Wellington pupils storm through World Scholar Cup Regional Round

This past weekend saw a contingent of twelve Wellington pupils representing the College at the regional round of the World Scholars Cup. The competition drew together over 500 pupils from Shanghai and beyond, to compete in what is one of the largest and most difficult rounds on the regional circuit. Over the two-day competition, our pupils participated in a series of team debates and activities, alongside individual tests and creative writing exercises. Wellington College entered four teams, two each in the senior and junior categories: Junior Teams: Serena, Mia and Kevin (Year 9) Shayna, Daniel and Thomas (Year 8) Senior Teams: Katia, Nicole and Matthew (Year 10) Victoria, Alba and Damian (Year 10) The competition was marked by fantastic success for all four teams, who have now qualified for the global round of the competition, each placing in the top 20 of over 170 Shanghai teams present. This is all the more remarkable given that this was the first time that the majority of our pupils had competed in this or any debating competition. Along with this group achievement, some individual Wellington scholars were singled out for impressive individual recognition. Each and every member of our teams was awarded at least one medal, but special mention must go to Shayna (Year 8) and Mia (Year 9) who came 6th and 5th respectively in the top junior scholar category. Mia came first in the creative writing element of the competition, and Shayna was selected as one of eight scholars to take part in a debating showcase, having been identified as “excellent” by the competition judges. In the senior category, Alba (Year 10) was placed 9th overall in the debating category, with Nicole (also Year 10) finishing 16th in terms of overall scholarship over the weekend. The weekend was immensely enjoyable for all involved, and special thanks must go to one of our parent, Claire, for all of her help and organisation, as well as pupils’ parents for getting on board with the competition. Thanks must also go to the pupils themselves for their amazing performances; they should be rightly proud of their achievements and I hope that they are looking forward to progressing in this global competition. Darren Simpson History Teacher