I am blaming it on the annual excess of Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey which December always brings, but I have struggled to find a unifying theme for this week’s The Master’s Voice. I can only apologise and hope you will forgive me for presenting a triptych of unconnected, but important thoughts upon three completely unrelated topics: Wellies for Welly; Respect & the touchline; End of Term Reports.
Wellies for Welly
Two weeks ago, in my Master’s Voice entitled ‘The Power of Partnership’, I talked about our relationship with the Royal SpringBoard Foundation and our bursary scheme aimed at widening access so that children of potential from very different and often underprivileged backgrounds can enjoy the remarkable opportunities which a Wellington education provides. In order to raise awareness of this wonderful cause, Murray Lindo and the Community Office organised a whole series of Welly-themed events this week including an inter-House competition for designing a Wellington boot (well done to the Lynedoch) and also a whole-school Welly-Wanging Competition. It was a fun, quirky and highly enjoyable way to bring some joy to the cold, wet days of November, but it also served to highlight an important point. Once the preserve of the elite and the wealthy, the Wellington boot has now become widely available to everyone within society – a powerful metaphor for what we are trying to do with our bursary funds. Running alongside the various Wellies for Welly events, was a community-wide Giving Day and we were stunned that this raised £105,001 via 185 separate donations. Thank you to everyone within the Wellington Community who supported.
Respect & the Touchline
At the beginning of this term, I spoke to pupils in Assembly and also parents in the Year Ahead talks about the College Prefects’ decision to highlight the College Value of Respect as a priority for this academic year. As the term slowly comes to its conclusion, can I reiterate our guidance for touchline behaviour which Mr Sutcliffe, our new Deputy Head (Co-curricular) shared via the Week Ahead recently. 99% of the time Wellington staff, Wellingtonians and Wellington parents get this absolutely right, but our expectations, for the avoidance of doubt, are as follows:
- Encourage players to learn the rules and play within them.
- Discourage unfair play and arguing with officials.
- Set a good example by recognising fair play and applauding good performance by all players.
- Avoid belittling a player for losing or making mistakes.
- Accept publicly official judgements.
- Support the players’ involvement and help them to enjoy the game.
- Use appropriate and decent language at all times.
- Maintain communication with coaches about schedules and fixtures.
- Support all selection decisions made by Wellington coaches.
- Parents, supporters and visitors should not, under any circumstances, enter the playing arena unless invited to do so by the match officials or the member of staff in charge of the activity.
End of Term Reports
It is my intention to write end of term reports for the Third, Fifth and Upper Sixth Forms in the Michaelmas and Summer Terms. I will write end of term reports in the Lent Term for the Fourth and Lower Sixth Forms. I have already completed over 300 of the 627 reports for this term but, as you can imagine, this is a slow process especially as I want to write individual comments for each and every Wellingtonian. I hope that these comments will be a welcome addition to the various end of term reports when they are published.