Centenary Year Edition

The Year 8 cohort

Dear Parents, I hope this last newsletter of the year finds you well. Please note the key dates coming up over the next week. (see page 8)

IMPORTANT - Family Database Check and Wellesley Directory Update 2015 Soon you will receive an email requesting you to confirm or update your contact details electronically. These details will be used to compile the 2015 directory, so it is important they are updated by the end of December 2014.

Prizegiving

You are all invited to attend our Year 4 to Year 8 Prizegiving held for the first time in our Centennial Hall on Friday 12th December. I suggest you arrive and get seated no later than 9.00am as we will commence promptly at 9.15am. Parking, unless it is very wet, will be available on the field. There will be rows of seats reserved for Year 8 and any other leaving parents near the front. Parents wishing to take up the opportunity to sit in these rows should be seated by 9.00am.

This is the formal occasion of the year. Our special guests include Rev. Ellie Sanderson, old boys T.J. Va’a and Amar Patel. School closes immediately after Prizegiving and although we expect most parents to be in attendance, normal school buses will be operating following Prizegiving.

After Prizegiving, tea and coffee will be served in the old Library or inner quad for the leavers and their parents.

Staffing 2015

After our self-review process which involved full consultation with staff, we have developed our staff structure for 2015 as follows:

Y1 Yvonne Odinot 5S Veronica Stevens 7N Michelle Norton Y2 Glen Jorna 6L Chevon O’Leary 7/8T Andrew Tait Y3 Alison Garland (AP) 6O Tony Orbell 8B Murray Blandford 4C Michelle Colley 6C Carolyn Currington 8P Tim Parkes 4T Christine Trummer 7/8B Sarah Bleier 5P Chris Parker 7M Jon Mackie

Wellesley College Newsletter # 12 2nd December 2014

As you can see there is little change with Kate Sinclair going off for a year on Parental Leave and Carolyn Currington stepping into her place. Carolyn took a Year 3 class this year but has much experience with the Year 6 age group and was a senior teacher in her last school. Carolyn also has strengths in the performing arts. The class teachers have put a considerable amount of time into the process of class placements based on the social and academic needs of each boy. Please trust our professional judgement on these class placements. Almost without exception our decisions prove to be in the best interests of the children. It is hard enough juggling the class placements without having parent requests. Although there could be some minor changes to the configuration below, our support staff will be structured as follows: Anne Familton will continue her Reading Recovery role as well as supporting literacy in the Junior School. Eve Owen will continue her art role. Steve Girvan (DP), continues as Professional Development and Curriculum coordinator (including the promotion of higher order thinking), Maths and Pastoral Care (incl. transport). Ross Hampton is Head of E-Learning. Garth Johnson is our ICT Manager. Mary-Anne Morgan will have her usual Music responsibilities and will be involved in Literacy Learning Support. Ruth Hooke continues her role in the Performing Arts. Darren Houston will lead our PE/Sports and Outdoor Education programmes. Ross and Steve will also have special responsibilities in the Year 7 & 8 classes. For example, both will be taking Senior Maths, thus ensuring we have eight teachers for six classes. The Middle School Maths programme will benefit from having an extra teacher and the assistance of a teacher aide. Jo Hawthorne leads our Science and Technology programmes. Teacher support will also be provided by Brenda Nisbet, Sue Jones and Jackie Gray. Janice Meo will run our computer based SuccessMaker and Lexia Programmes, as well as taking a maths group. Jane Kent continues as our Librarian. Deirdre van Beynen has worked here both as a teacher and as teacher support. Deirdre will continue to teach alongside Yvonne Odinot in the Junior School. We have an excellent staff/child ratio and, once again, I’m thrilled with our capable line-up of staff. We are also fortunate to have very capable staff in the administration and maintenance areas of the school. Karen Reid will be Brendan Pitman’s PA, Hilary Fiennes is our Bursar, Margie Beattie is our Development Manager with Laurel Makowem as support. Anne England will continue to work as administrative support and Fiona Donnelly as our Uniform Shop Manager. Teresa Davidson and Rachel Seymour will continue as our Domestic Services managers. Gerard Maahuis continues as Caretaker. Paddianne Neely continues as our Archivist.

