We burst into this half term with a full week of engaging learning activities and I am so pleased that the pupils and teachers have hit the road running. Things to look out for this term are our Anti-Bullying Week when our Year 8 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors will lead a range of activities to promote kindness and awareness of bullying and what to do about it, Year 7 volunteering at the Daylight Centre, our Club dancing and cross-country competitions, many sporting festivals and fixtures and, of course, in the lead up to the end of term, the Christmas Concert and the WPSA Christmas disco. We also have parent teacher evenings for our new pupils and Year 8 - full details to follow. Also to note, all pupils will receive a report at the end of the term.
I am pleased to announce the appointment of a Learning Development Manager replacing Mrs Louise Barltrop. Mrs Sam Bell joins us in January and is a highly experienced teacher. If you would like to meet Mrs Bell, we are holding a coffee drop-in morning on Friday 2nd December from 8.30 -10.00. Another date for your diary is Thursday 1st December when we are holding a parent drop in session at 3.00-4.30 ‘Do you have a question? Come and chat to the Prep School Team’. Please come and have your questions answered by myself and my leadership team.
Finally, I was very proud of the Prep School pupils today for the respect shown and participation in our Remembrance Day Service, a significant event as we acknowledged the sacrifices made by so many.
Mrs Knox
Headmistress
Volunteers Needed - National School Rugby Qualifiers – Sunday 20th November 2016
With the National School’s Rugby Tournament approaching, just over a week away, I can now confirm that this year’s qualifiers will be for the following age groups: U11, U10, U9 & U8. We will be entering a team in all age groups apart from the U8s competition. There is no competition this year for the U12s age group and the U13s qualifiers are to take place after Christmas.
We are still looking for a few more parents who may be interested in helping in the following areas:
- Referees for the U9s and U10s age group
- Stewards for the car park during the morning of the event 09.30 till 10.45am. We will be using 3 areas for parking to include the main School car park, the Embankment Golf Club and the entrance to our field parking from Bookers.
- Pupils (Years 7 & 8) to help with collecting score cards between matches. We will provide food and drink for all pupils who are volunteering to help.
Anyone interested please email Mr Irvine on lji@wellingboroughschool.org as soon as possible to discuss further.
Mr Irvine
Head of Sport & Extra-Curricular Activities
Achievements
Iris Kirk (Y7) was presented with two awards at the
Northamptonshire County Cricket Awards Night, one for a clean bowled hat-trick and the other for taking 4 wickets in a match with bowling figures of 3 overs, 1 maiden, 4 wickets for 4 runs.
Lili Howe (Y6), Molly Barnes (Y8) and Charley Knight (Y7) all were invited to perform in the Dance Proms at The Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 30th October.
Harvey Boniface (Y5) has been selected to a Mascot at the Saints on Remembrance Sunday.
Libby Hawkins (Y8) has been invited to lead the violas for her County Music Group at the Royal Albert Hall on 16th November.
Habits of Mind
Thank you very much to all the pupils who entered a Persisting poster into the competition before half term – don’t forget to collect a plus! I am pleased to announce the results as follows:
- 3rd Hettie Ivory and Holly Knighton
- 2nd Libby Hawkins
- 1st Sulaiman Ali, Finn Davern and Krish Patel
The winning poster will be on display shortly.
Our new Habit of Mind for this half of term is Taking Responsible Risks. Pupils were introduced to this habit during their club meetings this week and I am looking for poster competition entries once again. In addition, we need to choose a theme tune/song for this habit. Any pupils (or parents) who have a suggestion please let me know as soon as possible so that we can make a choice and play it in assembly each week. Email ko@wellingboroughschool.org.
Library
Mr Medhurst, our Librarian, has appointed some Junior Librarians this week. These pupils will be assisting in the Library during break times and have made an enthusiastic start. Well done to them for volunteering and I am sure they will enjoy taking on the responsibility of this role.
Touch Typing
A new activity for this half of term is the Touch Typing Club which is taking place from 12.10–12.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I would like to encourage pupils to come along to improve their typing speed and accuracy using fun games. This will be of benefit to their school work on the computer as well as being a valuable life skill. Pupils can choose to come to all three sessions if they wish to do so but there is no minimum requirement – they are welcome to attend on one or two days instead.
Mrs Owen
Deputy Head - Curriculum
Positive Parents Programme
The next session of the wellbeing support programme for parents is ‘Strengths of highly effective Parenting’ on 15th November. Click here for more details.
Buses
All pupils were reminded during Monday’s assembly that if they catch a bus home from School they must ensure they sign out at the Library with Mrs Wiggett. Could I please ask that parents whose children take a bus reinforce this message at home. It is very important that we have accurate registers of all children leaving the School site on a bus.
