Nothampton High School
High News

Friday 6 May 2022

Happy 144th Birthday Northampton High School!

Today in school, it has been amazing to celebrate our school’s 144th birthday! As our birthday this year fell on the Bank Holiday (2 May), we were delighted to come together as a community to mark the occasion today.

The day started with our customary celebratory assembly. We were treated to some wonderful pieces of music on the piano from our Junior students, before Mrs O’Doherty led a presentation on our school’s history.

A rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ was then performed by Mr Nathan with vocal support from the bleachers, before we cut the special birthday cake. In what is one of our favourite school traditions, the cake was cut by our Head Girl, Chelsea, and the school’s youngest Reception pupil, Hanaa, and at break time students were treated to special Northampton High birthday cupcakes – which were very well received!

It was wonderful to have our whole school community together as one to celebrate this special milestone.

Mrs O’Doherty
Head

The week ahead

Monday 9 May
Senior School Assembly
GCSE Art Internal Standardisation
A Level Spanish Orals
Seussical Drama Rehearsal
Parent Talk Series: Teens and Screens
Summer Clubs (click here for timetable)

Tuesday 10 May
GCSE Art Internal Standardisation
Elite Athletes Experience Day
Fixtures: Cricket (U14 vs Thornton)
Seussical Drama Rehearsal
Summer Clubs (click here for timetable)

Wednesday 11 May
A Level Art Examination
A Level German Orals
GCSE PE Practical Moderation
Summer Clubs (click here for timetable)

Thursday 12 May
A Level Art Examination
Year 8 COaCH trip – Bear Grylls Adventure
Year 7 Health checks
Seussical Drama Rehearsal
Summer Clubs (click here for timetable)

Friday 23 May
Senior School Assembly
A Level Art Examination
A Level French Orals
Year 11 Study Leave Begins
Summer Clubs (click here for timetable)

Spring Art Collective Exhibition

On Thursday 5 May, we were delighted to host our first (and now, annual) Spring Art Collective Exhibition.

This showpiece event was created to give our entire school community – students and their teachers – the platform to showcase their brilliant works of art, and also the opportunity to sell their pieces to help support a wonderful cause. Students of all ages, from Junior School to Sixth Form, picked up their paint brushes and filled the White Room with a plethora of imaginative and creative pieces. The space was transformed; the work on display was of the highest calibre, and wouldn’t be out of place in a regal London gallery.

It was fantastic to open our doors to the public for this event, and we were joined by a host of excited parents and family members, as well as our Town Mayor, Cllr Rufia Ashraf, and our incoming Head, Dr May Lee. Canapes and drinks were served outside on what was a gorgeous spring evening, as our guests viewed the exhibits with a smile.

The proceeds from this event will be going to help support the Northampton Hope Centre, a charity which helps people experiencing the most acute problems of disadvantage and marginalisation, including homelessness, addiction and mental health, and we look forward to reporting next week the amount we have raised. You can read more about the fantastic work the Hope Centre do by clicking here.

Thank you so much to all of our guests who joined us for this now annual showpiece event. It is always wonderful to open our doors to parents and families, to showcase the excellent work our students produce here at Northampton High.

To view more photos from the Exhibition, please click here.

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Manager

Year 10 STEM Trip to Festo

On Thursday, Year 10 went to Festo for a STEM trip. Festo is an original equipment manufacturer. We built bionic, pneumatic and biomimicry circuits in pairs by looking at instructions. We got to create loads of different circuits that powered a cylinder/muscle pump which pumped back and forwards by a push of a button. As we did more exercises, they got more complicated but we managed to complete them with a bit of help. 

Something else that we did that was exciting was being interactive with robots that were already made, like the octopus tentacle and the chameleon tongue robots, 

where they mimicked nature to make grabbing objects. At the end we learnt that their biggest client in the UK was a company that milks cows by using RFID (radio frequency identification device) tag to identify their current condition. The robot then milks them and feeds them whenever the cow wants whilst recording lots of data about them. 

Nicole, Katie and Prachi
Year 10

Fashion & Textiles Catwalk takes over assembly!

Last Friday morning’s assembly was led by Miss Lycett, Subject Leader for Fashion and Textiles, with the assembly focussed on the theme of fashion activism.

The school community were invited to consider the idea of using fashion to advocate for social, political and environmental change. Ruby S, Year 8, spoke about Emma Watson and her advocacy of sustainable style. Mia W, Year 12, spoke about the influence of celebrities and how they can use their status as a platform to advocate for change at the Met Gala, and Orla P, Year 13, spoke about Vivienne Westwood as one of Britain’s great fashion revolutionaries.

The assembly concluded with a celebration of our own fashion students in a catwalk show exhibiting the work of their GCSE and A Level projects. Thank you to all of our wonderful models, designers and speakers.

Miss Lycett
Subject Leader Fashion and Textiles

Head's Commendations

On Thursday this week, we were delighted to honour another group of pupils for their efforts with the Head’s Commendation award. Nominated by their teachers, pupils joined Mrs O’Doherty for a celebratory tea party ahead of receiving their certificates in recognition of their achievements.

