News & Diary
Winchester Weekly – 30th September 2025
WEEKEND ARRANGEMENTS FOR BOARDERS
Details for this weekend can be found below. Please access the Parent Portal via the link below to inform us of your child’s plans for this weekend by 23:00 on Thursday 2nd October. Log in, select ‘Interactive Forms’ and ‘Weekend Sign-Out’ to complete the form.
Return time on Sunday: House Singing Competition
We ask that all pupils return to their Boarding House for tea (1800) on Sunday 5th October ready for the House Singing Competition later that evening.
DAY PUPILS: HOUSE SINGING COMPETITION (SUNDAY 5th OCTOBER 1830)
The House Singing Competition is a whole-school event and day pupils are included in the arrangements.
Pupil wellbeing surveys
Dr Jack Andrews continues to work closely with the College supporting us in refining our pastoral care programmes. Last academic year he offered professional development sessions to staff, a seminar to parents, and worked with the pupil representative council to develop a wellbeing survey. This year he is working with the academic team to Investigate the impact of Educational Technology on Teaching and Learning. This work involves an expanded pupil survey to be completed during Tutor hour on Saturday. The survey is anonymous. Responses will be collected via the Qualtrics platform and stored on a secure server. Pupils will be given the opportunity to ‘opt out’ of sharing their response with Dr Andrews. A summary of findings will be shared with parents by Dr Andrews, Mrs Macey, and Dr Cullerne. For further information, please contact [email protected].
To access these events, please ensure that you are a registered user of the Winchester College Society website and are logged in.
Parents Drinks (all parents welcome)
Parents are invited by Winchester College Society to join us for drinks at either New Hall, Winchester on Thursday 16th October or at the Cavalry and Guards Club, London on Thursday 12th February. We are delighted that the Headmaster will be joining us at both events and is looking forward to seeing everyone there. Please choose which event you’d like to attend and register accordingly.
Futures Fair – 15th November
The Futures Fair will be held on the evening of Saturday 15th November, from 18:00 – 20:00. We would love to hear from any parents or Old Wykehamists who are happy to talk about their own careers or the sectors they work in to VI Book pupils. We are looking for expertise from all sectors, but if you have experience in Humanities, Languages, Geography, Psychology, Art, Scientific Research or are an Entrepreneur, we’d love to hear from you. If you are also able to borrow any marketing materials from your employer that would add to the sense of occasion.
Parents Quiz – (all parents welcome)
Our Parents Quiz returns for 2026 on Friday 27th February. Gather your teams and get ready to buy your tickets for an evening that promises to test your general knowledge. Yuriy Evdokimov, a current parent is back by popular demand and will host the evening. The tickets are sold by table, which seat 10 people each and the cost includes your food and drink for the evening. Save the Date. More information to follow.
Win Coll Soc in India
Winchester College Society will be visiting India during November 2025. A very generous Winchester family is hosting a reception for us in Delhi on the evening of Monday 10th November. If you are expecting to be in Delhi on that date, whether for business or other engagements, they would love to extend the invitation to you. Please contact Winchester College Society on [email protected] if you would like to join us.
Parents are very welcome to join us for College events. Upcoming events, including the Autumn Lecture Series (link below) are typically highlighted in the Winchester Weekly newsletter. The next lecture is with Mr. José Maria Robles Fraga, the Minister of Cultural & Scientific Affairs at the Spanish Embassy in London, and former Ambassador to Russia, Pakistan and Lithuania. Below, you can find links to our lecture series and music diary for the upcoming term.
This Sunday, 5th October, the Bobber and Schuster Pots will be up for grabs again in the annual House Singing Competition.
The competition, adjudicated by composer, performer and educator Peter Gritton, will start at 18:30 in New Hall and complimentary tickets (3 per family) can be booked via the link below.
Last Friday, staff and pupils tackled the Hampshire hills, running distances from 6.5km to a half-marathon as part of the SolarAid: Light the Way charity event. Collectively, 6500km was run in total, raising over £16,000 so far.
The Charities Committee would like to extend a sincere thank you to all those who have donated; the money raised is the largest amount ever from a school charity event. Any final donations to support everyone’s efforts would be deeply appreciated as we aim for a new stretch goal of 20,000 which would help SolarAid to protect 8,000 people at home and allow 1,600 children to study after dark.
Over the last school year and into the summer, Phuc (I) co-translated An Introduction to Political Philosophy by Professor Jonathan Wolff into Vietnamese. Professor Wolff is the Emeritus Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.
After discovering the book on the Oxford PPE undergraduate reading list, Phuc collaborated with a Vietnamese publishing house to translate it. The book is now published by the Vietnam National University Publishing House.
Phuc and his co-translator also hosted Professor Wolff in Vietnam for a series of book launch events, and he also gave talks at the Vietnam National University and Fulbright University Vietnam on the topics of “Marxism in the 21st Century” and “Social Trust and the Role of the State.”
Phuc said “These events were a wonderful opportunity to introduce a new tradition of political philosophy to Vietnamese students. The philosophy departments at Vietnam National University are now planning to incorporate the book into their undergraduate courses.”
Congratulations, Phuc!
We were delighted to welcome the families of our first year pupils for Founder’s Obit last Tuesday.
Photos from the occasion from both of the College photographer’s can be found via the links below.
On Saturday, October 4th, the College will host its annual ‘Be a Quirister for the Day’ event, where aspiring singers and their families will get to experience life as a Quirister.
As part of the open morning, boys and their parents will gain valuable insight into a Quirister’s daily routine: touring the facilities, hearing the Quiristers sing and visiting the Song School and Organ Loft. Participants will also sing alongside the Quiristers and try on one of their iconic cassocks.
To find out more please use the links below.
