Week 21 WSS newsletter

The Bulstrode Times Week 21

26th February

WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

New York

Classroom news

Club news

Sporting updates

Words from the Headmaster

26th February 2016

The Barometer

Dear Parents, I hope everyone had a restful Half Term. Both my boys had quite a lot of homework so, not wanting to be left out, I bought the Lego Ferris Wheel as my Half Term homework. One piece of

Patrick’s

History

homework

was

to

construct a cannon from the Mary Rose, using a paper template. As it turned out, it was really quite difficult and massively fiddly and, after he gave up, I had several goes at trying to get something worthy of sitting aboard Henry VIII’s flagship battle cruiser. I got there in the end and made something I was really proud of but it did take a lot of effort and a considerable amount of time.

So much time, in fact, that

Patrick decided that, as I was doing his homework, he would set about mine and duly completed the Ferris Wheel whilst I was still struggling on Cannon V3.0. Oh well, at least we both got our respective homeworks done, however whilst the Ferris Wheel still sits resplendent in his bedroom, I found my now crumpled cannon at the bottom of his bag last night. Kids eh…

Watford through to the FA Cup quarter finals then, with a scrappy but deserved win against Leeds last weekend, and something that I haven’t seen before on a football pitch that made me smile. New signing, Nordin Amrabat, having seen his number go up to be substituted, started walking off the pitch but in the opposite direction of the players’ bench. Perhaps he’s a little confused with his new surroundings, we thought, but no, he was simply walking towards the referee to shake his hand before leaving the field of play; good manners, very Wetherby, very Watford FC! A short but busy half of term coming up and lots of academia, sport, art, music, drama and, as always, good humour at the heart of everything we do at both Schools. Lots to look forward to…

Have a good weekend…

26th February 2016

The Barometer

ON THE NOTICEBOARD From the Headmaster Blazer Buttons At the last PTA Meeting, a number of parents reported that the blazer buttons ‘pinged off’ all too easily. We have asked Perry to reinforce these with blazers going forward but for now, they have supplied us with a large quantity of spares. If you require one, please see Tess or Rebecca at the front desk.

Questionnaire Many thanks to the 8 people who have contributed to the Questionnaire. Unfortunately this isn’t really enough to give us a reflective sample of parental opinion so please do access the Questionnaire online here and contribute – we really don’t mind what you say! https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/M67BTWR

From Mr Hartley E-Safety Talk, Thursday March 17th On Thursday March 17th Wetherby Senior School will be hosting an E-Safety Talk for parents of boys in years 7 and 9. The talk will help raise awareness of the safety implications of your son’s use of the internet and communication devices. The talk will be followed by a Q+A session and will take place at from 6.30pm to 7.30pm in the Drama Studio. If you are interested in attending, please let Tessa Stewart, School Secretary, know how many tickets you will need.

From Mrs Diamond There are still some consent forms that remain outstanding for the Brussels trip. Please read the attached form and return them to me.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

The upcoming week at Wetherby Senior School

Monday 29th

Monday Clubs

Year 7 visit to London Zoo

10:00-1530

WSS All Stars

13:30

Basketball WSS v WPS

16:45

Tuesday 1st

Art & Design Basketball Future Writers Videography Ukulele

Tuesday Clubs Chess & Backgammon Fencing Football Quiz Yofit

Wednesday 2nd Rugby Year 7 U12 WSS A/B (7s) v Burlington Danes (A)

Wednesday Clubs 14:30

Thursday 3rd Football Year 9 U14 WSS A/B v Holland Park A/B (A)

Thursday Clubs 15:00

Friday 4th School Choir

13:30

HM Assembly - Hinde Street Methodist Church

15:00

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th

SlowMo Table Tennis Mandarin Family History

Code Table Tennis Grub Club

26th February 2016

The Barometer

New York Art & Design Trip Mr. Meyer writes‌ Day1: We arrived into Newark International Airport on Monday afternoon, with the snow falling and settling, this, as you can imagine, provided for a fairy tale setting.

Day 2: Overnight, the snow had thawed and made way for a surprisingly mild, but overcast day.

After breakfast, the boys walked through Central Park to the Guggenheim. The walk took thirty minutes and was a fabulous way to see a breath-taking skyline.

Whilst in the Guggenheim, they were given a mono-printing exercise looking at the work of Wassily Kandinsky.

