Loading

Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 20th January 2023

Dear Parents,

This Wednesday we very much enjoyed welcoming to NCS the new principal of D’Overbroeck’s, Patrick Horne. Patrick spoke to the boys in chapel about one of our favourite things: curiosity. Aside from allegedly killing the cat, curiosity has to remain at the core of any education, as without it we get stuck in our ruts and obstinately confirmed in our preconceptions and prejudices. While doing a bit of reading on curiosity last week, I was staggered and alarmed to come across an ‘author’ on the internet who told their readers that they should not be curious, because if they were curious they might end up thinking or doing things with which the author disagreed. Aside from stinking heavily of bigotry and a proto-fascist mindset, it also struck me as tremendously boring. Who wants a society full of narrow-minded automatons? Actually, I know who does, but I’m not going to waste my time giving them breath or bandwidth.

Curiosity isn’t just important for the boys towards the beginning of their educational journey; it is vital for the rest of us too. One of the best authors to have written on the concept, Alberto Manguel, did so sitting surrounded by his personal library of 35,000 books (how many Billy Bookcases is that?). If you haven’t read his works, I recommend that you do, as you spend time in the company of someone who is clearly jumping up and down from his desk, taking this or that volume off the shelf, to check or learn something, before returning it and again picking up his pen. As teachers, one key way to make sure that we stay fresh and interested in our subjects is to constantly question and rethink how and what we do – keeping the good stuff and ditching that which hasn’t quite worked. One of the joys of my job is getting to learn about new things each work for our ‘start the week’ assemblies, when I talk about people and artworks of the week. Sometimes I talk about a person or artwork that I know fairly well, but pretty often I’m learning about something new as well. This week’s artwork of the week, Barbara Jones-Hogu’s ‘Unite’ (1971), was chosen to mark Martin Luther King Jr Day and the importance of the Civil Rights movement, and I found myself learning about something totally new to me: the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA).

Colour combinations in Year 2 Art; Band Club; Fanfares in Year 5 Music; Investigating speed in Year 8 Science; The Great Wave composition in Year 4 Art;

At NCS we have pupils around us who are already naturally curious, who come from households of curious (in the best sense of the word) people. We are lucky that we can remain broad, creative and interesting, when so much of the rest of the world seems to want to narrow from pre-tests to GCSEs to A-Levels. And I’m constantly inspired by the sheer variety of things that the boys find interesting, across a wide spectrum of subjects. I have been getting to experience this first-hand over the past couple of weeks as I have been helping our Year 6s with practice interviews. We’ve discussed everything from Kylian Mbappe to Aerosmith, detective novels to Ukraine, with rather a lot in between. And this all stems from the boys’ curiosity about the world around them; and long may they (and we) challenge the tediocracy who are scared of those who may challenge them or their unthinkingly narrow and prejudiced worldview.

Have a great weekend,

Matt Jenkinson

Speaking of curiosity, if you’ve ever wondered what I do (did?) with my time when not headmastering, you might be interested in an online history/literature talk I’m giving this Sunday evening at 19.00: ‘The Regicides in America: From Fact to Fiction and Back Again’. Zoom registration details are available at the bottom of https://www.historic-deerfield.org/events/2022/12/1/hunted-men

Well done to our Year 8 boys who played in our music scholars’ concert in the Holywell Music Room on Wednesday evening, to all those members of the school orchestra from across the years who played so well at the beginning of the concert, and to the boys in AV club who have been using our new equipment to record it all. This is always a lovely event and we wish our musicians well as they head off to impress the teachers at their senior schools. My thanks to Tom Neal and Isobel Rose for organising, conducting and accompanying!

The Scholars' Concert

Congratulations to NCS alum Theo Green, who has won a 2022 Academy Award for his work on the sound design on the film Dune (2021). (The Oscars were a little while back, but we’ve only just found out!). This means that, in the past year, NCS alumni have won an Oscar, been nominated for two Grammy Awards, got the no. 1 single in the US, and won the Kathleen Ferrier Award. Not bad for a little school at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Happy New Year to all those NCS families celebrating Chinese or Lunar New Year on Sunday!

We are looking forward to our Year 4 parents’ evening on Wednesday 25 January at 18.00. My usual notices regarding parents’ evenings: some colleagues like to make an early start so do please arrive a little earlier than 18.00 if you are at a loose end. Please aim to arrive by 18.30 so you have enough time to get around every colleague by 20.00. Parking is available in the playground from 17.15 once the area is clear of boys departing after their enrichment activities. If there are any issues that you feel would need longer than a c.5-minute meeting, please contact the relevant teacher in advance to arrange a separate chat.

From Miss Krebs: we were delighted to receive a large number of entries to the eco committee's wildlife photography competition that took place over the Christmas break. The photos were all of a very high standard and it was extremely hard to choose the winners! After much deliberation first prizes were awarded to Rufus in the Year 3-8 category, for his stunning close-up of a robin, and to Myles in the Year 6-8 category for his incredible picture of ice crystals. The other entries were all highly commended. Well done!

