Winchester Weekly

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to Winchester - and to those families who are joining us for the first time, a very warm welcome! I hope to meet many of you in person over the coming weeks and months.

This weekly newsletter, issued every Tuesday, aims to keep you up to date with what is going on in the School, and includes invitations to the many events open to families. I hope that I will see you soon on the sidelines of a sports match, at a concert or a play, and that you feel a part of the school community as quickly as possible.

Even over the summer, there has been a lot of activity in the School. Our GCSE pupils achieved outstanding results this year, with nearly 80% of all grades awarded at Grade 8 or 9, and 91% of all grades awarded Grade 7 or higher. The A-Level results more mixed but, in a year when exam boards were instructed to use the 2019 series as the performance comparison, Winchester's A*-A cumulative percentage is slightly higher, at 68.6% compared to 67.4% in 2019. As always, our focus is on continual improvement and the new Director of Studies, Mr Andrew Reeve, has enjoyed meeting with the Heads of Department this week and beginning the next cycle of development.

There were some additional outstanding achievements including 22 pupils securing four or more A* grades, of whom five had five A* and one had six A*. The cohort is well on their way to their universities, after another very successful year of offers and places from Oxbridge, a record year of US College offers and many other top-ranking universities across the world. We congratulate all our pupils on their achievements.

During the summer we also opened our doors to the new Winchester College Sports Centre. It was wonderful to see the new JPs enjoying the Centre from their very first weekend: on the squash courts and five courts, swarming up the climbing wall, learning martial arts in the Dojo and completing their induction in the gym. Over the coming weeks, all pupils will have the chance to get to know the building and its facilities, and we look forward to celebrating the opening with pupils and staff over the Community Weekend in November. For parents, there will be an opportunity to tour the new Sports Centre on the Friday and Sunday of the November exeat – more detail to follow. In the meantime, please do watch the video below for a taste of the fantastic new facilities.

A highlight of this term for me is my Saturday afternoon visit to each JP (first year) set for Headmaster’s Reading Hour. All the JP boys read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro over the summer – and quite a few of their parents joined them, they tell me. This weekly book club is an excellent opportunity to get to know the JP boys in each House, and I look forward to getting to know the new boys properly over a cup of tea and plenty of biscuits.

As ever, the College has a full diary of events for the upcoming term. Alongside the School concerts and House plays, we will see the finals of Recitā, our recitation competition. In December, we welcome parents for Studium, a day of lectures from a wide range of speakers on diverse topics. Some of this term’s speakers include:

-          His Excellency, Mr. Vikram Doraiswami, Indian High Commissioner;

-          Anna Dunn, Chief Financial Officer for JP Morgan in Europe;

-          Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital

-          The Rt. Honourable Andrew Mitchell, MP

… and you get the idea… It’s a long list of most interesting and highly-qualified speakers. If you can spare the time, I strongly recommend this most stimulating day. More information to come.

In the meantime, I wish you all well for the remaining days of summer and look forward to seeing you on the sporting sidelines or at an upcoming event soon.

Elizabeth Stone

Weekend Sign-out

Welcome back to Winchester after what I hope has been a relaxing and enjoyable summer.

WEEKEND ARRANGEMENTS FOR BOARDERS (6 & 7 September 2024)

Details for this weekend can be found here. Please note that:

- Junior Part (1st year) pupils will remain in school this weekend to complete their induction activities.

- We ask that Middle Part (2nd year) pupils do not take a flexible weekend this week as they have a Yellis assessment at 1830 on Saturday.

Please access the Parent Portal via the link below to inform us of your child’s plans for this weekend by 2300 on Thursday 5 September. Log in, select 'Interactive Forms' and 'Weekend Sign-out' to complete the form.

Advance notices

- The weekend of 9/10 November sees our first Community Weekend. Parents are welcome as always to attend the sports matches on Saturday afternoon. A programme of activities is planned from Saturday evening onwards, when our focus will turn internally to celebrate and benefit from one another's company. Pupils should not take their Flexible/Prefects’ Weekend leave nor Sunday leave this weekend, as they will be participating in activities within School. (Parents and others will continue to be welcome in limited numbers to the Remembrance Sunday commemoration).

Health and Wellbeing Centre (HAWC) & Counselling Service

At the start of the new academic year, it is timely to remind everyone about the service that the Health and Wellbeing Centre offers. The HAWC is now firmly established in its new location on Kingsgate Street, with access both from the road and Meads. The centre provides 24-hour care during term time and a doctor's surgery runs twice a week. Full details may be found on our website.

We also have a long-standing relationship with Winchester Youth Counselling, which provides a counselling service for our pupils. Through our agreement with the charity, pupils are able to access up to eight sessions individually with a trained counsellor, fully funded by the School. We recognise that there may from time to time be pupils for whom additional sessions may be necessary: these of course will be discussed in advance with the Lead Counsellor.

If you have any questions about the above, please contact Mrs Ali Harber, Deputy Head Pastoral & Designated Safeguarding Lead on aeh@wincoll.ac.uk.

Iain Smith

Over the summer, Rishi (E), and Felix (X), entered into the Linguistics Essay Prize hosted by Trinity College Cambridge.

The competition aims to highlight the systematic study of language and requires entrants to submit a 2,000 - 2,500 word essay. Under the guidance of Mr Fondain-Foglietti, Rishi and Felix completed their essays over the summer break.

Felix has been shortlisted in the top 10 of entrants, and Rishi has been awarded one of only three commendation awards and has been invited to Cambridge to receive his certificate. 

Judges commented that both essays were written to the level of a first year university student, which is particularly impressive given they have just started in VI Book 1.

Congratulations to both Felix and Rishi.

PARENTS DRINKS PARTY

We hope that you will be able to join us and the Headmaster at one of the parents' drinks receptions hosted by Winchester College Society, either in London or in Winchester.

Please use the links below to sign up to one of these events. Please note, you will need to log in to your Winchester College Society account, or create a new account to access these events.

Parents' Drinks Reception in Winchester 2024

Parents' Drinks Reception in London 2025

FUTURES FAIR

The 2024 Futures Fair will be held in Winchester on Saturday 16 November.

If you have been a delegate before, please volunteer again, as you will know how much the pupils get from the evening. If you haven't supported before and are able to this year, please let us know through the registration link.

The majority of VI Book will attend, making for a lively occasion which will last for no more than 90 minutes. All delegates are invited to supper beforehand.

Please take this opportunity to enrich the futures of current Wykehamists.

Register here 

Each year, Winchester College Choral Society comprised of pupils, parents and staff joins with Winchester Philharmonic Choir in a large-scale concert performance in Winchester Cathedral.

This year we will be performing Mendelssohn’s Elijah on Thursday 21 November, 7.30pm Winchester Cathedral.

Parent singers are welcome to join Winchester Philharmonic Choir’s rehearsals on Tuesdays 19:30-21:15 in Michla starting Tuesday 10 September. There is no subscription fee for parents or staff for this joint event.

Scores are available at £13 (to go on your blue bill) at the door of Michla at the first rehearsal.

We hope to see you there.