Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 1st february 2019
Dear Parents,
The snow today has, naturally, generated great excitement among the boys and I’m most grateful to colleagues and families who were able to get here to ensure we had as reasonable and enjoyable day as possible. It’s always instructive to see the day first through the eyes of our youngest children for whom real playtime in the snow is often a novel experience. And how apposite it was that I was able to read a story about a polar bear to them in pre-prep storytime. Then I was impressed by the efficient team work of our older boys who built a giant snow man outside my window, pressing into service some of our playground toys as arms, hat and nose. They even showed some brick-laying skills as they used the giant lego for moulds to build a pretty sturdy ice wall. Their ingenuity knows no bounds! It all goes to show that, with a bit of imagination and co-operation, all sorts of things can be achieved: an object lesson for the classroom, surely, as much as the playground.
Sport. The hockey season has just started to get into full swing with some cracking performances throughout the School, but alas today the snow has put paid the U13s trip to the IAPS regional qualifiers in Cambridge. No matter, we’ll try again next Friday. However, over the past week or so we have seen both the U13, U12 and U11 age groups in action. The U13s played Summerfields in the opening fixture of term where the 2nd team managed an 8-1 win and the 1st team 16-0. This included a five-goal haul for our captain Reuben McLusky who looked in fabulous form in front of goal. Also in our regular fixture card, the U13 1st-4th teams played St Hugh’s School both home and away. This meant that every boy in the top two years has already represented NCS at this early stage of the season. Away at St Hugh’s they played three close games, but unfortunately just lost in what were, nonetheless, most engaging games. Special mention goes to Thomas Kelsey and Julien Rohart who both worked extremely hard all afternoon. At St Edward’s in the “home” fixture we had six teams from NCS, St Hugh’s, and Lord Williams’s in attendance and the hockey on show was top notch. The NCS 2nd team enjoyed two wins, one draw and only one loss which came to our own 1st team. James Clarke ended up top scorer with three goals; but man of the afternoon was Walter Moore who was excellent on the right wing. The 1st team ended the afternoon unbeaten, winning all four of the their games to top the table, with the final game against St Hugh’s 1st team being the highlight of the afternoon. A 3-2 win was extremely exciting and saw Joseph Conway dominate the midfield and score two excellent goals under extreme pressure in the shooting circle.
The U12 and U13 1st teams have represented the School recently in the Oxfordshire County Championships and both teams have performed superbly, with the U13 team achieving 2nd place and qualifying for the regional finals in March at Woking Hockey Club. Following this, the U12s had their turn on Monday and managed to win all of their games to be crowned County Champions. This included a 5-1 win over Abingdon School, 1-0 vs MCS and finally a 4-3 win over another large senior school in Bloxham! They too qualify for the regional finals later in March. The U11 teams hosted Sibford School this week and both the ‘A’& ‘B’ teams enjoyed good wins and strong performances. The ‘B’ team managed an 8-0 win with Harry Davies and Maurits Branderhorst both having great games. In the ‘’A team, the score was a little closer but they still won 4-1 with the Sibford goal keeper making at least 10 saves that kept his side in the game. This young man was clearly the player of the day for our visitors. However, the NCS midfield of Timon Bergmann, Ben Harkness, and Jack Rothery were brilliant and made sure the ever-busy Ethan McMillan was supplied with quality passes to score We are now looking forward to next week and I wish both the U11 and U13 teams luck in their upcoming tournaments.
Year 6 enjoyed their trip to the Natural History Museum on Wednesday and, by all accounts, were excellent ambassadors for the School. We are very fortunate to have such excellent resources to enhance our learning only a short walk away. And the Eco Committee have been demonstrating their sense of duty in the neighbourhood with their litter pick-up this week. Well done to all!
NCS families are welcome to join the congregation for the Candlemas Festal Evensong in New College Chapel on Sunday at 5.45pm. There will be a candlelit procession as part of the service.
Safer Internet Day is next Tuesday, which will allow us especially to underline what we trust are our consistent messages about internet safety and challenge all the boys to make informed judgements about what they might read on the internet.
