Global Citizenship

This most unusual of years saw the GC Interhouse competition Heroes launch in the Michaelmas Term as the new programme was shared with everyone in the school.

Houses submitted their nominations for well-known individuals in one aspect of life, who use their influence for positive change elsewhere. The Hopetoun took first place with their informative presentation of Elton John. Other nominees included Michael J Fox, Adam Goodes, Marcus Rashford, Emma Watson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Siyamthamnda Kolisi.

The Third Form programme continued with the Bronze Arts Award and a revised COVID-friendly enrichment offering. Community Action pivoted to a course covering respectful relationships and a second on the basics of advocacy, in place of the usual visits with community partners.

Lockdown did not affect The Blücher Ed Club, a virtual programme of remote tutoring and friendship with pupils in Kenya, which ran as usual. The partnerships with local schools offering education to individuals with complex learning needs, Carwarden House Community School and Kennel Lane School, also switched to a remote version. The 12 Days of Christmas from The Stanley/Orange/Carwarden team was a particular highlight!

Despite the lockdown there have been many successes to celebrate this year. We have seen the first joint Academic/Global Citizenship project, “Hidden Figures”, the culmination of which was a showcase, a year and a day after the murder of George Floyd and the focus on Black Lives Matter. Academic scholars and Global Citizenship pupils celebrated the lives of individuals from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds whose contributions to the advancement of humanity have been suppressed and marginalised. Charles Drew, a pioneer in the field of blood banks and storage was advocated for by Elia (O), Katie (A), and Alicia (W), who won the pupil vote, with the Social Justice Race & Identity group’s “Charlie and Mayas Big Adventure” taking the Jury Special Award, focussing on the disparity of treatment between Chidera Eggerue and Florence Given.

“Hidden Figures week” also saw podcasts on DukeBox from pupils discussing their post-colonial perspectives course; an omnibus of Hidden Figures submissions; and Deputy Head of College, Ned Chapman discussed how things may change from his unique perspective as lead pupil on the Hidden Figures project and as co-chair of the DEI pupil committee. Sustainability strands have come together across the Wednesday afternoon programme for Fifth Form and Lower Sixth pupils: the Eco Society and Sustainability Committee led the recycling clothes initiative (two collection “bins” are on campus, recognisable by the Sustainability and Eco Society logos on them), supporting four different projects: ReRun; Bag to School; Upcycling of donated clothes with a social enterprise; and second-hand uniform.

The Outdoor & Adventure team would usually welcome pupils from local state primary schools for our pupils to lead sessions on the low ropes course, and paddle boarding on Swan Lake. Instead, our pupils undertook a number of rescue challenges in the Summer Term, from hauling a lorry using pupil power alone, to a “Mountain rescue” in the woods, putting together skills developed as part of the course and problem solving to a successful “rescue”! The Charity Digital Marketing group were very much in the virtual world presenting new social media and a new website to support the work of Berkshire Women’s Aid, a local charity providing support, advocacy, and domestic abuse services. BWA were also one of the recipients of the Social Justice Period Poverty groups donations of period products. The other recipient was Crowthorne Foodbank, serving those in need locally.

Publications from BaCoN, Economics and Psychology groups tackled subjects as diverse as “Science at Home” and “Sleep and Dreaming”. These online publications are always informative, and we urge you to take a look, via the main Wellington College website – publications area. More will follow in the next academic year.

The nine different strands of the GC programme (Adventure & Outdoor, Arts Award, Community Action, Connected Curriculum, Enrichment, Social Justice, Sustainability, WCPCI, and Welly Leaders) all adapted to both lockdown and then the move back to sessions in person, to provide pupils an interesting offering, helping to develop skills for both college and future careers. It was therefore very pleasing when the annual GC review saw pupils give an overall positive rating for their enjoyment of the GC programme, as well as clearly rating the benefits gained from their participation. Thank you to all pupils and staff for your enthusiasm and commitment, exploring both the existing and new options of this strange year. We very much look forward to working with the GC pupils on a wide range of interesting projects again in the coming academic year – this time hopefully with less interruption from COVID-19!

Rebecca Park Head of Global Citizenship, CAS Coordinator July 2021