Meet our Heads of School
We are just over a week into the new academic year and, as always, our heads of Pre-Prep, Lower Prep, Upper Prep and Senior School have big plans. We caught up with each of them to learn about what guides their thinking and what they have in store for their pupils in the months to come. Below is a brief snapshot of each.
Alexandra Newell
Head of Pre-Prep
"Advancing from the Early Years Centre (EYC) to the main Wellington campus can be a challenging time, and we want both children and parents to feel excited about starting this new chapter. To ease this transition, we work closely with the EYC team, who prepare very thorough documents detailing each pupil's academic and reading levels and social development needs. This helps us to provide them with all the learning opportunities they need to succeed. Additionally, all year 1 classrooms are set up as an Early Years classroom. They feature specific areas of learning, including creative, construction, mathematics, writing, role-play, tough spots, sand and water. During the first half term we will teach the children in small groups and gradually introduce whole-class teaching. Before long, our new Pre-Prep pupils will be developing positive routines tackling new learning challenges with confidence."
Michelle Speight
Head of Lower Prep
“In Lower Prep (LP), we are welcoming our year 3 children who are transitioning from Pre-Prep and our new Wellingtonians (including myself!). My priorities are to get to know all the families in LP and work with each and every class as I teach Wellbeing to throughout the section. We are looking forward to the exciting events coming up throughout the year, such as Kindness Week, where we have opportunities to mix classes or houses and encourage our pupils to develop new skills and take on different roles. We will be talking to the classes about getting involved in leadership roles as we look for form captains, School Council and global ambassadors. These give our pupils the opportunity to support their class and school community in a variety of ways as they take on projects that enhance life both within and outside the school."
Emma Hambling
Head of Upper Prep
"This year, we are strengthening house culture throughout Upper Prep through vertical tutoring groups. These will provide mentoring and support opportunities for pupils across different year groups. In the more immediate future, we have Kindness Week to look forward to. It starts on 13 September, but this year, we hope to make every week Kindness Week with our Kindness Challenge. We will be challenging our Upper Prep pupils to commit 1 million random acts of kindness before the end of the academic year. Not long after that, our year 8 pupils will participate in Leadership Days on 23 and 24 September. They will take part in team and leadership building activities, like a citywide scavenger hunt, to see if they have what it takes to be one of our Upper Prep leaders. And this is just what we have to look forward to in the month of September!"
Ewan McCallum
Head of Senior School
"We are excited to welcome pupils back to Wellington’s Senior School. As tutors and Housemasters get to know their new tutees and build important relationships across all year groups, we are focused on ensuring all children have an even more fun, caring Wellington experience. Our pupils will meet robust challenges head-on, with more public speaking, independent research projects and a great range of exciting co-curricular activities. Auditions for Wellington’s amazing productions, and try-outs for our sports teams are on the way too. Get ready and get involved!"
Open days and tours for 2022 entry
Wellington is taking rolling applications for the 2021-22 academic year and inviting future Wellingtonians to join us for Open days and tours for 2022 entry.
Open days are available for children applying for our Early Years and Pre-Prep programmes from September through December this year.
Please scan the QR code below to register.
We are Wellington | A warm welcome to all Wellingtonians!
Welcome to the new academic year!
Four ways to ease back into the school mindset
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