SUMMER TERM 2016

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S STUDY

I am delighted to be able to sign off the academic year having enjoyed an exhilarating crescendo to the Summer Term.

I am sure that the Prize Giving and the Annual General Inspection are still at the forefront of the minds of many – a celebration of the outstanding achievements of current Welbexians. It was touch and go right until the end as to whether the weather would win the day, but in the event, the rain cleared during the speeches in the morning, and in the afternoon we witnessed a superb parade.

The Chaplain General, The Reverend Dr David Coulter CB QHC, opened the day and encouraged those assembled, and in particular the departing students, to consider the role that faith, in its broadest sense, plays in generating increased confidence to face the world and its challenges. The Chair of Governors, Vice Admiral Duncan Potts, focussed on the central role that the College plays, and in particular the vital importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), in ensuring that this country can face the Defence and Security challenges of today and the future. Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield provided an inspirational talk and encouraged the students to remember three quotations which he hoped would “cling to the velcro of your memory”: from Albert Einstein – ‘Never lose a holy curiosity’; the second from the novelist Penelope Lively ‘The compelling matter of memory – the vapour trail, which out which we are undone’; and finally T.E Lawrence ‘Were certain to be teachable in schools; but the irrational tenth was like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and in it lay the test of generals’. As he closed, Lord Hennessy urged the students to “always strive for the dazzling flash of the kingfisher’s wings”.

Aaliyah Arnold, Head of College, gave an outstanding speech as the Head of College, drawing on her experiences to highlight the huge rewards that Welbeck brings and the crucial legacy that the 14 Entry leavers have given the College in the increased strength between the Upper and Lower Sixth years. The Minerva Prize for Wisdom and Endeavour was presented by Mr Martyn Leader, Member of the Minerva Board, to William Deary; the Defence Equipment and Support Prize for Technical Innovation was presented to Matthew Cotton by Mr Clive Buckley of DESG. The Royal Society of St George Performance Challenge Cup was presented by Mr Norman Pratt to Adam Barcock and The Quorn Royal British Legion Farnham Challenge Cup was awarded by Mr John Hutchinson to William Crowther.

1/6 In the afternoon we witnessed another outstanding display of the breadth of talent that is constantly so evident in many areas of the College - The Corps of Drums and the Military Band showed just how capable the College musicians are as they treated those present to an outstanding performance; Major General Mitch Mitchell, Old Welbexian and Director of the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, took the salute. (Those who had been present at the Summer Concert the preceding evening would also have seen that music in the College has an encouraging nucleus of talent - if your son or daughter has hidden musical talent then please encourage him, or her, to get involved.) During this display, the College was treated to a flypast by a spitfire from The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; sadly the earlier parachute display by the Falcons had to be cancelled due to the weather conditions. Air Vice-Marshal Sue Gray, Air Officer Commanding Number 38 Group, took the afternoon parade which, given the challenging weather that had plagued the preparations, was testimony to the students, the military team and in particular the College Sergeant Major. Parents and VIPs were treated to a military parade by over 300 cadets, accompanied by the RAF Cadet Band. AVM Gray awarded The Prince Philip Medal to Aaliyah Arnold and presented the Welbeck Sword to Michael Firth. Photographs and transcripts of speeches can be found on the College website.

At Prize Giving, I paid tribute to a number of members of staff who leave the College at the end of this academic year: Ma’am Liz Paling – to the students she is best known as the lady who leads hymn practice, but she has taught keyboard, strings and led different groups at the College throughout the 10 years that she has been with us. The College Adjutant leaves the College after a posting here for two years. Lt Gareth Williams has invested hugely in the students and their personal development programmes to ensure the best outcomes for them and I know that the students will recognise the significant changes that have been made this year. He will be moving to Abbey Wood as a staff officer responsible for Engineering Programming for in service submarines. We wish these departing members of staff well as they leave the College.

In addition to the leavers two members of staff are stepping down from significant leadership positions. The role played by Housemasters and Mistresses can never be underestimated – the ever present support for students in their Houses translates into long hours as they draw upon their own personal resources in support of the young men and women in their care. Mr George Walsh has been Housemaster in Nelson House since 2008. He has taken the decision to step down from this role within the House, but will continue within the Chemistry Department. He has invested hugely in Nelson House and I am extremely grateful to him for this. Mr Joe O’Halloran has stepped up as the Interserve General Manager for the past 12 months. His care and support in ensuring that the services that his team delivers have been much appreciated by the whole community. He will be taking up new opportunities outside the College within Defence, but will retain the key role as Head of Hard Services. The day’s events came to a close with the evening’s Graduation Ball for the 14 Entry Leavers. It was wonderful to see so many parents attending this excellent event. This is an event for leavers and their parents and it would be good if next year nearly all parents of the leavers could attend. The Ball Committee gave us all a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the two years that the students had been with us and I know that they, and all those present, were extremely grateful to Ma’am Dawkins for all her help.

