Over the past couple of weeks, the whole school community has been revelling in festive cheer: thrilling audiences with brilliant Christmas House Plays and Nativities, singing with wonder in yesterday’s Christmas Concert, dazzling in woolly Christmas jumpers, tucking into Christmas lunches with all the trimmings, enjoying class Christmas parties with tutors and co-tutors, and warming hearts by fundraising for Save the Children. The atmosphere and enthusiasm for these celebrations have been nothing short of remarkable.
In our end of term assembly, we celebrated numerous successes across the board. Alongside individual and team achievements in hockey, netball, football and equestrian events, we also recognised accomplishments in the Computing BEBRAS Competition, Senior Maths Challenges, the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls, Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards, Year 9 Reach Astronomy, academic progress and achievement prizes such as ‘faculty superstars’ and ‘subject legends,’ and the wonderful Christmas plays and concerts across all sections of the school.
We are undoubtedly part of a special community where both interests and talents are nurtured, and challenges are embraced. Witnessing the incredible successes of our students is deeply humbling and inspirational in every sense of the word. My heartfelt thanks go to the teaching and support staff who make all of this possible. Their behind the scenes efforts every day go above and beyond, and I am certain our students and parents appreciate this as much as I do.
This final week of term has brought us together as a school community to celebrate the Christmas season. The beautiful and atmospheric Christmas Concert provided an opportunity to pause, reflect and rejoice through music. Festive lunches and Christmas jumpers allowed everyone to share food and laughter, while our final assembly today highlighted the true Christmas Story and its timeless message of redeeming love.
As the world around us continues to change, I hope you will take time during the holidays to reconnect with family and friends, cherish simple pleasures and reflect on what truly matters. Let us also look outward to the wider world, acknowledging our shared humanity.
We often hear that ‘Christmas is a time for families’. While gathering with loved ones is a cherished part of the season, this emphasis can sometimes feel exclusive. Since becoming Head of Northampton High School, I have been honoured to participate in the St Edmund’s, Hardingstone Church Carol Service. This year, I will be reading the eighth lesson from Matthew 2:1-12, which invites us to reflect on the virtue of hospitality that extends beyond the familiar to embrace our ‘neighbour’ in the broader sense.
The Christmas story, told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, reminds us of the innkeeper’s humble hospitality towards a young couple. They were accommodated in a modest stable – not fit for a king by worldly standards but fit for a king who will herald a new vision of a world where both shepherds and kings find equal hospitality. So, this Christmas, let us strive to kindle “the fire of hospitality in the hall and the genial flame of charity in the heart,” as Washington Irving wrote. This, after all, is the essence of the Christmas message.
Every time we look at a Christmas tree, we are reminded of the fragility of light, and yet its permanence: the continual difficult triumph of hope, optimism, love and beauty over the dark. And every time we see the resolve and optimism of young people, it is like setting a light against the obscurity of the future: they illuminate the path ahead.
The High School is made up of an extraordinary group of people and I have high hopes for the impact that each and every one of them can choose to have – the hope that they can bring – in the communities to which they belong. Hope breeds hope, and kindness shared can be shared onwards. Indeed, the generosity of our students and staff is always so humbling and a poignant reminder of our duty as human beings to take care of each other. I am constantly touched by the empathy our students and staff show to others and this is what makes our school such a calm, happy and purposeful place to be.
As we close this term, I wish you and your families a joyful Christmas and look forward to a bright and promising New Year in 2025.
With my warmest wishes for the coming year.
May Lee
Head
The week ahead
Tuesday 7 January
Spring Term Begins
Wednesday 8 January
Junior School Coffee Morning
GCSE Information Evening
Thursday 9 January
Year 7 Parent Coffee Morning
Reach Lecture
Saturday 11 January
Rotary Chef Competition
Merry Christmas!
Christmas Concert wows audiences!
On Thursday 12 December, we were delighted to host our annual Christmas Carol Concert for our parents, staff, friends and members of the wider community. Our excellent vocalists and musicians showcased their talent, wowing the audience with a whole range of musical performances. The evening was filled with festive joy and Christmas spirit, proving to be a fabulous way to end the term.
Opening the concert was Director of Music, Mr Nathan, who welcomed the audience and encouraged everyone to relax and enjoy the carols and festive musical pieces performed by our students, alumni, staff and beyond! With a programme that included Christmas carols, readings, choir performances, an orchestra, solos and even a pop group, there was truly something for everyone to enjoy. The quality of the performances left a packed audience enthralled and, once again, our community exclaimed their amazement at our talented student body. This truly was a night to remember!
