Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 3rd March 2023
Dear Parents,
While my leadership style doesn’t easily lend itself to autocracy and beheading, it was nonetheless quite fun to spend much of Thursday dressed as Henry VIII. Indeed, the SLT had something of the Henrician court about it, as Tom Neal made a convincing Cardinal Wolsey, Emma Krebs gamely dressed as Anne Boleyn, and Brett Morrison channelled his inner Anne of Cleves. This wasn’t, as seems to be happening in some parts of the world, to take education back to the sixteenth century. Nor was it an elaborate ruse to disguise my expanding waistline (stop chuckling at the back; the padding was part of the costume). It was rather, of course, to mark World Book Day.
As ever, the boys came dressed as a variety of different characters, some classic, some more modern. A big thank you to all those families who used their initiatives to put together an array of excellent costumes. The theme of the day this year was reading for pleasure, which is something much easier said than done these days, when we are all busy reading for work, or being distracted by shiny objects that give more immediate dopamine hits. But it is something that remains important and that we need to keep encouraging. Some statistics from Farshore’s Consumer Insights and Nielsen BookScan are rather alarming. In 2012, according to their research, almost 40% of young people seventeen or under read for pleasure ‘every day or nearly every day’; this had declined to 25% by 2021. Over the same period, the percentage of children who said that they never read grew from 13% to 20%. Without rehearsing some rather well-known effects of this, it is worth noting that there is a correlation between reading for pleasure and young people’s progress in spelling, vocabulary development, mental wellbeing, empathy, interpersonal relationships, and improvement in (at first sight) seemingly unrelated subjects like maths.
Even in a city of books like Oxford, with families who live in book-lined homes, we need to remain vigilant about keeping up our – and our young people’s – reading. It can be easy to assume that reading, including reading for pleasure, will just happen. But with the many time pressures and other forms of entertainment competing for our attention, we can’t afford to be quite so complacent. So behind all the fun of World Book Day, and the amusement of the costumes, there is a serious message.
Have a great weekend, and do take some time to read for pleasure,
Matt Jenkinson
Our Junior Recital is next Monday 6 March, starting at 17.30. As ever, there will be parking from 17.15 once boys have left their enrichment activities and the playground is clear. Please take care as you drive into school and park, as there may still be a handful of boys moving between the buildings. Thank you.
Speaking of careful driving, it has been suggested to me that some of the cars turning in and out of Savile Road are not always as careful and aware of cyclists/pedestrians as they could be. Do please take very slow and especial care at this junction.
We are looking forward to the Year 8 parents’ evening on Wednesday 8 March. While the evening formally starts at 18.00, there are usually some colleagues happy to make an early start if parents are at a loose end and wish to arrive a little before that time. Parking is available from 17.15, once the playground is clear of boys heading home after their enrichment activities. Please aim to arrive by 18.30 to allow time to get around all of the teachers. If you would like to talk to a particular teacher for longer than c.5 minutes, please get in touch with that teacher to arrange a mutually convenient separate time. I will be present both as HM and the Year 8 history teacher; I have another meeting later in the evening which means I will need to dash off at 19.30. I’ll do all I can to make sure I speak to all parents before that point.
We are looking forward to our Holloway Lecture on Wednesday 15 March at 18.00. Tim Harford will be speaking on ‘How to Live as a Truth Detective’. One of the many challenges of living in modern society is trying to make sense of the information and misinformation with which we are bombarded. We need to be attuned to this to live safe and fulfilled lives as effective citizens, and we need strategies to challenge such misinformation. In this lecture, Tim will give us tips on hunting down the truth around us, avoiding dodgy data and information that has been corrupted, whether accidentally or wilfully. He will give advice on being smart and savvy about numbers and, indeed, many other things in life! Tim will also be signing copies of his first children's book, The Truth Detective. Tim is an economist, journalist and broadcaster. He is author of How To Make The World Add Up, Messy, and the million-selling The Undercover Economist. He is a senior columnist at the Financial Times, and the presenter of Radio 4’s “More or Less”, the iTunes-topping series “Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy”, and the podcast “Cautionary Tales”. Tim has spoken at TED, PopTech and the Sydney Opera House. He is an associate member of Nuffield College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Tim was made an OBE for services to improving economic understanding in the New Year honours of 2019. 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.
Looking ahead to the end of term, do join us for our brand-new ‘Spring Service’ which will be taking place in our usual chapel slot in the last week of term: Wednesday 22 March at 9.00. There will be performances from all of our choirs, some congregational singing, and seasonal readings to get us in the mood for the new season. This service is not ticketed and it will be longer than our usual Wednesday chapel, finishing at around 9.50. You will be directed to your seats when you arrive; it will be the same seating plan as for our carol services, so it is all very straightforward.
