Week 19 wss newsletter

The

WETHER VANE 5th February

Week 19

Peter Hall talk

Departmental news

Updates from the learning community

Club news

Sporting updates

Words from the Headmaster

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Dear Parents, With results now in for the Prep School Senior exams and feedback given to parents through this week’s Year 8 Parents’ Evenings, we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief that such a potentially stressful week for the boys has passed and plot a course for their continued, academic development. If formal examinations were not important, we would not do them but early familiarisation with the whole experience of exams and ‘the system’ are important to our longer-term aspirations for Wetherby boys and will help them sit their GCSEs, Baccalaureates or A-levels with greater confidence in the future. I refer any boy or parent worried about a poor mark or marks to my father's oft-used adage ‘NTP’ or ‘Not to Panic’. It is so often, in life as well as examinations, those times of temporary setback that prove to be the making of us!

And on this topic, I was interested to read in the news this week, a letter from the Head Teacher at Harmony Hill Primary School in Northern Ireland, regarding his pupils’ scores in their entrance exams. Written to pupils who might not have achieved the scores they had hoped for, he explained in compassionate terms how he believes that, “…attitude and who you are as a person are much more important than any mark on a test.” I really admire this level of consideration and agree with the sentiment but, here at Wetherby, as doubtless in his own school, we will keep on working tirelessly to educate our boys to the very peak of their abilities in readiness for entry to some of the most competitive and exclusive schools in the world.

I have seen a lot of things at Wetherby in my twelve years at the School but the transformation of the Pioneer Hall to a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, on Tuesday evening, was striking, as staff from St Mary’s came to demonstrate the need for an extension to their children’s ward. It was a poignant night for us all and, hopefully, we can raise a substantial sum this year for them and all of our school charities, starting with the Wetherby Celebration this Thursday. Our charity fundraising, with its variety, creativity and inclusion of the boys, is something that everyone connected with the School can be proud of. Your incredible generosity as our parent body is something that defines us as a community and has helped so many others. Thank you, on their behalf.

Have a good weekend…

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

This week at Wetherby Senior School Monday 8th

Monday Clubs Art & Design Basketball Future Writers Videography Ukulele

Tuesday 9th

Tuesday Clubs

Field Day to Institut Français (All boys to attend in normal school uniform)

Chess & Backgammon Fencing Football Quiz Yofit Music Tech

Wednesday 10th

Wednesday Clubs

U12 Rugby – Hill House A/B v WSS A/B

14:30

Thursday 11th

Thursday Clubs

Selected Year 9s - QPR Academy session

10:00-16:20

Wetherby Celebration Party @ St Paul’s Grange Hotel

19:30

Friday 12th February Grades sent home Year 9 Andy Mulligan (author of Trash) talk on development HM Assembly - Hinde Street Methodist Church Half term Monday 15th - Friday 19th February Year 9 Cultural Trip to New York departs Monday 15th Year 9 Cultural Trip to New York returns Thursday 18th

Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th

SlowMo Table Tennis Mandarin Family History

Geography lessons 15:00

Code Table Tennis Grub Club

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Peter Hall Visit

Vadim Mandel (9 Tyburne) writes‌

On Tuesday, Year 9 was given a very thought-provoking and honest talk by Peter Hall about his 30 years of experience as a drug addict. Peter Hall spoke openly about his battle with substance addiction and how he won it and came to the realisation that he had unnecessarily wasted his youth on drugs. He explained the mistakes that he made at a young age, which led to his life-long addiction. By delivering this talk Mr. Hall tried to raise awareness among the year group in order to try to prevent others from following his path of destruction.

Scarred by the divorce of his parents at a young age, he became emotionally isolated and depressed. He was Peter Hall: Drug and Alcohol constantly under care of strangers as his mother was awareness speaker always out with new boyfriends and his father was working long hours and was never present.

His babysitters could no longer put up with him as he was a badly behaved child. Therefore, at the age of 10 he was shipped off to a very harsh boarding school in which his emotional problems grew because he felt extremely homesickness and longed for the love of his parents.

Due to his psychological distress and peer-pressure growing, he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and drugs. Continuous drug abuse and partying led him failing university and go him convicted on several occasion with drunk-driving charges. Facing a prison sentence in the US, he escaped to the United Kingdom and after many years came to realise he needed to bring an end to his addiction not only for the sake of his health but also for the future of his family.

The talk sparked intense discussion among the year group and was well received as well as different from standard talks given by government officials. His personal story enlightened the year on the harsh reality of drug abuse and how not a minute of our lives should be wasted on them.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

From the French Department Mrs Diamond writes…

Next Tuesday 9th February 2016, the boys from year 9 and year 7 are going for a French Culture and Cinema Day to the Institut Français in South Kensington. All the boys should wear their full school uniform (no sport on that day).