Left to right---Finalists—Seniors, Year 5, Year 4 and Year 6. Senior winner William (Y7) and Ben (2nd in the Year 5 final)

Speech Finals As you know we put a lot of emphasis on the boys having the skills and confidence to present themselves in both formal and informal situations. We have been delighted with the standard of speeches across the school.

Year 4 Speech Final

The Year 4 Speech Final was held on Friday 14th November. All 8 finalists had put a lot of thought and preparation into their speeches and they were of an extremely high standard. 1st place Efe Karagedikli – ‘New York’ 2nd equal place Leo Manktelow – ‘Teddy Bears’ and David Lillis – ‘Sharks’ Other finalists were: Eddie Lethbridge – ‘Ghosts’, Liam Barber - ‘Bad Habits’, Jonathan Dowell – ‘The Water Cycle’, Arthur Egerton – ‘Colour Blindness’ and Ari Bonar – ‘Don’t Smoke’. Christine Trummer

Year 5 Speech Final

The Year 5 Speech Competition Finals were held on Wednesday 19th November, and proved to be a wonderful showcase for the talent in the year group. The standard this year was extremely high, in terms of both the actual content and structure of the speeches, as well as the delivery. It made for a tricky task for our adjudicator, Rev Ellie Sanderson. The eight Finalists were: Ethan Whiteman (King Tut’s Curse), Harry Zangouropoulos (Spices), Pat Green (Why Did I Pick My Nose?), Ben Wilson (Manfred von Richthofen), Alex Heine-Sheldrake (Mr. Bean), Finbar Mallett (Why I Love Summer), Oscar Jackson (Live Aid) and Felix Rees-Moore (Mt Erebus Disaster). After much deliberation by the adjudicator, Ethan Whiteman dug his way into 3rd place, Ben Wilson came through the dog-fight to take 2nd position and Pat Green successfully placed 1st, by a nose. All the Speech Finalists deserve congratulations, and special thanks must go to our adjudicator, Rev Ellie Sanderson, for her careful deliberation and insightful comments. Chris Parker

Year 6 Speech Final

The Year 6 Speech Final was held on Friday 21st of November and was judged by Mrs Charlotte Gendall. The finalists were Judd Adamsom – Do Fish have Lips?, Aidan Cushman – Ancient Egypt, William Chandler – Communication, Johnny Hill – Conspiracy Theories, Bruno Penney – Pele, James Hoskin – Inventing, Ben Penno – Toilet Paper, Tom Bloomfield – Why you should have a Pet. All boys did extremely well to make it to the finals out of 60 Year 6 boys. Our judge awarded Tom Bloomfield and Bruno Penney 3rd equal place, Ben Penno 2nd place, and William Chandler 1st place. Well done to all the Finalists, and a big thank you to Mrs Charlotte Gendall. Tony Orbell

Senior Speech Competition

This year’s Senior Speech Competition had eight Finalists; two from Year 7 and six from Year 8. As usual, the job was a difficult one for this year’s adjudicator, John McIntyre, co-owner with his wife Ruth since 1992 of the celebrated Kilbirnie bookshop, The Children’s Bookshop. The overall winner was Year 7 pupil William Stevenson, with a poignant, well-delivered speech entitled ‘Homeless’. Second place went to Year 8 pupil Paul McDonald (Beards), and third place went to Bede Brown (First World Problems). Other Finalists included last year’s winner, Rahul Vijayesnan (Save the Planet), Hugh Morrison (Why Every Kiwi Bloke Should Own a Ute), Hamish Hutton (Wellesley Teachers), Alexi Zangouropoulos (Anti-smoking), and Callum Hancock (‘Sharks’). Congratulations to all the Finalists on their efforts. Murray Blandford

Junior Book

Noah and Kvan Angus and Jack Cody and Logan Daniel and Callum

This year the Junior and Senior buddies have been working on creating a Wellesley Centenary book. So the boys can experience a bit of the real thing about boarding school in the early 1900’s, we asked our Junior parents to write a letter to them as if they were a boarder. They wrote it from the perspective of family life at home in the early 1900’s. In Term 3 our Junior boys received these letters from their parents at the boarding school breakfast we had together. These were the most amazing, well-researched letters to their child, which we read to them. The Junior boys have replied to their parents’ letters Part of this booklet has included an interesting historical photo of Wellesley with a present day photo taken from a similar spot. There is a biography page at the back, with a photo of both boys together and a short biography of both underneath. Our Junior boys thrive with their Senior buddies and worked harmoniously, as they created their take on Wellesley and honouring the past.

