Art History

  • Trips to UK galleries and further afield, including the annual post-GCSE Florence trip and the VI Form Venice and Rome trip
  • Guest speakers throughout the year.

Biology

Lower and Middle School

  • Science Society (joint Biology–Chemistry society): all welcome. Activities include practical experiments and demonstrations, debates, student presentations and external speakers
  • Biology Challenge (Fourth Form; Lent Term)
  • Medical Society (Fifth Form upwards): student-led; activities include information sessions, external speakers and trips (Imperial College Virtual Surgery trip in Summer Term).

LVI Form

  • Biology Olympiad (Lent Term)
  • Oxbridge extension talks and discussion dinners (Michaelmas Term)

Chemistry

Whole School

  • Science Society (joint Biology–Chemistry society): all welcome. Activities include practical experiments and demonstrations, debates, student presentations and external speakers

Classics

Economics

Whole School

  • Current Affairs Club (all welcome): student-led weekly sessions throughout year
  • Economics Magazine: submissions welcome from all year groups

VI Form

  • Book Club: all year
  • Economics Magazine: editing team opportunities

English

Whole School

  • Creative Writing Society (all welcome).
  • English Society (Fourth Form upwards): activities include invited speakers and student presentations
  • Guest speakers throughout the year. Last year’s speakers included Dr Pamela Mason speaking on Macbeth.
  • Annex(e) Magazine: creative and critical writing submissions welcome from all year groups.
  • Regular theatre trips to London throughout the year.

VI Form

  • Oxbridge extension classes: teacher-led.

Geography

Whole School

  • Guest lectures, including last year, talks on the Middle East
  • Overseas trips, including an annual trip to Iceland
  • GeoVenture (all welcome): talks on explorers and exploring, including those from Wellington’s Master Julian Thomas, on the South Pole and Antarctica and Common Room, recently Mr Reesby on climbing Everest; student presentations; and external speakers such as in 2015 James Peach who cycled the 27,000km journey around the world.

VI Form

  • Trips to lectures in London, including to the Royal Geographical Society, and further afield
  • Geography Magazine

History

Whole School

  • The ever-thriving World History Society (all welcome): student-led activities throughout the year, including presentations and invited internal and external speakers
  • WellingTEN Battle of the Years: a Lent-Term evening event in 2016 where four teachers will pitch for their chosen year as the most important in History
  • Overseas trips, including the annual Battlefields trip (all Third Form) and the biennial Berlin trip (Fourth and Fifth Form)
  • Trips to lectures in London and further afield
  • Guest lectures, including in the past year by Prof Anthony Fletcher, Peter Snow and Charles Spencer

VI Form

  • Biennial History–Politics VI trip to Washington, Philadelphia and New York
  • Flourishing weekly World History Society where students and staff present, as well as guest speakers
  • University extension classes for all students considering History at university: teacher-led

Languages

Law

While Law is not taught as a discrete subject at Wellington, there are opportunities to learn more about Law through:

Whole School

  • Law Society: student-led presentations, mock trials and other activities

VI Form

  • Oxbridge Law extension classes: teacher-led classes for those applying to Oxbridge.

Mathematics

Whole School

  • Hans Woyda team competition (all year groups)
  • Intermediate Maths Challenge (Third, Fourth and Fifth Forms)
  • UK Trust Maths Challenge
  • ‘Meet a Mathematician’ Guest Speakers

VI Form

  • Oxbridge extension classes

Philosophy and Religion

Whole School

  • Pheng (Philosophy–English) Society: student-led presentations and talks
  • Benson Prize essay competition
  • Guest lectures, including talks on Israel-Palestine last year
  • Philosophy reading club

VI Form

  • Phil-Thy (Philosophy–Theology) Society: a Wellington Institution
  • Oxbridge extension classes: teacher-led.

Politics

Whole School

  • Guest speakers throughout the year, including in 2015 Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty and Ahlam Akram, peace and human rights campaigner, writer, broadcaster and founder of British Arabs Supporting Universal Women’s Rights
  • Mock Election in 2015
  • Politics Society: student-led activities include presentations from students and staff as well as guest speakers

VI Form

  • Overseas trips, including biennial History–Politics trip and an IB Brussels trip
  • Teaching Politics in local primary schools (Service Learning Project)
  • College-organised conferences, including US Politics ‘Congress to Campus’, International Relations and ‘Westminster to Wellington’ conferences
  • Oxbridge extension classes: teacher-led

Physics

Whole School

  • trips to museums, including recently: Diamond Light Source, London’s Science Museum, Science and Philosophy Oxford, Lesser Spotted Sciences Oxford
  • Women in Engineering essay competition

LVI Form

  • Tricky Physics
  • Annual Physics Society Lecture (Lent Term)