High News 2 February 2018

Events and activities

Monday 5 February

U5H Tutorials

Tuesday 6 February

U5 A Level Taster Lesson
U5 Parents’ Evening

Wednesday 7 February

Young Musician of the Year Competition 7th-9th February
U5 A Level Taster Lesson
Cafe Sci Event for U3
County Badminton

Thursday 8 February

6.1 Visit to Sanger Institute
L5 Spring Assessment data available on Firefly
Whole School Production Rehearsal

Friday 9 February

U3/L4 Short Reports available on Firefly
Eco Team Cake Sale 

Sports Fixtures

Tuesday 6 February

Pitsford School, Netball, (A) U18A 6th Form, U18B 6th Form

Wednesday 7 February

County Tournament, Badminton, (A), U14 U4, U16 U5

Beachborough School, Netball, (H), U13A L4, U13B L4, U13C L4

We are delighted to share the GDST’s brand transformation, raising the profile of our organisation and reinforcing perceptions that we offer the very best in teaching and pastoral care.

The new GDST branding was unveiled in schools across the country this week, along with the values that underpin the brand, representing how GDST vision will be achieved. GDST stands for:

We always put Girls First. They are the focus of everything we do.
We are Forward-thinking. We stay ahead through purposeful innovation.
We are Fearless. We act and speak with conviction and commitment. We are not afraid of thinking differently.
We are a Family. We support each other and share our learning across our unique network.

All staff and girls watched the behind-the-scenes view of the new GDST film; we then had the opportunity to watch the new GDST film itself. The film, entitled ‘Our Spirit’, features 25 girls — one chosen from each of the GDST schools – talking about what it means to be a GDST girl. We were very proud to see our very own Chelsea featured in the film, representing our school.

The red button style logo has also been replaced by a clean and contemporary black logo (shown above), which will sit beneath the logos of each of the 25 GDST schools.

Please click on this link to view the film.

Northampton High School has been awarded foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.

Stephen Hull, Senior Project Manager at the British Council, said: “Northampton High School’s international work has earned the school well-deserved recognition in the form of the British Council International School Award – Foundation Certificate.

The school’s dedication to internationalism is enriching education for its pupils by bringing an essential global dimension to learning and encourage the development of skills children need to be global citizens of the future.

Embedding an international ethos across a school can lead to full International School Award accreditation and schools looking to join this supporting and engaging network should contact us at the British Council.”

This week has seen various book related activities taking place in the Senior School. The annual book sale from Waterstones has been as popular as ever, with a range of recently published fiction titles available along with fun items like Harry Potter Cluedo!

The girls have also enjoyed taking part in the book related competitions, as well as having the opportunity to browse and read in the Library generally.
The fourth annual Harry Potter Party took place in the Library on Thursday 1st February, with girls from both the Junior and Senior School taking part. The theme this year was fantastic beasts and the competition fierce to identify extracts featuring various amazing animals from the books. The girls also enjoyed various craft activities and Mrs McCue’s amazing chocolate muffins!

The week finished with an assembly on the author Philip Pullman delivered by Miss Buxton. His latest book The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage is the prequel to his Dark Material trilogy and a compelling story.

The English Department and Library

During February half term, GoCode Academy are running a coding camp at Northampton High School from 10am to 4pm each day. It is open to 11-18 year olds in the Senior School and 6-11 year olds in the Junior School.

They are offering a free taster session on Tuesday 30 January from 3.45pm to 4.45pm in Senior School and 3.30pm to 4.30pm in Junior School. To find out more information about the camp, please visit their website https://gocode.academy/.

If you would like your daughter to join the taster session please contact admin@nhs.gdst.net indicating her name and year group.

Mrs Heimfield, Teacher of English

On Tuesday 30 January, Northampton High School hosted the regional heat for the Chrystall Prize Semi-Final for public speaking.

Chrystall Carter was Legal Advisor to the GDST for nine years, and then Deputy Legal Secretary until her sudden and untimely death in 1999. This competition was set up by her husband Richard in her memory, to mark her commitment to the girls themselves, her pleasure in their success and her belief in the power of argument.

During the competition, Year 11 students spoke for up to seven minutes on their allocated topic. Topics ranged from the role of human behaviour in our great leaders, to whether the young people of today are really ‘the snowflake generation’. The participants were then tasked with answering questions from the audience, which included fellow participants, teachers and support staff.

There were five semi-finalists from five GDST schools — Howell’s School, Northampton High School, Oxford High School, Shrewsbury High School and The Royal High School. The winner of this heat was Ashley from The Royal Bath High School, whose speech was entitled ‘Is there any magic left in the world?’.

