From the Second Master
WEEKEND ARRANGEMENTS FOR BOARDERS (29 & 30 April 2023)
Details for this weekend can be found here. Please access the Parent Portal via the link below to inform us of your child’s plans for this weekend by 23:00 on Thursday 27 April. Log in, select 'Interactive' and 'Weekend Sign-out' to complete the form.
CORONATION EXEAT ARRANGEMENTS FOR BOARDERS (5-8 May 2023)
In preparation for Exeat (Friday 5 May – Monday 8 May inclusive), all parents of boarders should complete the Exeat Arrangements form, which is also accessed via the same route on the Parent Portal; under ‘Exeat Arrangements'. Please complete the form by 13:00 on Friday 28 April.
The Coronation Exeat will begin at 16:10 on Friday 5 May and end at 21:15 on Monday 8 May. Pupils may return to the boarding houses from 18:00 on Monday.
Event
May Day Coronation Concert
The College will be celebrating the King’s Coronation with a special concert on Monday 1 May in New Hall at 17:00. Afternoon tea will be served beforehand, at 16:00.
It promises to be an exciting and fun event. The Symphonic Wind Band will be guest conducted by accomplished trumpet player, educator and composer, Ryan Linham. The Jazz Orchestra will also perform, conducted by Thomas Barton.
We look forward to welcoming parents and family of all performers at what is expected to be a really special celebration concert of wind music at Winchester College.
Repertoire
Ryan Linham – Fanfare (Commissions)
Ralph Vaughan Williams - English Folk Song Suite
Nigel Hess – East Coast Pictures
Monsters and Mingus set
If you would like to attend the concert, please complete the form below.
The Earth Prize is an annual, global, environmental sustainability competition, run by The Earth Foundation, for teenage students that rewards the ideas and projects with the most potential to tackle environmental issues. There were ten finalists chosen out of 1,290 entries from across the world. Just two teams from the UK reached the finals. In the Final awards ceremony, held online on Monday 24 April, the Bactoplastics team from Winchester College was named one of three runner-up teams, securing US$25,000 prize money, which will be invested in the pupils' project to enable them to continue their research.
Huge congratulations to Maks (D), Eren (H) and Alistair (D) for their tremendous success in this competition. Their ingenuity, persistence and dedication to the project over the past months - alongside their usual work load - has been inspiring to witness. Hear from Maks and Eren about their vision for the project in the short film below.
Academic
Top of the Bench Competition
In March a team of VBk, MP and JP pupils travelled to the University of East London to participate in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Top of the Bench Competition.
Against 30 other teams from around the UK and Belgium, including St. Paul's and Harrow, pupils Sam (X), Shaolin (X), Oliver (X), and Matteo (X) completed a 40-minute written test and a 90 minute practical exercise to take home 1st place.
The theme of this year's competition was sustainability, with the Winchester teams answering questions on the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming and the structure of atoms, followed by an investigative practical session where they worked with three mystery biofuels.
Sport
Cricket Tour and Rugby 7s
Two squads consisting of JP, MP and VBk pupils travelled to the United Arab Emirates to compete in the 1st XI Arch Trophy and U15 Arch Cup.
The Lords Squad performed superbly, recording a 100% record to bring home the Arch Trophy. Captain Dom (B) played excellent cricket and was named Player of the Tournament. Playing a mixture of T20 friendlies and 40 over Arch Cup matches, the junior squads ended the tour with an extremely promising 50% win record.
Rugby 7s
Last month the College's Senior Sevens squad travelled to London to compete in the National Schools Rossyln Park Sevens competition. Despite a lack of live game experience in the build up to the tournament, the team performed admirably, securing a dominant win over Repton School and some valiant efforts against the unbeaten Richard Challoner School and some other powerhouse schools.
Links below to the Easter sports report and the first for this term.
Trips
History & Art History
A group of thirty-one VI Bk historians and art historians travelled to Italy during the Easter holidays, spending three days in Florence and four days in Rome. The trip focussed on Renaissance art and medieval history.