Alison Garland

Citizenship

All the children in the school voted anonymously for two boys in their class who they respected most for their integrity and caring behaviour towards their classmates. The following boys gained the most votes. It is always lovely to see the variety of names.

The Junior School had a Teddy Bears’ picnic last week. A few Senior boys helped. Some random bear turned up.

Orientation Days At this time of year we are welcoming our next intake into Wellesley by having orientation days. They give our current boys a chance to host new boys and give the new boys an opportunity to meet some new friends. Orientation also gives new boys a chance to get to know the school so the transition to Wellesley can be as smooth as possible.

Year 5 Trip to Capital-E and Te Papa

My job at Capital-E was to make sure the presenters could explain what was going on in the story, without it looking like they were reading off a script, and make sure the words on the camera came up at a pace they could read it. I enjoyed the On TV session because the equipment was well maintained and it was very intriguing because I don’t know much about computers, and I learnt a lot.

6L Campbell Hodges and Thomas Pou

6O Flynn Ormsby and Hugo Lethbridge

6S Caleb Wong, Alex Schupp and Max Waiker 7M Oliver Hall, Alexi Zangouroulos 7N Ruaridh Ferguson and Charlie Plimmer

7/8B Jiawei Leong, Cillian Butler & Jake Young 7/8T Ben Stirling, Callum Benfell, Ben Ross 8B Hamish Hutton and Bede Brown 8P Nick Cooke, Robbie Michael and Fred Schwarz

Y0 Archie Lowe and Reuben Stevens Y1 Matthew Trolove and Ollie Morgan Y2 Charlie Griffiths and Sam Richards Y3C Tom Riley and Jonathan Dowell Y3G Louis McArthur and Tashi Gutsa 4C Harry Young and Jude Dawson 4T Liam Barber and James Kirkland 5S Niko Nash-Krippner and Micaiah Read

5P Krishin Cox and Harry Zangouropoulos

The best bit for me was watching the TV programme because we got to appreciate all our hard work, and I thought the whole thing went very smoothly and no-one was disappointed with themselves. At Te Papa we went to a really cool dinosaur exhibition and we got to learn about all the different T-rex, all their different families and their different shapes and sizes. In the exhibition we had a booklet and a pencil, and we had to draw Scotty the T-rex. There was also an exercise were we had to squeeze two pieces of metal together and a machine compared it to how hard a dinosaurs jaws could bite. I thought it was terrific because they told us some very useful facts about dinosaurs and what it’s like to be a Paleontologist. Overall I thought the day was brilliant, and I really enjoyed the trip. If I had a choice I would definitely relive that day!! Pat Green, 5P

Christmas Tree

Christmas is coming! The Christmas Tree has been placed in the foyer. It is a time for excitement and happiness for most, but for some families it can be a time of hardship and stress. Let us help to brighten Christmas for those children less fortunate than ours. Your son is asked to bring a present to put under the tree. The Salvation Army will pass on our gifts to children from needy families in Wellington. The gift can be new or preloved (in good condition), wrapped and labelled with the age and gender of the child that the gift would most likely suit. Thank you for your support.

The Arts

Lovely prints from Year 4 Sam and Daniel Cillian with his buddy James

Refugee Children

A few times a year, Eve Owen and boys host a group of refugee children from St Michael’s school in Taita. This exchange is of great mutual benefit for our boys and the refugee children. The experience brings service, humility and a grounding experience for our boys and the refugee children have experiences which many have never

Krishin, William, Theo, Lucca, Ayush and Ben Max and Nikil learning about circuits. Robotics-Tyler, Cameron (through the glass top right) and Oliver

experienced. A few words from Eve Owen.

