Wellesley Weekly 7th June 2021

announcements

Update on school fixtures and spectators

With the government’s announcement to progress to stage 3 of the roadmap, we are delighted to be able to allow spectators for our fixtures at Wellesley. We still need to be cautious, however, and remind parents not to come into the main school building. Toilets will be available in the sports hall. I’m sorry that we won’t be offering sharing platters for match teas at this stage but will have a self-service tea and coffee station under the gazebo outside of the dining hall. In order for us to ascertain numbers of spectators, we will be asking you to complete a google form stating your intention to attend the fixture. Spectators at away fixtures are determined by the host school – all schools are operating to their own risk assessment. If away schools are accepting Wellesley spectators, you will have the option to complete your information on our google form – if you don’t have the option, it is because that school is not accepting spectators at this time. Thank you.

SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY 26TH JUNE

The Friends of Wellesley’s Summer Party is on Saturday 26th June in the Dining Hall at Wellesley.
Wine for each table is now available to pre-order in advance and for those who are attending, an email has been sent out. Please let us know your wine orders as soon as possible and for those who have not yet had the opportunity to do so please also let us know your menu choices.
Raffle tickets will be on sale on the night for some fabulous prizes from Afternoon tea at Felicity’s Cafe at Quex Park to burning it all off in a private HITT personal training session on the beach, tickets to premier league football matches and T20 blasts to fine dining at Broadstairs very own Stark restaurant. Staple Stores have generously offered a loaf of their ever popular and delicious, freshly baked sourdough bread once a week for a year!
A game of Heads and Tails will precede the dinner so plenty of cash is needed!
We are very much looking forward to getting as many of our community together to raise some funds for the school but most importantly to enjoy a fun evening together.

Swimming

This term, we are pleased to be able to offer swimming lessons (for the whole school), on Monday and Tuesday afternoons from 3:30-5:10. All lessons are group lessons.
£14 (per child) for a half hour, group lessons.
We are currently taking a waiting list for Tuesdays.
If you are interested in booking lessons, please contact Geraldine via hmsecretary@wellesleyhouse.net or directly to the swimming instructor at jfc@wellesleyhouse.net

COVID-19

We thought that it would be valuable to share with parents our COVID-19 flow charts, which map out the necessary course of action, dependent on the situation for pupils and staff who are displaying COVID-19 symptoms in school.
Staff
Positive cases – children
Positive cases – boarders
Symptoms of COVID – children

School Last Week

Six of the Best

In all my years of teaching Art and Design it’s hard to remember a more productive half term than the one we’ve just had. Every single child in the school has worked with a determination to produce work they can be proud of with both good humour and an open mind. They have designed stamps, made puppets, sculpted, painted, printed and lots more. The art room is brimming with excellent work and so the job of choosing just one piece has been very challenging. Two pupils who deserve a special mention but narrowly missed out are Max Miller in Block 3 who has produced a brilliantly observed charcoal drawing over the holidays and Alejandro in Block 1 who has consistently made excellent progress and his model fish, made in polymer clay, is outstanding. However there can be only one and the winner of this term’s Six of the Best is Sunny Zhao for her Pop Art inspired still life drawing.

Nature camera

We have set up a nature camera at various locations around the school. The pupils have enjoyed discovering what animals we have within our beautiful grounds and the exciting things they get up to in the evening and early morning.
So far we have identified foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, crows, pigeons and magpies. We are currently watching what appears to be an active parakeet nest. There is a lot of activity and nesting material has been seen going inside. Only time will tell if they are indeed nesting and we hope to see some chicks soon.
We are also looking at relocating our nest box cam, which we have had for a number of years as the nest box has once again remained unused.
It is great to watch the antics of these animals and we look forward to finding other locations around the school. The images we have captured so far can be found here.

Pre-Prep

This week we are looking forward to two trips. JB will be visiting the Beaney Museum in Canterbury to take part in an Egyptian workshop and JH are going to visit the Hulme’s farm to support their English non-fiction work on farms. We are very grateful to Mr and Mrs Hulme for hosting the children. The Pre-prep children are busy practising for their sports morning on Friday 25th June and this Friday we will welcome prospective families for our final Stay & Play session of the term.
The U9 cricket teams have 3 fixtures this week, with some children experiencing their first away matches. We look forward to hearing how they all get on!

