the wellington college year book 2010/2011
the wellington college year book 2010/2011
In ???? we had ?ve
Oxbridge/Ivy League places,
???? seven, ???? ten, ???? nine.
This year we achieved twenty-three,
made up of seventeen Oxbridge places
and six Ivy League. Our target
for ???? is ?fty.
8
Speech Day Concert
Leaving Sta?
Molly’s singing leads nicely into my next
section, where I pay tribute to the ten staff
who are leaving, four of whom are appointed
to senior management teams.
Tarrant Robbins and Mariama Ifode leave
us after a year, with our thanks for their
contributions.
Remy Lamon joined in 2009 as Head of
Modern Languages. He has brought a unique,
cosmopolitan style into Wellington, and
made a real contribution with Mandarin and
exchanges. He leaves for a promotion to
senior management in Geneva, with our very
best wishes.
Paloma Alisse joined that same year and
has been a breath of fresh air as an English
and Theory of Knowledge teacher, whose
passionate enthusiasm for American and
English Literature has inspired many.
Camilla Bailey, who joined in 2008 having
been a girl in the Apsley ten years ago. She
has been a major contributor in the Maths
department, to sport and as a tutor, and leaves
for South America and then South Africa, with
our profound gratitude.
James Thomas is also leaving after three
years. An inspirational and hugely effective
Head of Philosophy and Religion and Head of
Oxbridge, he made a real difference to the
Achievements
academic life of the school, as well as to its
cultural and sporting life, and pastorally. No
surprise that he leaves us to become academic
deputy at Harrow Hong Kong.
Also joining senior management, this time
in the north of England, is Paul Fairclough,
who joined in 2007. A prolific author, he
has established the most successful Politics
department in the country in his four years,
while also finding time to run conferences,
tutor in the Benson, take polo players to
matches, and to start fishing at Wellington.
Two other much loved figures who joined
in his same year are Nick Maloney and Eunice
Gillan. Eunice’s instructions were to fill the
Wellesley with day girls within five years, a
task she fulfilled brilliantly within three. She
threw herself into everything at the school,
History teaching, sports, ccf, Round Square
and above all the Wellesley. She leaves for
Turkey with Ella, a four-legged if rather sniffy
friend of our own Toby.
Nick Maloney is not one person but an
entire Common Room in one human frame.
A brilliant teacher, he has achieved wonders
leading the Economics and Business Studies
departments, with school running, as a
Hill tutor, outdoor enthusiast and deeply
committed supporter of Wellington Academy
and charitable activities.
He leaves for
Bancroft’s School.
Catherine Micklem joined in 2006, and has
been a tireless Head of Classical Civilisation
and teacher, contributing widely to hype, as a
Murray tutor, netball coach and junior Round
Square. We wish her well.
Finally, Murray Fowler leaves after twenty
years at Wellington, to become Deputy Head
at Wellington College in Tianjin. Murray has
been Head of Geography and housemaster
of the Combermere when it was still a boys’
house. Latterly he has been Head of Lower
Sixth. Amongst his many achievements have
been sixteen field trips for the Lower Sixth
to the French Alps. We will miss him greatly,
as we will his wife Claire, who has taught at
Eagle House and who joins the junior school
at Wellington Tianjin.
As we express our appreciation to all of them,
the school’s A Capella group, which won the
national competition last term, are assembling
to sing for us a Michael Jackson medley.
Our A Capella group nicely introduce some
comments about the achievements of the
school. All the richness of achievement would
be nothing if we weren’t doing the core things
well, by which I mean academic standards, as
seen in exam results.
Our a Level results in 2010 were the best
in our history, and show a spectacular increase
since 2005, as measured by percentages of a
and b grades.
These figures are meaningless unless you
factor in the ability intake for each school.
It is here that Wellington does spectacularly
well, coming in the top 0.7% of the country on
the government’s ‘added value’ tables.
Wellington is beaten by kcs Wimbledon,
which benefits from the preferential ucas
tariff of being an all ib school.
But what of scholarship, which I said in
earlier years we need to improve at ?
In 2007 we had five Oxbridge/Ivy League
places in total, 2008 seven, 2009 ten, 2010
nine. This year we achieved twenty-three,
made up of seventeen Oxbridge places and six
Ivy League. Our target for