Week 26 WSS Newsletter

The

Barometer Week 26

WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

22nd April

Year 9 experience life as a ‘Tommy’

From the Headmaster Dear Parents, I hope everyone had a restful Easter. We didn’t travel far outside our immediate locality this holiday and though it was most flattering of parents and colleagues to note my tanned appearance; I can assure you it’s no more than a ruddy complexion!

One of my biggest regrets has been that I went straight from school to university, to teacher training, to full time work. I never gave myself the opportunity to ‘see the world’ as so many of my contemporaries did and now seems so commonplace for young people.

Saying that, despite having lived in South Bucks for most of my life there are still things I discover on a regular basis. The story recently of a Roman Villa found on a farm in Wiltshire is on a rather different level but, over the Easter break, I discovered, for the first time, the ‘Cholesbury Dinosaurs’.

Having lived in Cholesbury for ten years now and grown up in that immediate locality, I am pretty familiar with its various footpaths, roads, bike trails and so on but when people have stopped and asked, “Where are the Cholesbury Dinosaurs?” I have always replied that it must be some sort of urban myth as I wasn’t aware of any and always believed there was no such thing. Amazing then that, on an afternoon’s geocaching with Patrick and Joseph last week, we stumbled across, completely by chance, the ‘Cholesbury Dinosaurs’! Two life size (?) specimens, made out of plastic, which someone has placed there at some point over the years, are no more than ten minutes’ walk from our house. At least now I can speak with confidence when asked about them and have that sense of anticipation that there are always new and exciting things to discover in your local area.

I love anything that embraces the spirit of the ‘Wetherby Community’, as you well know, and it is with immense pride that we welcome Edmund Slimmon and Nic Sutherland back to our School this term as Gap Students. A bit taller, more confident and self-assured and great to see what fine young men they have turned into. We all look forward to working with them this term and, for Nic, the Autumn Term as well.

Ofsted this week at the Senior School. Thank you, Senior School parents, for your support this week and for producing such fine ambassadors for the School with your sons; they have done us proud these past three days!

Have a good weekend and, on behalf of all Wetherby boys this Sunday, ‘Come on you Horns!’

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DIARY & LUNCH MENU Monday 25th

Monday Clubs

WSS All Stars Deadline for return of GCSE options

13:30

Tuesday 26th

Art & Design Basketball Future Writers Videography

Tuesday Clubs

PTA meeting

11:00

Wednesday 20th

Chess & Backgammon Fencing Football Grub Club Wetherby Science

Wednesday Clubs

Cricket Year 7 U12 WSS A/B vs Radnor House A/B (A)

14:00

Thursday 21st

Table Tennis Rock Band History Film Club Quiz Soc

Thursday Clubs

U14 Cricket – Trail Matches – Home – WSS vs.

WSS at Regents Park, Prince Albert Road (NW1 ZST)

14:30

Lego Table Tennis Samba Percussion

Friday 22nd School Choir

13:30

HM Assembly

15:00

Saturday 23rd & Sunday24th

ON THE NOTICEBOARD From Mr Lawrence: Here is the lost property left over from last term. If you recognise any of the items please encourage your son to come and collect them.

From Mr Morris: This is just a reminder for all year 9 boys and their parents that GCSE options forms are due in on Monday. Please could you ensure that there is both a parental and a pupil signature at the bottom of the form! Many thanks.

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LIVING HISTORY DAY What was it like to be a ‘Tommy’?

Mr Warner writes…

taken up the reins of my own department, I was determined to bring him in to share his knowledge.

The boys were shown all kinds of artefacts from the

On Friday Year 9 attended a wonderful living First World War and as you can see Dickie was history talk given by Dickie Knight. I met Dickie only too happy to get them involved by dressing when touring the battlefields in Flanders with the them up in an array of uniforms and other pieces of London Oratory school and I was struck by his kit. For a couple of hours the boys were truly passion and knowledge on the subject and, having immersed in the world of the British Tommy.

