Headteacher's Bulletin - Friday, February 7th 2025
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Hot off the heels of three Oxbridge Medicine offers, our Sixth Form scientists have continued to excel:
The 'Chemistry Race' is a new national competition for teams of 3-5 Post 16 students organised by students at the University of Cambridge and Rugby School. Last Saturday, 60 teams amassed at the University of Cambridge to race against each other in solving chemistry problems, with the team with the most points within the time limit winning! The NSB team of Bayley Northern, Petula Law, Elena Davies and Josh Obi performed impressively against similarly strong competition from 60 schools (largely private) and were great ambassadors for NSB and for the State School sector.
The new addition of the Sixth Form NSB Science Journal was also released at the end of last week. The journal focuses on a diverse range of topics linked to climate change and the professional quality of the publication is testament to the superb levels of diligence, intellect and attention to detail of the co-authors and publication team. The journal can be accessed here
Our annual Spring Visual Arts Showcase was held on Tuesday evening and was a roaring success. The event featured some of the best artwork created by our students over the past year, across all year groups, including work by past NSB students. There were also opportunities for people to watch Sixth Form students create some fabulous live work on the night which proved immensely popular - a small crowd watched Riley Taylor sketch an incredible drawing of a Tunnock's Tea Cake in biro, Florence Rodgers create a highly detailed and impressive portrait drawing and Logan Compston complete a wonderful portrait painting in oils. Attendees also enjoyed getting actively involved in a printmaking workshop, famous artwork photo booths and an 'Art Takeaway'.
This week is Children's Mental Health Week with the theme; 'Know Yourself, Grow Yourself', and there have been activities running across the school all week. Mrs Greenaway reports:
Throughout the week, there has been a sharp focus on the promotion of positive mental health for all of our students. Personal Development sessions as well as House Assemblies have had a focus on wellbeing. The Student Wellbeing Ambassadors have created podcasts and displays on transitions, sleep and wellbeing and how exercise can improve your mental health. Leon Clarke and Sheli Patel created a student-focused video which was shown in assemblies conveying what our young people do to help their mental health, especially around talking and seeking support - a problem shared is a problem halved was definitely a key theme and Kaitlyn Smyth, our Head Girl, interviewed some of the Student Leadership Group and asked them what would they say to their younger self about mental health. The latter will be posted later today on the NSB PD Instagram. Click here for the Instagram page.
One of the highlights of the week was our annual Wellbeing Fair where we had stands from our own Inclusion Centre and external guests; Action for Happiness, KidsAid and The Lowdown who came along to talk to our students and asked them questions such as: What stops young people seeking support? Throughout the 2 hours, the students flocked to the stalls, having really mature discussions and they were keen to find out about the support in Northampton. It was a fantastic atmosphere, a real buzz, and it was brilliant to see everyone talking about how they can help themselves and others in relation to mental health. Thank you to all involved.
We also found out that this week Charlie Reed in Year 11 was shortlisted for the 'Above and Beyond Award' in relation to Mental Health and the support and compassion he has shown to others. Although he didn't win they praised him very highly and were keen for him to become a Beyond Youth Board Champion. Well done Charlie!
The level of sporting success has been spectacular this week.
Our Sixth Form girls rugby and netball teams have a tidal wave of whole school student interest, support and pride behind them following their recent matches and achievements including those listed below:
After the recent impressive matches against Rugby School, the girls rugby squad enjoyed a training session with former NSB student and Tigers and Wales star Amelia Tutt, in preparation for next week's hugely prestigious Millfield Sevens tournament.
Some of the girls in the rugby squad were also part of our richly talented NSB netball team who won a major competition at Leicester Grammar School this week. Miss Harvey reports:
The NSB U18 Netball team competed in the inaugural Leicester Grammar School U18 Netball Competition on Tuesday and, despite adverse weather conditions, they found themselves in a nail-biting final game against Leicester Grammar School A with 6 other teams knocked out of the tournament. Stellar performances on the attacking side by Emily Gates and Matilda Hinde, and a game-changing performance as GK by Summer Maradzika, ensured a fantastic win for NSB - Miss Harvey and the team are thrilled to be bringing home the first Netball trophy of 24/25 for the cabinet!