Charity Week is the week beginning Monday 11th February. This term we are supporting Helen and Douglas House a charity providing hospice and palliative care for terminally-ill children and young people in our local area. www.helenanddouglas.org.uk As an addition to our charity week events this term, we are going to hold a daily ‘Bring and Buy’ toys and books sale. We would like to encourage anyone who wishes, to donate any unwanted toys/books, to be sold each day at breaktimes and after school. We will charge 50p per item, and all boys will be encouraged to have a serious shopping spree with their parent/carer after collection at the school gate. Please do support this new fundraising venture. Donations may be brought to the School Office from this coming Monday onwards.
On Home Clothes Day, Friday 15th February, we shall have one of our usual cake sales. Boys are asked to donate £2 toward the charity for the privilege of home clothes and should bring an extra 50p for a cake on that day. Donations of cakes on that Friday will be gratefully accepted! Thank you in advance for your support.
You should all have received a letter today by Parentmail about the Holloway Lecture, which takes place on Monday 11th March at 6.00pm as part of our STEM week. Robots are the theme of the week and the lecture will be given by Professor David Clifton on ‘What did Artificial Intelligence ever do for us?’. Since we open the lecture up to other schools, NCS families have priority booking until Friday 15th February. The lecture is probably most suitable for Year 6 and above.
Deputy Head Academic. Following interviews on Monday of a very strong national field of short-listed applicants, the governors have unanimously selected Miss Emma Krebs to be appointed Deputy Head Academic from September 2019, in succession to Dr Jenkinson as he takes up the Headship. Miss Krebs took her BSc from the University of Bristol and her PGCE from the Oxford Department of Education. She has been a research assistant at the University of Oxford and at the University of California, Davis, in the Department of Neurobiology. Before joining us as Head of Science, Miss Krebs was Head of Biology at Didcot Girls’ School and taught subsequently at Headington School. Integral to her new role is Miss Krebs’s current work as Head of Science and she will, of course, maintain her science teaching. I am sure parents will join me in congratulating Miss Krebs and in wishing her every success.
With good wishes to all NCS families,
Robert Gullifer
Forthcoming Events
Sunday, 3 February 2019
17.45 Candlemas Festal Evensong, New College Chapel
Monday, 4 February 2019
18.15 Old Boys’ Committee Meeting, HM Study
Tuesday, 5 February 2019
Safer Internet Day
10.30 U8&9 Hockey House Matches, Iffley Rd
13.00 U11 A Hockey vs Sibford, Away
14.00 U8 A&B Hockey vs MCS, Away
Wednesday, 6 February 2019
10.00 School Service, New College Chapel
Speaker: The Revd Dr Sean Henson, Chaplain of St Hugh’s College
Coffee afterwards in the Undercroft for parents and visitors
12.30 Eco Committee Meeting
14.00 U13 Hockey House Matches, St Edward's
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Abingdon Music Scholarship
13.00 U11 Cross Country vs Swanbourne, Away
Friday, 8 February 2019
15.00 U11 A County Cup Hockey, Hawks Hockey Ground
Monday, 11 February 2019
Charity Week in aid of Helen and Douglas House
Start of PSB/scholarship mocks week
Pre-Prep Reviews
Tuesday, 12 February 2019
14.00 U11 Hockey House Matches, St Edward's Astro
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
10.00 School Service, New College Chapel
Speaker: Dr Katie McKeogh, Christopher Cox Junior Fellow, New College
Coffee afterwards in the Undercroft for parents and visitors
Orders in Years 3-8 issued
14.45 U13 A&B Hockey vs Abingdon, St Edward's Astro
18.00 Year 5 Parents’ Evening, Sports Hall
Thursday, 14 February 2019
14.00 U11 Hockey House Matches, Iffley Rd
Abingdon Sports Scholarship
Friday, 15 February 2019
Home Clothes Day
13.00 U8 A Tag Rugby vs Brockhurst, Away
Saturday, 16 February 2019
Start of Half-Term
Saturday, 23 February 2019
NC Choir: Monteverdi Vespers, Keble College