Trinity Newsletter Senior School
Newsletter Trinity 2020-2021
Introduction from the Headmaster Our new Termly Newsletter is a collection of just some of the highlights of the previous term here at Wellingborough. It will give you a glimpse into life here and some of the things that have happened over the last few months. Andrew Holman Headmaster
Week 2 Chemistry Scholars Well done to members of Year 13 who performed extremely well in the Chemistry Olympiad last term. Pictured are: Rhys and Shweta , who managed to get Gold Certificates (635 of 7160 entrants, Top 8.9% Nationally) James, who achieved a Silver Certificate. Maisie, Shannon, Elsa and Imogen, who achieved Bronze Certificates.
Year 13 Student awarded prestigious Army Schloarship
Over the course of Year 12 I was lucky enough to obtain the Army Officer Scholarship covering the 6th Form and University. This involved initially applying in September 2019 with a considerable amount of paperwork being filled out, relating to just about everything I have ever done. Following this, the initial group of over 1000 applicants were narrowed down to around 100 after a series of interviews, that given the global situation by March 2020, were all conducted over Zoom. Luckily for me I passed through these interviews and received a place at the Army Officer Selection Board in Westbury during July 2020. Here I went through a more thorough and challenging set of assessments than I could have ever expected, over a period of 26 hours, but thanks to the help and advice of my teachers, along with perhaps most importantly the support of the CCF, I was able to be one of the 44 candidates to be selected for the award, coming in as one of only three candidates to achieve the top grades. This now means that following completion of my university degree I will attend Sandhurst to become an Army Officer, along with receiving financial support during my time left in education. I would wholeheartedly recommend going for the scholarship to anyone who wishes to have a career in the military, as although challenging, it was an overwhelmingly positive experience. Nathan, Year 12 Garne’s
Week 3 Oxford Computing Challenge Last term a number of our students took part, for the first time at Wellingborough, in the Oxford Computing Challenge, a national competition that tests coding ability. The Headmaster was delighted to be able to award certificates to Abi Year 8, Marsh and Charlie Year 13, Garne's following their success. Computer Science is a growth area in the School and it's great to see our students' hard work and talent recognised.
Eco-Schools Update Clear progress is being made to achieve the Green Flag aims and initiatives. This week has been Food Waste Action Week in conjunction with Chartwells Catering. We have carried out surveys of pupils taking water bottles into lunch; the Upper Prep are particularly good at this! The amount of salad, vegetables and fruit being chosen has also been monitored and pupils in Upper Prep were awarded pluses for clean plates on Tuesday and Friday. Other developments have included the regeneration of the old Secret Garden. We now have new bedding areas ready to plant the herbs for use in our lunches and the governors have funded the installation of water butts. More ideas implemented include the signage on bins and in the car park. Forthcoming activities will be transport and car surveys. The Eco-Warriors
Week 4 All Systems go for the new Sixth Form Centre ! The Governors have announced that work will begin this summer on the new Sixth Form Centre, to be completed by April 2022. The project will cost £1.7 million, and we are asking all parents to help us raise the money needed for this vital investment in our children’s futures. The simplest way to help us is by pledging to waive the return of your child’s deposit when they leave the School. In return, your child will earn the right to be named for posterity on a ‘Brick’ on the Wall of Donors in the new Centre. You can see the names on the Wall already by clicking here htps:/isu .com/welingbor ughsc o l/docs/w_parent_brochure_0421?fr=sYmEwYzM1NjQ3MTI to view the Appeal Brochure. Those families able to support the Appeal even further might be interested in ‘Buying a Breeze Block’ for £2,020! There are also naming opportunities for larger donations. Every penny pledged means that the School will not need to borrow so much from the Bank. My own family has pledged to buy a Breeze Block, as have the Chairman of the Governors and Mrs Owen in the Prep School. Already we have about 100 pledges or donations from OWs and parents. Next week we shall be emailing you with a link to a video explaining the School’s ambition for the new Sixth Form Centre and why we need your help to make this a reality. There will also be a link taking you to an online Reply Form. And next week we shall be erecting a Barometer in the Car Park, so you can see how much support the Appeal is attracting: we shall be updating this on a fortnightly basis. School fees alone do not produce a sufficient surplus to cover the cost of this new Centre. Throughout our 426-year history, each generation has ‘done its bit’. This new Centre is our biggest development project in 40 years. We have weathered the Pandemic, now we must ‘Build for the Future’ and ensure that our children have the facilities they deserve. We ask for your help with this vital investment in our future. Andrew Holman, Headmaster
The Return of School Fixtures The long-awaited sports fixtures will start this weekend, with multiple sporting matches against Kimbolton and Bedford School for Boys. With the feeling and excitement of a day trip out, which we have not felt for well over a year, we all hope that our practice pays off. Hopefully, this means we are one step closer to normality. Lockdown meant that the school had to keep the students active in other ways. Every week, on the days that we would normally have Games, the PE teachers set new challenges as tasks on Firefly. These challenges ranged from attempting to travel the distance from Waterloo Station to Wembley stadium, whilst doing exercises on the way, to following the same exercise regime as sports stars such as Mo Farah! Though these activities were fun and provided a good motive to keep moving during the unforeseen circumstances, it cannot be denied that our sports fixtures were greatly missed. Good luck to all the teams and players! Frankie Year 13, Nevill & Ali Year 13, Parker Steyne’s
Week 5 Combined Cadet Force - New Heads of Section Many congratulations to the newly appointed CCF Heads of Section from Year 12, pictured here just before embarking on Fieldcraft training.
