Headteacher's Bulletin - Friday, June 28th 2024
It was a day of celebration yesterday for the 23 trainee teachers from the Northampton Teacher Training Partnership (NTTP) which is based at NSB, who all completed the course successfully with Qualified Teacher status. Mrs Barlow, one of the course managers, reports:
'The trainees, whose specialist subjects cover Art and Design, Chemistry, English, Geography, History, Maths, MFL, Performing Arts, PE, Physics and Psychology, will now commence their teaching careers in local schools. The cohort are hugely excited to have achieved their Qualified Teacher Status and now await their PGCE results in the summer. If you, or someone you know, are interested in training to teach with our “Outstanding” partnership, we would welcome your application. For more information, email nttp@nsb.northants.sch.uk, search for nttp.co.uk or search for “NTTP” on Apply for teacher training - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) We are still accepting applications to start training in September 2024.'
Y7 and 8 have been delivering Form Assemblies over the past few weeks using PD (Personal Development Sessions in Form Time) to prepare. Mrs Greenaway reports,
'Y7 have been looking at values and Y8 at inspirational people and it has been an absolute pleasure watching them deliver these so eloquently. They have worked together discussing ideas, researching, preparing the material and rehearsing the presentation. The assemblies I have seen have shown teamwork, confidence and maturity and gave the students the opportunity to hone their oracy skills and share their talents with their year group. They have definitely all been inspirational - thank you to all staff and students involved.
Last week marked the inaugural NSB inter-house debate competition, which was held in the Theatre over several lunchtimes. Miss Bason is in charge of the school's oracy curriculum and she gave this report:
Houses engaged in debates on critical topics such as "Should we ban junk food?", "Should vaping be banned in society?", and "Should smartphones be banned for under-16s in the UK?". The students were exemplary throughout the week, debating with great proficiency and displaying a strong desire to secure victory for their House.
We watched Brightwell debate against Manley on the first day, followed by Washington vs. Chipsey on the second. The final debate featured Washington competing against Manley. It was a challenging decision for judges Ms. Morrison and Miss Clark, but ultimately, Manley emerged victorious.
It has been a pleasure to observe the students' confidence on stage and their eloquence in articulating their arguments which are all key life skills. All participants also demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and respect.
Congratulations to Manley for winning the cup and commendations to all the students who participated, you are all winners in my eyes!!!!!!
I'm delighted to report that our Y12 scientists who took part in last week's national 'University of Cambridge Davidson Inventors Challenge 2024 Final', came a magnificent second in the country and were only just pipped to first place. Huge congratulations to Susanna Law, Josh Obi, Petula Law, Kanthika Bandara and Elena Davies and to Dr Hennah who was the staff leader of the team.
I had a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating discussion with Shan (Y9) and Ethan Church (Y7) this week about the forthcoming World Junior Championships event for Pokémon which is being held in Hawaii this summer and which carries an impressive $50,000 first prize in all age divisions. The level of tactics and strategy required at this standard is incredibly complex and requires extremely high levels of reasoning as well as considerable flair. Both boys are leading British players with Ethan currently ranked 8 in the world for 'Juniors' and Shan 53rd globally for 'Seniors' (in which he is a year young) so they are both in with a shot of the big prize!
Our First X1 cricket team are currently putting in a strong performance at the ONs in our annual game against the MCC with NSB due in to bat shortly, chasing a run rate of around 4 an over to win. Our Y8 team have put in some brilliant performances over the past few weeks as Mr Elder reports:
The U13s have had a great week. On Monday we played Bedford Modern School who we lost to twice last year.
NSB batted first and scored a robust 152 for 2 from our 20 overs. Henry Eason batted superbly throughout, punishing bad balls and working hard in the heat to put pressure on bowlers and fielders alike with shots all round the wicket, with 1 ball left in the innings he was on 96, and he reverse swept the last ball for 4 to make it to 100 not out, a massive achievement in one so young.
In response BMS started slowly but their innings gathered pace with their number 3 batsman hitting it to all parts, and only a good ball from Harry Brown removed him. BMS scored a creditable 110 for 5 from their 20 overs, which saw NSB win by 42 runs.
On Wednesday we travelled to Oundle School on a blazing hot day.
Oundle won the toss and batted first, scoring 147 for 4, Max Roper bowled well to ensure we weren't chasing quite a bit more with a spell of 3 for 18 from his 4 overs.
In response, a very mature start from Jesse Leah, Henry Eason 64 and Jacob White 13 was brilliantly finished off by Harry Brown with an unbeaten 19 as we reached their total with 4 balls remaining. There were some nervous run outs in between but Harry finished it off nervelessly - thus NSB won by 4 wickets. It was a great advert for schoolboy cricket and all watching were thoroughly entertained.
Many congratulations to former student, Isaac Young, who has been selected for the Wales U20 rugby team to play the mighty All Blacks on Saturday in South Africa and to former student, Callum Alger, who reached the impressive heights of Music Director for BBC Radio 3's Choral Evensong this week which was broadcast on Wednesday from his church, St Peter's - links to the recording below.
Here's a link to the recording : Choral Evensong - St Peter’s Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton - BBC Sounds
And to his role at St Peter's : Music Staff | centralwolverhampton (wolvescentralparish.com)
We also welcomed former student Dr Rob Loe from the world renown Scots College, Australia for a tour of his old school today. The visit was a great success with both Scots College and NSB sharing similarly rich curriculums and the same vision of all students achieving their potential both in and out of the classroom. We will be seeking to build strong links between the two schools as we move forward.
Finally, I hope all attending the NSB Family Ceilidh tonight have a fantastic time! Tickets are currently on sale from the Box Office for the NSB Summer Music Concert next Thursday!
Richard Bernard
Headteacher