Sadly, this term also marked the end of an era with the final Austrian Exchange visit taking place in June. The exchange between Welbeck and the Militärrealgymnasium at the Theresian Military Academy, Neustadt has been running since

2/6 2000. Over this period of time nearly 400 students have taken part, with friendships being forged in the mountains and by the sea and all students have thoroughly enjoyed meeting students following a similar career path to themselves. The value of this exchange for our students is significant and we will be seeking new opportunities to ensure that such experiences aren’t lost to future Welbexians.

As part of the College’s acknowledgement of academic excellence, aspiration and ambition, next year we will award honorary scholarships to recognise outstanding academic achievement. Some will be awarded to the new Lower Sixth on entry to the College and will be based on their GCSE grades. We will also reward those entering the Upper Sixth who have achieved outstanding AS level grades. Collectively these students will form the basis of a new scholars’ programme that will provide breadth, enrichment and academic challenge. The academic STEM focus of the College was also recognised as it won the national finals of the UTC Challenge. Continuing this theme, I am delighted that both Aston and Loughborough universities will build on the excellent work that was invested in the Cadet STEM Leadership Weekend by incorporating a STEM road shows at the College for high performing Y9 & Y10 students in the Midlands Region. This will include project work, master-classes and demonstrations.

This year the Military Skills and Leadership Programme has been significantly enhanced and changed to enable students to have better opportunities for Single Service engagement and personal development. The investment of the Vice Principal Military, Training Officer, Adjutant, CSM, the CCF Officers and MSLT staff have been at the heart of this. Ex LEADER took place at the Royal Navy Leadership Academy at HMS Collingwood in Portsmouth where staff and students were accommodated on HMS Bristol, a Type 82 Destroyer which served in the Falklands conflict. This Exercise gave the Lower Sixth a chance to command tasks, evolving their own leadership style and becoming comfortable in command appointments. The ability of a Junior Officer in the armed forces to be fit and healthy is paramount - with little sleep and physically exhausted, commanders are required to have the same effective leadership encompassing all the qualities as they would when physically ‘fresh’. During Ex LEADER the cadets were put through some gruelling physical challenges with the Physical Training Instructors (PTIs) from the Army. The assault course, amongst other facilities, was utilised to challenge the cadets physically; it highlighted that leadership, although difficult in normal conditions, becomes exponentially harder when individuals are fatigued. This, as a training objective, enabled the students to start to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses – qualities to improve and work hard to maintain; it also demonstrated how crucial the quality of resilience is. The culmination of the command appointments was the ‘Dacan Crisis’ - a planning exercise which called for the students to work on an inter-governmental, multi NGO international crisis and deliver their plan in a press conference format; this was a highly stressful and cognitive exercise which tested a lot of the students in all aspects of planning and also their growing resilience. After Ex LEADER, the students deployed on Ex TRAIL which provided significant opportunity for adventurous training. All students took to the water and spent time getting to grips with activities including: sailing, paddle boarding and canoeing. This provided fantastic opportunities to learn new skills, and in line with the teenage need for destruction and distraction, finding any opportunity to submerge the military staff! Students also engaged in rock climbing and abseiling and for many this was their first experience. Ex TRAIL was widely reported as the most enjoyable week of their first year at Welbeck and a perfect way to start the summer.

In addition to the Exercises, the Lower Sixth were taken on Single Service Visits. For the RN students this included the Damage Repair Instructional Unit (DRIU) and fire fighting at the Maritime Sea Survival School, a visit to Britannia Royal Naval College and tour of HMS DAUNTLESS, a type 45 Destroyer, as well as visits to HMS SULTAN and 1710 Naval Air Squadron. For the RAF students, an

3/6 engineering insight week was conducted at various RAF stations around the UK. Accommodated at RAF Cranwell the students were given tours of the RAF College, before gaining an insight into how fast jets are maintained and serviced, including the chance to get up close with a Typhoon Eurofighter and talk with the ground crew. Other areas of engineering included 5131 Squadron Bomb Disposal and the School Of Engineering, where all Engineering Officers go through phase 2 of their professional training. The week concluded with an afternoon at the RAF Museum at RAF Cosford, to see first hand the evolution of aerospace engineering throughout the past 75 years. Over the past year, 32 RAF and affiliated students have had the opportunity to conduct Air Experience Flying at RAF Cranwell. This, coupled with the support afforded to the College by the Defence Helicopter Flying School, has enabled students to have, not only air experience, but also the opportunity to take the controls of a Tutor training aircraft – these are wonderful experiences.