Lunch Rota
Many pupils and parents have questioned the lunch rota over the last half of term and this has also been risen at our School Council meetings. A decision has been made to change the lunch rota so that all year groups have the opportunity to go first to lunch and it is now as fair as it possibly can be. I know that this change has been welcomed by the pupils and long may this continue.
Mrs C Petrie
Deputy Head - Pastoral
Year 4 History Lessons – old t-shirts required
If possible, please can you provide your child with an old, large t-shirt or painting apron to wear over their school clothes during History lessons next week. The larger the t-shirt the better as it covers more clothing! The pupils will be making, and painting, Roman shields in their lessons. Thank you in advance.
Miss Kingstone
Year 4 Tutor
Year 6 Cote d’Opale Trip
On the morning of the 20th October, 55 excited pupils assembled in the hall in anticipation for an exciting French voyage! So as pupils said ‘au revoir’ to their families, off we left for the Opal Coast with a smooth journey into the Eurostar arriving on time at the centre for ‘poulet et frites’ at seven in the evening.
Friday proved to be a busy and exciting day starting with the Agincourt museum. Pupils learned about the Battle of Agincourt which was an incredible English victory in the Hundred Years' War. The battle took place on Friday, 25th October 1415, near Azincourt, in northern France. What was the date again Y6 and where was it? October 15th 1415….Agincourt…Agincourt
….Agincourt!
After this we had the opportunity to learn and revise some French vocabulary at the Goats cheese farm, where we then travelled to the chocolaterie, (a highlight as always), where samples were scoffed and a lot of chocolates were bought!
We arrived in the market town of Boulogne-sur-mer to do a spot of shopping and practised some of our transactional French in the food market. There was plenty of things to taste and see including fresh patisseries bakery’s, French vegetables and flowers. After a quick shop, we walked through the town centre to explore one of Europe’s biggest aquarium Nausicaa! There were some interesting sights to see including the gigantic sea lions and dancing dolphins.
Monsieur Irvine et Richardson were determined to incorporate some cross-curricular sporting activities into the trip which included a big competitive game of football on the beach. Monsieur Coles also show cased his handstands and cartwheels on the beach! Overall, it was a hugely memorable and exciting first residential for Y6; may there be many more to come.
Miss Clark
Teacher of French - Trip Leader
Year 7 Peak District Trip
Year 7 pupils left for the Peak District on Thursday 20th October. Firstly we went to Stanage Edge. It is a steep mountain but the difficult climb is worth it. The views at the top are stunning. We spent around 4 hours on a tour of Stanage Edge. 
My group went along the top to a small cave in the rock. Then we discussed the conflict between user groups that happens at Stanage Edge. Next we moved on to go down into a little woodland. In there we were pretending to be certain people that use the land and had a debate about our separate problems. Finally, we went down to see a local farm. The man who owned the farm had to have several different jobs to keep his farm going. We then went back to the youth hostel. There, we had a talk from a National Park Ranger about conflict. On the Friday we went to look at Mam Tor the ‘Shivering Mountain’. Then we went into the caves. These are famous because they are one of the only mines that produces Blue John. This is a blue and yellow rock. They also showed us lots of stalagmites and stalactites. Then we drew a field sketch from the entrance to the cave of all of the mountains, fields and villages. Next we walked around Castleton. Some people took photographs, some people did traffic counts and some people gave locals questionnaires. Finally we went to see a limestone quarry. It was about a mile in length and it would take you about an hour to walk across. A large truck came and we all had a go it sitting in the driver’s seat. Lastly, the truck driver lifted the bucket on the back so that we could see it happening and then drove back to the quarry. Then 80 tired Year 7 pupils and teachers went home for half term! Report by Annabelle Woodward. To read another report by Becky Richardson, please click here.
Mrs Whitaker
Teacher of Geography - Trip Leader
Music School
Young Voices Tickets
The deadline for ordering tickets to watch the Young Voices event is Monday 14th November. To order tickets please click here. We cannot accept any orders after the Monday deadline. Tickets will go on general release to the public after 25th November, so if you need additional tickets after this date, please contact the Genting Arena box office directly.
Chapel Choir
Chapel Choir should arrive at 9.15am on Sunday for a rehearsal before the Remembrance Service begins at 10.15am. The service will finish at about 11.15am.
It is important that choristers make every effort to attend all rehearsals for the rest of this term, as there is a substantial amount of Christmas repertoire to learn. Weekly rehearsals for all Prep School choristers are as follows:
Monday 12.10pm - 12.30pm
Wednesday 8.00am - 9.05am
Thursday 8.00am - 9.05am
Music Lesson Timetables
To view next week’s timetables of individual lessons, which are also displayed just inside the main entrance to the music department, click here.