Heads of House Last week, Mr Holman announced the new Heads of House. This is an important role as the students are the main student representative both inwards and outwards; they epitomise what it means to be of their House and they act as a role model; they are also there to motivate, inspire and organise. As, hopefully, we return to normal House life from September, this particular group of students will have a vital part to play in re-establishing the importance of House in the Senior School
DT Project Year 8 have recently completed a project in which they made a wooden cube puzzle, and then had to design and make packaging for their product. The photo to the right is just one example of some of the excellent work produced. Isn't this amazing?!
Week 6 Sixth Form Centre - Appeal Update It is now two weeks since we relaunched the fundraising campaign for our Sixth Form Centre. Eagle-eyed users of the Car Park may have seen our new Barometer, measuring the level of support. We started off with pledges totalling £30,000, and in these first two weeks we have doubled that. All families who are able to support the Appeal by pledging to gift their child’s deposits will ensure their child’s name appears on the Wall of Donors in the new Centre, the current list, as of 19th May, is detailed below. htps:/form.ficeom/pagesrponseag.spx?id=Wf8aEtYA0KGvFamXR5NOwMebZ2aL-BIiUZDW_dJ7ZUOJSWEw4R1aUEw10xSMVlUNJITzZBUy4u The simplest way to support the Appeal is by completing our form, here
Some parents have expressed an interest in making small regular payments towards the Appeal. The easiest way is to set up a Standing Order, and you can find our form and download here htps:/w .welingborughscol.rg/wp-conte /uploads/20 /8Foundation-Standig-Orde-Form.pdf The fundraising campaign is being spearheaded by our Foundation Director Neil Lyon foundation@wellingboroughschool.org and he would be delighted to hear from any parents with ideas how we can support this vital project. Andrew Holman, Headmaster
Week 7 Eco-Schools Car Survey The survey has highlighted that the majority of cars coming on site via parents, staff and Sixth Formers are petrol with the top makes being Audi, BMW, VW and Land Rover. All of these brands offer electric or hybrid versions. Over 70% of parents surveyed suggested that they would be interested in buying either a full electric or a hybrid car in the near future. Purchasing decision conversations suggested the desire to wait to see how the technology developed, the longevity of the batteries, disposal of batteries plus the reality and cost of buying an electric car, thought to be relatively too expensive still.
Mrs Whitaker, Eco-Schools Coordinator
Breaking News ! This morning, Year 12 gathered in the Chapel for the eagerly anticipated announcements of Heads and Deputy Heads of School for 2021-22. The Headmaster spoke of the way in which Year 12 have already stepped up into their role as the most senior students in the School, and looked forward to the positive influence they would be able to have on younger pupils around the campus and in House in the coming year.. Congratulations to them all, and good luck!