We had a great day off track. Bush walking, building beach sculptures, making obstacle courses, testing ourselves with long and high jumps made from driftwood and rope found on the beach, all sorts of games and of course wharf jumping and swimming. Natali played the violin for us and we had a shared lunch and a beautiful cake made by Maree, Oliver's mum. Many parents kindly offered their help with transport so thank you to you all and to Paddy Dunford who spent the day with us. Another happy day in what is a boys’ paradise! Watching our boys and these courageous young children playing together is very heartening.

Performing Arts

Year 7 and 8 boys were treated to a wonderful mime performance from ‘Svargo’, an exceptionally talented mime artist. Svargo began his career in West Berlin where his love of mime inspired him to study it extensively. He has become recognised as a leading exponent of his art form and has performed throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He showed us many different techniques and created many memorable characters – Robot, Nerd, Motor Cyclist, Doctor and Father with a baby! Svargo invited selected boys to come and join him on stage which everyone enjoyed! He had us laughing and kept us entertained from the moment he came on stage.

The Junior Production ‘To Dance the Rhythm of the Earth’ was absolutely stunning and a gift for all the families to experience. Not only was the choreography, costuming, dance, drama and singing of the highest standard but it had a strong thread of cultural and environmental learning which was very powerful for the boys. The boys came away knowing that with focus, hard work and creativity comes intense satisfaction and further motivation to aim high. We all left the show feeling we had experienced something special. Thank you to Alison Garland, her wonderful team, and the boys for their dedication and vision putting this on for us all. Our new school hall has now had three different productions, one from each syndicate and the set up and layout for each has been quite different. It is the most beautiful space to perform in and so versatile. Not having a permanent stage allows us so much more flexibility – we are loving it!! Ruth Hooke On Tuesday the 11th of November, the Wellesley College Rock Band went to perform at a competition: Battle of the Bands. The band performed two songs, Drops of Jupiter by Train and Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. We were really happy with the way that we performed and handled the pressure. Although we didn’t come away with a placing all the boys were really happy, considering it was our first big performance, it was also a great learning experience for us going on to college.

Callum Hancock

2015 Classes and School Reports

Year 4-8 school reports will be posted to you no later than the 15th December.

At the moment we are looking at the composition for the Y4-8 classes. This is time-consuming and much thought

goes into the make-up of the classes, as we look closely at the composition of the class both academically and socially. We don’t encourage parents’ requests and I ask you to please rely on our professional judgement. The boys come into contact with a variety of staff via Maths programmes, ICT, Art, Performing Arts, PE/Sport, Science etc. We are very fortunate to have a strong team of teachers who work together to ensure your son’s individual needs are met. Your son’s class placement will be either posted out with the reports or early in the school break.

Year 8 Dinner

Our annual Leavers’ Dinner for all our Year 8 boys and their parents will take place on Tuesday night, 9th December at the Boatshed in Wellington. I always look forward to this special occasion, as it is an excellent opportunity to farewell the boys, many of whom have been at Wellesley since they were five years old. (5.30pm for 6.00pm start) Our guest speaker is Prof. Campbell McLachlan. Many thanks to Trish Perrins and Karen Reid who are working hard to co-ordinate this special event.

Leavers’ Parent Drinks

Thank you to all the parents who were able to join me and staff for drinks and a catch-up recently. The evening was well attended and if the noise level from chatter is any measure of how well the evening went, it was a huge success! A big thank you to Laurel Makowem

These evenings are totally dedicated to the parents and offer an opportunity for them to reflect on their time and associations at the school. For many of our 2015 leavers’ parents, it is their last son attending Wellesley and marks a significant point in their relationship with the school, which in some cases has been a considerable length of time.

At Wellesley we are very keen that this is not seen as an end but merely a stepping stone to the future. We wish all our leavers and their families success and enjoyment in the next stages of their educational experience and please do keep in touch. We really love to hear what is happening to our Old Boys.