CLASSROOM NEWS From the Art & Design Department Mr Meyer writes...

As a department, we are now able to display the work of each boy in the school for the first time.

From the impressive acrylic frames that run through a channel of the stairwell to the bespoke made shelving in the Design Room, there is enough space to house 400 hundred pieces of Art & Design.

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CLASSROOM NEWS From the Philosophy Department Miss Lillington writes‌

fascinating discussions on this topic, the boys

Last term in Philosophy, the boys were studying

created a newspaper article about the disaster

'Animal Ethics' which included the morality of

with their own spin on whether they thought the

killing and eating animals. As part of this topic,

survivors were morally justified in their actions. I

the boys studied the Andes Plane Disaster in

was really impressed with the content and

1972 and debated whether the survivors should

creativity of their newspaper articles. Here are

be considered as cannibals or not. After some

some examples of the articles written by 7B.

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CLASSROOM NEWS From the French Department Mrs Diamond writes‌ In French the boys learned

and

sang

about the weather and seasons

this

week,

and really impressed the OFSTED inspector with

their

speaking

skills in class. Well done boys!

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CLASSROOM NEWS From the Music and Drama Departments Miss Valentine writes...

Music Exam Results Congratulations to three of our Year 7 boys for excellent results in their ABRSM exams last term. Alex Piggott Testa (7 Fleet) passed his grade 1 piano, William Piccione Neiss (7 Tyburn) passed his grade 2 clarinet with distinction, and Frejvid Gislev (also 7 Tyburn) was also awarded a distinction for his grade 3 piano. Their hours of practice on top of the jam-packed school week are another example of the excellent work ethic of our Wetherby boys. Good luck to those preparing for music exams this term! (pictures from assembly) Pantoperas – Monday 9th May, 7pm Preparations for the Year 7 shows are reaching a frenzy of excitement! Songs are learnt, dances are shaping up and most boys have learnt their words. There are still one or two who need to spend a little more time this weekend checking over them. Please also start to gather together appropriate bits of costume as outlined in the last newsletter. I look forward to welcoming you all to the theatre on the 9 th May to see the performances.

LAMDA Communication and Acting Lessons For those of you signed up for LAMDA, lessons will begin this week. Boys should check the lesson timetable posted on the board by the dining hall on Monday and make sure

they

promptly

for

arrive their

lessons in Room 1.

If

you are expecting your son

to

take

LAMDA

lessons but have not received a confirmation email from me, please get in touch as soon as possible.

Frejvid performs in this week’s assembly The Barometer - 24/4/2016 9

SPORTING NEWS From the Games Department Mr Sullivan writes...

Welcome back after the Easter holidays! We hope you are looking forward to the summer and let’s hope we get some sunshine!

Summer Term has arrived and so has Cricket! Bring it on!

What is so great about cricket?

It's a Mental Game - The mental game is as challenging as the physical one.

It's a Physical Game - It's an elite sport where elite athletes of all body shapes and sizes are pushed to the limit.

It's a Skilful Game - A batsman in international cricket has 600 milliseconds to hit a ball. They have around 200 milliseconds of that to actually make up their mind.

It's a Testing Game - You can play cricket in so many different conditions.

It’s an Individual Game - Although you play as a team, you are very much alone when you're actually in the action. Batsmen act alone, as do bowlers. Your team mates can't help you; it's all up to you.

It's a Partnership Game - When batting, you have to be ready to hand your life over to the guy at the other end. You have to trust each other so that you follow each other's instructions.

It's a Team Game - No matter how much of a partnership sort of game or an individual game cricket is, it all comes down to being a team game. Your team provides the emotional energy to keep you going.

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SPORTING NEWS You can purchase all the kit shown apart from the trainers via Perry Uniform website. Please clink on the link: http://www.perryuniform.co.uk/index.php/find -your-school/schools-v-z/wetherby-school/seniorschool-marylebone-lane/sports-kit Cricket bats will be placed in the locker room but they must be taken home after each session. If not, they will be sent to lost property as the policy mentions it will be given to charity if no one claims it by the end of the term. Most importantly please name all your equipment and sports kit.

