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Friday 2 July 2021 |
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In September 2019, the year started like any other for the Sixth Form. Year 12 met with Norwich, Blackheath and Bromley High Schools for the annual Inspire East Conference at Churchill College, Cambridge where motivational speaker Hayley Barnard challenged them to “Dare to Dream, but Dream with a Plan” and told them that, “If you don’t ask you don’t get!” Joining Year 13 in the Common Room they put this into practice from day one; investigating career paths and university courses, attending open days and completing work experience, reading articles and books that interested them, taking MOOCs, Massive Open On-line Courses, delivered remotely by universities from Stanford to Queensland to demonstrate super-curricular knowledge and planning for the future. Some travelled to Riga as part of the Erasmus programme, took part in the ‘Now’s the Time’ MedVet conference or the immersive Gatsby experience in London. In October some of us were lucky enough to travel together to California exploring San Francisco and Silicon Valley, pictures of which you will find below.
At Christmas, our musicians performed at the concert in All Saints’, Northampton, and the Senior Hall was packed for the House Plays followed by Christmas lunch with music and crackers in the Dining Hall. In the New Year, the Sixth Form sat on the sofas in the Common Room or in the ‘UCAS hub’ in the sunshine, making plans for the future. Live hustings were held in the Hall for the School Student Leadership Team, votes and interviews were held, the new team was appointed. And then, the world changed. Suddenly, comparisons with the Roaring Twenties became horribly real. For Spanish Flu read COVID-19. Two weeks before Easter, the school closed. Together, we embraced Guided Home Learning and learned to engage with live lessons and assemblies on Teams and Google Classroom. Please click here to read more, as Mrs Cantwell takes a look back at this year in the Sixth Form, and also reflects on her 11 years at Northampton High ahead of her retirement in August. Mrs Cantwell |
The week ahead |
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Wednesday 7 – Friday 9 July Wednesday 7 July Friday 9 July |
Northampton High School hosts a week long Virtual Arts Festival |
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During week commencing 21 June, our school community was delighted to celebrate one of our marquee annual events, taking it to the virtual world to ensure a week long celebration that will live long in the memory. We love holding our Arts Festival each year, as the school opens its doors to give students an unforgettable experience. In previous years, the school has welcomed guests such as authors Pippa Goodhart and Ross Welford into school to help mark the occasion, in a week-long celebration of all things artistic! The event will usually culminate with an Arts Invitational, an event which welcomes parents and guests into the school to highlights the vast array of work completed by students across all areas in an art gallery-style format; a truly fitting way to close the festivities.
However, current restrictions dictated the event couldn’t go ahead as intended, but with true artistic flair ‘the show must go on’ and thus, the Virtual Arts Festival was born. Spanning the course of a week, social media was taken over by the hashtag #VirtualArtsFestival2021, with work from the world of Art, Fashion, Textiles, Food, Film, English and Music, flooding the digital world to commemorate the special event. Visitors to the school’s channels were wowed by the level of work completed by students of all ages – from pupils aged 2 in the Nursery, all the way up to 18 in the Sixth Form – as we proudly celebrated our students’ achievements. In traditional fashion, the festival concluded with its Invitational, which also took place as a virtual event. Being premiered on YouTube, the 90 minute feature-length production took a further dive into the creative world, and in a show that featured Drama performances, artistic designs, musical numbers, cookery creations and everything in between, the enthralled guests who tuned in left proceedings feeling in awe of the fantastic work produced by the student body. In a week filled with imagination and skill, the students of Northampton High School continue to raise the bar with their unmatched creativity and exceptional talents. Despite a period of uncertainty, the pupils remain inspired and motivated to be the best they can be, and this celebration of the Arts is a testament to their amazing hard work and dedication. To view our virtual Arts Invitational, please click here. Mr Nash |
Welcome Alex Hume, Director of Finance and Operations |
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We are delighted to welcome our new Director of Finance and Operations to Northampton High, Mr Alex Hume! Alex joins us from the retail sector, and we know you will join us in giving him a warm welcome to our school community. Alex has spent time over the last week getting to know the school, and was delighted to join the Catering Team this morning to help serve breakfast! Mr Nash |
L5 welcome Dr Kazem for a talk on IVF |
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On Thursday, the L5 Science class had a talk via Zoom from Dr Rahnuma Kazem, who is the Medical Director of Care, Northampton. Dr Kazem spoke to us about IVF and the ins and outs of how it works. It started with the process of how an embryo develops from IVF and the steps that the mother and father, or both, have to take. IVF is a great alternative path to take for many people and families who are unable to have children naturally and everyone was amazed to find out some of the equipment used was as thin as a strand of hair! We all enjoyed the talk and had learnt a lot from it as well as having the chance to ask some questions. Alessia E |
Mrs H-T and the Screaming Jelly Baby! |
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We love taking a look at all the exciting experiments that take place in the Science Classrooms! On Wednesday, we had the privilege to witness Mrs H-T’s famous ‘Screaming Jelly Baby’ experiment – click here to take a look! Mr Nash |
Book of the Week |
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The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff Recommended for U4 and above This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer – the summer when everything changes. In a holiday house by the sea, in a big, messy family, one teenager watches as brothers and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter the Goddens – irresistible, charming Kit and surly, silent Hugo. Suddenly there’s a serpent in this paradise – and the consequences will be devastating. Miss Buxton |
Northampton High awarded UCL Beacon Satus! |
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We were delighted to hear this week that we have been awarded UCL Beacon School Status in Holocaust Education! This will involve working with experts from UCL over the coming year to further improve our knowledge and teaching of the Holocaust which will, in turn, positively impact our students. Ms Eldridge |
School Communications – SchoolPost |
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You may have already noticed that the school email communications now have a new look. We have moved from the School Comms platform to the new School Post platform. There are many benefits of this new platform for parents, including automatically consolidating messages into summaries, so that it is easy for parents to refer back to communications over time. There will also be options to respond to the school with replies and consent forms. We will be providing further information about School Post and parent communications in due course, but in the meantime we hope that School Post already offers a fresher, cleaner way to receive letters from school. We would ask you to regularly check your ‘clutter’ or ‘junk’ folders, to ensure that these communications are directed to your inbox, and are not caught in your email filters. Mrs Wilmot |
Term Dates 20/21 |
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Term Dates 21/22 |
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Term Dates 22/23 |
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Northampton High School |
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