High News 14 September 2018

Monday 17 September
U5 Geography Residential

Tuesday 18 September
U5 Geography Residential

Wednesday 19 September
U5 Geography Residential
Zanzibar Trip Workshop – S5

Thursday 20 September
School Production Rehearsals

Friday 21 September
Jeans for Genes Mufti Day

Tuesday 18 September
2nd XI Hockey vs Stowe School (Home)

Wednesday 19 September
U11 A, B & C Hockey Sevens vs Bilton Grange (Away)

Saturday 22 September
U13A Hockey v Loughborough (Away)
U12A & U14A Netball v Loughborough (Away)

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Purvey-Tyrer and Mrs Dadge, and all the staff who have ably supported them, for the splendid job they are doing in holding the fort in the first weeks of term at the Junior School.

Going forward, we have been fortunate to secure the services of Mrs Caroline Petryszak, to serve as Interim Head of Junior School for three days per week, ably supported by the Junior School Senior Management Team, until a permanent, full time Head is appointed.

Mrs Petryszak has extensive experience of teaching in an all-girls environment, including Dr Challoner’s High School in Buckinghamshire, St Mary’s, Cambridge, and The Perse School for Girls (now The Stephen Perse Foundation) in Cambridge at senior leadership level; she has also worked for the BBC, writing Maths resources and consulting on the Digital Curriculum. Mrs Petryszak will be taking up her duties on Friday 21 September, and she is very keen to meet parents and girls. We look forward to welcoming her to Northampton High.

During the last academic year, we were delighted to support the Cynthia Spencer Hospice as our chosen Staff Charity.

We were delighted to meet with representatives from the Hospice, who told us all about the great work they do, and also how much of a difference donations from us and other fundraisers alike make.

It was a pleasure to hand over a cheque for over £1,900, which was raised through various fundraising events throughout the year, and we are overjoyed that we have been able to help a fantastic organization.

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Officer

Over two years of planning and collaboration between Northampton High School, our German exchange school, the Dr-Johanna-Decker-Gymnasium, the Altalanos Iskola Gimnazium in Budapest, Rigas Valsts Vacu Gimnazija in Riga and Gondensino – E.E.P in Porto culminated two weeks ago when we heard that our application for a project entitled “Creativity and Digital Competences – Prerequisites for the World of Work in the 21st Century”  had been approved and funding awarded. This project will provide staff and pupils in the five schools with exciting opportunities to work together over the next two years, with teacher conferences in Amberg, Bavaria and in Porto, and conferences for students from each school together with accompanying staff, which will take place in Budapest (this October), in Riga in October 2019 and with the final conference of the two year project to be held here at Northampton High School in April 2020.  

Students and staff from the five partner schools will have the opportunity to collaborate in a number of workshops, presentations and external visits, whilst exploring the challenges and possibilities of the world of work in the 21st century and at the same time developing their own digital competence and creativity. Students especially will have amazing opportunities to contribute their ideas and to lead parts of the project, affording them valuable experience in international collaboration, producing for example, their own video presentations on a number of themes and an international guidebook for students on career choices and interview techniques. Teachers from all the participating schools will be given opportunities to review current methodologies and engage with the latest digital teaching and learning methods.   

This success comes hot on the heels of our eTwinning award earlier this year for our collaboration in an international project entitled “Don’t judge a person by their face”. Further details about this can be found in the article written by the lead teacher here Mrs Alicia Diez. Such initiatives demonstrate our commitment to international collaboration and ensure that our students are prepared for their future as global citizens. 

Mrs Hill
Head of Languages Faculty

Northampton High School joined in with NSSM by telling us about a fascinating e-twinning project they were part of involving pupils from six European countries who joined together to write a collaborative story about inclusion.  Languages teacher Mrs Diez, describes the project:

At Northampton High School, we have taken Inclusion into the next level this academic year.

We started off in September, by creating a very interesting project together with some European partners. Thanks to the support of the educational platform of eTwinning, provided for school by the British Council, we were able to link with students in schools in Greece, Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia and France, to investigate and learn on the subject of what inclusion means for us all.

Read the full story here

On Sunday 9 September, our 90cm Eventing team went to Swalcliffe Park Equestrian centre for a One Day event. We were one of 11 teams competing to qualify for the NSEA Championship.

We started off with Dressage with great tests performed by all girls. We moved onto the show jumping which lead to Jodie Welton going clear, both Lily Roberts and Eloise Harvey having a pole each and Alexa Dykes unfortunately having three. Finally, was Cross Country, and with three of the four team members going clear, we had a very good chance in the team competition. Lily Roberts finished sixth in her section so has qualified as an individual, and the whole team rode incredibly well to finish second overall, qualifying us for the NSEA Eventing Championships on 7 October!

I would like to give a massive thank you to mums, dads and coaches for giving up their time and making this all possible. Well done to the girls who rode and good luck going forward!

Mrs Hodgetts-Tate
Head of Science Faculty

Yesterday, GCSE Drama students went to The Royal Theatre to watch the world premiere production of The Lovely Bones, adapted for the stage by Bryony Lavery from the bestselling novel by Alice Sebold. The production was a high energy journey through the eyes of protagonist, Susie Salmon, from beyond the grave.

The stage design by Ana Ines Jabares-Pita of a giant tilted mirror reflected the onstage action and gave chilling moments of theatrical magic to depict heaven in reflection, and  became, at times, translucent to portray simultaneous events. The play was both heart rending and uplifting and the pupils will have much to write about, in terms of the production elements.