The evening concluded with a farewell speech from Dr Lee, congratulating our musicians for all of their hard work and thanking our wonderful families for consistently supporting our school through their attendance. Our students’ dedication to their musical endeavours continues to make us extremely proud and we truly hope our audience enjoyed an evening of festivities ahead of the Christmas break.
Author Kiran Millwood Hargrave visits Northampton High School
Earlier this term, our Year 5 to 7 students were treated to a very special author visit from Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Kiran is a British author known for her work in childrens and young adult literature, and her books are known for containing captivating stories, transporting her readers into magical and historical worlds. Kiran’s books are very popular amongst the Northampton High community, and we were delighted to welcome her into school for this visit. For this special event, we were thrilled to be joined by children from three of our neighbouring primary schools; Wootton, Preston Hedges and Hardingstone, and it was lovely to be able to share this experience with children across the parish.
Throughout the afternoon, Kiran spoke to a captivated audience all about her books and described the writing process, and how she transforms her ideas from conception to reality. Students were encouraged to ask Kiran questions about reading and writing, and received expert advice on many different topics. Kiran relayed to students all about the themes that inspired her books, such as the Canary Islands, and explained how being an avid reader at a young age helped her to develop her passion as she grew older – a fact that really resonated with students.
At the end of Kiran’s enthralling presentation, students from each school had the opportunity to have their own books signed by Kiran herself. This memorable event was enjoyed by all students young and old, and sparked conversations of creativity amongst the pupils. This was summed up perfectly by Year 7 student Arty, who commented; “Kiran is an amazing writer and I love how she writes about possible magic. She also gets inspired to write her books by places she has seen or nature or astonishing things she heard about.“
We are delighted to wish our heartfelt thanks to Kiran for this truly inspiring and memorable visit, and thanks our friends at our visiting schools for sharing this special event with us. We look forward to more enriching events to come in the new year.
Book Review: Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
‘My dear children, I am more shaky than usual this year. The North Polar Bear’s fault. It was the biggest bang in the world, and the most monstrous firework there has ever been. It turned the North Pole black!’
Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful coloured drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas. They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole; how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place or how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house!
Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script, adding yet more life and humour to the stories. From the first note to Tolkien’s eldest son in 1920 to the final poignant letter to his daughter in 1943 this classic collection of letters captures the magic of Christmas!
High Sports: Latest edition out now!
We are delighted to share with our community the latest edition of our termly High Sports newsletter!
High Sports takes a retrospective look back at each term’s sporting successes, with reports from players and coaches, pictures and even updates from how our students are excelling away from Northampton High in their personal events.
To view the latest edition, please click the link below.
House Hockey
In keeping with Northampton High School tradition, this week we were thrilled to host our annual House Sports tournament, with Hockey being this year’s chosen sport.
There was much excitement amongst the Houses and the matches were played in fantastic spirit. We are delighted to announce the results as below:
Year 7 – 1st: Artemis, 2nd: Selene, 3rd: Demeter, 4th: Hestia
Year 8 – 1st: Artemis, 2nd: Demeter, 3rd: Selene, 4th: Hestia
Year 9 – 1st: Artemis, 2nd: Hestia, 3rd: Selene, 4th: Demeter
Year 10 – 1st: Selene, 2nd: Demeter, 3rd: Artemis, 4th: Hestia
Year 11/12 – 1st: Demeter, 2nd: Selene, 3rd: Hestia, 4th: Artemis
Congratulations to all of our teams and students for another successful term of sporting action. We look forward to keeping you updated as we move into the spring term.
Updates from Sociology
Students in the Sociology Enrichment with Mr Viesel have been working on gathering survey data and analysing the outcomes, building key skills and a better understanding of how people interact with each other and the social structures that shape their lives.
Details can be found in the adjacent poster, which can be viewed in high resolution by clicking below.
Eco Team: Christmas Updates
This week the Eco Team had fun making environmentally aware Christmas decorations. The rosemary made the lab smell delightful!
There are masses of eco-friendly decoration ideas to bring some nature into your home over the holidays; there’s a link below to get you started!
Collating the feedback from our ‘Cut Your Carbon’ drive in November revealed that our community has done particularly well in reducing our heating, avoiding baths and taking shorter showers, and changing to a plant-based food for a day. Hopefully these are all things we could keep doing throughout the year.
