Wellesley Weekly

1st October 2018

From the Headmaster's Study

It goes without saying that we expect all of pupils to be "ambassadors" for our school, but in wanting to encourage pupils who are not in our top year to have some additional responsibilities, we invited pupils from Block 2 (Year 7) to complete and submit voluntarily a written application form to become a "Wellesley ambassador". We are wanting to promote pupil leadership and pupil responsibility and there are many ways in which we can make better use of our pupils - ranging from presenting more in Assemblies to giving tours to prospective families and connecting with Old Wellesians who visit. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the applications in which the pupils were asked to state their reasons for applying for such a role. Their responses were so heartening that I chose to read out extracts of these (anonymised, of course) to the rest of the school in Assembly this morning. Whilst all responses were different and very individual, the common thread running through them was that the pupils all wanted to contribute more to a school that had offered (and continues to offer) them so many fantastic opportunities. We continue to be so proud of all of our Welleslians and their unique contribution to our school.

Gavin Franklin

Future Events

Harvest Festival

We hope you will be able to support our Harvest Festival on Saturday 13th October by sending in donations of food items (preferably in decorated, shoebox-size cardboard boxes) that can be distributed by local charities. We ask that all items brought into school should be non-perishable: items such as tea bags, tinned and dried food, biscuits and even toothpaste are particularly useful. However, if you are planning to include fresh produce, please do not bring it in any earlier than the week beginning Monday 8th October. Thank you to everyone who has already donated; please keep them coming.

Christmas Fair

The Friends of Wellesley would like you to Save The Date for the Wellesley House Christmas Fair.

This will take place on Saturday 1st December in the Old Hall, between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm.

Christmas Shopping, games, mince pies, music and more!

If you wish to take a stall at the Christmas Fair, please speak with either Claire Franklin or Belinda Wakeling. You can contact them via the school office (office@wellesleyhouse.net).

School Last Week

World's Biggest Coffee Morning

Thank you to everyone who joined Mrs Franklin at home last Friday for this year’s event, which raised funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Thank you also to those who were unable to come but generously donated: a total of £362 was raised.

Travelling Book Fair

All week we hosted a book fair from 'Travelling Books' in the library. This was a great success: all English classes had a session when they looked at the many books available, with other opportunities available throughout the week. The children were full of interest and 140 new books were bought with a total cost of around £900, a proportion of which is retained by the school and will be used for the benefit of the library and for class reading books.

East Kent Ploughing Match

JH accompanied Mr Spencer and Mrs Franklin on Wednesday for a trip to the East Kent Ploughing Match near Dover. The weather was superb and we enjoyed watching the ploughing in the beautiful Kentish countryside. We can't wait to go next year!

Block 2 Trip to France

Block 2 had a very happy and successful weekend in France with Mr Hallam, Mme Laurans and Mr Latteur. Based at Ebblinghem, an hour's drive from Calais, they visited the market at St Omer, a biscuit factory, a chocolaterie and a bakery, and also joined a school in St Omer on Friday afternoon. Together with work on language and culture, this made it a full and productive experience for all the pupils. Their visit will be followed up in their French lessons this week. Do have a look at all of the fantastic photos on Facebook.

Sunday Outing

The boarders in Blocks 1 and 3 enjoyed an adrenaline-filled trip to the Bayford Meadows Kart Circuit in Sittingbourne on Sunday.

School This Week

Class Assembly

The first class assembly of the school year was postponed last week, and will now take place on Tuesday. Mr Waldie’s tutor group will be addressing the school with a theme of 'World Animal Day’.

Team of the Week

The 'Team of the Week' are the members of Block 2 who have been appointed as Ambassadors for Wellesley House. They will be rewarded with cookies and squash in the Headmaster’s drawing room during a morning break.

National Poetry Day

Thursday 4th October is National Poetry Day and Gary Studley, who judged the Poetry Recitals last year, is coming in to the school for the morning to work with the different year groups. The morning will begin with an assembly as an introduction to the day, and then each year group in turn will have a workshop during which they will be reading and writing poems. We look forward to what will undoubtedly be an inspiring morning.

School Council

The School Council, with a new group of councillors, will convene for its first meeting of the school year on Friday in the Library during Morning Break.

Study Skills

Mrs. Wallace will lead Block 1 in a Study Skills session on Friday morning, giving them tips and ideas which will help them as they progress towards the examinations they will be taking later in the year.

Tournaments

The Under 13 A team will be taking part in the Kent Mini-Hockey Championships at Birley’s Playing Fields, St Stephen's Road, Canterbury on Wednesday. Please note the start time of 12.00 noon.

Meanwhile, Wellesley will be joining Under 13 soccer teams from across Kent for the annual Shapira Cup 6-a-side competition, taking place this year at Junior King’s. Ten teams will be taking part, and the tournament starts at 2.00 p.m.

The Colts A team will also being competing in a tournament, at Spring Grove School. This competition will begin at 1.30 p.m.

Soccer Captain

Congratulations to Kaspar Irving, who gave a detailed match report from the 1st XI fixture last Wednesday and was then announced as the Captain of Soccer for this year. You can read the match report from the fixture against Northbourne below.

Matches Last Week

Wednesday 26th September

Hockey v Duke of York RMS: U13 A - won 10 – 1

Hockey v Duke of York RMS: U13 B - lost 1 – 4

Hockey v Dover: U9 - won 3 – 0

Soccer v Northbourne Park: 1st XI - won 1 – 0

Soccer v Northbourne Park: 2nd IX - lost 1 – 3

Soccer v Northbourne Park: Colts A - drew 0 – 0

Soccer v Northbourne Park: Colts B - won 1 – 0

Soccer v Dover College: U9 - lost 2 – 6

Thursday 27th September

Hockey v Chatham & Clarendon: U13 A - won 7 - 0

Match Report: 1st XI v Northbourne Park

Last Wednesday we played a hard fought match against Northbourne. This is often one of the most physical and contested games of the season and, of course, it’s always one we want to win. After an upset at Dover College the previous week we were determined to show our resilience and come back with a bang.

Unfortunately we were missing our star striker, Toni Alaka, and our regular midfielder William Norton, but Raul Artiga and Jansci Motsi eagerly stepped up from the second team, keen to prove their worth.

From the first whistle to the last the team showed great spirit. At half time the score was 0 - 0 and the game was finely balanced. An inspirational half time talk from Mr Martin sent us back out determined to break the deadlock.

Minutes into the half, a goal kick allowed James to play a long ball forward that Harry was able to get on the end of. Harry showed his strength on the ball, going past one player before playing in Byron on the right. A nicely weighted cross found Agostino who struck with his left foot. The keeper made an inspired save but Raul was there to tap in the rebound.

We held out for the rest of the game, showing some great defensive skills, and Daniel definitely deserves a mention for some great keeping.

We’re now hoping to build on that success and are looking forward to the Shapira cup on Wednesday.

Wellesley House 1, Northbourne 0.

Report co-authored by:Kaspar Irving (Captain of Soccer)James FeltonPablo Guzman