Due to the inclement weather, we reverted to a 'stay inside' plan b approach in the afternoon visiting: Grand Central Station; Grand Central Station’s whispering walls & the New York Public Library.

We then had a pre-theatre meal at Don't Tell Mamas, a famous piano bar just off Broadway.

After

dinner,

the

boys

watched

Jersey Boys an iconic theatre show, in the heart of Broadway this was just the tonic allowing them to bob and clap to the music throughout.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

Day 3: Day 3 was the last full day. The main attractions allowed them to experience the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the morning and the MoMA in the afternoon.

To start the day, the boys enjoyed a morning stroll along Central Park, walking to 72nd Street where they saw the John Lennon Memorial. From there, they traversed through the lower part of Central Park hearing a saxophonist play at the famous Bethesda Terrace.

Metropolitan Museum Art: We were warmly welcomed by the education department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they guided us through the Ancient Egypt exhibition before finishing by seeing the Alex Katz display.

MoMA Split into small groups, Mr Murphy and I guided the boys around some of the finest art produced during the 20th century from Vincent Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' to Andy Warhol's 'Campbell Soup Cans'. The boys could not quite believe that such a celebrated collection was all on one floor of a gallery.

Evening Meal The boys couldn't leave the States without a classic American diner experience and that they did.

Situated in the Murray Hill district, they sat down to burgers, chips and the plasma screen playing live college basketball.

Day 4: After breakfast, we then headed to the 9/11 museum. A moving and powerful experience, where, more than anything, I was impressed with how the boys responded to the exhibition.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

CLASSROOM NEWS From the Science department Miss Lillington writes‌ Year 7 visit to London Zoo On Monday 29th February, the boys will be going on a trip to London Zoo, Regents Park.

The visit has been arranged as part of the KS3 science curriculum, in which the boys are currently learning about the classification and variation of living organisms.

In addition to visiting the animals in captivity, the boys will be attending two workshops delivered by scientists at London Zoo. In these workshops, the boys will learn why many species are currently threatened with extinction the role of zoos in modern society.

Your son will be travelling to London Zoo by public bus. We will leave school at 10:00 am and aim to return around 3:30 pm in time for prep and activities. The boys are expected to wear their school uniform, however, they will need to wear appropriate clothing for the outdoors including coats and gloves. A packed lunch will be provided, but if your son would like to purchase anything from the gift shop, he will need to bring money.

If you want to find out more about what type of animals can be found at the zoo, have a look at their

website:

https://

www.zsl.org/zsl-londonzoo (Left

-

investigate Physics)

the

boys

pulleys

in

26th February 2016

The Barometer

SPORTING NEWS From the Games Department Mr Sullivan writes‌ Welcome back! Hope you had a lovely half term developing on your fitness! When will the bleep test be?

Over half term the games department received some great news and we are delighted to announce that Luke Kirilenko has been selected by QPR Development Academy after trails at WSG and QPR professional training facility. Well done Luke! Keep up the good work and develop on your hard working attitude to sport.

On the note of attitude I was

given

this

wonder

poem called Attitude by Charles Swindoll from a parent. It made me think how our boys could use this when things aren't working the way they want them to, or you feel there surrounded by problems, it can be tempting to look outward and try to change the things that you feel are causing issues. Chances are the issues you're facing aren't so cut and dry. The solution to the problem might just be your attitude.

What do you think boys?

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.

It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

It will make or break a company...a church...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude‌ I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.

And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

Wetherby Senior would like to welcome our new Cricket coach Dom Fraser to the Games department: My passion in life is sport. Since a young age I have always been active and playing with anything available to me with my three brothers come rain or shine. I was very fortunate to play rugby for Saracens Academy and play cricket against numerous international players like Kumar Sangakkarra and Kevin Pietersen. Since I do not currently play either sport myself, I find the closest and best way of me being involved in what happens on the pitch is through coaching. Through my very recent experiences of sport at a high level, I have gained both up to date techniques and knowledge of ways to coach positively. I hope I can transfer all of this to yours boys through my coaching.

If you love your Cricket and would like to be a part of Middlesex’s Panther Club then please view the attached form (Panther Digital Form) for membership offers. Our younger fans have a fantastic range of benefits, with the emphasis on fun, excitement and involvement in cricket.

Year 7 Rugby Wetherby Senior School 5 v St. Philips 20 Mr. Meyer writes...