Bede, Will, Sacha, Hamish, Alex + George-Boys love their ‘hands on’ activities whether it is building ‘stuff’ or programming and building robots.

Year 7 West Coast Trip

This week long trip was a great success despite some challenging weather at times. The staff and parents on the trip said the boys were absolutely outstanding in terms of their appreciation of the trip, their good manners and general behaviour.

Inter-School Contact

Each year there are various opportunities for our Y7 and 8 boys to host or attend school dances with girl schools. The Year 8s have an annual day with Queen Margaret College playing sport, debating and having a shared music concert where the boys and girls have a chance to shine. KEY DATES TERM 1 2015 (further dates and details on our website)

WK1 Monday February 2 School Starts

Newsletter 1

Tuesday February 3 Y1-3 Parent Evening 7.00pm

Y4-8 Parent Evening 7.30pm

Friday February 6 Waitangi Day (school closed)

WK 2 Monday February 9 Y4+6 Goal Setting Interview week

starts.

Friday February 13 School Picnic 6.00pm-8.00pm

WK 3 Monday February 16 Y8 Castlepoint Camp (5 days)

Wednesday February 18 Y4+5 Camp on site (3 days)

Junior School Fishing and

Sleepover at Wellesley

WK 4 Monday February 23 Year 7 + 8 Goal Setting Interview

Week

WK 5 Monday March 2 Newsletter 2

Wednesday March 4 Year 6 Camp Kaitoke (3 days)

Friday March 6 Year 4+5 Swimming Sports

(School Pool) 11.00am Year 7+8 1pm Eastbourne Pool Year 1-3 1.30pm School Pool

WK 6 Tuesday March 10 Year 6 Swimming Sports 1pm

Eastbourne Pool

WK 8 Friday March 27 Wellesley Community Golf

Tournament

WK 9 Monday March 30 Newsletter 3

Thursday April 2 Term 1 Ends

School History Book Sales of the School History Book remain steady. Copies are available for purchase at the school office, or simply complete and return the order form on the back of this newsletter to have one sent to you.

Centenary celebrations update http://www.wellesley.school.nz/alumni/centenary-2014

We promised you more images of this amazing year- from the rained out March Centenary cricket at the Basin Reserve (and Plan B on Wellesley’s verandah), to Legacy Day in September, to the Junior School’s Boarding school recreation - to the Centenary weekend itself. So from many sources, but mainly marvellous local photographer Phil Benge, we hope you enjoy these images. Unlike the Woolf professional images, these can’t be purchased online, they are just for your enjoyment and are we hope a good record of the events where possible. Wellesley100 team

Last Two Weeks Of Term.

Wednesday 3 December 10am Y7+8 Triathlon Friday 7 December 9.15am Leavers’ Service at St Albans 11.00am Junior School Prizegiving Monday 10 December 1pm Mother/Son Tennis (Y8s) Tuesday 11 December 5.30pm for 6pm start Y8 Leavers’ Dinner (Boatshed) Wednesday 12 December 9.20 Junior School Fishing Thursday 13 December Junior School’s end of year Friday 14 December 9.15am Y4-8 Prizegiving

Term 1 2015 Start date

Monday 2nd February

Otago Problem Challenge

Wellesley boys took part in this maths problem challenge during the year. The challenge consists of five tests of 5 questions. The question below is an example.

27,000 students throughout NZ take part in the competiton and at Wellesley, 38 students achieved Merit, 45 achieved Excellence and two gained a perfect score of 25 out of 25. Congratulations to Kristian Kelland and Jesse Richardson (for the second year in a row) who achieved a perfect score. Further congratulations to Jesse Richardson who gained Distinction in the Final Challenge, a competition for the top achievers in the Otago Problem Challenge.