Mrs Care
Director of Theatre

Senior Drama Company – DNA

This week an audition workshop has been held for pupils to be part of the Senior Drama Company. The play this year is DNA by Dennis Kelly, and will be performed on Monday 15 October 2018. Please save the date; more information to follow.

Summer Musical announced!

This year’s summer musical was announced in the Performing Arts assembly on Monday this week. We will be producing CATS as part of our 2019 Arts Festival in June, and we look forward to starting work on the production.

LAMDA

Congratulations to all 70 candidates that took LAMDA examinations in the summer. The results were outstanding, with 45 pupils being awarded a distinction.

Well done to all the girls and to Mrs Seaford, our LAMDA teacher.

Mrs Care
Director of Theatre

We are delighted to hear that two of our recent alumnae have been shortlisted for the Shortreel Cambridge Student Film Award.

Amelia Simpson and Ruth Purser’s film ‘Her’ is one of just two films nominated for the prestigious prize; the winner will be decided and presented with the award during the 38th Cambridge Film Festival which runs from 25 October to 1 November.

Fantastic achievement ladies, and best of luck!

Ms Heimfeld
Subject Leader Film

Calling all Alum! If any parents, grandparents or aunties of our current students are alumnae of Northampton High School – either attending our new site here in Hardingstone or our previous Derngate site – we would be grateful if you would drop us a line.

Please contact Mrs Wilmot on 01604 765765 or alternatively via email at a.wilmot@nhs.gdst.net. We look forward to hearing from you!

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing and Admissions

On Saturday 1 September, a group of committed individuals who are involved in squash administration and promotion for Northamptonshire embarked on a fundraising event to help with the extended junior activities within the county; they cycled from the top of Northamptonshire to the bottom, stopping at every venue with a squash court – including visiting us here at Northampton High School, to play a game of doubles. It was dubbed the Match On Every Court Challenge.

Read the full story here

Mrs Rose
Sports Centre Administrator

We are delighted to have teamed up with Starlight Children’s Foundation, a charity that brightens the lives of seriously and terminally ill children, so that for every kilogramme  of clothing and other items recycled, Starlight receives 10p and FoNHS receives 40p. Through our recycling efforts over the last three or so years, we have raised over £2,200 for FoNHS, so a huge thank you to everyone who uses the facility – well over five tonnes of items going to good use (and possibly saved from landfill) and a huge boost to FoNHS funds at the same time, and we are also supporting Starlight’s incredible work.

So if you can, please do consider using the recycling facility whenever you have a clear out. The collection ‘bank’ is bright yellow and is situated on the pathway alongside the Junior School car park. The recycling company accepts all men’s, ladies’ and children’s clothing, paired shoes (tied together please), handbags, bags, ties, belts, towels and bedlinen. Any uniform carrying school or team logos is not accepted. Please put all items in a plastic bag before depositing them in case the bank is not watertight.

Thank you very much for your support.

FoNHS

A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan

They’ve got their eyes on you: a quirky, creepy and unforgettable adventure, perfect for fans of Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton. Violet hates living in Perfect. Why does everyone have to wear special glasses to stop them going blind? What are the strange noises in the night and why is Mum acting so weird? Then Dad disappears and Violet is determined to uncover the truth with the help of the mysterious Boy. But returning normality to Perfect is a battle they never imagined…

Miss Buxton, School Librarian

Karate success

Earlier this summer, L5 student Leah took part in the National AMA Championships. This is a national Karate competition, and it was one which held huge personal significance for Leah as it marked the one year milestone of her taking part in competitions.

The championships consisted of two days of fierce competition; with Leah competing on both days, determined to give it her all. The first of the two days saw Leah compete in Musical Kata. Leah performed to an exceptional standard and wowed the judges, to see her finish in joint first place. Full story here

The next Senior School Swap Shop will be held on Wednesday 19 September, from 1pm until 2:15pm. Girls can purchase items from the shop during their lunch break and parents are also welcome to come along, and payments can be made by cash or cheque only. Unfortunately, returns are only possible on the day with items unable to be held without payment. Should an item be purchased one term and wish to be returned the next term, it will have to go through the selling process.

Due to the school uniform changes, we will no longer be selling or accepting school blazers and any sports uniform with the old school logo on it.

The Selling Process

Should you wish to sell any items of uniform, tags can be obtained through Senior School reception.  Any items without completed labels will not be sold and will be returned. All items must be in a good and clean condition, with any items in a poor or unclean condition returned.

Please do not enter a price on the tag.  We have prices in place that the clothes sell for and 20% of the item goes to the Senior School fund, which in turn is donated to the Senior School. The item of uniform should then be brought into the school and given to the senior school reception team on the day of the swap shop and not before.

Please make sure that if you are new to using Swap Shop, that you also attach your name and address (on a separate piece of paper) to the item of uniform so that we know where to send the cheque.  If you are sending in multiple items only one name and address sheet is required, please make sure this is placed in the bag with all clothes submitted. Cheques for sold items will be issued in June each year.

We can no longer sell blazers and sports kit with the current logo, so please don’t send any in.

The Senior School swap shop is run on a voluntary basis by senior school parents and sells good quality second hand uniform to Senior School girls. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the senior school reception team who can forward a message to us.

Nicola Mitchell, Shelia Mellish, Tracey Shilling, Liz Neville and Carolyn 

We are looking to recruit a part time Sports Club Lifeguard.  Reporting to the Sports Club Manager, you will be responsible for working within the centre to ensure customer safety and high standards of service and customer care at all times. Applications should be submitted by midday, on Wednesday 26 September 2018 at the latest, however, applications may be considered in advance of the deadline.

Please find full information, including how to apply, by clicking here. Alternatively, please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to help.

Mrs Gates
HR Officer