Wellington School Wellbeing Programme Serves up Healthy Lifestyle
05 Dec 2016
Despite a recent article in the Sunday Times this weekend with the somewhat misleading title ‘Zumba puts team games on the bench at top school.’ it is of course incorrect that Wellington School has decided to ‘abandon competitive sport in favour of Zumba, mindfulness and yoga’.
What is true, however, is that the School has a fresh and innovative approach to PE lessons, which are called Wellbeing lessons and delivered by a talented team of professionals led by Steffan Jones, an ex-professional Cricket and Rugby player. Pupils are taught a healthy lifestyle which will serve them at school and long into the future.
Headmaster Henry Price comments; “Wellington School believes passionately in the wellbeing of our pupils and will keep striving to provide an education and range of opportunities that benefit them while they are at Wellington and long into the future. Our evolved PE programme is now called Wellbeing and includes fitness testing, fundamental movement and hand eye coordination. There is plenty of physical activity, but also classroom sessions based around nutrition, mindfulness and leadership, which links into our PSHEE programme. Our aim is not only to increase fitness and confidence at school, but also to teach pupils how to look after themselves long after they leave school.”
A full programme of competitive sports fixtures is and will remain a part of the Wellington School offering.
Two spectacular sporting achievements by pupils underlines the strength of what we offer. On the elite performance side, Ben Howe, Captain of the 1st XV Rugby Team has been selected to represent Belgium in the U18 rugby team. Ben, who qualifies as his mother is Belgian, will play against other international sides including Japan, Canada and USA in a tournament in France at Easter.
On the wellbeing side, a number of students attended the Devon and British Judo Western Area competition on Sunday. Edward Nuttall-Owen won Gold in his category
and is the under 90Kg Under Green belt Champion. Harry Humphreys, Charlie Hodgkinson, Freddie Renyard and Frank Zhang all achieved Bronze medals in their respective categories. In the younger groups, Sammy Caygill and Henry Pocock won Gold in their age category, Harriet Sanders- Debenham won a Silver medal and Genevieve Altoft and Barnaby Howell won Bronze medals.
“The diverse nature of these two separate instances illustrates the breadth of the School’s offering. The Judo lessons are part of the wellbeing programme, whilst Ben’s superb International selection is as a direct result of an intense strength and conditioning training programme over his time in the School. I am immensely proud of all these achievements and the many more we will witness as a result of the innovative Sport and Wellbeing Department,” concluded Henry Price.
Photo: Judo champions Harry Humphreys, Charlie Hodgkinson, Edward Nuttall- Hodgkinson, Freddie Renyard and Frank Zhang