Wellesley Boys who achieved Excellence in the Otago Problem Challenge: David Lillis (Year 4), Ned Lutyens, Archie Chandler, Matt Bevan, William Chandler, Ethan Hodge, James Hoskin, Anish Hota, Tom Adams, Ben Stirling, Victor Lai, Ben Ross, Callum Benfell, Dougal Colquhoun, Theo Hertzig, George Lethbridge, Harry Summers, Cameron McMahon, Dominic Coffin, James Cameron, Nicholas McDermott, Arie Renner, Edward Dunne, Noah Adler, Henry Chandler, Theo Tresidder, William Durkin, Harry Williams, Christopher Bramley, Hugh Morrison, Jesse Richardson, Kristian Kielland, Oliver Hershon, Max Abbott, Rowan Wooloff, Sam Paviour Smith, George He, Alexander Zangouropoulos, Hamish Hutton, Jake Young, Nick Cooke, Jim Lockwood, Oliver Lynch, Andrew Sutcliffe, Ethan Henry, Toby Marks.

Sage winning jump in the Senior competition The egg and spoon race is always a favourite

PE and Sport 2014

Newsletter 12 – 1st December

The Underwater hockey team have their final tournament of the year this weekend. They have had a fantastic year with several gold medals. Thank you to Anna Loughnan and Emily Colquhoun for all their efforts with the team this year. The School Athletics took place last week in two parts. The middle and senior boys were in the morning and the juniors in the afternoon. These events were the end part of the athletics programme for the majority which has dominated PE and sport sessions this term. The overall results were as follows: Croydon was the winning house followed by Wellington, Marlborough and Selwyn. The individual results are as follows:

Year 4 – 1st Tom Riley, 2nd = Arthur Egerton and Carl Pascall

Year 5 – 1st Cameron Pattison, 2nd Oscar Jackson, 3rd Felix Rees-Moore

Year 6 – 1st Ethan McKenzie, 2nd Thomas Pou, 3rd Archie Chandler

Year 7/8 – 1st Nick Cooke, 2nd William O’Connor, 3rd = Sage Shaw-Tait, Callum Hancock and Ruaridh Ferguson (1st Y7)

Wellesley entered boys in the Year 4-6 Zone Athletics Sports at the Hutt Rec Ground in Week 6. Thomas Pou, Rufus Rusholme-Cobb and Ethan McKenzie won individual events along with the Year 6 relay team. Eleven boys qualified for the Inter-Zone event in Naenae last week. Wellesley is sending a team of Middle and Senior boys to the Regional Athletics this week at the Newtown Stadium. The Senior tennis championships are nearing completion at the time of writing. Oliver Hall and Sacha Thomson won the Doubles Title by defeating Christopher Bramley and Jack Healy. Nick Cooke won a very tight Singles Final against Oliver Hall. Thomas Pou and Flynn Healy have progressed to the Year 6 final. Bruno Penney and Flynn Healy will play Aidan Cushman and Thomas Pou in the Year 6 Doubles Final. Ben Hyde-Smith and Oliver Hall competed in the Central Regional tournament in Palmerston North earlier in the term. The Senior triathlon is scheduled to take place today. The senior boys have organised themselves into teams of three with each going to do the swim, run or cycle legs in Eastbourne. A BBQ follows to replenish lost energy. 8B and 8P had their turn with the Yachting New Zealand run sailing sessions at the Seaview Marina. The weather conditions varied but the boys got out on the water. The other four classes had their turn earlier in the year.

The weather has had an adverse effect on summer fixtures with St Mark’s and HIBS. There was play in the St Mark’s fixture with wins in tennis and softball but the cricket games were washed out. A group of Year 6 boys enjoyed the opportunity to play T-ball against St Mark’s. The 1st XI Cricket team travelled to Nelson for matches against Nelson College Prep and Nelson Intermediate Schools. Some boys took the Sunday ferry crossing and others arrived on Monday morning. Wellesley made 239 for 8 off their 40 overs against Nelson Intermediate. This was a great score but they were 91 for 5 at one stage before Nick Cooke’s unbeaten 93 helped reach the formidable total. Wellesley bowled their opposition out for 62 inside 29 overs. The Nelson College Prep match was changed to two 20/20 games due to the weather forecast. Wellesley won both of these games with part time bowler Tom Chisnall’s 5 wicket bag in one game and 42 runs from Harry Summers the highlights. The 1st XI Cricket boys are scheduled to play the traditional father/son cricket today. These boys plus other senior cricketers are involved in games next week. Some of the Year 8 boys pair up with their mothers for the mother/son tennis tournament next Monday. Year 6 and Senior boys intending to play tennis next year can purchase black shorts with pockets from the uniform shop. The shorts can be used for PE instead of the normal plain shorts. There will be a new school tennis cap available next year along with the introduction of a school sports bag. One senior and three Year 5/6 basketball teams have carried on in their respective Karori leagues this term. The boys have benefitted from playing together over a longer period of time. A team of enthusiastic Year 4 boys have been playing in the Hutt Park Friday Touch competition. They’ve had some great wins and thoroughly enjoyed the games. Wellesley is a registered school in the Weetbix TRYathlon. Boys can register and pay online. School tracksuits are a requirement for the senior boys next year. Both the old or new styles are acceptable and I encourage leaving boys to try and sell theirs to those boys who haven’t purchased one yet. I have some tracksuit tops which haven’t been claimed over the year so come and see me if your son is missing his.