We are very excited that our NCSPA Quiz Night is back. It will take place next Friday 27 January from 19.00 in the Sports Hall. Before the restrictions of Covid interfered, the Quiz Night was a hugely popular and successful social event attracting around 100 parents, divided into teams of their choice and competing against a team of Year 8 boys. It is a wonderful evening. A great opportunity to meet socially, have fun stretching our brains a little and also raise some funds for little extras for the boys! Tickets are £15 per person and include entry to the quiz and a delicious curry meal. There will also be a cost price paying bar serving red and white wine, beer and soft drinks. Tickets are available and can be purchased at https://square.link/u/9o7YPvxw. Please order your tickets before midnight today, to allow confirmation of numbers.

Zeelo, the company organising our new East Oxford bus service, will be hosting an online information session on Monday 30 January at 19.00. Please use the following link to join the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81703383580?pwd=NGE0MUlDWWRZSmxKTE5NaVVPYXAxZz09. Zeelo are planning to launch the app for booking seats shortly after the meeting. The precise vehicle size they source will depend in large part on the number of people signing up over the coming weeks, so we would very much encourage those families who are interested in using the service in the future to sign up for seats at an early stage.

Many thanks to all those members of the NCSPA who contributed to Monday evening’s meeting and continue to support the school in so many different ways. We discussed the issue of congestion on Savile Road during the meeting. While staggered arrival/departure times mean that there are many drop-off/pick-up periods that are fairly quiet, there are clearly still going to be some pinch-points. While the school has no mandate over the highways, we can continue to request and promote certain etiquettes when it comes to driving in the area. These are noted in the parent handbooks, but I will mention them again here. I would be very grateful if these simple requests could be spread via year group or locality WhatsApp groups, and also shared with other family members or carers who might be picking up or dropping off:

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 school gate. In general, please keep to a very slow speed and be aware of small children walking or cycling in the vicinity of the school. We all know that they can sometimes be unpredictable in their movements. Motorists can help to minimise risks by heightened awareness of this. Please keep the school end of Savile Road clear for cars to turn in. There should be no turning on pavements nor in the entrance to the school while children are entering or leaving the school.

Please keep a careful eye for cyclists, many of whom are quite young. In particular, please take care when opening car doors and be vigilant for cyclists entering and exiting the car park. Engines should also be turned off when cars are stationary. Please also respect our neighbours’ driveways and entrances and never leave a car unattended across an entrance. Please could 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. 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. Please ensure that your sons do not wander off or run around at the end of Savile Road. 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 encourage that the better. 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.

From Mr Bishop: This week’s cold snap very nearly meant that all our hockey matches were cancelled this week, but the U13 A and B team matches survived thanks to a little sunshine warming the St Edward’s pitch. In the A team fixture we were facing a tough and physical Abingdon team, but despite going 1-0 down in the tenth minute the NCS team rallied and began to play some quality hockey of their own. A fantastic break through the centre of the pitch from captain Dan C saw Max J score from close range and at half time the score was 1-1. We all felt that this was a brilliant result and gave us hope for the second half. However, Abingdon scored three quick goals mid-way through the second half, then scored again in the dying seconds to make the final score 5-1 to our guests. The NCS B team were also facing Abingdon in the shape of the U12 A team. Josh C, our captain, quickly got to grips with the team and the structure needed to win the battle. A fierce game was played out and it was a tight, tactical affair. The match was poised at 1-1 thanks to an Edward M goal and, just as both teams were accepting a 1-1 draw, up popped Noah S on his senior debut to score the winner in the dying seconds of the game. Mr Rose informs me that this result was testament to their determined attitude and a well-deserved win.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 24 January 2023

10.00 LAMDA Examinations

Wednesday, 25 January 2023

9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mrs Ruth Ward, Director of Knowledge, Government Legal Department

14.15 U13 A-D Hockey vs Summer Fields. St Edward's

18.00 Year 4 parents' evening

Friday, 27 January 2023

15.30 U13 A Hockey Oxon County Cup. Hawks

19.00 NCSPA Quiz Night

Monday, 30 January 2023

15.30 U12 A Hockey Oxon County Cup. Tilsley Park

19.00 Zeelo bus information evening (online)

Tuesday, 31 January 2023

9.00 Year 8 HPV Vaccine

14.00 U8 A-C Hockey vs MCS. Away

Wednesday, 1 February 2023

8.15 Charity Committee Meeting, library

9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mrs Esther Yadgar, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

14.30 U13 A&B Hockey vs Hatherop. St Edward's

14.00 U11 A-D Hockey vs MCS. Away

17.30 Governors’ Meeting, McGregor Matthews Room

19.30 Year 6 Ballet Trip: Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, New Theatre, Oxford

Created By
NCS News
Appreciate