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Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 11th March 2022

Dear Parents,

For the first time since the Covid pandemic began, this week I managed to attend an in-person conference of school heads. This was a gathering of leaders of PSB schools. For those unfamiliar with the PSB, or Pre-Senior Baccalaureate, it is perhaps best described as a like-minded group of schools who work together to share best practice and to look beyond the strictures of a single shared curriculum. Indeed, one of the many virtues of the PSB system is that we share core values, and certain ways of thinking and teaching, but we retain our independence to continue teaching in a way that directly suits the young people we have in front of us. This is quite different from the old way of thinking about assessment in prep schools, where there was some freedom to tailor the curriculum, but that tailoring had to be discarded at certain points to crowbar pupils through a one-size-fits-all assessment in an educational sector that is proud of pointing out that one-size-does-not-and-should-not-fit-all.

Organ demonstration in Chapel; Building circuits in Year 8 Science; Internet safety in Years 3 & 4

You will be a little more familiar with the PSB way of thinking now that you have seen the prep boys’ self-assessment reviews that were completed at the end of last half term and were sent home to parents via boy-mail. If you have not yet seen this, there is probably an A4 white envelope lurking in the bottom of your son’s bag. In that self-assessment you will have seen a series of prompts based on skills that pertain to each subject, rather than just focusing on the acquisition of curriculum knowledge. Not that the latter is unimportant, but it does need to run parallel to the thinking skills that different subjects should be honing. Standing back from those curriculum-based skills, you will hopefully by now be familiar with the ‘meta’ skills that we are promoting among the boys, especially through our rewards system that gives the boys credit for thinking and learning, reviewing and improving, communicating, as well as showing leadership, independence or collaboration. There are also housepoints available for exhibiting desirable behaviours that promote mental and physical wellbeing, or promote the school’s values.

The Junior Concert

Anyway, one of the virtues of the PSB system is the many opportunities available for us to touch base throughout the year, whether with other leaders, or other subject teachers in other schools, and to compare our provision to that in other excellent schools. And, hopefully, to return to Savile Road with a few ideas about how we can tweak our education here further, to make it even better for our young charges. We are often told that the best schools are restless schools; that can become a bit tiresome after a while, and there is quite a lot to be said for allowing good ideas to settle and become rooted. But that should not lead to complacency and, in an ever-changing world, we need to remain nimble to change judiciously with it.

Have a great weekend,

Matt Jenkinson

To mark International Women’s Day, this week we welcomed to chapel Dinti Batstone, a former NCS parent and Fawcett Society trustee. You can read her brilliant address on the NCS website: https://www.newcollegeschool.org/news/?pid=6&nid=1&storyid=172

Parents will be more than aware that the issue of traffic, cycle and pedestrian safety in Oxford was once again brought into sharp relief by the tragic death of Dr Ling Felce on The Plain on 1 March. While The Plain is indeed a particular hotspot for accidents and near-misses, we need to be aware that we all need to be vigilant in our journeys to and from school, and that includes in our own corner of Oxford around Mansfield and Savile Roads. I would like to make my regular plea for parents and carers, picking up their children, to observe some straightforward protocols to make the area as safe as we can for the boys and their families. Please avoid driving up and down, and parking on Savile Road if at all possible. We understand that this is not practical for families with younger boys, but many of our older boys (certainly once they are in Years 7 and 8) are able to meet their parents a little further away from school, including on Mansfield Road. We are very grateful to those families who already use Mansfield Road to ease congestion on Savile Road, and to reduce the need to turn around at the end by the school gate. We are also very grateful to parents and carers who take very careful responsibility for their children once they are off the school site; this includes ensuring that their sons do not wander off or run around at the end of Savile Road. As you will know, we do have staff members at the gate at drop-off and pick-up times to help the boys to depart in a calm and measured way, and the more we can do to perpetuate that the better. I have previously requested that parents and carers greet the boys on the school side of Savile Road; this is to reduce the temptation for boys to see the person picking them up and then running across the road, when there are likely to be cars around. We got into good habits for a short while, but I fear the temptation is returning to go back to old ways. The same goes for in the morning: please drop off your sons on the school side of Savile Road, or make sure that you cross the road with them. Finally, we strongly recommend that families with young cyclists, especially those in younger years, walk their bikes down the pavement on Savile Road until they reach a less congested part of the area, and it is safer to resume the cycling part of their journey. I hope this does not sound too preachy, but we do all have responsibility to keep the boys safe on their journeys to and from school. I would appreciate it very much if this section of the newsletter could be copied and pasted to any family members or other carers who do drop-off and pick-up, so they can see the importance of good traffic safety habits on Savile Road. I should also add that we have routinely requested that the Council, which has control of the road, implement additional traffic safety measures like pedestrian crossings, but our pleas have thus far been ignored.