Darren Houston.

EXCITING NEWS and ‘HEADS UP’ for 2015

Golf Day and Dinner

Mark in your diary Friday midday March 27th 2015 Parent Paul Madigan and his team are in the early stages of organising this biennial event. Having played it myself, I can tell you it is a lot of fun and the dinner is very memorable. More information to follow.

Gala 2015 We still haven’t got a lead convenor for next year’s gala so if you are considering it, please feel free to give me a call to discuss. On behalf of the boys and staff, I want to say how grateful we always are for the parents accepting these leadership roles.

The athletics sports were a great day out for both events. The Y4-8 in the morning and the Junior

School games in the afternoon.

Art/Creative initiatives for 2015 and beyond Hopefully you had a chance to visit the ARTBOURNE100 exhibition during the Centenary weekend and to see the wonderful creativity of our Old Boys and our two previous Artists in Residence – Wayne Youle and Ben Timmins. Next year, Wellesley will be hosting our third Artist residency. Having an artist based in the Art Room with Eve, and working with the boys, gives them the chance to see an artist “in action” and also to extend their own artistic endeavours. The programme culminates in the School’s Art Week with an exhibition of the artist’s works, which will take place probably during August. In 2016, ARTBOURNE exhibition will return to its usual format, where artworks by professional artists (including Old Boys) are exhibited and sold to raise funds for the Foundations scholarship campaign-= called Promising futures for boys. The team who work with Eve and the Development office to run these events are always on the lookout for extra people to help out with these initiatives. If you have an interest in this area or are just keen to get involved with a School project, please contact either Katy Lethbridge (katy.lethbridge@xtra.co.nz) or Pip Harray (Philippa.harray@gmail.com) to find out what is involved.

How do we create a culture of opportunity for others to attend this unique school? By gifting access to Wellesley through financial scholarships and making that our focus. Two current families the Bowkers and the McArthurs have already established two separate scholarships for Years 7 and 8. We applaud them and thank them for their vision and generosity. These scholarships along with the Roger Mexted scholarship announced at the Centenary are the keystones of a wider scholarship campaign called Promising futures for boys. The vision of the campaign is to raise an endowment fund of $1.75 million, income from which will enable several scholarships for Year 7-8 boys to be offered each year. “The gift of education has a transformational quality”, Warren Owen says. “I have seen this first hand with the young men who have seized that opportunity here”. http://www.wellesley.school.nz/giving/promising-futures We also wish to acknowledge the support of generous Patrons connected with Wellesley:

Our Bishop of Wellington, Bishop Justin Duckworth, Sir John Todd, (Old Boy and Dux Class of ’43),Michael Hobbs,( former Wellesley parent and Chair of the Board of Trustees and current grandparent),Alan Gibbs, (Old Boy – Class of ‘52 – entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist),Marc Ellis,( Old Boy – Class of ‘84 – former All Black and rugby league representative, businessman and broadcaster) and Warren Owen –retiring Principal of 22 years and parent of two Old Boys.

