September 2012

Dear Parents

Welcome to the start of the autumn term and our 175^th anniversary. We look forward to a year of celebrations, beginning with the Old Wellingtonians’ Reunion in November and culminating in a Families and Exhibitions Day on May 6^th, the May bank holiday. Please keep this in your diary.

It is also the Centenary of the Corps of Drums and we are excited by the prospect of their march to the Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony on March 15^th coinciding with the annual Year 9 trip to Ypres. Mr James is delighted that the army is allowing us to take from Frimley the original bugle which played the first ever Last Post and one of the Corps will have the honour of playing the Reveille. We need to raise £7000 to fund the trip, so please be aware the Corps will be present at concerts etc looking for donations.

Examination Results:

Looking back over the summer, our A-level students once again performed outstandingly well with a record-breaking 19% at A* and 45% at A* and A grade. 26 students gained 3 or more A*s and As, that is over a third of the year group. The A* is particularly hard to achieve since an average of 90% needs to be scored on A2 modules.

We were also pleased that nearly all of our students got into their university of choice and that the clearing system worked far more efficiently than ever before. I would like to thank Dr Daniel, Mr Millington, Mrs Dean, Mr Duggan and Mrs Luxton in particular for their close attention to students over the last weeks of the holidays and throughout the year.

The A level results were followed by a strong performance by our Year 11 pupils. 48% of grades were awarded A* and A, a quarter of the year group gained 9 or more A*s and As. Although it is clear from a close analysis of results that grade boundaries in subjects have been changed this year, and especially in English, I am pleased to report that 99% of students secured a C grade and above in English.

Be prepared for sustained conflict between Heads’ and Teachers’ Associations with the Government and Examination Boards over the coming months as reforms are put in place. No doubt all involved care deeply about our children’s future. However, it is vitally important that we, as parents and staff, do not diminish the achievements or the hard work of the children by devaluing qualifications. Please continue to stress the importance of determined preparation and practice.

Congratulations to all those who took exams this year and, of course, to their teachers. Plaudits to individuals will appear in the first newsletter. For a detailed breakdown of results, please consult the school website.

Summer Expeditions:

There was a very successful cycling tour in Northern France, in spite of the rain, and no doubt inspired by the exploits of Mr Wiggins. Separate from our Tour, Max and Henry Savage and Charlie Dean completed their cycle from Land’s End to Lowestoft to raise money for the Excelsior School in South Africa. The U14s had a very successful rugby tour to Scotland winning two and losing one of their matches and developing a considerable following amongst the locals. The annual CCF and Duke of Edinburgh activities were also very worthwhile. As ever, I am delighted to report that the children were praised for their behaviour, a great credit to the School and their parents.

Staff News:

We would like to welcome the following new staff to the school: Mr Fasham to teach Mathematics and to be STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Co-ordinator and Mr Hallows as Deputy Head (Pastoral) and to teach Biology. Miss Randall will be undertaking the Graduate Teacher Training Programme in Art.

Our new graduate assistant this year is Miss Menhenoett. Miss Jones continues as a graduate assistant and is also assistant in Overside. James Carson is going to be helping out with sports coaching and some boarding duties until Easter. We would also like to welcome our language assistants, Miss De Toro Escobar

(Spanish) and Mr Beauchot (French).

Staff in new roles:

We wish Mrs Tabb well as Head of Biology and Miss Collins in her role as Housemistress of Fox’s, and Mrs Dean as Housemistress of Linden. Mr Stevens will be Assistant Head of Sixth Form and Mr Reade will be Assistant in Lights.

Family news:

Congratulations to Miss Miller on her marriage. She returns to Wellington as Mrs Davis.

Building work

The maintenance department has been busy with the necessary refurbishment and maintenance of our many old buildings, especially staff accommodation and the Avenue roof. Chemistry Room 1 has been re-configured to improve learning and teaching.

Several of the gates and railings have been repaired and galvanised. The main gates are now on an electronic timer and will be closed between 10pm and 6am. Gradually we will be replacing and adding gates and railings along South Street to improve both their appearance and the security for our boarding houses and the main campus.

Work has continued in the boarding houses with improvements to rooms in Willows and Lights and more furniture will arrive at half-term.

During the year, we hope to re-structure the main office and to significantly improve the entrance to avoid the clutter of parcels and clashes of elbows that is too often the experience encountered.

Parent Portal and Communication

Following a successful pilot, we have decided that we are going to ask all parents to sign up to a parent portal. You will receive a letter from Mr Shaw about this very shortly. This links our management information system (iSAMS) with our communications. You will be able to access timetables, examination timetables, contact addresses, and, if you choose, receive email notifications of your child’s merits and demerits and attendance. Letters can be tailored to recipients far more easily, so we will gradually phase out parent mail by Christmas. All grades and reports will now be electronic.

I hope this will improve communication significantly. Please remember, however, that teachers are teaching and leading activities so dealing with emails cannot be immediate. Please think very carefully whether the question you wish to ask is really important or whether the information can be found elsewhere. This will avoid teachers being distracted from their main tasks by hefty inboxes.

Website:

We will be launching our new website during September, which I hope you will find is much easier to use. The majority of the material, which was formerly under the ‘Current Parents and Students’ gateway, will now be accessed via the Parent and Pupil portals. This will enable us to separate the external marketing and internal communication functions.

Policies:

Throughout the year we review our policies and procedures and these are now overseen and scrutinised by the Governors’ Governance and Management Committee. The main policies are available via the website and portal. Should you wish hard copies, these are available from the School Office. Changes have been made to the following policies:

Child Protection Policy: clarification that the new Designated Persons are Mr Hallows and Mrs Burton in the Senior School and Mrs Scott and Miss Read in the Junior School. Mrs Tamsin Humphreys is the new governor responsible for safeguarding. There are some minor adjustments to the appendices which give guidance to staff.

Complaints Procedure: this policy has been revised to give clearer lines of communication and time lines, the need to communicate exactly the nature of the complaint and proposed resolution at the formal stage, and the role of the Headmaster.

Complaints Procedure:

Government regulations require us to inform parents of the number of formal complaints the school has received during the preceding year. A formal complaint is defined as one which has progressed to Stage 3 of the Complaints Procedure, the Governors’ Panel Hearing. There were no formal complaints in the academic year 2010-11.

Please note that your child’s tutor is the first port-of-call for matters of concern.

Dates for the diary

Open Morning                                     Saturday 22 September       09.30-12.00

Tell me on a Sunday                           16 and 17 October                19.30

Please may I recommend Tell me on a Sunday, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This features Old Wellingtonian, Old Beechie, and School Captain (07-08), Alys Metcalf. Alys won prizes for the top performer throughout her time at Guildford School of Drama and it would be excellent to give her full houses for these shows.

I would like to wish you and your children well for the new academic year.

Yours sincerely

Martin Reader