The Week Ahead 15 January 2021

Dear parents

I wanted to start this week by congratulating one of our year 13 pupils, Eric, for his recent offer of a place to study biochemistry at the University of Oxford. Following so soon after August’s offer from the University of Pennsylvania in December, this offer represents a huge achievement for these young people and, of course, the entire Wellington community will join with me in congratulating them. We now await the results of last term’s interviews for Cambridge, which will be with us by the end of January. I am hopeful that there will be some further great news for our 2021 graduates at that time.

Of course, it is only right to applaud the achievements of all our graduates who go on to their dream destinations across the world. Our pupils work very hard to reach those ambitious goals and, with the support of their families and the school, they have every chance of success. I wanted to highlight the role played by parents in the university admissions process. The agonisingly long time it takes from the initial application to the point at which offers are made can be a difficult one for even the most stoical parent. I applaud those parents who manage to combine inexhaustible reserves of patience with just the right amount of pressure on their child to manage the application process in such a way as to maximise their chances of success. If left to their own devices, too many young people would miss critical deadlines, dither about the choice of undergraduate course or simply assume someone else was going to complete the tedious paperwork for them. Many would do all three.

A second major factor in the success of pupils graduating from Wellington lies in the work of their teachers. Over the past couple of months, I have been lucky enough to interview many very talented people who wish to train as teachers through one of the programmes available through Wellington’s Institute of Learning and our partner in the UK, Durham University. The applicants have been a diverse group of people, but the thing that unites them all is a commitment to helping children and young people to have the best life chances through education. Wellington’s appeal lies not just with its accredited teaching programme with one of the finest universities in the world, but more immediately in that it offers a genuinely holistic learning journey for a pupil. This is an attractive message for all teachers, from the most experienced educators to those just starting their career paths. Schools that can offer teachers opportunities to teach across the age groups and coach sports’ teams, direct plays and concerts, lead school trips and take responsibility for the pastoral upbringing of their pupils, are inevitably attractive destinations for teachers.

As we approach the Annual Review in March, parents, pupils, and staff can be confident of another independent assessment of the quality of education at the school. One thing that I am sure will stand out from the report is confirmation that the success of pupils like Eric is due to the strength of the school-home partnership in supporting our pupils to achieve their best. Working with our families in this way is a keystone of Wellington, and I look forward to further, deeper engagement with parents of all age groups in the coming weeks and months. Thank you all for your continued support for the school.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey
MASTER

It has been wonderful to see the children settle in so quickly to their learning. We have also welcomed some new children to the Nest. They have also settled quickly and are already working hard finding out about our new theme – Polar regions.

In the nest, we have changed our curriculum to a set of new themes and new core books. The theme will be followed by every class in the nest. Each year group will use different core books to support the learning and language development at an age-appropriate level. This supports all children to build on previous learning year on year during their time in the Nest and develop our themes in different directions depending on their age.

I hope you will begin to hear the children using new vocabulary in Mandarin and English. Younger children are learning about ice and what happens when it melts. Older children are learning about Polar animals and how they live in cold climates. Our oldest children are learning about life in the Arctic and Antarctic – the animals and the indigenous people.

Literacy, maths, communication and language, understanding the world, expressive art and design, physical development and personal, social and emotional development, all linked to a theme to ensure learning is holistic and meaningful for the children. I have had the pleasure of seeing our older children conducting their own research to find out facts about animals in polar regions to share with their classmates. They were very enthusiastic to tell other children what they had discovered.

Such passion and enthusiasm for learning comes from the teaching staff and support staff who work with your children. Working in early years is never easy, but it is one of the most rewarding things you can do! Every child in the Nest is a unique person. Someone who needs to be inspired to learn every day through fun and challenge. I hope, as parents, you will see some of the fun and challenge as your children share with you the exciting things they are learning. As our themes change, we will let you know so you can follow up at home and find out what your children have been doing.

Happy learning to you all!