Exchange Report: Garth Harding
Wellington College, Berkshire

Since my early years at Hilton and my introduction to the exchange program, my eyes lit with desire and I only wished I could have this splendid opportunity. To my absolute thrill I was told my wishes had come true and I had been given the chance to attend Wellington College for the duration of our 4^th term. The striking prospect of experiencing life in a profound English public school (The South African equivalent of private) only really hit me when I was told I was going. Expectedly, I had mixed emotions, but there was this overwhelming urge of excitement to be opened up to a whole different ‘world’ of sorts because for the greater part of my life I had never really drifted further than the secluded towns of Pietermaritzburg and Hilton.

Wheeling my bag out of the departure of terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow airport I was pleasantly greeted by a former Michaelhouse boy, Mr. Wielenga, who was to be the man who did the tremendous job of assuring my settlement into the school and being my housemaster.

On arrival I was driven through the country roads of Berkshire and into the quiet town of Crowthorne before entering the magnificent school campus, which left me in utter awe. Imposing red brick buildings glared from above, with an array of widely spread houses throughout the school campus which were woven within dams, pathways through acres of woods and ample amounts of lush green playing fields which was partly bordered by a picturesque golf course. There were 16 houses, 12 were guys and 4 were girl’s houses, of which there was no specific style to each house. If you could imagine Hilton and Michaelhouses’ layout combined such that there were a few of the traditional houses looking over the inner school quads and then the rest spread throughout the grounds (the more recent additions). I was then introduced to a few guys who were around the house and told I could have a sleep to get rid of the jet lag and then I should head towards the dining hall for lunch.

When I woke from my sleep I realized there were not any boys drifting the house, so I decided to take a lonesome walk in the direction of the dining hall. It wasn’t until I was serving up my food and I peered through to these loud and jolly poms in the dining hall that my heart sank and rapidly began to thud, where was I going to sit? What now? Instantaneously a gleaming smile came from within when I was struck by the unfamiliar sight of countless numbers of girls with stunning blonde hair interacting with the guys. For the first time in my life I was challenged to break out of my comfort zone and become a part of an environment totally foreign to me. My mind clicked, and I knew that this was the central challenge that I would have to face while on exchange and this was just one situation of many to come. I chose a table with a couple of good looking girls and some guys who seemed to be friendly and opened up conversation. From this point on I never looked back, this was to be the start of 3 life changing months of my life.

For the first couple of days I was allowed to drift various classes and experience the wide range of subjects offered at the school in order to see which ones I would have to take for my A levels. The variety was impressive, with a modern languages block offering anything from Mandarin to English, and a range of subjects that I have never been introduced to over here. I eventually finalized with taking Physical Education - which is more difficult than meets the eye. Politics which I took a keen interest in however being an expert on the British electoral system is pretty irrelevant as a South African. Business Studies which caused for much focus on the present state of the British economy which was so heavily hit by the credit crunch and mathematics which seemed very much like 2nd year University stuff to me although the class did get a bit rowdy from time to time as it was my only class which predominantly had guys, because yes it is true, generally the girls attempted the ‘different’ subjects! 

They stuck to their textiles (like knitting) and dance classes – which would always seem to have a male audience of some sort. The style of teaching was very much different, with classes being smaller and obviously with girls. You were assigned multiple teachers to most classes (Maths I had 2; P.E. I had 4 and Business Studies 2) which were conducted in an oral manner with a lot of discussion and then you were given most of the written work as prep.  The school day was very much a self reliant system compared to that of the rigid daily routine offered at Hilton. I had 3 hourly lessons on sports days and 4 when there was no sport. You almost always had an hourly break between each period which was considered to be a study period, but this merely meant you were recommended to go back to the house and get on with some work. However if you did not have work there was a newly opened café with televisions and sofa’s and they served hot and cold beverages as well as an array of pastries which was very much a place of popularity during study periods.

The social aspect that Wellington has to offer is something that I believe not many other schools can pride themselves on. The English humor was something predominant within the school, the Welly ‘banter’ is certainly something worth witnessing.  It was a school where boys and girls had a constant smile on their faces and there were continuous amounts of joking around and social interaction between the sexes, whether it is in the school café, between classes, in classes, at meals, or just relaxing at the tuck shop after school. The walk to class in the morning was no longer a tiring, troublesome task; it was something you looked forward to. I was fortunate enough of having an entire girl’s house dedicated to only lower and upper sixth girls (forms 4 and 5) a mere 30 meters away. Pupils were always enthusiastic and there was no doubt that they were loving school. Free afternoons would fly by, as you joked around on benches outside the tuck shop with girls, which were always a pleasure. The dress after school and for dinner was casual, however the girls certainly took a close interest on their appearance as they were very rarely without make-up or under dressed.