For the Army students a four day visit taking in all of the 4 technical Corps was the order of the day. A visit to the RLC gave them an insight into the EOD, transport and maritime functions of the Corps whilst sampling the delights of a field kitchen. The visit to the RE saw students engage in bridge building, raft building and an excellent explosives demonstration whilst the evening in the Officers’ Mess allowed them to mix with young officers and sample the delights of mess games. The visit to the R SIGNALS saw them engaged in fire and movement with blanks whilst also showing them the delights of some survival in the field techniques and an excellent demonstration of operational responsibilities and the equipment currently used. The final visit of the week was to the REME where amongst other things the students built a spade from discarded pallets and some sheet metal and were involved in a race to recover a stranded Landover.

Looking forward to next year a completely rewritten MSLT programme awaits which should see all students given numerous opportunities to sample the delights of the high ropes, the climbing wall and the obstacle course. The Exercise programme has also been developed and this will see the Upper Sixth travelling to France/Belgium in October to visit the battlefields of the first World War, whilst the new Lower Sixth will get the opportunity to do blank firing in the first year. Later in the year we have a range day planned for the Upper Sixth which should see all of them getting the chance to do some live firing.

This has been a successful year for The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. This year involved a different approach - rather than enrolling direct entrants straight in at the Gold Award level, students were encouraged to apply for the Silver Award. This should see a high number of students completing their award around Christmas 2016. 19 students will complete their practice Expedition in Snowdonia just before the start of the new 2016 academic year. Congratulations to those who have nearly completed their Gold Awards, who will join William Deary in having completed his earlier this year.

The new General Manager, Ma’am Hurd, has already made an impact with new initiatives emerging. The ‘Welbeck vegetable garden’ was started recently and students who are interested will be able to participate as part of a General Activity in tending the area and picking vegetables, which will periodically be served in the College dining facility. There are also ongoing changes to the Quorum; this started its transformation earlier this term and students will now take ownership of it with designated areas being given over to Service and House murals; new furniture will be arriving in September and there will be further considerations of how to increase the different social events in the Quorum. There will also be changes to the menu in the new term; over the summer holidays Ma’am Webster and her team will be busy reviewing the menus, taking into account the comments and suggestions from the student catering

4/6 survey and catering committee meetings and making more healthy eating and vegetarian options available.

Anxiety and stress amongst young people has featured in the press recently and the College is taking steps to address these issues A number of students have benefitted from Examination Anxiety Workshops which have been led by the College Counsellor, and nine members of staff attended a two- day training course in Youth Mental Health First Aid in June. We are planning to raise awareness of mental health issues amongst young people with lectures for both staff and students in our Career, Life and Service Skills (CLASS) programme in the Autumn Term. From a Pastoral and Boarding perspective it has been a quieter term as a consequence of the examinations. However, the Inter- House Athletics and Tennis competitions brought a welcome break from revision, and a conclusion to the score table for the year. After Alanbrooke won the Tennis and Portland the Athletics the final scores for the year are: Nelson 530 points, Trenchard 595 points, Portland 630 points, Stirling 665 points and Alanbrooke 720 points. Congratulations to Alanbrooke!

Despite the best efforts of the weather, once again the grounds staff have maintained the facilities in a superb fashion and this has enabled our sporting programme to continue throughout the summer term. The Rowers maintained their enthusiasm this term with a core group of 16 people ably led by Joe Ross and Sally Snowdon. The girls began the racing season at Leicester where they formed a Women’s Senior 3 Eight with Devil’s Elbow Rowing Club. They finished a creditable second in their event. Both the boys and girls then raced at Shrewsbury on a beautiful sunny day. There were some close races and Joe Ross and James Davis came away with a strong win in the Novice Double Sculls. The next regatta was the Nottingham Masters Championships at the National Water Sports Centre. This time, it was the Men’s Eight who clinched victory over the last 100m of a very exciting 1000m race. This was six lane racing in the Senior 3 category so the quality was very good. We also took rowers to York and Ironbridge this summer where they raced in Singles, Quads, Fours and Eights, but returned without further wins.

In spite of the high level of rainfall in June, Triathlon sessions have rarely been affected, and we have managed to get in plenty of cycle sessions. There were 25 students in the triathlon group, which is a bit bigger than we have had in previous years. Students who opt for triathlon are generally quite fit to start with, however they do have to be introduced to some new skills and the rules of the game. The coaching staff have a lot of experience and the students are consequently well prepared to compete in sprint triathlons. We did do some open water swimming at a local training centre, and some students found this quite challenging at first. Swimming outside is very different and takes a little bit of time to adapt. The season culminated with 15 students being entered for a sprint triathlon at Repton School near Derby. Once again we were provided with a rainless day, and all of the students came back from the cycle unscathed. For most of the students, this was their first triathlon race, and they will now feel confident to enter further races independently. I know that some of them have plans to do so in the summer holiday.

