From the Second Master
There will be an end of term newsletter next Tuesday, 28 March with details of HM Commendas and a message from the Headmaster. We look forward to welcoming back boarding pupils in the evening of 18 April 2023, with lessons resuming on 19 April. In the meantime, I wish you and your families a happy Easter.
Academic
King's Silver Medal for Latin Speaking
The finals of this year’s Latin and Greek Recitā took place on Wednesday evening amid the classical splendour of Musā.
The competing pupils impressed and entertained their audience with accomplished and individual performances from memory of passages of the poetry of Euripides, Ovid, Sophocles and Virgil.
The adjudicator, Mr Simon Allcock, formerly Head of Classics and currently a housemaster at Wellington College, judged Arun, Timothy, Rosaleen, and Alvin winners in their categories.
As the victor in the Senior Latin, Alvin wins the King’s Silver Medal itself: his performance of the last 23 lines of the Aeneid captured the powerful dramatic potential Virgil’s poetry.
Academic
Rocket Launches
Two teams of six travelled to Devizes, the Cranfield University ordinance testing site, for the second stage of the UK CanSat competition. Both teams successfully launched their can-sized satellites to a height of approximately 400 metres. They were able to collect data, and enjoyed meeting the other teams in the competition and the organisers.
Applying to the US
The Futures team has produced a guide to applying to university in the US, including a timeline with key deadlines, a glossary and FAQs. For those in V book, now is the time to start considering whether studying in the US might be for them. Next term there will be an opportunity to sign up for the SAT/ACT preparation classes that are run by UES online and at school during Short Half.
Meanwhile VI2 are now turning their minds to building a college shortlist and to drafting their Common App essays.
Academic
Gold in Physics Olympiad
Congratulations to top year physicists Christopher Leung and Vinson Pang who both achieved Gold in the Physics Olympiad Round 2 and Silver in Astrophysics Olympiad. Justin Au achieved Silver, which places him in the top 100 of pupils who sat the competition.
Christopher was also invited to the UK team’s international astrophysics Olympiad training camp in Easter. It is likely that Vinson only missed out on an invite because they take a maximium of one pupil per school. Christopher has also been accepted onto the prestigious Bessie Lawrence International Summer School at the Weizmann Institute in Israel.
Sport
Fencing
On Tuesday 14 March, a group of fencers travelled to the Lee Valley Athletics Centre for the Public School Fencing Championships. On the first day, all three came through their pools. Adam overcame a particularly tough second pool but lost in the round of 64 of the Senior Foil. Gleb did well to progress through one round of elimination but was knocked out of the competition by the third seed in Senior Foil. Ioan performed admirably, getting through to the final 32 of Mount-Haes Epee before being knocked out by the third seed.
Rowing
Winchester College Boat Club had a full weekend of races. Two crews competed at the School's Head of the River Race, the largest event of its kind this year. There was a 5th place finish for the Senior 8+ in school 1st eights and a 3rd place finish for the J15 8+ in school J15 first eights.
On Saturday the senior eight competed at the Head of the River Race; an event including crews from clubs and universities as well as schools, where the boys built on the previous day's performance. On Monday J14, J15 and J16 squads competed at the Eton Dorney rowing lake in the Junior Sculling Head. Well done to the J14's for competing so well at their first major national competition.
On 24 March two squads will travel to the UAE to compete in the 1st XI Arch Trophy and U15 Arch Cup.
This is the first time we have competed in these tournaments since 2010 and the teams are looking forward to the challenge of taking on a range of English schools, many of whom they would not normally play against, and local opposition. The tour group of 33 will get to play at many of the best grounds in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Sharjah and will relish the challenge of playing in different environments in the Middle East.
Players from all five year groups will be representing the school and, having been working hard indoors since October, will now get a chance to apply their skills in these competitions ahead of the season. Arriving back on 3 April, Lords will play their first match of the season a fortnight later when hosting Harrow at the Ageas Bowl.
Charities
24 Hour Music
For 24 hours last weekend over 75 pupils and staff sang and played instruments ranging from the xylophone to the flute. A wide variety of groups and ensembles were involved and this culminated in a large group performance of a Shaker song by many of the participants, at the Vocal Ensembles concert.
So far they have raised over £7000 for WinACC and the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Syrian earthquake appeal. The pupils are very grateful to all those who sponsored them and who joined the audiences, in person or via the livestream. There is still time to donate, via the link below.
The Charities Committee is now looking forward to organising a mass participatory event for Wykeham Day.
Impressively disruptive, bucking all kinds of expectations, Macbeth landed in the QEII theatre for four performances with a lot of “sound and fury”, flamboyant costumes, constant lighting (in the manner of Globe performance practice), no interval, a strong awareness of text, of the rhythm of the delivery of the verse, and strong performances. Traditionally, Lady Macbeth has been seen as the instigating villain in the first Act, however Michael and Francesca’s portrayal of both characters, switching three times within the play, flawlessly embodied that partnership, equally responsible, equally deserving of a place in hell. These two central performances rightly garnered enthusiastic cries of appreciation from each audience, and they are both to be commended for their inhabiting of the joint roles of the Macbeths. Read the full review here.
Winchester College Society
New Director of Development
I hope parents will enjoy this year’s Wykeham Journal, which will be landing on doormats in the next few days and you can view via the link below.
This annual publication provides a broad update on developments at Winchester, highlights some of the issues and activities that make the school so special, and celebrates the generosity of the many hundreds of parents, staff, pupils and Old Wykehamists who made charitable gifts to the school in 2022.
Our guest editor this year is Government Minister in the House of Lords, James Younger (F, 1969-74), who has gathered a fascinating collection of articles on the theme of Manners Makyth Man.
I am very much looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the Parent's Summer Drinks on 16 June and at other events over the next few months.
Melanie Bushell
VI Book I Parents
Top Year Fundraisers Needed
Does your child need a summer holiday job? We are currently recruiting for callers for this year's Telephone Campaign.
It is a great opportunity to gain some valuable work experience, network and earn some money. They will also be helping the school raise funds towards our bursary programme.
Applications close on the 14 April 2023. Please encourage them to apply. More information via the link below.
Save the Date
Events
May Day Coronation Concert (Monday 1 May 2023, 17:00)
A celebratory May Day concert for parents, pupils and staff in New Hall, featuring the Symphonic Wind Band and Jazz Orchestra. There will be afternoon tea prior to the concert, with drinks afterwards and a BBQ for the performers in the Warden's Garden. More details to follow.
Wykeham Day (17 June 2023)
We look forward to celebrating with the whole school community for a day of activities, exhibitions and performances. Parents' drinks take place on the previous evening, 16 June.
Parent Contract
We have completed our annual review of the current parent contract and made a few changes, which will come into effect at the start of Short Half 2023. The updated version can be found on the Home Page of the Parent Portal, under Latest Documents (link below), together with a summary of the changes.
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