Ellesmerenews Unbeaten Success Page 13 50 Terms Bright Sparks Welsh Call Up Page 2 Page 6 Page 14 Ellesmere College Newsletter Spring Term 2013 50 Terms at Ellesmere 50 Terms at Ellesmere eadmaster HBrendan Wignall has just celebrated his 50th term since taking over the reins at Ellesmere College. We asked him to reflect on his time here and what he looks forward to about the future: Ellesmere College Newsletter Spring Term 2013 2 50 Terms at Ellesmere Q. You are in your 50th Term at Ellesmere College Q. What plans are there for the future? which means that you started here in 1996. A. We have developed our facilities a lot in recent years, but People say that Ellesmere is a very different place we are far from satisfied. However, we live in interesting from when you arrived. How would you characterise times, economically speaking, and will need to be cautious the changes? over the next few years, I think. Having said that, we are in the process of putting together a 20 year building plan A. Well, in 1996 I think that, in terms of ethos and style, Ellesmere and if we think there is a project that can be justified and College was culturally very much a boys’ 13 to 18 boarding afforded sensibly we will go for it. History at Ellesmere school. It had day boys, it had girls and it had pupils below the suggests that we move quite quickly. We introduced age of 13, but the mind set was very much that of a traditional the I.B. over a period of less than 18 months when the senior boys’ boarding school model. I think it is very clear normal lead time is 3 to 4 years. More recently, of course, to anyone visiting or being part of Ellesmere now that we are, we had no idea of planning to launch a Golf Academy culturally speaking, a 7 to 18 boarding, weekly boarding, day until a couple of months ago, but are now in the process co-educational school with no differentiation between the of doing just that. various categories of pupils that we have. It is also a much bigger school, of course: in 1996 numbers were around 320, whereas today they are just under 600. Q. And personal plans for the future? A. I have no intention of leaving, although I have received some Q. There must have been a number of physical surprisingly flattering approaches on that front. Our children changes in your time as well? are both through the school and at university now, but they have both told me – unprompted, as I certainly have A. Yes, I realise looking back there have been a great deal of not discussed it – that if I were to leave Ellesmere they physical and facility changes, although I think they are less would regard it as an act of gross betrayal. However, important than the cultural changes. Off the top of my head, they can rest assured that I am totally committed. we have built the Lower School, the sports hall, covered the Ellesmere is a fantastic community and it really is not swimming pool, significantly extended St Oswald’s, the girl’s possible for me to imagine finding a better set of people Sixth Form House, created a new boy’s Sixth Form House in to work with, be it governors, staff, parents, pupils or former St Luke’s, extended the Hodson Science block and built a new pupils: I enjoy my job enormously. Next September I will Learning Support Department. We have also bought another start my 18th year in the College and will move into second 74 acres of land and most recently put down a top quality place in the long-service rankings for the 13 Headmasters all weather surface for hockey. I’ve almost certainly forgotten at Ellesmere so far. The longest serving Head completed something, of course. 26 years, and I hope to work here for another 18 years until I am 70 and therefore beat that comfortably – Q. What achievements are you most proud of in health and governors permitting, of course. your time at Ellesmere? A. I think to be proud of anything is probably asking for trouble! I am really pleased that we have such a clear culture and ethos. There is a genuine focus on individuals here and we are all committed to that, not just paying lip service to it as the more statistically-obsessed schools tend to do. The idea that studying is a crucial start but most definitely not a finish, and that unless an education goes well beyond the classroom for everyone without exception it is of little value, is also deeply embedded now. The introduction of the International Baccalaureate Diploma alongside A-Levels has undoubtedly energised the Sixth Form over the last few years and I think I can be proud of my colleagues and how they embraced and implemented that change. The development of the various sports academies, the Arena Arts programme and our leadership development programme are all things that are pleasing. Thinking of Ellesmere as a business, I am happy that we have such a strong culture of flexibility and responsiveness to circumstances: there is no sense that we feel that we have reached a steady state and that we can be content with how things are. 3 Ellesmere College Newsletter Spring Term 2013 Trip to The Hague Trip to The Hague his January a group of Ellesmere students once again travelled Tto the Netherlands to take part in a session of the International Model United Nations, something which has now become a regular part of the College’s annual events. Under the guidance of organizer Mrs Cathy Allen, the group took part in the demanding sessions which allowed them to develop their skills in research, negotiating and debate, as well as making many new friends from schools around the world. Lower Sixth Form student Alice Tow describes the experience: Our MUN delegates: Weronika Pucek, Pawel Przadka, Teymur Mirzoev, Kotryna Calova, Paula Pratuseviciute and Alice Tow Ellesmere College Newsletter Spring Term 2013 4 Trip to The Hague However, the hardest part of writing for a daily newspaper was the short amount of time we had to produce our articles. Once we had finished selling the papers at 9 o’clock, we met in our press room for a briefing every morning. Our deadline would be around 11 o’clock; this meant we had to write 1000 words in only 2 hours. It was a very rigorous challenge for everyone but, despite having to interview as many people as possible in a very limited amount of time and battling writer’s block, every one of us met our deadlines. It really was a gruelling yet thrilling venture and I feel that I have benefited enormously from these extraordinary five days in The Netherlands. It has given me a real taste of what to expect from my intended future career. Some people have asked whether I think that it was worth taking a week away from College in order to take part in the International Model United Nations. Well, the answer to that question is a definite ‘yes’ in my opinion! Even though a week of valuable lessons was missed due to my journey to Holland, I certainly do not regret it. I learnt so much in the space of one week, which could only be taught at the Model United Nations Conference in The Hague. In the last week of January 2013, six pupils of Ellesmere College (including myself) joined the other 3000 students from all over the world at The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN). Whereas five of our pupils joined as delegates in the conference, I decided to apply for the position of a Press Officer at THIMUN’s very own newspaper, Munity. The reason I decided to become a Press Officer was because I wanted a taste of real journalistic experience. Not work experience on a newspaper, making cups of tea or photocopying, but actually writing articles that would be published. “MUNITY, 1 EURO” At Munity, 28 other press officers joined me in the Press Team from all over the world, including students from China, The US, Spain, Australia, Brazil, Germany and so on. The thought of all these nationalities in one room was scary at first, but our different languages did not get in the way of working as a team. As a group we produced a 12-page newspaper every day, including articles about the conference, controversial opinions, picture spreads and even a games page on the back. We were the first people to arrive at the World Forum (in The Hague) daily at 8am to sell our newspapers. Even though the delegates may not have been overly keen on having strangers shouting “MUNITY, 1 EURO” in their faces at this time of day, we managed to sell out every day. 5 Ellesmere College Newsletter Spring Term 2013 Bright Sparks Bright Sparks ear 8 Physics lessons took an interesting twist when pupils Ywere challenged to put their scientific creative skills to the test and make a model experiment that would illustrate an aspect of physics. Ellesmere pupils worked individually and in groups to construct their model experiments from their own particular interests in the subject. Pupil Dominic Freer-Carmichael said, “It was really good fun and interesting to see everyone’s ideas. We researched a lot about air pressure and particle arrangements for our experiment, and we managed to come third, which is great.” Competition finalists were judged on their ability to explain their model and answer questions on the science behind it and its relevance to physics.