High News 6 July 2018

Monday 9 July
Y1&2 Transition Parents Information Evening

Tuesday 10 July
Gold DofE Assessed Expedition
U4 Maths Trip
Social Enterprise ‘Capture the Flag’ Competition
Y3&6 Transition Parents Information Evening
Y4&5 Transition Parents Information Evening

Wednesday 11 July
Gold DofE Assessed Expedition
Y6 Final Assembly and Party
L5 Consultation Evening
Crazy Hair Day

Thursday 12 July
Gold DofE Assessed Expedition

Friday 13 July
Gold DofE Assessed Expedition
Summer Term Ends

Are the arts in trouble? Not if we take a 360 degree perspective

The apparent decline of the arts subjects in many schools across the country appears to be an unintended consequence of the coalition government’s decision to champion a more overtly academic regime, with its related reforms to the exam system. With hindsight, this decline does not seem so remarkable, perhaps, particularly in the light of the dissolution of local authority control in favour of independent academies and multi-academy trusts, and the consequent loss of long-established networks of advisory specialists.  Furthermore, according to a new report funded by the Nuffield Foundation, faced with the inspectorate’s (Ofsted’s) focus on national test outcomes as the key measure of school success, headteachers have been forced to react restrictively to avoid the disastrous impacts that failure on these metrics can have on pupil and staff recruitment, as well as the wider reputation of their schools.

Read more here

Mr Rickman, Deputy Head Academic

A huge thank you to all pupils, parents, families and friends who joined us last Saturday for a glorious Family Fun Day.

It was a brilliant afternoon, with stalls, refreshments, activities for the children and our first ever dog show! We were astounded by how many worthy winners came along and entered in the different categories, making the judge’s job a considerable challenge.

The event was organised by our Friends of Northampton High School, who have raised over £5000 this year. The funds will be split – part of the donation will go to the Cynthia Spencer Hospice and the balance will be presented to the School for specific projects to benefit our pupils.  The final total of funds raised and associated projects in the planning will be confirmed shortly.

Mrs Wilmot, Director of Marketing and Admissions

To view more pictures of our Family Fun Day, please click here

On Tuesday we held out inaugural Gymnastics and Dance Extravaganza, which involved girls from Reception all the way through to Sixth Form. The evening was a triumph was a real triumph, and involved lots of exciting displays.

Some of the amazing performances on display were a ‘Trolls’ dance from Reception, daring and exciting trampette and vaulting displays from the senior gymnasts, wonderful ballet routines from Lauren Marocco and Alexandra Daly, Jessica Lloyd and Geogie Forde-Wells, and group routines from the Contemporary and Senior Jazz clubs.

In addition, there was a ballet and street dance fusion from Avani Nanda and Freya Tanlsey, and street and hip hop performances from Jane Ampiah, Beatrice Valavais, Toni Ramos and Annisha Chadalvada. The whole evening finished with a finale involving all performers to the Greatest Showman.

The evening was a great success and was enjoyed by performers, staff and parents, and we thank you all for your support

Mrs Hackett, Director of Sport

Our Sound of Music production was an absolute smash hit! Performing over 3 days, the cast and orchestra wowed audiences with their passionate displays, making it one of our best productions yet! Our huge thanks go out to the everybody who made the show a success, especially our wonderful cast and crew.

In addition to the performance itself, the sale of the programmes by the Social Enterprise group raised a generous £289 which will go to the Northampton Hope Centre. Thank you for your donations to this worthwhile charity.

We will be launching our photo gallery next week, and an exclusive behind the scene’s production video that’s not to be missed!  More information will be available in our next High News.

LAMDA exams were held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Many thanks to Gemma Seaford for preparing the candidates so well and also for the smooth running of the exam days. Good luck to all the candidates, and we look forward to the results next term.

Mrs Care, Director of Theatre

L5’s carousel of wellbeing activities continued this week. Firstly, with a further mindfulness and yoga session led by Mrs Eborall to the sound of birdsong, as we developed our breathing techniques, combined with simple stretches and advice to concentrate our minds.

Ms Margareto led the final Zumba session, teaching a mix of basic salsa and modern dance moves to music from the Spice Girls and S Club before the final dance off.

We hope the L5 have enjoyed these activities, tried something new, and have a greater awareness of how coming together as a school community for some lighter moments of fun can contribute to their general wellbeing.

Miss Mason, Teacher of Classics

On Monday 2 July, the GCSE Theology and Philosophy students traveled to Bhaktivedanta Manor for an insight into the Hare Krishna movement.

We first visited part of the cow sanctuary and the greenhouses, with a shrine to the deity of trees. We then fed the cows and looked at some oxen whilst being given a description of the life of an oxen at the Manor.

Next, we traveled inside the Manor itself for a presentation. This allowed us to explore both our beliefs and the beliefs of Hindus regarding some deep and existential questions. After this, some of us dressed up as the tri-murti and their corresponding consorts. Then, we all got dressed up in traditional sarees – we really enjoyed this bit!

We also got to see a traditional aarti ceremony and listen to some kirtans and prayers. Then we had a delicious vegetarian lunch! We rounded off the day with a Q&A – the day was so helpful, both for our GCSEs and our own personal knowledge. We would like to thank Miss Robinson and Mr Loveday for taking us on such a wonderful trip!

Diya, Alex and Sophie, L5

On Wednesday, we were delighted to welcome ex-High School student Anna Booth to visit our students.