All our lessons and matches will take place in Regents Park using The Hub. It is home to the largest outdoor sports facility in London and we cannot wait to hold our first home fixture. We will be using most of the adult cricket pitches and nets (pictured) to develop the boys understanding and skills in such a wonderful game.

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SPORTING NEWS All the RED circled numbers are Regents Park Cricket pitches we will be using. If you intend to watch please be aware that there is no parking onsite so please use the pre paid parking bays outside the park. If you would like to pick up your son after Wednesday/Thursday afternoon lessons or fixtures please inform me by email: james.sullivan@wetherbysenior.co.uk The best time to collect your son: At 3:55pm. Please arrive 20 minutes early as we cannot wait around for the safety of the other boys. Best place to pick up: Outer Circle near Prince Albert Rd, London NW8.

Some Running Ideas If you are a fitness fanatic like me! I have attached the running routes through Regents Park to add to the boys’ fitness routine and increase their cardiovascular levels for cricket and this term’s fitness testing.

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SPORTING NEWS

And finally…

Mr Savage won a £20 National Book Voucher for winning Wetherby Senior Six Nations Fantasy League. He spent the money wisely on some lovely cook books. Let’s see what we have for lunch next week.

Sports Quote of the Week ‘It is not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts’ Follow us for results and updates on Twitter via @WetherbySSports The Barometer - 24/4/2016 13

CLUB NEWS Grub Club Miss Lillington writes...

Summer term is here!

To keep cool, the boys made milkshakes and smoothies this week in Grub

Club.

blended

their

They own

refreshing drinks using a range of different ingredients, including: banana,

watermelon,

mint,

blueberries,

Oreos, ice cream and milk.

Star bakers this week were

AdhĂŠmar

Maxime enthusiasm

for

and their and

willingness to try new flavours!

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CLUB NEWS Rock Band Mr Bray writes..

If you live near to the school, you may have thought you felt an earth tremor on Wednesday at 5pm. In fact, the vibrations were caused by Jack Henniker-Gotley playing the bass riff of Smoke on the Water in the inaugural get together of the WSS Rock Band. Joining Jack are Zack Zachariou on drums, Pip Evans on guitar, Rahul Thacker on keyboard and Louis Jegou on guitar and vocals.

?

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CLUB NEWS Lego Club Mrs Diamond writes‌

Maxime Hashem writes...

Lego club started with a

A wonderful start to a new

bang on Thursday night,

club with some promising

as the Year 7 leapt to the

and

huge

showing off their skills in

Lego

spattered

trunk

Lego

(and blocks

the

creative

builders

Lego

movie

around the room). On an

competition with a range

original idea of Max, the

of themes from Call of

boys

started

to

Duty to Star Wars versus

sets

to

Superheroes. This seems

perform, film and produce

to be a fun and slightly

their

competitive

create

have Lego very

own

LEGO

club

that

MOVIE over the coming

should really bring out the

weeks. Watch this spot!

creativity and skill of our great members. Go Lego!

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And then, dear reader, I married her.

Mr Warner got married Combining a new job with wedding planning has made this a somewhat hectic year, but on 2nd April Emma and I finally tied the knot in Aldeburgh Parish Church, Suffolk. The sun shone, everyone said the right words at the right time and we had a wonderful time. This was followed by 2 weeks in Japan and Thailand where Emma found out that taking a history teacher on honeymoon can cut into valuable beach time as we took in the sights of Kyoto, Hakone, Tokyo and Tsumago with a suitable amount of attention being paid to the history; which was truly fascinating. We would like to thank everyone at team Wetherby for their kind words and wishes.

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From the Editor On this week’s front cover: Zack and Nicky demonstrate some British uniforms. On the back we have Harrison and Ben demonstrating how to keep warm in a trench. For all comments and feedback please email: henry.warner@wetherbysenior.co.uk

http://www.wetherbysenior.co.uk/