Townsend Warner History Competition

Following on from Georgie Carter’s and Archie Butterfill’s success in paper 1, the two went ahead and took part in paper 2. This was an essay based paper and lasted for two hours! The boys did very well to complete their tasks and we will keep our fingers crossed for them. We hope to hear the results after half-term.

Team of the Week

Congratulations to a select group of middle school pupils who have collected the highest number of values-based good marks in the first half of this term. The highest performing pupils for demonstrating the Wellesley Haddon Dene values of courage, kindness, respect, teamwork and enjoyment are Tillie Spanton and Rex Long (JL); Melody Flowers, Lila Grady, Freddie Loudon (Block 4); Grace Flowers and William Franklin (Block 3). They will enjoy squash and cookies with the Headmaster during a break time this week.

School Council

The School Council met just before half term to discuss ideas for how to spend the generous donations of the Friends of Wellesley. They also brainstormed ideas to improve different areas of school life to enhance their Wellesley Haddon Dene experience. Thank you to all the pupils for representing their forms so articulately and confidently.

School This Week

Common Entrance

We wish all of our Block 1 pupils the best of luck with their Common Entrance exams that take place this week in the Old Hall at Wellesley.

JB to Beaney Museum

To further enhance our history topic learning about the Egyptians we are heading to a workshop run by the Beaney Museum in Canterbury. The children are extremely excited about the prospect of being mummified!

JH trip to Hulme Farm

In our English lessons, we have been studying The Wild Robot and its sequel, The Wild Robot Escapes, by Peter Brown. In the second book, the robot ends up living on a cattle farm for sometime so we learnt a bit more about dairy farming. The Hulmes very kindly agreed to show us around their farm with a chance to see some cows and learn how silage is made. The children are very excited and have written some questions for the session. Thanks to the Hulmes and to Mr Spencer for accompanying us.

Learning Support

We have a couple of spaces available if your child would like some additional English tuition with Mrs Smith. These are usually 1/2 hour 1:1 sessions and are billed accordingly. These sessions complement class teaching and can often give your child a little boost.
Please get in touch with Ms Moosuddee if this is something you feel would be beneficial for your child.

Study Skills

This week all pupils will be having sessions with Ms Moosuddee discussing Study Skills, revision tips and having a go at Mindful Meditations! Hopefully everyone will be fully prepared, calm and ready to focus.

Atom Nucleus

Atom Nucleus provides unlimited access to personalised learning at home from Years 3-8, combining high-quality teacher-written content with an adaptive algorithm tailored to your child. Click here to see how it works. Parents will gain access to:
Course areas across English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning (and soon Science).
Unlimited mock tests that closely mirror key senior school entry assessments.
Granular performance insight on strengths and areas to work on.
Live and on-demand video tutorials for supplementary support.
We have a discount code which will give you 20% off your first month if you would like to try it out: WwcsvSyg (This code is valid until 31st July 2021.)
If you would like any further information on this please email Mrs Sabin-Dawson (ksd@wellesleyhouse.net).

Stay and Play

The final Stay and Play session of term takes place this Friday from 2pm in the Early Years outdoor classroom. We look forward to welcoming toddlers and parents to this session.

Gap students

Please do get in touch with the school office if you know of any enthusiastic 18 year olds that may be interested in working at Wellesley Haddon Dene during the Michaelmas term. We are able to offer accommodation and meals if needed.

Menu

This week the kitchen will be serving Menu 1.

Senior School News

For boys seeking entry to Tonbridge School in 2024 an ’in person’ Open Morning is being held on Saturday 26th June. For further information please contact  admissions@tonbridge-school.org 

Uppingham is inviting families with children for 2021 and 2022 entry to contact them to book visits (admissions@uppingham.co.uk).  Whilst observing Covid protocols, tours of houses are also available. Year 6s (with pre-tests next term) are encouraged to explore Uppingtham via their programme of Virtual Visiting Days – 12th June at 10.30am. 

Benenden is hosting a series of online Prospective Parent Open Mornings, please click here for dates and further information.

Wellington College very much hopes to be able to welcome visitors soon, however, in the interim please view their Virtual Visitors Day via this link.

King’s Rochester is inviting families to pre-book for their Open Morning on Saturday 26th June.  Please contact admissions@kings-rochester.co.uk for further information. 

Inspirational talks for pupils, families and staff

Wellington College continues with its programme of Fireside Talks …

In the final of Wellington College’s Fireside Talks, this week you are invited to join Ed Caesar …Why do we climb mountains?  The talk starts at 8pm and please click here to join, via Teams.

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