We are very much looking forward to our SHTEAM Festival next week, when we will be exploring the theme of the natural world from various interdisciplinary angles. Miss Krebs has sent out a brochure of events via Parentmail.

Well done to Patrick in Year 8 who competed in the recent IAPS Judo championships. He fought through the rounds in his weight category at High Wycombe Judo Centre and had some tough competition from many worthy competitors. Patrick secured a place in the final and blasted his way through with some excellent judo, winning another Gold medal following the success of his 2019 IAPS championship result. Congratulations!

Congratulations, too, to Kian who has added to our awards tally this year with an academic exhibition to MCS!

On Wednesday 16 March, as part of College Day, the foundation stone to our new School/College building will be blessed in the weekly school service. The stone will then be placed in the College Cloisters until it is laid in the building later in the year. You are warmly invited to this special service which is a significant marker of the building’s progress. As usual, there will be refreshments afterwards in College. You may remember that we are currently running a seat-naming campaign for the new auditorium in aid of our bursary fund. We are very grateful to all those who have supported the campaign so far; it would be wonderful if we could name all the seats. Full details of how to support the fund are available on our website via https://www.newcollegeschool.org/supporting-new-college-school. A form for gift aid is at the foot of the webpage.

That evening, from 18.00 to 19.00, we will be hosting our annual Holloway Lecture. Professor Ashleigh Griffin, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Tutorial Fellow at New College, will be speaking on ‘Nico and the Narwhal’. The building that used to stand on the corner of South Parks Road, overlooking the New College playing fields, was named after a very important biologist called Nico Tinbergen (Nobel prize winner in 1973). He realised that it wasn’t possible to understand anything in biology without asking both ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’. Thanks to advances in technology, biologists have made incredible advances in understanding how living things work, right down to the level of individual cells and molecules. But none of this research will ever tell us why a narwhal grows a horn from the top of its head. To answer ‘Why?’ questions like that one, you need to think about evolution, just as Darwin did. This talk will address some of the questions about the natural world Professsor Griffin has answered through her research as an evolutionary biologist. (And hopefully shedding some light on the narwhal question…). The lecture, which will last about an hour, is free-of-charge and will take place in the Inorganic Chemistry Lecture Theatre, the entrance to which is not far from the end of Mansfield Road in the University Science Area on South Parks Road. Entry is only for those who have pre-registered, which can be done by responding to the Parentmail form already sent out by the office. We are also planning to record the lecture for those who are unable to attend in person.

On Friday 18 March at 19.30 New College Choir joins the choirs of Christ Church Cathedral and Magdalen College in the Sheldonian Theatre for a spectacular concert. The choirs will perform Handel’s Coronation Anthems, with Oxford’s period-instrument ensemble, Instruments of Time & Truth. And to make the programme even more memorable, the three directors of music, Steven Grahl, Robert Quinney and Mark Williams, take the solo parts in J.S. Bach’s Triple Harpsichord Concerto in C. This is an exciting and rare opportunity to hear the three foundation choirs performing together – 90 singers in all – and to witness the three directors of music displaying their keyboard skills. Booking for the Three Choirs Concert opens next Monday 7 February via Tickets Oxford: www.ticketsoxford.com/events/three-choirs-concert or 01865 305305, or in person at the Oxford Playhouse Box Office.

New College Choir will also be performing Bach’s St John Passion in chapel on Sunday 27 March at 17.00. Tickets are now on sale from Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bach-st-john-passion-tickets-271007900927. Robert Quinney directs, and former New College Choir chorister James Gilchrist sings the Evangelist. Arias will be sung by members of the choir. Full details are available at https://www.newcollegechoir.com/

From the Oxford Story Museum: Become a museum consultant and help us to develop our exhibitions and collections. Come to our Young Story Curators event and join a team of young museum consultants. Explore the museum and see how the stories in the 1001 are made visible in the galleries. Tell us whether the museum is delivering what you want from a Story Museum. Date: 22 March 2022. Time: 16.30-18.30. At: The Story Museum, Rochester House, 42 Pembroke St, Oxford, OX11BP. For more information and to book your place contact Cath Hogan by email at cath.hogan@storymuseum.org.uk. To take part you must have booked and we must have a permission form from a parent/carer completed and signed.

We have received the following information from the University Estates Services: From Friday 11 March until Monday 14 March, a short stretch of South Parks Road, just before the bend outside Linacre College, will be partially closed. The following weekend, Friday 18 March to Monday 21 March, another short section of road just around the corner on St Cross Road will then be partially closed. In both cases the carriageway will be reduced to a single lane. Traffic lights will be installed to manage the flow of vehicles in both directions.