Barn Elms is a wonderful playing facility, many a famous rugby player has been nurtured including the 2003 World Cup Winner, Lawrence Dallighio. The inaugural fixture between Wetherby Senior School a School and St. Philips kicked off under the warm spring sunshine.

For the first time, Wetherby played on a full size rugby pitch, allowing us to play thirteen aside.

The home side, played with a high tempo and scored a number of quick tries that caught the away side off guard. After a team talk from Mr Sullivan, we came back into the game with the Foucault d'Amecourt twins kicking into space; Alex & George rucking and offloading to great effect; Manu making a number of try saving tackles and Billy & Alessandro running into space with ball in hand. This all helped and led to Bohemond scoring an opportunist try in the corner.

Wetherby played tremendously well in the second half and more than merited their second half win.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

Year 9 Football WSS A v Harrow School Mr Betts writes....

On Thursday the U14 A team faced off against Harrow away. Having suffered a defeat against them in the rugby, we were keen to show them how much we have improved in our sporting ability.

The game started with a great intensity from Wetherby. great

link

Some play

between Luke and JP, our captain for the day, was consistently causing their left back havoc and resulted in us grabbing an early goal, thanks to their centre back after a deadly cross from JP. 5 minutes later, JP delivered

another

vicious ball into the box, this time finding Josh who happily put the ball in the back of the net. Harrow hit back with 2 goals, one from open play and one penalty, to take the score back to 2-2. Just before the end of the first half, Luke hit a great free kick in at goal which was followed up by a tap in finish by JP. The half ended 3-2 to Wetherby.

The second half was much more of a midfield battle. Both teams were playing good football and there were some great saves to keep it 3-2 by Sean. After a long battle, Wetherby conceded two goals right at the end of the game, coming from a counter attack and a corner.

The boys did so well to keep working hard and keep on trying to do the right things, even when it wasn't as fluid as we had hoped. The game ended 4-3 to Harrow but this game could have gone either way. It is always hard to take a loss like this but the boys need to keep their heads up and look at how much positive football we played, and how much all they have all improved.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

WSS B vs. Harrow School Mr Murphy writes‌ Playing in the beautiful grounds of Harrow school Wetherby 'B' took the field against a strong Harrow outfit. Early exchanges led to Harrow showing some early dominance passing the ball around with some fluency and confidence.

Harrow were rewarded for their play with some goals before the break leaving Wetherby trailing at the interval.

The second half started with Wetherby putting in a lot more tackles and winning far more of the 50/50 loose balls. Talal & Armand put in some brilliant last ditch defensive tackles to deny Harrow. A strong passage of play led

to

break

a

quick

down

the

left hand side with Hamoud using his pace to out run his opposite

marker

and charge down the his

wing

before

cross

was

intercepted. Much more

positive

spirit was applied with Wetherby really making a fist of it in the second half. A notable mention must also go out to Paul Schell for some outstanding saves in the Wetherby goal.

A much improved second half against a well drilled & solid opposition.

Mr. Meyer writes...

The inaugural football fixture against Harrow School kicked off under the warm spring sunshine.

Jack Henniker-Gotley was made captain for his enthusiasm and commitment he has shown throughout the season. He led by example, encouraging his teammates and tackling with conviction. Lachlan continues to show improvement and passed the ball to great effect. Vadim, Thomas and Jack Connolly exchanged neat passes and moved well off the ball. In the second half, Wetherby and Harrow mixed players, allowing a lot of the Wetherby Senior boys to rub shoulders with old friends from their prep school days. The second half was a largely even affair with the score being a stalemate.

26th February 2016

The Barometer

And finally…

Mr Savage is still at the top of the league. Come on Manuel you can do it! I think Mr Savage team looks a little bit funny! What do you think boys?

Round 3 this weekend. Who is going to win England or Ireland? Come on England!

Sports Quote of the Week ‘There are 3 types of players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happens’ Follow us for results and updates on Twitter via @WetherbySSports #teamwetherby

CLUB NEWS Quiz Club Mr Hasthorpe writes...

Randomised teams this week added some serious competitiveness to the Tuesday quiz.

The winning team was: Thomas, Alessandro, Bohemond and Talal, beating both other teams by a factor of two or more!

26th February 2016

The Barometer

Example question from this week's quiz Which King was married to each of the following women?

- Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon - Anne of Denmark (Two answers!)

- Catherine of Braganza

Club Pictures

The boys in Ukulele and Chess clubs honing their skills in this week’s activity time.

And the answers: George VI, James I (IV), Charles II