Headteacher's Bulletin - Friday, March 28th 2024
It's been a vibrant last week of term with some brilliant NSB student successes to celebrate!
Last weekend saw a huge amount of NSB involvement in extracurricular activities. Many NSB musicians excelled at the Regional Music for Youth Festival and six of our students, as part of the Northamptonshire Black History Association, celebrated the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Governor, Morcea Walker, reports:
'Drumming, singing, poetry and a Keynote address formed the framework of the programme. There was also a very powerful section called 'In Remembrance' where ten young people mentioned the name of a young slave, their age, which country they were from and where they were sent to. Six of the ten students were from NSB-----Alicia Adeleye, Theodore Richard, Jaydon Amoah, Leshay Hall, Samuel Antwi and Jansen Madzadzavara. They were all brillliant! Jaydon additionally wrote and performed his version of Redemption Song on his cello and Alicia brought many of the audience to tears by her performance of "Stand Up" by Cynthia Erivo. I was so proud of them all. Special thanks must go to Helen Hasan who worked with and provided fantastic support for Theodore, Jaydon and Leyshay on their part in "In Remembrance'.
On Monday evening the Cripps Theatre hosted a fantastic evening of Year 9 presentations. Miss Bason oversees the Year 9 oracy curriculum and reports on a wonderful night of inspirational speeches:
On Monday evening, NSB hosted their second annual 'NSB - Find Your Voice Challenge', a platform for Year 9 oracy students to present speeches on topics of their choice. We were joined by esteemed guest judges including Joe Lavelle, an ex-NSB student, Veena Dhir, NSB Governor, Andre Arissol, a professional basketball player, and Judge Jane Barlow, an English teacher at NSB and Director of Literacy. The evening was skillfully hosted by former oracy finalists, Year 10 students Theo Richard and Bodie Hamilton. Throughout the evening, students presented a diverse range of topics with professionalism and ease, showcasing their confidence and giving the judges a very tough task. Oliver Casey secured third place with his speech on 'Sport Athletics' Wage,' Gabriel Kara limo claiming second place with his discourse on 'Racism,' and the winner Matteo Iaciofano, delivered a poignant poem titled 'Put the Weapons Down', addressing the conflict in Gaza. Matteo was honoured with the ‘Morcea Walker Cup,’ with the audience privileged to hear from Morcea herself on the significance of oracy in our lives. Thank you to all the students for their compelling speeches and to Theo and Bodie for their exceptional presenting skills. It was truly a fantastic evening, celebrating the power of oracy.
Several of our Sixth Form students, including students from The Female Lead Society, attended a recent Student Conference on Sexual Harmful Behaviours - this is a conference by students for students to discuss this vital issue. Arranged by Quinton House School, students came together from across the county to listen to speakers from a variety of institutions including The Lucy Foundation, Men at Work, Women's Aid, the police service and the justice system. Students then discussed the information, creating three main points from each presentation and at the end of the day created a visual representation of the issues raised and possible solutions.
The Student Leadership Group performed their last official duty this week, not that it felt like a duty, as they were all really keen to revisit the local residents at the Old School House across the road from the school. They joined their Easter Coffee morning and took part in an interesting raffle where they all managed to win a prize - not fixed at all! The students have gained so much from listening to the experiences of the residents and, in turn, the residents thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the lives of the students and their next steps. All the residents were extremely impressed with the confidence and demeanour of the Sixth Form team saying they were a credit to the school. Thank you to the students for all they have done over the past year, we wish them well.
The Year 8 sports teams have enjoyed extraordinary success this year and none more so than this week. The U13 rugby team are unbeaten in two years and last weekend went on an unbridled winning spree, sweeping all 5 teams in their top ranked Rosslyn Park Sevens group and then winning the hugely prestigious Caldicott Tens tournament on Saturday to add to their already impressive silverware haul this season. Then on Tuesday, the Year 8 Football A Team played brilliantly to secure a fourth National Final for the school in May with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Kings' School, Winchester.
Many congratulations to former student, Joshua Bishop, who has notified the school, that he has received his first classification and journal mention in La Palma whilst on his MPhys internship. This is a particularly impressive achievement, given all the other students mentioned in the journal are PhD researchers.
Finally, a Term 4 report for all students will be issued electronically at the end of school today - accessible via AIM.
I hope all connected with the school have a fantastic break and we look forward to welcoming the students back on Tuesday, April 16th .
Richard Bernard
Executive Headteacher