Promising Futures gives donors a range of opportunities to contribute, from long-term pledges to one-off donations to specific donations for scholars’ equipment. One of the platforms is BRICK100 is a limited edition of 100 bricks sold in Centenary Year for $2,160 each. They will provide funding for a half a Centenary Scholarship in perpetuity, and will be displayed on the Centennial Hall’s outside stage wall. For more information on this initiative and other ways to gift or help under Promising Futures, visit http://www.wellesley.school.nz/giving/promising-futures or contact Margie Beattie margie@wellesley.school.nz or tel 576 2274. There are printed brochures available as well as online information and forms. We hope you can become part of creating a culture of opportunity at Wellesley. Lastly, I want to thank you as parents. 2014 has been so exciting and successful on so many fronts. You have been a great support to your boys and us as a staff. The year has again been full of highlights and it is a pleasure to see the boys develop so well. I will see you all at one of the many school occasions coming up, but in the meantime, I wish you a happy festive season and in particular, a Merry Christmas. There have been a number of ‘lasts’ for me recently and this newsletter is the last one after the many I have written over the years. I will see you all soon at one of the end of year functions. Best wishes Warren Owen

PUBLIC NOTICES

Please note that notices posted in this section of the Principal’s Pen have not necessarily been vetted by Wellesley College. We therefore advise that if you are interested in any of the services

advertised that you check them out yourself.

Summer Holiday Programme @ Waterloo School, 20 Jan – 3 Feb 2015

and also 18 & 19 December 2014 !! 30 am- 6.00pm. Our quality programme offers exciting field

trips, fun games, art & craft and sport activities for primary aged children. Our

experienced team members are looking forward to meeting your child. All staff trained

and police vetted. For enquiries and/ or enrolment please ph. 234-6440 or e-mail

afterschool.funclub@xtra.co.nz. The programme is OSCAR approved. Everyone welcome .

Ohariu Valley Riding School – Summer Holiday Programme Children get fully involved in the care of the horses including feeding, grooming, tacking up and of course mucking out! Each day your child will get a lesson (private for beginners) and a trek over our 800 acres of beautiful farmland, and on the final day the children will take part in a gymkhana. Our instructor, Karen, is a fully qualified riding instructor and has nearly 30 years experience teaching people to ride. This combined with her well trained and good natured four legged assistants makes our school a great place to ride. Places are limited and we have a limited number of spots available for beginners each week. To book please call 477 3888 or email us ridingschool@ovec.co.nz Dates: 16th, 17th & 18th December Price: 1 day = $13 6th, 7th, 8th January 3 days = $400 13th, 14th 15th January 20th, 21st, 22nd January Time: 9am – 4.30pm 27th, 28th, 29th January

Karori Junior Hockey - Save the Date The five pre-season training sessions for juniors will begin on Sun 8th February 2015, followed by trials

during March. Save the date now and visit www.kjhc.org.nz/2015-season-information/ for full details.

Registrations open in January.

LEARN TO PLAY TENNIS - Holiday Programme For Primary School Children - Supported by HVTA Dates: Wednesday 28, Thursday 29 and Friday 30 January, 2015. (wet or fine) Venue: Mitchell Park (Mitchell Street, Lower Hutt) Timetable: 9.00am-10.00 am- Girls from 5-8 years old 10.00am-11.00 am- Boys from 5-8 years old 11.00am-12.00 noon- Girls from 9 years + 1.00pm-2.00 pm- Boys from 9 years + Cost: $33-00 for the 3 days. Money to be paid on the first day. Registration: Contact Gary Nelson –Ph. 5897178 or Email - a.nelson@xtra.co.nz Note: Enrolments must be received by- Friday 9 January, 2015. EARLY ENROLMENT is advised as this programme is very popular and the first 12 enrolments in each age group will be accepted.

Kids Domain Xmas 2014-2015 Holiday Programme 2 locations: Stokes Valley and Lower Hutt Online Bookings open now – go to our website to book www.kidsdomain.biz $25 – $36 per day/child winz subsidies available fun activities – laserforce, swimming, beach trips, park trips, movies, art @ learning connexion plus much more phone: 027 4749753 or email: kidsdomain@slingshot.co.nz