From the Headmaster’s Study
This has been a challenging fortnight at Wellesley, with much of our school affected by Covid in some capacity and I would like to thank everyone for their adaptability and positivity throughout. We have been forced to run a hybrid of in-school lessons, live online lessons for those well enough at home and parents have also had to help with the oversight of examinations for our Year 7 and 8 pupils who have been isolating at home. Thank you all for your efforts as we look to return to a pretty much full operation in school this week.
We are continuing to take sensible (and at times, forced) precautions to our current practices, which we have been communicating with you. We are planning on running some of our usual end of Michaelmas term events – such as the Christmas Fair, the Christmas Feast, the Nativity and the Carol Service – but these will all be internal events (pupils and staff only) for us to protect the safety of all within our community. Our priority is ensuring a positive end of term for our pupils and hope that you understand. Further information can be found below with regards to our various events.
Gavin Franklin
School Last Week
Choir decorate the Christmas tree
As is tradition, our choristers enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree in the Old Hall on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by hot chocolate and homemade cupcakes from Mrs Spencer and some funky Christmas tunes playing to lift the spirits!
Pre Prep
News from Pre Prep
Pre-Prep Nativity Play
The children have been hard at work rehearsing their lines and songs and will perform their nativity on Thursday and Friday mornings. Sadly, with the safety of all at the forefront of our minds, these performances will be for staff and pupils only – we are sorry that we cannot welcome parents this year. We will be recording / live streaming the performances and will communicate this with parents.
Christmas jumper day
Dig out your finest festive jumpers for our Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day next Friday 10th December. A £1 donation will be added to your bill.
Pre-Prep Christmas Party
Our Christmas party will take place in the afternoon of Monday 13th December. The children are welcome to bring party clothes to change into. We are looking forward to a visit from Father Christmas, super party food and some fun games.
Pre-Prep Individual Photos
Pre-prep individual photos have been sent home. Please keep an eye out for the order form in your child’s book bag or rucksack and return the completed form if you would like to purchase your child’s photo.
School This Week
Contacting the Office
Last month, we waved goodbye to Mrs Hawkins our school secretary, who has moved on to work at the Margate School of Art. This is a new and exciting role for Mrs Hawkins and we wish her well in her new position. Going forward, should you need to contact the office, please may we ask you to email Mrs Baird via hmsecretary@wellesleyhouse.net. Thank you.
Marshside winter wreaths
If you have yet to order your door wreath, please click here to look at the lovely designs offered by Marshside Flowers. Available in a range of sizes and prices – to make your booking, please text 07957 624299.
Informal Concert
We look forward to our rescheduled informal concert on Friday 10th December.
School fixtures
After a two week circuit break with regards to fixtures, we will be playing in our calendared rugby fixtures this week (details below) and you will be notified through the portal, as usual, if your son is involved in a fixture on either on Wednesday or Saturday.
School Examinations
Pupils in Blocks 3 and 4 will be sitting internal examinations this week (either in school or at home).
We would like to thank parents of those pupils at home for their support and help with this during this tricky time.
Save The Children Christmas Jumper Day
We will be having a school Christmas Jumper Day this Friday 10th December to raise money for Save the Children. Children are allowed to wear their home clothes to school on this day with a festive jumper or top. £1 will be added to the school bill for those that would like to take part.
Christmas Feast and Party
We will be holding two Christmas Feast parties in the last week of term. On Monday evening, all Middle School pupils (JL, Block 4 and Block 3) will enjoy a formal Christmas Feast in the dining hall at 5.15pm followed by some games and Christmas music in the Old Hall. The festivities will finish at 6.45pm and collection for these pupils will be at that time from the Cold Corridor.
On Tuesday evening, it will be the turn of the Senior School pupils (Block 1 and 2) who will enjoy their turkey and all the trimmings in the dining hall at 5.15pm followed by some games and Christmas tunes in the Old Hall. The festivities will finish at 6.45pm and collection for all day pupils will be at this time from the Cold Corridor.
Please can all pupils in JL, Block 4 and Block 3 wear Wellesley Best on Monday and can all pupils in Block 1 and 2 wear Wellesley Best on Tuesday.
The Christmas Fair
Whilst we are sorry not to be able to welcome external stall holders to our Christmas Fair, we will be holding our very own event for pupils in Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 4 on Saturday morning in the Old Hall. The pupils will set up their own stalls for all to enjoy and there will be a tombola with a plethora of wonderful prizes very kindly donated by the Friends of Wellesley and our wider parent body. It is sure to be a fun event and we thank the Friends of Wellesley for all of their support!
Carol Service at Wellesley Haddon Dene
We will be running our Carol Service as normal on the last day of term but sadly we will not be able to invite and welcome parents – it will be an internal only event for staff and pupils. The safety of all members of our community is our priority so we hope that you understand our reasons for holding this as an internal event only. Can we remind parents that all pupils in JL to Block 1 inclusive will need to wear Wellesley Best on Wednesday for the final day of term.
No Matches This Week
Wednesday 8th December
Rugby v King’s Rochester: U13 (a) 2:30pm
Rugby v King’s Rochester: U11 (h) 2:30pm
Saturday 11th December
Rugby v Ashford School: U13 (a)
Please always refer to the website calendar as it is the most up-to-date place to check for fixture changes and locations.
If your child has been selected for a fixture, we will email you each Tuesday morning with information regarding the recommended pick up time from Wellesley.
No Matches Last Week
| Fixture | Result |