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Commendations this time:

Artemisia U 4H: For her very imaginative and creative DT pop-up scene.
Verity S 7N: For competing in the Regional Final of the Rotary Chef Competition and winning Dish of the Day.
Esme B 8N: For her wonderfully positive attitude.
Jay A 10S: For working incredibly hard, resulting in writing a full mark GCSE interpretations essay.
Lucie C 10S: For supporting two Year 7 students weekly with their German studies.

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Manager

High Sports

GDST Select U15 Football: Over the weekend, the GDST Select U15 Football team took part in a training weekend along with competitive matches. Ella D was selected earlier in the year for the team and attended the weekend. The team won both matches; 3-1 on Friday night against Oxford City and 9-1 against Oxford United on Sunday. Ella really enjoyed the weekend, scoring 3 of the 9 goals in the second match.

Tennis Tournament Triangular: Northampton High took two teams to the tournament on Friday organised by Dallington Tennis Coaches at Spratton School. The teams exerted a dominance throughout and both ended up competing against one another in the final. Well done, everyone!

U15 Cricket vs Thornton College: On Tuesday, our U15B team played a friendly cricket match against Thornton College. The final score was 230-5 to Thornton College and 268-5 to us. Thornton were first to bat but lost a couple of wickets to great catches by Leona R and Laura C. As a team we all played remarkably well considering it was our first time playing together as a team this season, however, I think that Anna A, Isabel H and Hattie M deserve an honourable mention for their all-round general play. The Player of the Match was Isabel H, chosen by Thornton College and our team’s Player’s Player went to Anna A. Well done to all who played. Jess M, Captain

Year 9 and Y10 District Athletics: The Year 9 and 10 teams travelled to Daventry and took part in the District Athletics on Wednesday afternoon. It has been a couple of years since we have attended this event and it was fantastic to be back competing again. There were a number of successes for the team and notable mentions go to: Rosie D in the High Jump, coming joint first with a jump of 1.40. Isabel H was 2nd in the 1500m the 800m. Ques-Li D with only her second session of Triple Jump achieved 2nd place with a jump of 8.27 (the next Georgie Forde-Wells in the making!) and Ella D came second in the hurdles and 1st in the 300m. Well done to all who attended the event in what can only be described as monsoon type rain for most of the meet!

BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships: Congratulations to a recent alumna, Georgie Forde-Wells, on achieving a massive PB in the Triple Jump at the weekend in the BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships in Cheltenham, achieving a silver medal in the process.

Mrs Littlewood
Acting Director of Sport

Meet the Bus Drivers!

At Northampton High School, we are proud to have a pristine fleet of school minibuses, and we are very excited that this has expanded over the past few weeks.

This means that each of our school transport routes will be covered by a brand new Northampton High minibus, driven by a dedicated driver. Over the final few weeks of this term, we look forward to introducing you to each of our drivers in our weekly newsletters, where they will talk a little bit about themselves and the route that they will be driving, starting next week with Guy who drives the Milton Keynes South route!

If you have any questions about our school transport, please feel free to get in touch.

Mr Hume
Director of Finance & Operations

Whole school photograph takes place

Last Wednesday, we were delighted to take our traditional whole school photograph.

Taken for the first time since 2016, it was wonderful to come together as a community for this special event. The weather was on our side and we are excited to see the final picture and display it proudly with the rest of our collection in the school foyer!

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Manager

Alumnae News - Shefali secures internship with the United Nations Environment programme

It is always great to hear news and updates on how our school alumnae are progressing in their careers since departing Northampton High at the end of their studies.

Last week, we were delighted to hear from Shefali from the Class of 2018, who updated us on her exciting career progression involving work with the United Nations:

“I have secured an internship with the United Nations Environment Programme! I’ll be working with the UN Partnership for Action on Green Economies (PAGE), as a communications intern from now, going into summer. 

In other news, I recently took part in the Graduate Institute’s first ever Tedx event, and I gave a Tedx talk in the Student Corner! It focuses on sustainability, peppered with a little politics. The talk has been published on the official Tedx Youtube channel, which you can view by clicking here“.

Well done, Shefali, we look forward to following your career with great interest! If you are an alumna of the school and would like to keep us up to date with your life after Northampton High, please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you at alum@nhs.gdst.net!

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing & Admissions

3 wellbeing secrets for exam success: Body. Breath. Belief.

“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

During this time of year, exams can bring heightened emotions for students. Even when students feel academically prepared, their emotional wellbeing can play a huge part in their overall success. A certain amount of stress is natural and can sometimes help to encourage our focus. However, when this becomes overwhelming it can negatively impact our exam success and our health.  Alongside eating well, exercise, fresh air and getting enough sleep, here are 3 techniques which may help students to thrive during this time. Plus, let’s not forget this can also be a stressful time for parents too as you endeavour to help your child, so these tips may be of benefit to you too!

1) BODY – Tension vs relaxation: Becoming aware of sensations in our body can help us notice signs of stress and prompt us to relax those areas with movement or massage.