Please find below the link to buy tickets for the next NCS Chamber Choir and Choral Society concert, with the Instruments of Time and Truth. It will take place on Saturday 25 March at 19.00 in New College Chapel. The programme will feature J.S. Bach’s Markus-Passion (BWV 247), reconstructed by Malcolm Bruno. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/j-s-bach-st-mark-passion-tickets-525465450307
A reminder from Miss Rose that sign up for Trinity enrichment activities will be live on Schoolbase from Monday 6 March at 8.00. Please note that priority booking for year groups specified in the Trinity brochure will be available until Monday 13 March.
From Mr Bishop: This week has been a stellar week for NCS hockey and we’ve had representation from Year 3 all the way to Year 8. It has been fantastic to give another group of Year 3 boys their debuts in the U9 teams. The U9 squad this week made the short journey north to the Dragon and played out three fantastic games of hockey. In the A team game, despite a 3-2 defeat the boys dominated for long periods of the game. It was a most enjoyable game with some excellent progress made. In the B team game Mr Rose was extremely excited by the progress made by the boys and, in particular, their understanding and execution of the tactics needed in such a fast-paced game. They managed to create space and passing opportunities throughout the match. There were amazing individual performances from Olly L and our captain Frankie, who share the player of the match award. A magnificent hat-trick from Tassilo secured a brilliant 3-1 win. In the C team game under the expert eye of Mr Gardner the goals really flowed! A brilliant five goal haul from Chris N was the highlight, but there were also stunning performances from Philippos who got two goals and Alexander S who was like a solid wall in defence.
On Wednesday afternoon the U10 team were in action along with a couple of U9 guests (Felix and Emil). They attended the annual St Edward’s festival and gave a really solid account of themselves. After their afternoon of entertaining hockey, they finished midway up the results table. A combination of two wins, two losses and three draws was a good return and a sound lesson of the importance of starting fast in tournament hockey. On the same afternoon Mr Rose, Mr Cui and myself were lucky enough to travel with the U13 teams to Bradfield to enjoy three amazing games against Thorngrove. Mr Cui started things off with such an inspiring team talk to the C team that they went on to score several unanswered goals in a truly dominant display. Mr Cui would like me to mention in particular Jai for his defending, Herbie for his goalkeeping and George W for being the player of the match. In the B team game another dominant NCS performance was played out with Mr Rose full of praise for the team. The captain and driving force of the team, Josh C, got on the scoresheet twice and was a few centimetres short of a well-deserved hat-trick. A final score of 6-0 to NCS was the result of a great team performance and was secured by another brilliant goalkeeping display by Henry W who continues to getter better and better every time we see him play.
The A team game that I was fortunate enough to umpire was a very hard-fought affair but, in the end, the NCS team proved a little too much for our hosts. After a fast start from Thorngrove we managed to take control of the game and played some sublime passing moves to score three unanswered brilliant team goals. At the break the score was 4-2 to the NCS boys. As predicted, Thorngrove came out strong after the break but again we weathered the storm and kept our composure as we repelled a number of attacks. The same score line as the first half was the result of some excellent NCS work with Rishaan bagging another hat-trick and George W of Year 8 getting his first goal of the season, and what a cracker it was too! A captain’s player of the match award rightly goes to Dan C.
Monday, 6 March 2023
14.00 U13 A Stowe School Hockey Festival. Away
17.30 Junior Recitals, Sports Hall
Tuesday, 7 March 2023
14.00 U9 A&B Hockey vs WHS. Away
Wednesday, 8 March 2023
Year 8 HPV catch-up
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Revd Alice Watson, Chaplain, The Queen's College, Oxford
14.15 U11 A-D Hockey vs WHS. St Edward's
14.00 U13 A-D Hockey vs WHS. Away
18.00 Year 8 parents' evening
Thursday, 9 March 2023
9.45 Year 6 trip to Natural History Museum
14.00 U8 & U9 Hockey House Matches. Iffley Road
Friday, 10 March 2023
ABRSM music exams (all day)
14.00 U11 Hockey House Matches. St Edward's
Saturday, 11 March 2023
End of University Term
Monday, 13 March 2023
SHTEAM Festival begins: see separate schedule for full event list
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
14.30 U8&9 A-C Hockey vs Ashfold. Away
14.30 U9 A Hockey vs Ashfold. Iffley Road
14.30 French Play tech rehearsal
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
U13 Regional Finals (if qualified)
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Warden
10.00 Year 3 to Ashmolean (return 14.30)
18.00 Holloway Lecture: Mr Tim Harford OBE
14.00 U13 A-D Hockey vs Summer Fields. St Edward's
Thursday, 16 March 2023
14.00 French Play dress rehearsal
Pre-Prep QED Day
Friday, 17 March 2023
19.00 Years 7&8 Social