From the Headmaster’s Study
Last Friday evening, we hosted our annual Middle and Senior School poetry recital competition. There were 30 performers in total with a refreshingly wide range of poem choice and method of delivery on display. The overall standard was superb (many staff suggesting it was the highest in recent memory), and aside from demonstrating such linguistic ability, the pupils also displayed huge courage to perform in front of an Old Hall packed with their peers, parents, grandparents, siblings and staff. Our guest adjudicator, Mr Tom Wayman – an English teacher and Housemaster from Wellington College, commented on the high quality of the performers and the brilliant atmosphere of the event. This week, in amongst all of the events outlined in this edition of “Wellesley Weekly”, we are delighted to launch our new website, which is designed to give you a snapshot of life at Wellesley and showcase our special community. We hope that you like it and would be delighted to hear any comments or feedback that you have.
Gavin Franklin
Notices
E-mail Security
We have been asked by the Independent Schools Council and the Boarding School Association to remind parents of the need to check the origination of emails, which may on first glance look to come from the school. If you have any doubts as to the originator or the questions posed within the email, please contact the school. Just to remind parents that the school has recently changed its banking arrangements and in an attempt to mitigate fraudulent attempts, any invoice from the school will no longer include our bank account details.
If you have any queries regarding our bank account details, please check the parent portal for further information.
Friends of Wellesley Quiz Night
The annual Friends of Wellesley Quiz Night takes place at 7 pm on Saturday 23rd March this year. Further information will follow in due course but please save the date for this fun-filled evening.
School Last Week
Chinese New Year
We celebrated Chinese New Year on Tuesday, starting the day with a special morning assembly. Some of our senior students spoke to us about the importance of Chinese New Year as a family event, and we were then entertained impressively with a traditional Chinese dance. We were later treated to our annual Chinese New Year lunch, and we thank everyone who helped with our celebrations.
Rugby Festivals
The Under 11 and Under 9 rugby teams both played in festivals at Junior King’s last week. The Under 11s performed well in a very competitive event on Wednesday, losing just one of their six games, while the Under 9s gained valuable experience and made good progress during their matches on Saturday.
School Council
The School Council held its first meeting of the term on Friday during Morning Break in the Library. Among the items discussed were our participation in Red Nose Day this year, which we are all very much looking forward to. More details to follow.
School council meeting in full flow #pupilvoice #inclusive pic.twitter.com/kKIjEbwdCS
— Wellesley Haddon Dene (@WellesleySchool) February 8, 2019
Poetry Recitation Competition
The annual Poetry Recitation Competition took place on Friday. Competition was very fierce to qualify for the finals, and the standard was extremely high with excellent choices of poems. In the Under 11 competition, Archie Butterfill was the runner-up, while Margot Grand took the honours with her rendition of ‘Messy Fingers’ by Debra S. Higginbotham. The senior competition was won by Tabitha Butterfill with ‘Cinderella’ by Roald Dahl, just ahead of Toni Alaka. We would especially like to thank our adjudicator, Tom Wayman, a Housemaster and former Head of English at Wellington College, who had the difficult task of deciding the winners and runners-up from strong fields, and also all the parents who were in attendance for this event.
Sunday Outing
The boarders travelled to Ashford on Sunday for an adrenaline-filled trip to the Flip Out Trampoline Park.
School This Week
Scholarship Success
We are delighted to announce that Poppy Brooke Turner has been awarded a Headmaster’s Exhibition at King’s, Canterbury for choral and artistic excellence. Congratulations, Poppy.
Additionally at King’s, Tabitha Butterfill and James Felton have been awarded places on the Excellence Programmes for Art and Sport respectively. Well done, Tabitha and James.
Further Scholarship assessments take place this week and immediately after half-term, with children travelling to their senior schools to compete for academic and sport awards. We wish each candidate success.