From Mr Bishop: As the end of term is beginning to appear on the horizon the boys throughout the school are really playing some superb hockey. I have been fortunate enough to witness some great matches from the U9s, U11s and U13 teams this week and my coaches tell me the U8s were equally brilliant in their encounter with MCS. The highlight was the game we won 7-0. Alexander S and Hugh L both deserve a special mention thanks to their tireless endeavours. Mr Mainstone and I were lucky enough to travel with the U9s away to Winchester House and although the A team lost 1-0 to a late second half goal, they played well and moved the ball with purpose and good structure. Once again, Felix E in goal was his normal brilliant self and Henry T ran hard all game long. In the B team game, Samuel J was our player of the match with his brilliant first half solo goal. This was backed up by a super passing move between William E, Luca P and finally Emil S who scored our second goal. A 2-0 win was just reward for the NCS team.

On Monday afternoon Mr Morrison and I took the U13 boys to the annual Stowe School tournament and, after finding ourselves in a competitive group with very short matches, we steeled ourselves for a tough afternoon of hockey. After some great games including wins losses and draws, we ended the group in third place so qualified for the main “Cup” competition. In the quarter finals we defeated a strong Winchester House team to face Spratton Hall in the semi-finals. It was decided on a penalty shoot out in which both Timon and Patrick S scored and the ice-cold Benedict F saved twice to send us to the final against Moulsford. Unfortunately, our solid and dependable midfield player Jasper N was injured in the semi-final and couldn’t make the final. Despite our loss the boys were brilliant but eventually succumbed to the Moulsford pressure. The final score was 0-2 but we all left with heads held high as second place amongst twelve of the strongest hockey playing prep schools in the area is a wonderful achievement we can all be proud of.

To follow this was a hard task but the four U11 teams and four U13 teams were again in action on Wednesday against Winchester House and Summer Fields respectively. Away from home the U11 boys recorded a solid 0-0 draw in the A team game and another draw in the Ds. The losses for the B and C teams were tough but still competitive with a number of boys being singled out for praise by opposition coaches. Both Emil Y and James A playing out on pitch instead of in goal were super and extremely influential in their games. Henry W in goal for the A team was brilliant and made a number of very important saves. Alexander M from Year 5 made his B team debut and was his normal hard-working self.

In the U13 games on the St Edward’s astro, the D team were fantastic and despite going 1-0 down they rallied and managed to win 2-1 with Tolly D the captain, our star player, closely followed by Isaac T in goal. In the C team game Mr Rose tells me it was real end to end action and both teams had their chances. In the end our guests won 2-1 but Kian was named player of the match, not only for his hockey but also his great leadership supporting the captain. The B team game was a tight affair and was destined for a hard fought 1-1 draw, however Carter C had other ideas and a 4-minute hat-trick meant the final score was 4-1 to NCS. Finally, the A team, also playing Summer Fields, were simply brilliant for the first five minutes; the boys played some breath-taking hockey, and kept the ball for long periods. However, a breakaway goal saw SF take a shock 1-0 lead. Not to be too worried, our fantastic captain Timon called his team into action to re-group and “go again”. At half time we’d turned the score around to 2-1 in our favour and at the final whistle the score was 6-1 to NCS. Rishaan managed to score four of the goals thanks to a combination of his brilliant leads into the shooting circle and some devastating build up play from Timon, Harry D and Dan C in midfield.

Saturday, 12 March 2022

End of University Term

SLT/Governors’ Strategy Day Red Room

Monday, 14 March 2022

SHTEAM Festival begins: 'The Natural World'

8.50-11.50 Millet's Farm Falconry display in the sports hall (all year groups to watch on a rota)

Tuesday 15 March 2022

8.50-15.30 Zoolab workshops for Year 3-8/8S on a rota, science lab

14.15 U9 A-C Hockey v Ashfolds, Iffley

Wednesday, 16 March 2022

College Day

9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Senior Tutor

14.00 U13 A-D Hockey v Summer Fields, St Edward's

18.00 Holloway Lecture (Professor Ashleigh Griffin)

Thursday, 17 March 2022

16.00 U13, U12, U11 XI Chess vs Dragon

U13 Hockey county cup AWAY at Reading Hockey club (all day event for 8 boys)

Friday 18 March 2022

9.45-11.45 Year 6 to Natural History Museum

Monday, 21 March 2022

17.30 Senior Recitals, Sports Hall

13.45 French Play tech rehearsal, Hall

Tuesday, 22 March 2022

14.00 U9 A-C Hockey v Thorngrove, Iffley

Wednesday, 23 March 2022

9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mr Mike Windsor, Headmaster of Abingdon School

17.30 Pre-Prep Parents' evening (please note change from date in parent handbook)

8.15 Eco committee meeting, library

13.45 French Play dress rehearsal, Hall

Thursday, 24 March 2022

14.00 Pre-Prep Poetry Recitation and ‘Show and Tell’

ABRSM Music Exams

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