Christmas at Wellington

The wonder and magic of Christmas was experienced at Wellington with spectacular celebrations and events during the festival season. The enchantment began the moment you entered the main lobby. Surrounded by reindeers and gifts coated in silver and golden, a lovely Christmas tree decorated with shimmering baubles and twinkling lights transformed the lobby into a Christmas wonderland. The events started with Christmas by Candlelight on 24 November. Outside on the esplanade, the caroling and the tree lighting ceremony got Wellington into the festival mood. The audience then moved quickly to the theatre to enjoy the annual Christmas concert, showcasing an eclectic mix of acts, including traditional singalong yuletide songs and band performances. The Early Years Christmas shows extended the joyfulness and excitement into December. Our children in the Pre-Nursery and Nursery classes prepared an array of wonderful Christmas songs to share with parents in their ‘Advent sing along’ and Reception performed a one-off show of ‘Whoops A Daisy Angel’. The Key Stage 1 production was a perfect conclusion of the Michaelmas term. ‘Christmas around the World’ celebrated traditions from around the world. Each class represented a country and shared interesting facts about how Christmas is celebrated in this country. Pupils learned to have a respect for different cultures and appreciate the diverse world that we live in. The confidence and development of the Pre-Prep pupils was impressive. They have shown courage to conquer their fear; they have shown patience and respect as they were requested to practise repetitively; they have been responsible for their actions and behaviour on and off the stage. And finally when the curtains have shut and the lights go down, the children remembered being part of a team, showing kindness and being supportive of each other. The wonder and magic of Christmas at Wellington should contribute to the efforts across the whole school. As always we have received endless support from our parent community. Everyone has been actively supporting, from decorating the school and creating the costumes from Christmas trees to Angels that the children wore during their performances, to stitching, cutting and gluing. The FOW Christmas bazaar provided a great opportunity for the community to shop and enjoy a relaxing afternoon wandering between a large selection of artisan crafts, lovely toys, handmade jewelry, and more. As most of us are leaving for our respective countries over this festival period. We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas with family and friends.