Mark Reading
The second marks of term have been given and the standings are as follows:
1st Vikings
2nd Saxons
3rd Danes
4th Romans
Special mention goes to the following pupils who have achieved the highest set of marks for their year: Felix Butterfill, Freddie Southorn, William Franklin, Sylvia Olson, Heath Voisey-Stovell, Margot Grand, Paloma Llari de Sangenis, Jonjo Wylie and Catherine Ye.
The most improved pupils in each year group were Stan Shoring, Heath Voisey-Stovell, Sam Llewellyn, George Long, Raul Forsythe-Artiga and Betty Zhang, while the highest scoring tutor group was JS.
Music on Monday
Music on Monday was provided by Simon Ji, who demonstrated his DJing skills. Well done, Simon.
Team Photographs
Team photographs will be taken on Wednesday. Please note that this is a day earlier than previously advertised. Would parents please ensure that pupils have all the necessary kit in school.
The procedure for ordering photographs will be e-mailed to parents when the photographs are ready to be viewed and purchased.
Townsend Warner History Prize
Toni Alaka and Barnaby Carter have qualified from the first paper for the Townsend Warner History Prize and therefore move on to the second paper, which they will take very soon. Over 1000 children across the country entered the first paper, and the top 250 qualified for the second paper. Good luck to them both.
Horse Riding
Certificates from Nelson Park Riding Centre were presented in Monday’s assembly to Harriet Brooks, India Ollivier, Platon Shatokhin, Stan Shoring and Lottie Southorn.
Music Concert
The first informal music concert for this term will take place in the Music School at 1.30 pm on Tuesday.
Netball Tournament
The Wellesley Under 13 Netball tournament takes place on Wednesday, with twelve schools taking part. Please note that the tournament begins at 1.30 pm.
Team of the Week
The winners of this week’s ‘Team of the Week’ are the members of the Under 11 Rugby team, for their strong effort in the Milner 7s Festival on Wednesday and in the match against Northbourne Park on Saturday. They will be rewarded with cookies and squash in the Headmaster’s drawing room during a morning break.
Half-Term
Half-term begins at 1.30 pm on Friday and boarders return to school at 8.00 pm on Sunday 24th February or by 8.20 am on Monday 25th February. Please would parents ensure they have informed the school secretary of their child’s travel/collection arrangements.
Menu
This week the kitchen will be serving Menu 3.
Matches Last Week
Tuesday 5th February
Squash v St Lawrence: 1st V – lost 1 – 4
Wednesday 6th February
Netball v Northbourne Park: U13 A – won 23 – 6
Netball v Northbourne Park: U13 B – lost 3 – 21
Netball v Dover College U9-drew 1 – 1
Rugby v Dover College: U13 – won 12 – 1
Rugby Milner 7s Festival at Junior King’s: U11 – won 1 , drew 4, lost 1
Thursday 7th February
Netball v St Faith’s: U9 – lost 4 – 9
Rugby v Junior King’s: U9 – Tag, won 7 – 6; Contact, lost 3 – 15
Saturday 9th February
Netball v Duke of York’s U13 A – won 19 – 5
Netball v Duke of York’s U13 B – won 6 – 3
Rugby v Northbourne Park: U13 – lost 3 – 5
Rugby v Northbourne Park: U11 – won 6 – 2
Rugby – Fledgling Festival at Junior King’s: U9
Great fun for these boys @JuniorKingsSch today #rugby pic.twitter.com/ZxhkfDB807
— Wellesley Haddon Dene (@WellesleySchool) February 9, 2019
Matches This Week
Please always refer to the website calendar as it is the most up-to-date place to check for fixture changes and locations.
Tuesday 12th February
Squash v Junior King’s: 1st V (a) (Note: 2.30 pm start)
Wednesday 13th February
Netball – Wellesley Haddon Dene Tournament: U13 (h) (Note: 1.30 pm start)
Netball – St Faith’s Triangular: U11 (a)
Rugby – Foster Cup at Junior King’s: U13 (a) (Note: 2.00 pm start)
Rugby v Spring Grove: U11/U10 (h)
Thursday 14th February
Netball – Kent College Tournament: U9 (a)