The Senior School Charity Quiz Fundraiser event has been rearranged and will now be held on Friday 9 March 2018. The event will begin at 7.00pm, hosted in the Senior School hall. Tickets will cost £10 per adult and £6 for students.

To enter as a team you will need a maximum of 8 people per table. The entry fee will include pizza and hot dogs during the interval, and a Peroni beer or canned drink of your choice. On the night, there will be a raffle taking place and a licensed bar.

All of the funds raised from the evening will go towards the whole School charity, Plan International UK: Because I am a girl.

Plan International UK is a children’s charity that strives to advance children’s rights and equality for girls all over the world. 58 million girls have been reached through their global ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign and 93,000 children in 50 countries are currently being sponsored through Plan International UK. As a school we are currently sponsoring Monique Boni Dassogui, a 12 year old girl from Benin, West Africa. Our sponsorship has enabled Monique to attend a primary school which takes her less than 30 minutes to reach. As a result of our sponsorship, we have not only benefited the life of Monique, but also the area of PU Nord by investing in projects for the whole community that include:

• Provision of medicines and supplies
• Activities to raise awareness on the health of children below 5 years of age
• Training for adolescents on reproductive health
• Provision of play and arts materials for schools
• Capacity building and support to women’s self-help groups

To place an order for the tickets, please email b.saunders@nhs.gdst.net. We look forward to seeing you there.

Bethany Saunders, Head Girl Team

We would like to invite you to come and attend your daughter’s individual music lesson during the week of 5-9 February. This is an opportunity for you to meet with her teacher, sit in on the lesson and discuss her progress. Please ask your daughter to let you know the time of her lesson and report to reception five minutes before the lesson begins, where your daughter will meet you and take you to meet her instrumental teacher.

Mr Nathan, Director of Music

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Curl up with the classic novel that inspired the BBC series.

Loved by generations around the world, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is a truly universal coming-of-age story, as relevant and engaging today as it was when originally published in 1868. Set against the backdrop of a country divided, the story follows the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, on their journey from childhood to adulthood. With the help of their mother, the girls navigate what it means to be a young woman – from gender roles to sibling rivalry, first love, loss and marriage.

This is a combined edition of the original text of Little Women and the second novel in the series, Good Wives.

Miss Buxton, Librarian

On a cold and wet Saturday in Nottingham our teams played some great netball and were very close to qualifying; in the end, despite great performances, the U14 team finished 4^th and the U16 team finished 6^th. The U13s produced some great netball on Wednesday to beat Winchester House.

I would like to wish all teams good luck tomorrow against Stephen Perse and Kings Ely and a reminder we are leaving at 7am from school.

Mrs Hackett, Director of Sport & GDST Consultant Teacher for Sport and PE

Karate

I am currently in the National AMA Karate Squad and I train with them in Bury once a month. It is an intense 5 hour session. As well as this, I train with my club roughly 3-4 times a week. I do both Kata and Kumite.

I have competed in a number of competitions representing the AMA. Some include their National competition where I achieved a bronze medal and their Northern competition where I achieved a silver medal.

My aim is to represent them in the world and/or European championships later this year.

Leah

Netball

U13 A

On Wednesday 31 January, in the freezing cold wind, we played Winchester House. The team got off to a slow start, not taking into consideration the wind when making passes, which allowed the opposition to get too many interceptions. A couple of missed opportunities allowed Winchester House to go 4-2 up after the first quarter. After a team talk we came back on with renewed determination and our game came together. We won centre passes, our passing was far more accurate, and the goals were scored from around the circle taking us to 5-8 ahead at half time.

The team continued to play well in the third quarter and with some excellent defending by Angelica Suma and rebounds from Feyi Afonja. The mid-court players regained possession and more goals were scored. By the end of the 3rd quarter we were 7-14 ahead. In the final quarter we changed the team slightly and Lilli Trimble played an excellent Centre against quite a physical opponent. Katie Harrison played brilliantly at wing defence, intercepting lots of passes and keeping the opposition from getting any chances to shoot. The final score was 7-17 and the Player of the Match was Jess Picot for her accurate shooting and overall play.

Jess Picot

U13 B

On Wednesday 31 January, U13B played Winchester House for netball. The girls played quite well and improved during the match. Our team did well and worked well in the goal third. Once we had the ball down the end Rebecca Lowe scored 3 goals and Milly Thompson scored 2 goals as the shooters worked well together. Our defenders worked well marking and intercepted when they passed. All together it was a good match and there was good feedback from the sidelines. Unfortunately at the end of the match the score was 11-5 but well done to the girls that played.

Milly Thompson, Captain