Week 9 Survival Cooking ! Our Year 12 students got to experience survival cooking with Chef James, the session was informative and designed to help prepare our students to get ready for cooking for themselves. Healthy, tasty, and budget ready dishes were cooked with the assistance of 4 student volunteers and of course all dishes were sampled at the end. A great afternoon was had with lots of handy advice and tips, who knew you could peel vegetables with a spoon! Sarah Baxby, Head of Sixth Form
24-hour ultra-Marathon Charity event Over the past few months, I have been training to complete a 24-hour ultra-marathon to raise funds for the school charity ‘BEAT’ I will be aiming to involve family and friends in a socially distanced manner as much as possible. The event will take place from 13:30 on Friday 25th June – 13:30 on Saturday 26th June. I will be running as far as I can in the 24-hour period. The event will be held within the school grounds and based at the 200m track. So far, I have raised £3774.50. Any support is extremely welcome from visiting to donating to the just giving page below. I'd like to thank everyone that has supported so far. https://justgiving.com/tom-duffin24 Tom Year 12, Parker Steyne’s
Week 10 Record Breaker - James ! James Year 13, Garne’s smashed what we believe to be, a School batting record on Saturday 12th June when he hit 215 not out for the 1st XI in a 40 over game against local rivals Kimbolton School! James has regularly been playing for Northants CCC Academy this season as well as featuring for the full 2nd XI team, playing alongside many former and current international players along the way. His score of 215 not out was a ruthless display of batting, bring up his century off of just 56 balls and his double hundred from just 115 deliveries. It was a special innings to witness and even gained social media attention from past England internationals Alex Tudor and Darren Gough.
Business Year 11 Headstart It was great to see the new Business cohort developing their creative, leadership and teambuilding skills in the marshmallow and spaghetti challenge, whilst learning different leadership theories!
Wellingborough Win Inaugural T20 Festival On Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd June, Wellingborough School hosted our first ever T20 festival. With Schools playing two T20 matches each day we welcomed 1st XI teams from Princethorpe College, Wisbech Grammar and The Leys, Cambridge. The 1st XI put in a dominant display in game one, beating Princethorpe College by 73 runs. A low scoring, but entertaining affair against The Leys followed as we were dismissed off the last ball of our 20 overs for just 91. In reply we bowled and fielded superbly, restricting The Leys to just 81-9 to win by 10 runs, therefore finishing day one unbeaten. On Tuesday morning against Wisbech Grammar we recorded a 54 run victory and at the end of the round robin stage it meant we played Wisbech again in the afternoon to decide who would be crowned champions. A strong batting display saw Wellingborough post a daunting total of 164-5 with Ben Sales (11Ga) finishing 63 not out. The Wisbech reply never got going thanks to some superb powerplay bowling from Adam Davies (13Pl), Stanley Kirk (13Ga) and Justin Murphy (12PS), and Wisbech were dismissed for just 71, meaning Wellingborough were victorious by 93 runs, lifting the title in the process! Special mention must also go to Ben who finished as the leading run scorer for the festival across both days, from all four Schools with a total of 158 runs. Congratulations to all of those who represented the School so well!
Week 11 The Apprentice Day – what a start to the week!
On Monday morning, pupils were set a challenge at 09.00 am to design a board game for pupils aged 8-12. Andrew Brown from Hasbro Games explained the key elements to look for and the group then broke into Companies. By lunch time they were well on their way and had TikTok adverts, and other social media prepared. They met with a consumer group made up of Year 6 pupils who, with honesty and enthusiasm, reported what worked and didn’t work. Combined with finance and marketing help, by 3.00 pm they were ready. Nick Hewer, the BBC judge from The Apprentice programme, hosted the judging and the presentations and you could feel the tension in the room. The results were fantastic, 5 games in one day. The standard was exceptional and they won prizes along the way; and then, of course, they were hired or fired….. Nick Hewer summed it up: “What a very likeable group of pupils, confident without being cocky, polite without a hint of favour seeking and apparently kind to each other.”
BEAT Charity Run Update With support from staff and friends, Tom ran until 3am, stopped with calf pain but carried on running until 5am! A massive £6K has been raised so far, an inspiring challenge, well done Tom we are all very proud! Donations can still be made by following this link:
https://justgiving.com/fundraising/tom-duffin24
Week 12 Senior Sports Day Due to Covid guidelines we had to take the decision to cancel the Senior Sports Day scheduled to take place on Saturday 26th June. To ensure that all pupils still got to experience Sports Day and could represent their House again in competitive sport, the athletics instead took place during the various games' afternoons over the last couple of weeks. The level of performance and participation across the three afternoons was excellent. Many staff commented on the spirit and camaraderie on display. Congratulations to all pupils involved. Also, many thanks must go to the many staff who contributed in various ways to the events being successful.
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact our dedicated Admissions Team on 01933 222427 or admissions@wellingboroughschool.org. Further details, and the dates for key admissions events and deadlines, can be found on our website at https://www.wellingboroughschool.org/ Wellingborough School