Anna studied A Levels in Science and Mathematics at the High School in 2011/12, and she then went on to Oxford University to read for a degree in Chemistry. Anna is now undertaking Ph.D. research as part of the Oxford Nottingham Biomedical Imaging course and she is keen to promote the role of women in STEM.

During her visit, Anna gave 2 presentations, with the topics being ‘Bones, Brains and Biology: Imaging Science’ and ‘Studying Science at University’

Anna was inspiring to the students, and spoke passionately – and wowed the girls with her virtual reali-tee as you can see in the picture below. A fantastic opportunity and we thank Anna for coming in!

Dr Carr, Chemistry Teacher

The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray

What does it mean to eat like a queen? Elizabeth gorged on sugar, Mary on chocolate and Anne was known as ‘Brandy Nan’. Victoria ate all of this and more. The Greedy Queen celebrates Victoria’s appetite, both for food and, indeed, for life.

Born in May 1819, Victoria came ‘as plump as a partridge’. In her early years she lived on milk and bread under the Kensington system; in her old age she suffered constant indigestion yet continued to over-eat. From intimate breakfasts with the King of France, to romping at tea-parties with her children, and from state balls to her last sip of milk, her life is examined through what she ate, when and with whom. In the royal household, Victoria was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting, secretaries, dressers and coachmen, but below stairs there was another category of servant: her cooks. More fundamental and yet completely hidden, they are now uncovered in their working environment for the first time.

Voracious and adventurous in her tastes, Queen Victoria was head of state during a revolution in how we ate – from the highest tables to the most humble. Bursting with original research, The Greedy Queen considers Britain’s most iconic monarch from a new perspective, telling the story of British food along the way.

Miss Buxton, School Librarian

Well, what a very busy and varied week this week for the Sports faculty! On Monday, Mrs Ford and I had a wonderful day with ten girls at the opening day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. We saw some fantastic tennis on both Centre and Court Number One, and were treated to matches from Roger Federer and Serena Williams!

On Tuesday, we held out inaugural Gymnastics and Dance Extravaganza which involved girls from Reception through to Sixth Form. The event was a huge success as you will have read about in the item above.

We started Thursday with a moving and inspiring sports assembly from Craig Styles, who was medically retired from the Army.  Craig had to have his leg amputated due to an injury while in service. He spoke to the girls about his story and the lessons that he has learnt along the way, as well as the way that sport has helped him through his recovery.

After our assembly, we hosted 175 Year 4 pupils from both our own Junior School and a range of local primary schools. The students had a varied (and hot!) morning taking part in the range of activities, which involved wheel chair rugby, tag rugby, cricket, athletics, netball, hockey and tennis. The girls then had the opportunity to ask questions of the coaches, wheelchair rugby player Craig Styles and Paralympic Champion Ellie Robinson, whilst enjoying their picnic lunch.

We finished Thursday with our final hockey and netball training preparation session for the South Africa Tour, and ended the day informing our tourists that their next training session will be on Monday 16 July in Johannesburg!

Mrs Hackett, Director of Sport

U13 Track and Field County Championships 

Three girls from U3 were selected to represent the county at the Championships on Monday 2 July at Rockingham Triangle in Corby.

Solid performances by Phoebe Haynes in the 1500m coming fourth with a PB of 5.39, Anjola Ogunsola throwing 15.90m in the Discus and Isabella Spokes coming first in the shot with a throw of 7.21m.

Congratulations girls on fantastic performances!

Mrs Littlewood, P.E Teacher

External Achievements and Accolades

Last Saturday, Anna Johnson completed a 5km open water swim at Boxend Water Park. Anna and four of her swimming friends each swam 5km (in one go), to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society. They are still collecting the money, but so far have raised in excess of £1,000! Anna completed her swim in 1 hour 25 minutes and came fifth overall in the Women’s category. It is the first time she has swum an open water race and did not initially intend to race it, but just to finish it! An unbelievable achievement, well done Anna.

We are delighted to announce that after attending her grading last weekend, Nisheeta Kaura has passed her grading, and is now  a Black Belt in Karate! Congratulations Nisheeta!

The South Africa Tour Group is delighted to announce that the winner of the Summer 50-50 draw is number 50: Molly Roberts-Crawford. Congratulations Molly!

The  group would like to thank everyone who contributed to the various fundraising events over the past two years and look forward to updating everyone about their experience from South Africa!

Mrs Ford, Teacher of PE 

We politely request that all visitors to the school car park be aware of the 5 mph speed limit. The speed limit is for the safety of all children and adults using this site.

There have been a few incidents reported recently regarding safety, and, as you will understand, it is our priority is to make the school site as safe as possible for everyone.

May we please ask all drivers to give way to pedestrians using the designated crossing points.  Children should be dropped off in the designated bays in the parking areas, and not on the crossings or in disabled parking spaces. Please be conscious of looking both ways when pulling out of the parking bays.

We thank you for taking care and keeping safety paramount.

Mrs Headley, Director of Finance and Operations

Don’t forget to secure your places for September for our Swimming School.

As a joint venture between Northampton High and Northampton Swimming Club, we will be offering swimming lessons in our pool for all levels, which, where appropriate, will then feed into the Northampton Swimming Club coaching programme.

Lessons will run from Tuesday to Friday from 3.45 – 5.15 pm and will be split into three 30-minute sessions daily. Lessons will also run on a Saturday morning. Northampton Swimming Club will employ all swimming teachers, and they will all be qualified to the ASA swimming teacher requirements.

If you are interested in booking a place for your daughter or would like more information, please call 01604 622264 or email coach.smith@northamptonswimming.com.