Reminder: Thank you to all the boys who returned their Medical consent form for the Bruxelles trip. If you have not returned yours, please do so asap (form attached in the newsletter email).

From the IT Department Miss Vanstone writes…

This week in IT, Year 7 have been learning how to touch type. A handful of boys have tried touch typing before but their skills certainly need some refining. On our first test, the best honestly recorded score of accurate words per minute was 6. They used the following website and I would encourage them to practise more at home: www.typingclub.com You can test your typing speed here: www.10fastfingers.com I scored 45 words per minute, although this website doesn’t seem to include punctuation which would definitely slow me down!

A

target

for

the

boys:

Aim

to

match

Mrs

Cummaraswamy (reception) who has a record of 52 words per minute (with punctuation).

Left: Misha enjoyed reciting the letters as a song.

Above: Beau was very pleased to have passed level 1!

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

From the Games Department Dear Parent, The 6 Nations are almost upon us and who is going to win? England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France, Italy or YOU? Wetherby Prep and Senior Schools are trying to encourage as many boys as possible to watch the upcoming 6 nations. The competition starts THIS WEEKEND with France vs. Italy, Scotland vs. England and Ireland vs. Wales, all of which are shaping up to be fiercely contested matches.

All of the year 7 boys have had an impressive start to the rugby term and we want to make sure the passion isn't lost over the half term for them or the year 9s, who had a great first term of rugby.

Starting today, we have decided to commence a Wetherby Senior Fantasy Rugby Competition for the 6 Nations. We will be using the 6 Nations Fantasy Rugby system by ESPN. If you would like to join us please see information attached (6 Nations Fantasy Rugby by ESPN).

Last week I was lucky to attend a wonderful conference in Oxford for Directors of Sport. We all discussed and presented after an inspirational speech from John O’Sullivan, why sport is so important for the development of young minds? I presented the importance of a great coach: KNOW YOURSELF KNOW YOUR ATHLETES BUILD THE CULTURE EDUCATE PARENTS NEVER STOP LEARNING Overall it all comes down to creating a safe environment for the boys to fail. You learn more from failure than always succeeding and winning. As Michael Jordan said “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”.

If you would like to learn more from John O’Sullivan who focuses on giving kids, parents, and coaches a "positive, high-performing mindset."

Please click on this link: http://ed.ted.com/on/bcgxVc1p No Games Please beware that there will be NO Games on Tuesday 9th February for Year 7s due to the Field Day trip to Institut Français. Please wear full school uniform on this day.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Lost Property The Games Department are always telling boys to look after their kit and ensure it is named. The reality is that if boy’s property is left lying about, in the interests of keeping the School tidy and, sometimes, in the interests of safety, all Games lost property from around the School is gathered up and deposited in the Games Office.

Named items of kit will be returned to the owner however it is impossible if they are not named.

It is astonishing to see the amount of lost property we collect during a term: new trainers, single shoes, tracksuit tops/bottoms etc.

Due to the amount of lost property, lost property will be handed as follows:     

Boys must approach the Games office and search through for their kit Named items will be returned as quickly as possible After 5 days, any items remaining shall be placed into storage until the end of that term At the end of each term any unclaimed un-named items will be disposed or given to charity A fair amount of money is in question here so can I please stress the importance of naming items of school kit Year 7 Rugby

Wetherby Senior School A’s 25 Notting Hill Prep A’s 35 Mr Meyer writes...

Wetherby Sports Ground has had some ground repair in recent days and how lovely it was for the boys to play on an even and improved playing surface. Well done to the groundsmen.

NHP kicked off under the spring

sunshine and straight away they were on the front foot, running straight lines and scoring two quick tries. Our head's never dropped and Billy gave us hope with two weaving scores followed shortly by George's lung busting run and score. As the game wore on, the away side started to have more of a strangle hold on proceedings always keeping their noses in front, but tries from George and Himat gave the score line more of a respectable look. One win and one loss is promising given the boys have only been together for a short period, this bodes well for the upcoming fixtures. Well done, boys.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Wetherby Senior School 10 'B' vs. Wetherby Prep 'B' 30 Mr Murphy writes‌ In the well anticipated Wetherby derby the Senior School hosted the Prep in a strongly contested rugby tussle.

Early exchanges led to some first half tries from the powerful opposition giving first blood to the prep. The half finished with more tries to the Prep.