Mr Reid has worked tirelessly to establish Hockey within the school as a popular extracurricular activity and all of this hard work is beginning to bear fruit across the age group teams. Mr Reid reports:
Last Monday the U18 played their first match in this season's U18 National Hockey Championships, taking on Uppingham School in a home match at Moulton College which proved to be an extremely competitive match!
NSB took an early lead through Heath MacGregor's tidy finish following a short corner that he had won with clever individual skills. The team then battled hard to maintain a 1-0 lead for the majority of the half, with Dom Jackson making a series of excellent close range saves, whilst George Cooper relieved the pressure with well-thrown aerials. Shortly before half time Uppingham levelled with in a goalmouth scramble, before taking the lead with a well-worked short corner.
NSB started the second half with purpose, Seb Crick winning a short corner from the first play after the break. Unfortunately the corner misfired and Uppingham scored on the break. NSB continued to compete fiercely with James Barnwell scoring a delightful reverse stick shot after a prize aerial from Angus MacGregor. Tomi Umamoto-Rixon, who tackled tigerishly, was unlucky to have a penalty flick given against him, before Barnwell scored his second. The team have another chance to progress in the plate when they meet Kimbolton before half term.
The U13s had great success in this month's round of the Northampton League, beating both Wollaston and Malcolm Arnold. Jacob Adiamah led the way with 3 goals and an assist, although it was a superb team effort, with Zac Paintin making his goalkeeping debut without conceding in either game. The team plays its next fixtures in the Stowe tournament at the end of February.
Our Cross Country runners have been creating headlines over the past few weeks with top 3 finishes for the following students in the recent Northants County Championships:
U19 Boys
Nathan Lamb - 2nd
Mal Collins - 3rd
U19 Girls
Emily Gates - 2nd
U17 Boys
Freddie Harris - 1st and County Champion
Josh Pinney - 3rd
12 students ended up qualifying from the county championships to compete for Northants at the Anglia Trophy at Woodbridge School, held last weekend. This event is the regional cross country championships and is used as a selection tool for 'The English Schools Championships' in Sussex in March. Many congratulations to all the runners listed, who performed admirably in representing their county and particularly to those in bold who have qualified for the National English Schools Final;
Freddie Love
Freddie Harris
Josh Pinney
Harrison Waterson
Nathan Lamb
Malachy Collins
Ollie Melling
Ollie Walls
Dan Wood
Emily Gates
Marni Walker
Amelia Lonergan
And if all of the above sporting success wasn't enough, our U15 rugby side performed heroically in a tough National Cup Quarter Final away tie on Wednesday to last year's national champions for this year group - a very skilled and resolute King's Macclesfield school team. A 37-22 win put NSB into the Semi-Finals for the third year in a row and returns the narrow 6-3 loss to the same opposition in last year's U14 Semi-Final. Our U16 team, who have been in robustly good form, will play their National Cup Quarter-Final against Samuel Whitbread Academy on Tuesday next week - 3.45pm kick off on the First XV pitch - support very welcome, and it is definitely worth watching this fantastically talented and resilient team in National Cup action.
Two of our former students have hit the national headlines this week - Carney Chukwuemeka has signed a deal with German Giants, Borussia Dortmund and Ollie Sleightholme starts tomorrow at Twickenham in the Six Nations showdown against France.
Finally, at the end of February we have the KS4 and KS5 production of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'. It’s a fantastic production - a family event that offers a unique perspective through Christopher’s eyes, reminding us that we all see the world differently. Tickets are also on sale for our annual Dance production, 'Junction 25'. It has a slightly different format this year with an evening dedicated exclusively of NSB dancers for the Friday production and the Saturday evening performance will showcase dancers from NSB and across the county.
Richard Bernard
Headteacher
