Six of his soldiers were killed and 18 wounded during this operation. This coincided with considerable public interest in the conduct of the campaign and controversy over the future of his regiment, then due for amalgamation. From December 2005 until October 2007 he was Chief of Staff of the 3rd (UK) Division. In that time he deployed to Iraq where the Division planned and conducted Operation SINBAD, a comprehensive attempt to restore order in Basra. In October 2007 he took command of 11 Brigade, a new formation created to conduct counter-insurgency in Afghanistan. Consisting of 9,000 troops, the Brigade commands: 1st Royal Horse Artillery; The Household Cavalry; 1st Bn Grenadier Guards; 1st Bn Coldstream Guards; 3rd Battalion The Rifles; 1st Bn The Royal Welsh; 2nd Bn The Yorkshires; 28 Engineer Regiment; and 10th Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment. He deploys to Helmand with his Brigade in October of this year.
The next meeting of the business networking group The Business Forum will be on Thursday 1st October at 7:15 am in the Wellesley Dining Room. The theme for the June event will be "Google Local - are you picking the 'low hanging fruit' of search?" and the talk will be given by Peter Gaskin, Director of Team Discovery Ltd. Is your website getting the best exposure on the search engines? Can you better utilise the internet to drive potential customers to your business? Peter Gaskin will lead a discussion on this theme and invite attendees to put forward their own views and experiences. The Business Forum combines a relaxed informal gathering for business networking with a forum for discussing key business topics. It meets once a month on the first Thursday of each month at 7.15am, finishing by 9.15am. The cost is £18 and includes a full English breakfast. For more information and a booking form please go to thewebsite on or contact Sue Viney on sue@vineycommunications.co.uk or 07774 267280.
The 150th Anniversary on line auction in aid of Hope and Homes for Children begins on Thursday 1st October. It may feel as if the fund-raising has been relentless this year, but the difference with this on line auction (which will operate like a private eBay exclusive to the Wellington community) is that it is recession friendly. If every family can give something ranging from a few hours' expertise (legal, interior design, gardening etc) to rugby tickets, even a home made Christmas pudding, we will reach the target; once the bidding starts on 1st November, you will be able to pick up bargains for Christmas presents and beyond. Pupils, staff and parents have already made original and exciting contributions and it would be fabulous if you could think of something to offer. To give you an idea, contributions made so far include flights and a holiday in Barbados, work experiences and glorious holiday homes around the world but also include singing lessons, car washing during Saturday matches, beauty treatments, Christmas present wrapping and dinner in a local restaurant. Importantly, both donors and bidders can remain anonymous if they wish.If you would like to find out more, please contact Denise Cook on or go to the on line auction page on our website.
Saturday 3rd October sees the start of a Leave Out weekend with pupils being free to go home after their sporting commitments. We welcome the boarders back on Monday 5th October at 9:15 pm.
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 pasword 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 will again go out as a link to the internet page whilst we try and resolve the issues. 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.
The Panorama programme on 16th September talked about the vaccine for swine flu. The vaccine is not yet available to the public; it has not been fully tested and it has not yet been decided whether it should be offered as two jabs, three weeks apart, or just one jab, which ought to offer enough immunity. Once this has been agreed, and the government confirm who is to be given the vaccine, we will be able to ask for parental consent to give the vaccine to those under 16. Those over 16 are allowed to give consent themselves although we will seek to get parental consent for them too.
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.
Two course Saturday Lunches for £5!? Parents and their children are most welcome to have lunch in the main College Dining Room on Saturdays, Perhaps this provides a good opportunity to meet up in the warm with other families before going out to support the afternoon matches.? Do come any time between 12:45 pm and 1:30 pm. Please make yourself known to the Duty Manager who will ask for your payment and explain the servery lay out and menus to you. (It is probably best to avoid Saturday 19th September and Saturday 10th October as these are terribly busy Visitors' days)
Likewise, parents are welcome to use the V & A café. This is very much a facility for use by all members of the College community. The opening hours for the purchase of hot and cold drinks and snacks are Monday to Friday between 9:00am and 11:45 am and between 2:30 pm and 10:00 pm. It is also open on Saturday mornings between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. It is advisable to avoid the morning break rush, 10:40 to 11:10. At lunchtime, 12:00 and 1:45, counter service is suspended for sales as this becomes an alternative to the Main Dining Hall for pupil and staff lunches. On Saturday afternoons and on Sundays, there is no counter service but the V & A is still open with flasks of tea and coffee available, free of charge.
For parents who had children at Wellington during the years 2001 - 2006 and these children are currently in High Education, I remind you that applications for grants, for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies are welcomed by the Schools Competition Act Settlement Trust. Please refer to their website for more information and for applications forms. This is hopefully the correct web-address now!
For parents who subscribe to the Schools' Fees Protection Insurance Scheme, offered through HBSC, we have recently been advised that in light of the current swine flu epidemic, with effect from 1 January 2010, there will be a 7 day excess applied to all claims for school closure. We certainly hope that our contingency plans will mean that we are not required to close, but we have been asked to draw this to parents' attention.
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 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 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
With the WOW weekend there are no sporting fixtures on Saturday 26th September.
Tuesday 29th September sees our U15A hockey team take on Kingston GS, the rackets team travel to Clifton, the golfers spread themselves between Bradfield and Epsom and the squash team welcome the Oratory.
Also in a calendar addition, the rugby J.Colts open their Daily Mail Cup campaign on Tuesday 29th September, away at Burnham Grammar School.
On Thursday October 1st, some rugby teams play Gordon's and Whitgift, the lacrosse teams travel to Cranleigh and both golfers and badminton players compete with Harrow.
Saturday 3rd October sees a big hockey fixture with Sevenoaks and a rugby block fixture with Sherborne, as well as a few additional rugby games with Berkhamstead and Abingdon.
Details of the matches can be found on the intranet.
Further Ahead
Tuesday 13th October is the Upper Sixth Parents' conference. Detials about it can be found here.
For further information about the Music Department or music events, please make contact with Katrina Butt (Music Administrator) via phone (01344 444201) or email.
The Music school would like to draw your attention to the following dates later in this term:
Wednesday 7th October, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Ian Clarke (flautist) visit to Wellington College
Thursday 8th October, 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm - Roderick Williams (baritone) visit to Wellington College
Friday 9th October, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm - London Mozart Players visit to Wellington College
Wednesday 14th October, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Chapel Choir sings Evensong
Thursday 15th October - Prep Schools' Orchestral Day at Wellington College
As for Master's Lectures later this term on Friday 6th November we welcome Robert Hardman, Journalist and Author , who is talking to "Modern Monarchy in the Media Age" and then on Thursday 19th November we have "An Evening with Iain Duncan Smith, MP".
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. Detials 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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