In a much improved second half the Senior School rallied with some fantastic linking play, stopped only by some fabulous last ditch tackling from the away team. Dylan, Frejvid, and Adam were all agonisingly close to the try line.

Notable mentions must go out to Bohemond, who displayed some great forward running and handling, Beau for some courageous tackling and running with ball in hand, Adam also for his powerful run to get his way over the line.

A good performance that demonstrated awareness, drive and determination.

Year 9 Football WSS As vs. UCS As Mr Betts writes....

Having lost our first fixture a few weeks ago, the boys have trained extremely well and were looking to put all their hard work onto the pitch!

Our second fixture saw Wetherby 1st XI take on UCS. The fixture was scheduled to be played away but due to the UCS pitches, and some hard work by Mr Sullivan, we managed to play the match at WSG. After a good warm up and team talk, the boys were pumped and ready to go!

The first half was a very competitive half of football. Both sides saw good possession with the ball but the Wetherby boys continuously turned that possession into chances, forcing the UCS keeper to make some fantastic saves. JP was making runs down the right wing time and time again, and was eventually rewarded with an opportunity from a tight angle which he took with class. A beautiful finish which put us 1-0 up. UCS looked keen to try and get a goal back before half time and they may have done, if it weren't for the committed defending demonstrated by Zach on several occasions. The pace and willingness to tackle was something that UCS forwards could not seem to get past. The first half ended with the score line at 1-0 to Wetherby.

The second half was sure to bring us more of the excellent football that had been on show in the previous one.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

We started strong again with JP making more and more runs down that right hand side: terrorising the opposition left back. Luke and Oli were always looking to feed the ball through to the space down the wings to JP and Louis until JP finally slotted home a cool finish to make the score 2-0.

UCS started to push forward more and increasingly put the pressure on our defence. With the help of our defence and central midfielders we were able to keep them from scoring until a UCS forward finally managed to make some space for himself and slotted home a good finish past Sean.

With the score line at 2-1 the game could have gone either way. Wetherby had to either sit back and secure the win or push forward to take the game out of reach for UCS. In true Wetherby fashion, we chose the latter. Louis, having made several good runs in the second half, got onto the end of a well worked goal to make the score 3-1. With a minute left JP, having given it his all trying to get a third goal throughout the game, was finally rewarded: executing a beautiful chip over the goalkeeper to get his hat-trick - one of the finest and most deserved I've seen in school football.

It was a fantastic game of football and one which myself and Mr Sullivan thoroughly enjoyed from the side-line. All the hard work in training had clearly paid off and that was evident with the smile on the boys’ faces after the final whistle. It was a well contested game and a thoroughly deserved victory. A few special mentions for the day have to go to JP for his wonderful hat-trick and Zach for an extremely impressive display of defending. Both players made a huge impact today. I would also like to thank Mr Sullivan for his hard work in making sure that we had a fixture today when it appeared all was lost!

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Wetherby Senior School ‘B’ 2-1 UCS ‘B’ Mr Murphy writes…

What a game!

In a last minute change of venue Wetherby Senior ‘B’ Hosted UCS ‘B’ at the Wetherby sports ground.

A narrowly fought first half ended 1-0 to the away team, the goal could only be described as a ‘freak goal’: the ball taking a heavy deflection before bobbling high off the Wetherby keeper.

The second half started with a lot more gusto and tempo with both teams passing and moving with more purpose and fluency. Nelson in the Wetherby goal produced some fantastic saves to keep the home team in the game. With increasing pressure from the home team a succession of corners culminated in Vadim Mandel attacking the back post to calmly strike the ball in off the near post. Game on!

With the score at 1-1 and nearing the final quarter of the game a penalty was awarded to UCS for handball. Nelson produced a brilliant save to knock away the ball before it was put behind for a goal kick.

With the game becoming more stretched and open in the final minutes both teams wanted the win.

The flow began to change from one end to the other with counter attacking moves

resulting in chances at both ends.

The game could have gone either way but with 5 minutes left on the clock a UCS player handled the ball in the area preventing a clear shooting chance. Up stepped the Captain to coolly despatch the penalty and secure an amazing victory. Everyone played their part and to give out praise to anyone in particular is difficult, the team played together and won together as a unit.

Sports Quote of the Week ‘Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t’.

Follow us for results and updates on Twitter via @WetherbySSports #teamwetherby

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

From the Science department.

Mr Dawson writes...

Year 7 This week in year 7 the boys have been learning about forces. No conversation on forces would be complete without mention Sir Isaac Newton and so the boys started off with Newton’s First Law and progressed on to Newton’s Third Law both of which brought up some very interesting discussions about the consequences of forces in space. Today the boys began looking

at

force

multipliers, specifically

levers

and pulleys.