In Florence, pupils visited the Uffizi and the Bargello, and climbed the dome of the cathedral. In Rome, there were visits to St Peter’s and the Villa Farnesina, and a in-depth tour of early medieval mosaics.
CCF
Easter Camp
Sixteen pupils attended the Combined Cadet Force's Easter Camp. This year, the camp took place at a new location, and Barton Stacey Training Area was a fresh experience for both the cadets and staff.
The cadets had the perfect opportunity to test a variety of skills developed during their regular CCF sessions, and to experience living as at a platoon-level.
The camp had a heavy focus on individual skills, with the cadets learning how to effectively live in the field, maintain hygiene and get a taste of what a real field exercise would demand from them.
The lessons in field craft covered an array of skills, ranging from effective camouflage, firing and manoeuvring, to section-level drills in both section attacks and recces, all whilst having to maintain the basic fundamentals, such as navigation, communication and hand signals.
Trips
Classical Greece
At the start of the Easter holiday the Classics department took 35 JP and MP classicists to mainland Greece for a ten-day tour of sites of historical and cultural interest.
After two days in Athens, the trip ventured north to Delphi, then west to Naupactus on the Gulf of Corinth, before undertaking a five-day anticlockwise loop of the Peloponnese. While the main focus was Ancient Greece, the places the pupils visited allowed them to explore Greek history from Mycenaean times to the 20th century.
Highlights included: catching sunset at the temple of Poseidon at Sounion on the first night; visiting the Athenian acropolis and its stupendous museum; enjoying the view from the slopes of Parnassus at the sanctuary at Delphi; riding the rack and pinion railway up the Vouraikos gorge to Kalavryta; exploring the Venetian castle and playing beach football at Methone; and surveying Agamemnon’s Mycenae.
British Go Tournament Champions
On Sunday 23 April, Winchester College pupils Oscar (H), Zachary (X) and Oliver (X) won the British Go Schools Teams tournament.
Go is an ancient and fascinating board game from China. Dr Follows and Oscar founded the Go Society in September 2021 - a small, growing society with players meeting weekly to play and learn Go. The Society joins local group, Winchester Go Club, termly for an afternoon of casual games (pictured).
Celebrating Eid
Last Friday, several pupils marked the end of Ramadan with a celebratory Eid meal held in the Warden’s Lodgings, hosted by Dr Cullerne, as Master-in-charge of Faith Circles.
Observing Ramadan over busy school days is a significant challenge and pupils have been able to support each other by coming together each evening to break their fast. To help, the school has provided special packed breakfasts and an Iftkar meal together each evening, culminating in the special dinner on Friday.
Lecture & Exhibition
Shakespeare Folio 400
The College is taking part in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio.
In our latest website story, link below, Dr Latter explains how the College's collections of rare and antiquarian books are used in teaching and how the pupil-led research has resulted in the current Treasury exhibition, which includes our own First Folio copy. Treasury is open every afternoon and parents will also be able to view this exhibition at Wykeham Day.
This Friday 28 April at 19:30 in New Hall, we welcome Professor Emma Smith (Hertford College, Oxford), one of the world’s leading Shakespeare scholars, who has published two books on the Folio. Parents are warmly invited to attend the lecture and can register via the link below.
Event
Wykeham Day
As the weather begins to brighten, we look forward to welcoming you all to the College for Wykeham Day on 17 June 2023. The annual parents' drinks are also taking place the night before, on 16 June.
Our plans continue to develop, and we will provide more details soon, but for an idea of what will be taking place, please watch the highlights of last year's event.
Alumni
Resonating Across Time-Zones
In the latest edition of the Wykeham Journal, we interviewed international student Yasu Suzuki on his time at the College.
In the interview, Yasu discusses his research into the College's motto, "Manners Makyth Man", and how it applies to the College today, as well as his favourite moments from life at Winchester.
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