Activities: Do a scan of your body now, noticing any sensations you experience. Are you holding onto tension, especially in your stomach, shoulders, jaw, forehead? Could you soften your muscles here?
Try gently squeezing and releasing your muscles progressively throughout your body, starting with your feet, moving up to your head and notice the difference between tension and relaxation.

2) BREATH – Breathing space: Our breath is a wonderful tool that we can utilise to change how we feel and is something that is with us wherever we go.

Activity: Try inhaling deep into your abdomen for the count of 4, then exhaling slowly and gently for the count of 8. Do a few rounds of this and see if you can feel the calming difference in your body. This also has the added benefit of giving our minds a break from ruminating thoughts, helping us to feel grounded, changing our focus and in turn being able to think more clearly.

3) BELIEF – Be kind to yourself

If we believe in ourselves, we are more likely to achieve our best. Can you show yourself the same kindness and compassion that you would a friend?

Activities: Stick positive notes of encouragement where you will see them to give you a motivational boost to keep going. Each day try to find one thing that went well for you. Even when we have had a difficult day, or things haven’t gone to plan, try to find at least one positive moment, giving you energy to continue and begin afresh the next day. What we practise grows stronger.

Useful resources:

https://www.headspace.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
https://www.mind.org.uk/
https://www.samaritans.org/

Mrs Giordano
Family Support Assistant

Book of the Week

October, October by Katya Balen – Shortlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal.

October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that’s the way it is.Until the year October turns eleven. That’s the year October rescues a baby owl. It’s the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October’s mother comes back. The year everything changes.

Please click here to view the 2022 Yoto Carnegie Medal shortlist.

Miss Buxton
School Librarian

Open Morning

It was fantastic to meet so many lovely families at our Open Day this morning, and introduce them to our wonderful school community.

If you were unable to join us and would like to visit us for a personal tour, we would love to see you. Please click here to register your interest and to book your place.

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Manager

Calendar update

We have been reviewing how we celebrate our students and their accomplishments and had planned to host a Celebration Day in the summer. The proposed date for this was Saturday 18 June 2022; we requested that families ‘saved the date’.

Regrettably, we have taken the difficult decision to cancel this date. We will continue celebrating students’ achievements in school this term and will review our Awards event in the new academic year.

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing & Admissions

Cultures Day – Friday 17 June

We are currently planning to host a Cultures Day event to deepen our school community’s engagement with and understanding of culture, thereby adding to an ongoing conversation that forms part of the Inclusivity Undivided agenda.

We are coordinating a range of themed lessons in the morning and a number of activities, workshops and speakers for the afternoon.

If we have any parents or friends of the school who would be willing to run a workshop, deliver an activity or give a talk about any aspect of Cultures, we would be delighted to hear from you. These sessions will take place in the afternoon of Friday 17 June, between 1pm and 3.30pm.

We are looking forward to celebrating the cultures of our students and staff community, with the aim of everyone being able to contribute, learn, have fun, and feel included.

Should you be able to support us on this day, or should you wish to discuss this event further, please contact Mrs Carr, Deputy Director of Sixth Form, at j.carr@nhs.gdst.net.

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing & Admissions

Parent Talks: Teens and Screens

The May event in our Parent Talks programme will take place on Monday 9 May at 6pm.

This event will have relevance for all parents and will feature Tanya Goodin on the subject of Teens and Screens.

Tanya is a trailblazing author, pioneering thinker and campaigner on digital wellbeing and tech ethics, and founder of the digital detox movement, Time to Log Off.

To book a place for the Teens and Screens event, please click here.

Mrs WilmotDirector of Marketing & Admissions

Inclusivity Bulletin: May

We are delighted to share with you the latest Northampton High School Inclusivity Bulletin.

The above graphic outlines what will be happening throughout this month, but to read more and to view the bulletin in full, please click here.

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing & Admissions

Year 7 Health and Wellbeing Assessments

The Year 7 Health and Wellbeing Assessments have now started and will be completed on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Students will be notified each week that their health and wellbeing assessments will be taking place. As previously mentioned, these assessments are an opportunity for me to meet each Year 7 student individually, and to discuss the role of the medical/wellbeing team within the school.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly, if necessary.

Mrs Dunkley
School Nurse

Raise Her Up: Menopause education and empowerment

Our guest the latest edition of Raise Her Up is Kate Muir, producer of the Channel 4 documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause, which has been viewed over 2.5 million times. Last autumn, Kate was part of a #MakeMenopauseMatter rally in Parliament Square supporting the Menopause Bill to demand free prescriptions for HRT in England. Her book, Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (but were too afraid to ask), came out in January.

Kate joins us to explain about why we should all be talking about menopause, as well as giving us an insight into her follow-up documentary on menopause at work. A must-listen for the whole family: mums, dads, daughters and sons.

To listen to the podcast, please click here, or download from wherever you get your podcasts from.

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Manager

PQA Presents: The Little Mermaid

Term Dates 21/22

Term Dates 22/23

Northampton High School
Newport Pagnell Road, Hardingstone Northampton NN4 6UU
T: 01604 765765 nhsadmin@nhs.Gdst.Net