From the Second Master
Welcome to the 100th edition of Winchester Weekly, which we launched during the first Covid-19 lockdown and we hope you continue to find helpful and interesting.
Celebrating Diversity
March is Women’s History Month, during which we celebrate women’s contributions to history, culture and society. It is dedicated to the inspiring women who are commonly overlooked in historical writings. It also identifies the minority groups who face an additional level of discrimination, including women of colour and LGBTQ+ women, and how their contributions have positively impacted society. In two tutor hours this month, focusing on this year's theme ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories’, each pupil will research and write about a woman’s story, and then deliver a short presentation on the story/individual they have chosen. These presentations will take place tomorrow, 8 March, which is International Women's Day.
Staff News
Head of UCAS and Classics Don, William Guast's research has been published in Articulating Resistance Under the Roman Empire. His chapter explores resistance in Greek literature of the Roman empire, and argues that it was much more about glamour and rhetorical opportunities than about real political resistance to Rome.
Academic
Kenneth Clark Prize
With speeches on Gentileschi to Hockney, Euclid to Matejko, a large audience, including leading figures in the art world, were treated to a fascinating evening of art history and virtuoso public speaking on Friday 3 March.
Competing for the Kenneth Clark Prize, with guest adjudication from Dr. John Goodall of Country Life, the six VI Book pupils gave exceptional performances, with Mike W. taking home the gold medal, Lloyd D-G. the silver and Darcy G. the bronze.
Academic
UK Chemistry Olympiad
The UK Chemistry Olympiad Round 1 is the initial stage to select a UK team to compete in the International Chemistry Olympiad, which this year will take place in Switzerland. Winchester’s strong top year Chemists lead the way with Christopher L, Vinson P, Savva G and Paul A all scoring over 70%.
Equally impressive was the performance of Sam S, Peiyan H, August D and Zachary Y, four third-year Chemists whose scores were not far behind the top years. Johan T and Shaolin L also impressed as, despite only being in second year, they secured silver awards.
Overall, this year’s tally of 18 Gold, 24 Silver and 26 Bronze awards represents a record haul of medals for Winchester. Those with scores in the top 0.28% out of the 11,838 candidates have been invited to take part in Round 2, which means that Christopher and Vinson still have plenty of even tougher questions ahead of them.
Sport
Congratulations to the first XI Hockey squad, coming top in the standings at last Wednesday's 7-a-side tournament, and to the U15s for their strong performance against Milton Abbey School. There were also some excellent wins in football across the board.
Rowing
The Boat Club took a 40-strong contingent to the Avon Spring Head competition on Saturday with every year group represented and the first ever boat comprised fully of Winchester College girls.
The first boats to come down the course were the Senior girls coxed quad (seen training here last Thursday) and the J14 Octuple. Both crews raced over the shorter course, which is 1,500m long. With this being the first race for the vast majority of these athletes, it was encouraging to see such confidence and skill on display. The girls quad showed excellent technical proficiency, a strong base on which to build. The J14 Octo stormed to victory in their category, with great team
spirit and determined attitudes.
Overall, this was a successful day, with 27 athletes going away with medals and everyone gaining valuable racing experience in preparation for the Schools' Head and Junior Sculling Head in the coming weeks.
Sunday's concert opened with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3 in C Minor Op. 37. The short film below features soloist Christopher L. and a clip from the performance, which will be shared in full in the end of term newsletter.
Thank you to everyone who joined Glee Club this year and gave a beautiful performance of Schubert's Mass No. 3 in B Flat D324.
View more photos here
Charity Fundraiser
Music Marathon Concerts
65 pupils and staff will soon embark on a marathon music performance, playing for 24 hours to raise money for charity. The event will start at 19:20 on 18 March with a concert in School featuring a wide range of genre and instruments, played by musicians from across the school, which parents are welcome to attend. Entry is via the Porters’ Lodge and no ticket is required but there will be a collection on the door.
The performances will continue overnight and be livestreamed and the link will be shared in next week’s newsletter.
On 19 March, parents are invited to join the audience in Music School from 10:00 for a variety of performances or attend the Organ concert featuring four talented organists in Chapel from 13:00.
The two charities they are supporting this year are: Winchester Action on Climate Change, and the Turkey and Syria Earthquake Appeal. You can pledge your support and sponsor the musicians via the link below. There will also be a merchandise sale on site.
Sustainability
Gardening for Nature
The College gardeners have started a new approach in their care of the gardens, taking their lead from nature. Across the campus, certain sites have been marked with a green heart to show areas where they are taking steps to actively encourage greater biodiversity.
The range of measures includes changing the pruning schedules and a significant increase in composting. To attract wildlife, fallen branches and twigs are being used to build logs piles and other materials that would have been discarded previously, are now left in places accessible to birds to use as bedding. Vegetation and fallen leaves will also be left to provide shelter and food for over wintering insects
Talks
Incoming Mayor of the City of London
In a wide-ranging and engagingly delivered talk on Thursday last week, Gresham College's Emeritus Professor of Commerce Michael Mainelli gave us an insight into the workings of the City of London.
Professor Mainelli drew on a career spanning a decade of technology research, a decade in finance and two decades at one of the City of London's leading commercial think-tank and venture capital firms.
He also explained the role of Mayor of the City of London, his vision for how London can retain its position as a global centre of finance and technology, and how those in charge of the Corporation (which he described as the 'world's oldest workers co-operative') balance managing the City with charitable giving.
Pictured with organiser, Sixth Form pupil Raees.
Social Event
Parents' Drinks Party
You are warmly invited to the annual summer drinks party, organised by the Winchester Parents’ Events Committee, on Friday 16 June, the eve of Wykeham Day.
All parents are welcome to join for drinks and canapés. More information to follow but please save the date.
Back to Previous Newsletters