Wellesley Weekly 20th January 2020

Upcoming Events

Block 2 & 3 parents’ conference on Sat 1st February

There are Parent/Teacher meetings for Block 2 and 3 on Saturday 1st February. They will be held at 11.45 am and will take place in the Old Hall.

Easter cricket course

After the huge success of last year’s course, we are delighted to announce the dates for our Easter Cricket course – Monday 20th April and Tuesday 21st April 2020. This follows the news that Wellesley has been recognised by the internationally renowned magazine, “The Cricketer”, as one of the top 50 cricket playing prep schools in the UK. The full article can be downloaded here. The course is for boys and girls of all levels, aged between 6 and 13, and will be led by Wellesley’s team of qualified and experienced coaches. Please click here for full details on the course.  The booking form can be found by clicking here.

The Friends of Wellesley Quiz

The Friends of Wellesley Quiz will be held on Friday 20th March at 7pm. Once again Jean Latteur and his team will host the evening, accompanied by delicious curry and fizz. Team tables can be organised for between 10-12 guests. Tickets are £20 per head. Please contact Belinda Wakeling, belindawakeling@hotmail.com, with your team name, details and money if you would like to take part.

School Last Week

Coffee Morning

Mrs Franklin was delighted to welcome such a warm and full gathering of parents to her coffee morning on Friday. There was such a convivial atmosphere and many prospective parents enjoyed the opportunity to meet current parents and members of the “home team”. Thank you to all who were able to attend.

Inspire Lecture: Mr N Duttson

As part of our Inspire Lecture programme, we were delighted to welcome Mr Neil Duttson, a current Wellesley parent, who delivered a fascinating fireside lecture to our Block 1 pupils in the Headmaster’s drawing room on Friday evening. Mr Duttson shared his experiences of working with diamonds and setting up his own business “Duttson Rocks” and more recent business ventures, including “Eden Rocks”. Mr Duttson shared stories, slides and video footage of his professional journey and varied work and was inundated with questions from our Block 1 pupils and the staff who attended. Aside from the business element, there were several scientific and geographical learning points associated with the diamond process. Mr Duttson spoke about the importance of having a passion, of hard work and of the need to adapt to an ever changing market and society. A particular highlight was when he shared and opened a bullet proof case full of diamond rings, ranging in value. All of the pupils (and the female staff!) were especially interested in trying the rings on! The evening concluded with hot chocolate and cookies for the boarders. We were very grateful to Mr Duttson for giving his time. The INSPIRE lecture series will continue next term. Parents are warmly invited to get in touch with the Office if they are keen to offer their services for a talk to the pupils.

Chapel

We were delighted to welcome Mr Bob Carr to Chapel on Saturday. Mr Carr is Head of Juniors at Sutton Valence School (Years 7 & 8) and was previously a Housemaster in the Senior School. A graduate of Durham University, he is also a History and Politics teacher. Mr Carr spoke with enthusiasm about the importance of kindness using several thought provoking anecdotes to convey his message. A copy of the poem that Mr Carr read at the end of his sermon will be on the Headmaster’s board throughout this week. Thank you to Mr Carr for joining us at Chapel and making the journey to Broadstairs.

Sunday Outing

The outing for the boarders this Sunday was to the VUE cinema. They chose to see ‘Spies in Disguise’. They thoroughly enjoyed the film – as did the staff who accompanied them!

School This Week

Music on Monday

Music this Monday was provided by Raf Cable. He treated us to the piece Egyptian Level by Kevin Wooding from his Grade 1 piano ABRSM exam. Well done, Raf.

Music Certificate

Congratulations to Max Miller for achieving a merit in his grade 1 piano exam. Well done, Max.

Team of the Week

The winners of this week’s ‘Team of the Week’ are the U13 girl’s netball team for their tremendous victory in their opening fixture of the season. Well done, girls.
They will be rewarded with cookies and squash in the Headmaster’s drawing room during Tuesday morning break.

The Rowland Constantine Shield – General Knowledge

Good luck to the General Knowledge team, who travel to King’s, Rochester on Monday afternoon to compete in the 1st round of the Rowland Constantine Shield. The team is Tom Leonard, Archie Butterfill, Lilia Hunter and Raf Cable.

Rugby Colours

Congratulations to Jonjo Wylie, Harry Heming and Kyle Cullen who were awarded colours for rugby in this morning’s assembly.

Burns Night

We are all looking forward to our Burns Night celebrations on Tuesday, with a supper of haggis, tatties and neeps followed by bagpipes and Scottish dancing, as we see the fruits of last week’s rehearsals. All Tuesday evening activities are cancelled as a consequence and day pupils attending the event will be available to be collected at 7.15 pm. If you have any queries regarding the day bus, please contact the office.

Pre-Prep to Wingham Wildlife Park

The Pre-prep are heading off to Wingham Wildlife Park on Monday morning to enjoy a day out. They will be visiting the different animals that live there and listening to two talks, Jungles and their Inhabitants and Penguins in the Wild, that tie in with the topics they are studying in class.

Friends of Wellesley

The Friends of Wellesley AGM takes place on Friday at 11.30 am in the Library.

Exeat

Exeat begins at 1.30 pm on Friday and boarders return to school at 8.00 pm on Sunday evening or by 8.20 am on Monday morning. Please would parents ensure they have informed the school secretary of their child’s travel/collection arrangements.

Everest in the Alps Ski Touring Challenge

Described as the toughest four days on skis, current Wellesley parents, Colin and Camilla Norton will be joining illustrious team members who have completed this monumental ascent and face the height of Everest for the ultimate winter endurance challenge. Fighting their way up 2200m vertical per day for four consecutive days they will be driven onward by the desire to raise funds for the Silas Pullen Fund and the Everest Centre, both of which work to raise awareness, fund and carry out research to find cures for brain tumours. Please click here for further information.

Menu

This week the kitchen will be serving Menu 3.

Matches Last Week

On Social Media