Throughout England Wellington are respected among the rugby community and as some Hilton boys might know they came and played us a while ago. I will not mention the result as I was reminded of it on many occasions while there. I was lucky to be sent in their rugby season which meant I was able to take part and play rugby for the school. The A teams were very strong with not many losses throughout the age groups, the 1^st team played an astounding 19 games throughout their crammed season but sadly went down 6-5 on a rainy day on the 2^nd to last day of the term to deny them an unbeaten season. Their results were impressive.  I played in the open age group for the 3^rd and 4^thxv rugby teams experiencing different positions in the backline which was enjoyable, however I thought for one of the top sides in the UK, the standard between Hilton and Wellingtons 3^rd and 4^th xv sides were very similar. The atmosphere on the sides of big side one was totally different to that of Gilfillan, it was not a compulsory attendance although both girls and boys would be out in numbers to live up to their reputation (so they said) as the proudest supporters in the land. The atmosphere was very much jollier, with rhythmic songs sung accompanied by drums and bag pipes which caused for rugby games to be quite festive occasions. However the crowds certainly did not match the ones attracted at Hilton for the big games.

The amount of pitches on offer was astonishing; they managed to kick off all games at the same time besides that of the 1^st team.  The facilities provided at the school were outstanding, the indoor centre was designed in such a way that it could house, badminton, cricket nets, indoor hockey, basket ball, netball, bowls and soccer. They had dance studios, a couple of large astro turfs, 3 gyms, an indoor and outdoor pool, squash courts, a racquets court (an English game only played by the traditional public schools), the list really never ended.

The weekends were another major highlight of my exchange. Unlike Hilton the pupils are allowed out every weekend, which meant hardly a dull weekend went by. It was fascinating spending numerous weekends at various people’s houses, whether it is in a London town house or out on a country estate.  Access to London was effortless; with Crowthorne station being a couple of meters from school property it meant you could be in London in under an hour, which allowed for some eventful times in the big city.  For the first time in my life my self-responsibility was truly put to the test, I was given a 2 week half term.  These two weeks were amazing, I ventured around London going to different people’s houses and just experiencing the true life of the English, and getting a good feel for what it is like living the life of a Wellington boy away from school.  

Culturally Wellington offered opportunities that I am sure will be difficult to come across in schools elsewhere around the world. I was given talks by former Prime minister Sir John Major, I witnessed royal family within the grounds, and I even had our very own Chester Williams taking me for a Physical Science lesson along with Bryan Habana attending training sessions, among others were musicians and many famous military figures. There was large assistance given if you aimed to go to either Oxford or Cambridge, there were numerous amounts of talks on various concerning matters, there were house plays, school plays and entertainment brought about by the pupils regularly, e.g. music evenings and comedy talk shows which were always a very good laugh. The school put a large emphasis on charity, every couple of weeks there was a house which had to pick a specific charity, explain to the school why they chose the charity, gather money and send it. Among this there were always events which were charity enforced e.g. the selling of Crispy Crèmes, which were the most delicious doughnuts I have ever tasted. There were several clubs and societies which were all enjoyable, for instance on a Wednesday afternoon I took part in cooking – part of the attraction may have been because it was in the girl’s house- but nevertheless they were all utterly enjoyable.  All in all, the schooling weak was action packed, there was hardly a night that went by which you were not out and about and the same went with the afternoons.   

The cheerful Welly atmosphere is something I think about every day when I see a Hilton boy who is not entirely appreciative of his surroundings, it was an irreplaceable experience that opened me up to different views on school and life in general. The friendships that I made are ones I am sure will be with me for many years to come and the memories that I took out of the experience are unforgettable. I have grown into a more confident, positive and well rounded Hilton boy who is now able to apply life skills learnt from 2 contrasting, yet outstanding institutions in the world. 

Lastly I would just like to thank all who made the opportunity possible, Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Wielenga who made the experience such a pleasure and ease for me and the master of Wellington, Dr Seldon, and Mr. Lovatt who saw over the whole procedure. I recommend the experience to anyone looking for a life changing trip, full of laughter, life lessons and successes. I believe you can only benefit from such an experience, thank you Hilton.