We

discussed Archimedes famous quote of “give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world” and then had a look at a 2:1 pulley system where the amount

of

required

to

force lift

a

given mass was half of the weight of the mass.

The boys

made some brilliant observations about the

mathematics

behind levers and also

how

the

conservation

of

energy would apply to the pulley system .

Well done Year 7.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Year 9 The boys have been studying Energy this term and more recently renewable energy. Last week we looked at how to calculate

the

power

output

of

an

electrical system when given the voltage and the current so this week it was time to put the equations into practice with a real life example. To do this the boys investigated how the power produced by a solar cell varied as a function of distance from a light source. The boys had to use the multimeters to find the current and voltage readings from the solar cell and then use the equations from their theory work in the previous work to calculate the power output of the cell at each distance. Here we see 9.2 conducting their investigation.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

9 Fleet out and about Miss Vanstone writes…

On Wednesday 9DV went to Oxygen Freejumping which is a new trampoline venue in West Acton. We jumped on the tube which was a great experience for those who had not used an Oyster card before. We walked to the centre and stopped off at the Bridge Café which is where the losing team is sent on ‘The Apprentice’. The boys were given special jumping socks and then spent an hour bouncing around the various activities including dodgeball, monkey bars, a trapeze and bridges. I was impressed by the number of seat drops, flips and even back flips!

After the jumping we had pizza and drinks and returned home. Many thanks to Miss Lillington for sacrificing her evening to accompany us.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Art and Design Club Mr Meyer writes...

Members of Monday’s Art & Design Club have created a number of exciting and varied pieces work this year, allowing them to produce, predominantly, three dimensional pieces of art from Julian Opie inspired ceramic slates to their current unit, 'Creating a Minimalist Coffee Mug'. As the work will dry over the next 7 days (on purpose built drying shelves), the boys will move briefly into a Giacometti project (as seen below) before coming back to complete the mugs with glaze post Half-Term.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Grub Club Miss Lillington writes...

It's nearly pancake day and so the boys have been practising their pancake flipping skills!

This week in Grub Club, we made pancakes.

There was clearly divided opinion over which is better, sweet or savoury? I personally believe sweet...

Star bakers this week were Dylan and Frejvid, for their determination to master the skill of flipping.

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Ukulele Club Mr Warner writes‌ This week in Ukulele club we learned to play Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama. This involved the boys learning how to play a D chord and we experimented with a new strum pattern to make the overall sound more convincing. This involved the fiddly process of plucking the C string twice before playing each chord. After a couple of attempts the performance was really quite convincing.

Should you wish to attempt your own Sweet Home Alabama play-along grab your ukulele and follow the link (we didn't manage to master the riff at the start!)

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Quiz Club Mr Hasthorpe writes...

Despite not having Mr Baker to help them this week, year seven won this week's quiz beating two (!!) year nine teams by 90 points to 60.

Well done to Bohemond, Dylan and Frejvid!

Fancy yourself a bit of a Quizard? Then have a go at one of this week’s questions: In Shakespeare, how many: 

Gentlemen of Verona?



Witches in Macbeth?



Lovers are lost in the woods in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

The answer can be found below...

Answer: 2 gentlemen of Verona, 3 witches and 4 lost lovers

5th February 2016

The WETHER VANE

Wetherby Learning Community Mr Bray writes…

I’m having to show resilience this week after a setback last weekend in my quest to play a round of golf in 18 over par, or less. It even crossed my mind at one point that I should quit the frustrating game, but such an attitude would go against the pledge that we ask the boys to sign at the beginning of the year in Maths, which extols the merits of having a go at tough challenges and not giving up easily. After each test or assignment in Maths, we ask the boys to review their performance and set targets, so I will follow the same format:

What was I good at?

I warmed up in the driving range and thought about my swing plane, which led to a decent amount of success off the tee. This culminated in a 250 yard drive with a slight draw on the 14th, which left me with a chip to the green and a couple of short putts for an easy par.

Targets for improvement? Next time I will…

Practice putting before I start the round.

Although I had some bad shots with the rest of my clubs (and the wind certainly did not help), most of my shots were putts. The greens were faster than I expected and I seemed to have lost the ability to hit the ball gently. In fact, on a few occasions, the ball went shooting across the top of the hole and ended up as far away from the hole as it was before. I will try and book a lesson on putting in half term as I think I need to review the fundamentals. Perhaps I should swap hand and grip the putter like Jordan Spieth – he seems to be having some success with it.