The weather has severely affected the Cricket season this year meaning that only 3 fixtures were completed. Ratcliffe College convincingly won our first match with Matt Holland highest scoring with 22 not out. The match against Regent College was much closer affair with Ben Goodlad taking an impressive 4 wickets and James Burns scoring a solid 34 but running out of partners to chase down a winning total. Weather permitted the final match to be completed and the 1st XI just lost to a Royal Signals team. As always this was a very enjoyable match and especially as the team comprised a number of Old Welbexians.

In Athletics the squad have travelled to Bromsgrove, Birmingham and Worksop to compete in friendly fixtures. Both boys’ and girls’ teams have included some talented and very versatile performers with many students opting to ‘guest’ in unfamiliar events to gain vital experience. Particularly impressive were Matt Cross and Will Souza hurdling for the first time ever at King Edwards School in Birmingham! 16 students were given the opportunity to volunteer at the Loughborough University International Athletics event in May, an event that no doubt inspired some of our athletes, especially the chance to see Jessica Ennis-Hill in action. 10 students were selected to take part in the Leicestershire County Athletics event at Saffron Lane in Leicester. Some outstanding performances on the day ensured every competitor brought home a medal! Congratulations in particular to Corey McQuade (triple jump), Aaliyah Arnold (100 metres) Danielle Scarr (shot put) and Lewis Ackroyd (long jump) who were crowned County Champions. Fencing has seen a strong resurgence and a number of students

5/6 were successful in passing their Foil One Achievement Awards. Well done to Finlay Plant, Andrew Stones, Sian Welsh, Jamie Thompson, Marc Hedouin, Alex Rivett, Kristian Simpson-Davies, Tom Richardson, Jonathan Van Ingen, Matt Cariazo, Alex Bartlam, Ben Jenkins, Yanislav Yurkevych, Victoria Sparkes and Kyle Franklin

Over the Easter holidays a group of 50 students travelled to Mexico for a chance for many to learn to dive and for some to try their skills in new waters, seeing some of the most abundant and exotic reefs in the world. The week was packed with diving, the advanced group setting off every day to explore the natural reef which is the second largest in the world. They saw turtles, dolphins, rays, ship wrecks, sharks and sharks chasing turtles! Throughout the trip the novices learnt new skills in regard to dealing with situations under water and navigational techniques. By the end of the week all had completed the course and went on a boat dive, where they were able to see some of the marine life the island is famed for. We’d like to thank Mr Lang, Mr Carmichael, Mr Burgess, Ma’am Neep and Ma’am Green who put in huge amounts of effort, including a rather last minute change of location, for us to be able to have an amazing time in Mexico and hope the new Lower Sixth can also enjoy such an amazing experience.

The Charity Committee and the students’ support for the local community has continued throughout the year. Beacon Hill has been the place to be this year for those of our students who were keen to volunteer, and this began with the Beacon Hill Bunny Run and finishing with the Ramble to Rainbows. Jenny Mason did a cracking job as Bow Bear, taking part in the warm up and cutting the ribbon to start the race. The students took part in the annual Welbeck Swimathon, this year for Help for Heroes. The students swam a fantastic 7693 lengths in the pool, thrashing last year’s total by well over 2000 lengths. It is the equivalent to 192.325 km / 5.95 times the width of the English Channel, a fabulous achievement. A huge thank you to Josh James for organising the students and swimming well over 600 lengths. Portland’s Balloon Race for Hounds for Heroes floated away serenely. Out of the current returns, the furthest distance travelled is Calais. Stirling have finished this year’s fundraising with their Duck Race for Walking with the Wounded. Despite all the rain of the year, the stream was tranquil and the ducks floated serenely to the finishing post (apart from the ones that couldn’t navigate the reeds or got stuck under the bridge).

Col Phil Prosser (REME) presided over The President’s Dinner in the absence of the President. This was an excellent occasion that was enhanced by talks from a number of recent Old Welbexians. The Old Welbexian Association continues to play an integral part of the College and central to enabling Old Welbexians to support not only one another, but also current and future students. As part of the work to give Old Welbexians a focal point outside the College, the Army and Navy Club (informally known as The Rag) has given students graduating from the College a special membership package. This is an exciting development and should enable ongoing links between students to be maintained.

JPM 11.07.16

6/6