Senior School
The Senior School at Wellington takes pupils through some of the most crucial days and years in
their lives. Building on the foundations for a happy, purposeful sense of life and a love for learning
developed in the Pre-Prep and Prep Schools, our Senior School provides a place in which young
people between the ages of 13 and 18 can grow intellectually, creatively, physically and morally.
Our aim is that Wellingtonians leave the College equipped not only with the best possible examination
results, but with valuable life skills to draw on throughout their life. This includes a kind and
compassionate outlook that values others for who they are, not what they have; a true generosity
of the spirit, and sense of personal honour and integrity, that remains resilient when tested by
misfortunes; a capacity for calm, clear judgments that are reasonable, informed, and unlikely to be
fooled by the traps the world can set for the unwary. If this sounds like a high aim… then that is how
we want it to be! We expect the best of all our students and, in the Senior School, this means asking
them to take ever greater personal responsibility for being organised and for being effective learners.
We will also want them to take more responsibility for their relationships with one another and,
increasingly, with the world beyond the school.
These aims are reflected in teaching and learning that is academically, creatively and personally
challenging. Our teachers work closely with pupils to develop an increasingly analytical and critical
relationship with knowledge, right across the curriculum. Senior School pupils at Wellington develop
powerful skills in terms of knowing the right questions to ask, of their teachers, themselves and each
other. Purposeful debate, imaginative twists and rigorous investigation characterize our lessons. The
taught curriculum is complemented by an extensive programme of co-curricular activities through
which all pupils can discover and explore their passions in music, sport, drama, dance, debate and so
much more. A highly responsive and individually focused pastoral system underpins all we do in the
Senior School. Housemasters and tutors help each pupil to define their own meaningful goals and the
steps needed to reach them. Working in a close partnership with parents, they offer the guidance,
care and belief that all young people need as they progress from adolescence to young adulthood.
Between the ages of 14 and 16, our pupils study a broad range of IGCSE courses designed to equip
them with a high level of knowledge and understanding across the areas of languages, sciences,
mathematics, humanities and the arts. This gives pupils a clear aim, a means of understanding their own
progress at a critical time in their education, and a solid platform for even more demanding study in
the Sixth Form. For our pupils, the peak occurs in the Sixth Form. Here, they take on the challenges of
the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. A wide-ranging and challenging programme
of study, involving six academic subjects and compulsory elements such as a dissertation and study of
the Theory of Knowledge. The IB commands a reputation among universities across the world as a
mark of distinction. Potential university students with an IB Diploma have proved they not only have
the academic standing needed to attend elite institutions; they have shown they also have the personal
qualities of commitment, organisation and resilience that professions and employers demand. Life in
the Senior School at Wellington is definitely busy and demanding. It’s also inspiring, supportive and fun.
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