Mr Leutfeld
Head of Music
Country of the Day
To continually improve location knowledge in the Prep School, here is a daily challenge from 6LW. Your focus for each day is to locate the country on a map! If that is too easy, there are some extension questions too…
- Daily challenge:
Monday 14th November - Greece
Tuesday 15th November – Switzerland
Wednesday 16th November – Lithuania
Thursday 17th November – Hungary
Friday 18th November - Bulgaria - Extension questions:
1. What is the capital city of this country?
2. What does the flag look like?
3. How many people live in this country?
4. What are the most notable features of this country?
Dr Fordham
Head of Geography
Sports Fixtures Week Commencing 14th November 2016
Wednesday 16th November
Rugby
U13A, B & C v Oakham – Home – 2.30 start
U12A, B & C v Oakham – Home – 2.30 start
U11A & B v MCS Oxford – Away – 2.30 start
U10A & B v MCS Oxford – Away – 2.30 start
Hockey
1st/3rd/5th v Oakham – Away – 2.30 start
2nd/4th/6th v Oakham – Away – 3.15 start
U11A, B & C v Stamford – Home – 2.30 start
Thursday 17th November
Rugby
U9A & B v Laxton Juniors – Home – 2.30 start
Hockey
U9A & B v Laxton – Home – 2.30 start
Friday 18th November
Hockey
U10A & B v Kimbolton – Home – 1515 start
Saturday 19th November
Rugby
U13A & B v Princethorpe – Home – 1030 start
U12A & B v Princethorpe – Home – 1030 start
Sunday 20th November
Rugby
U9, U10, U11s National Schools Rugby Tournament @ WPS – 1100 start
U11 & U13 Squad Selections for Wellington College Rugby Festival
Both Mr Hilton and I will be naming our squads for the Wellington College Rugby festival on Monday 14th November. All parents of the players selected will receive an email on Monday with details of the festival to include travel itinerary, accommodation costs, group draw, playing schedules and other relevant information.
I can also confirm the draw has been made for the Wellington festival and we have been drawn as follows: -
- Wellingborough U11s have been drawn in Group 4 with Caldicott, Hampton, North Bridge and Oratory Prep School.
- Wellingborough U13s have been drawn in Group 2 alongside Cranmore, Eagle House, Lambrook and Shrewsbury House.
For a full festival draw and playing schedule click here.
It has been very difficult trying to select the squads for the up and coming festival and I would personally like to take this opportunity to thank all the players for their efforts so far this term.
National Schools Rugby Tournament Draw
The draw has been made for the National Schools rugby tournament and I can confirm the following groups.
- Wellingborough U9s have been drawn in group 2 alongside St John’s Northwood, Beachborough, The Paragon, Croft school and Akeley Wood.
- Wellingborough U10s have been drawn in Group 2 alongside Winchester House, Gayhurst, St John’s Northwood and the Croft School.
- Wellingborough U11s have been drawn in Group 3 alongside The Paragon, St John’s Northwood, Bedford Modern and Dame Bradbury’s School.
I can confirm the top two in each group will qualify for the National finals which take place next term at Epsom College in March 2017.
We wish our teams the best of luck for the tournament and the squads will be named on Monday 14th November.
IAPS National Swimming Competition
I am delighted to confirm we have been entered in to the IAPS National Swimming competition and our regional heats will be held at Kimbolton School in February (date t.b.c). We have entered teams for both boys and girls categories for Years 6, 7 & 8. All races will be 50m and we will look to enter pupils in to the following events: Front crawl, Breaststroke, Backstroke, Butterfly stroke and team relay.
Please can I ask that if any pupils swim for clubs out of school please can you email me the following details: -
Pupil Name:
Form Class:
Club:
Preferred stroke and PB:
For those who do not swim for clubs but are interested in representing our school at the regional qualifiers please can you get yourself timed in a 50m pool and send me your preferred stroke and times. If there are any further questions, please feel free to contact me at any time.
Mr Irvine
Head of Sport & Extra-Curricular Activities
Results
To view this week’s results please click here.
Mr Irvine
Head of Sport and Extra-Curricular
Children in Need – Friday 18th November
The time is here again and this year Chartwells and Wellingborough School will be selling Pudsey Bear cupcakes for 50p in aid of Children in Need. The cupcakes will be on sale to the children at morning break on Friday, 18th November. Thank you for your continued support for this worthy charity.
Chartwells
Masters Indoor Cricket World Series
Thank you to all of you who watched and supported me during my recent Indoor Cricket World Series. It was great to know that I had people supporting me from home. It was an amazing experience to play against the three top sides in the world at this form of the game. Although we did not win, we did well for a team that had only been together for three months playing against sides that have known each other (and played the game) for many years. We learnt a 
huge amount from the experience and had many positive comments from all who watched us play. I made many new friends and it is definitely an experience that I will never forget. Dubai is now calling in three years time - watch this space!
Miss Kingstone
Information to Parents
Please visit the parents login area on the website to view copies of letters sent by Clarioncall. If you do not know the login details please email prep-office@wellingboroughschool.org. Click here.