Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 3rd February 2022
Dear Parents,
As you have probably noticed by now, I am determined that the boys have a broad education, with tasters of many different subjects and then varied content within those subjects. The same applies for our assemblies, of which I am especially proud as my colleagues put in a huge amount of effort to introduce the boys to a smorgasbord (a recent word of the week!) of topics. For those not yet familiar with how we structure the week in our prep school assemblies: Mondays feature a look at the week ahead both in school and nationally or internationally, followed by an inspirational person of the week, artwork of the week, and word of the week; Tuesdays focus on a pastoral theme from our wellbeing grid; Thursdays either commemorate an anniversary or give my colleagues an opportunity enthusiastically to share one of their personal passions with the boys (this Thursday saw Mr Morrison on vultures!); then Fridays are either hymn practice or a round-up of the week’s news. Aside from introducing the boys to what is happening in the world in a safe way, this also gives us the opportunity to remind the boys of how our governments and societies are meant to function – those fundamental democratic values I talked about last week.
The sheer variety of topics to which the boys are introduced was brought home to me on Monday. We talked about those celebrating the Chinese or Lunar New Year, Candlemas, and Setsubun (not at the same time). Our person of the week was Jackie Robinson, who was the first African-American player in the twentieth century to take to the baseball field in the American league, opening the door for thousands and thousands of other players, in the process playing 1416 games during his professional career, scoring 972 runs and 141 home runs. Our artwork of the week, meanwhile, celebrated the career of Marvin Lee Aday – more commonly known as Meat Loaf (or ‘Meat’ to his friends) – who sadly passed away just over a week ago. He sold over 100 million albums during his career, including holding the record for the best-selling album of all time in Australia. Then the boys learnt the word ‘sanguine’ as their word of the week, and they were pretty sanguine about it.
This was all by 9am on Monday morning. Over the course of dozens and dozens of weeks, then, the boys should be picking up a broad cultural hinterland, in the process of which they get to learn about lots of different styles of art and lots of different kinds of inspirational people. They also get to understand how different parts of our community (and the wider world) celebrate their ritual years, and they get to expand their vocabulary so their written work and day-to-day conversations can become peppered with more sophisticated words which, at the very least, will make their parents pause and ask: ‘where on earth did you get that from?’. Our affable and astute pupils will reply sanguinely. And they will hopefully use those very words!
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
Some parents have mentioned to us the possibility of trialling some parent-led walking buses to reduce the number of cars coming into the centre of Oxford, continue to do our bit for the environment, and to give the boys further opportunities to get a bit of exercise on their way to school. We are keen to help support this initiative. In the first instance, we would like to help set up a working party to test viability, gauge interest, and assist in working out logistics. If any parent would like to be involved in this working party, please could you email office@newcollegeschool.org by noon on Friday 11 February and we will then set up an online meeting.
From Mrs Showell-Rogers: In keeping with a focus on global issues in Hilary, when deciding which charity to support this term the Charity Committee and School Council selected the sanitary awareness organization Toilet Twinning, whose mission is to raise awareness and support development of good sanitary practices in small, developing world communities. We will kick off next Tuesday with a visiting speaker on the charity's work and then fundraising activities will commence at the beginning of Charity Week on Monday 14 February. Please see the attached flyer to get a flavour of activities that will be on offer. Further information on the Years 3-5 dance will be sent next week.
The Oxford Bach Ensemble, founded by long-standing NCS family the Petters, will be hosting a ‘come and sing’ event in memory of William Petter (former NCS pupil and chorister) on 5 February. It will be conducted by Tom Neal and accompanied by Dónal McCann. The venue is St Margaret’s Church on St Margaret’s Road (OX2 6RX). The event will begin at 11.45, with a BYO lunch at 12.00, rehearsal at 12.30 and run-through at 15.00 – there are no tickets for the run-through and anyone is welcome to attend. The music will include J.S. Bach’s O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht and Lobet den Herren. Money raised from the event will be divided between Sarcoma UK and Help Musicians, both of which were of great help to William. Those who would like to register to sing should do so via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oxford-bach-ensemble-come-and-sing-tickets-242925746447
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.
From Mr Bishop: This has been an exciting and very fruitful week on the hockey pitches for the NCS teams. There have been a great many matches with superb end-to-end action throughout. I think it is only right to start things off with the fabulous U8s and their first ever hockey match. The boys travelled out of the centre of town to MCS and played out three fantastic games of hockey. I was really pleased to hear about the boys using all the skills we have been learning, and playing the ball with power and pace when passing. The three games were all won by the NCS boys and in total we amassed 15 goals. A special mention should go to Felix, Emil and Frankie for their standout performances but I have to say every single boy played their part in such a successful first outing. Well done, Year 3!
At the other end of the school the U13s played fixtures against St Hugh’s, Summer Fields and Hatherop Castle. The boys all played some brilliant hockey with the A team recording wins against St Hugh’s and Summer Fields. In the B team squad, the boys recorded wins against Hatherop Castle A team and Summer Fields. In our St Hugh’s encounter, despite scoring early, we couldn’t keep them out and the NCS boys suffered their only defeat of the week. Finn on debut for the second team and Didrik were both brilliant but Max J and Albie also deserve special mention for their outstanding efforts in defence. The C and D teams enjoyed good success against Hatherop Castle enjoying an aggregate 1-1 draw playing their B team. There were some super performances, notably from George W and Alexander C. The games were immensely entertaining and I know Mr Mainstone was full of praise for the way the boys played and got this impressive result against tough opposition.
Also this week the tournament season started again. It seems a long time ago since February 2020 when we last took to the pitch in one of these events. The boys were certainly ready and gave brilliant performances in both the County Cup event last Friday evening and in today’s IAPS event in Cheltenham. Last week the U13 A team secured second place in Oxfordshire in the County Cup and therefore qualify for the south-central regionals in March. On the way they secured tough, hard-fought draws against Abingdon and St Hugh’s and we needed a point against MCS to clinch it. However, a point was never on the mind of captain Timon as he rifled home two outstanding goals to win the game and claim the silver medals. A special mention has to go to Max B who was standing in for the injured Benedict in goal; he kept a clean sheet all night long. He was the only keeper to do so in the entire event!
Today the U13s made the step up to the IAPS regional qualifier. In a tough group we once again found ourselves drawn with St Hugh’s and also The Elms. After our two games we were level on points with St Hugh’s and needed a penalty shoot out to decide the winners. After 6 penalties and Benedict saving 2 out of 3 shots, the NCS boys won through to the main cup event. Once again, these remarkable boys held their nerve! In the quarter final we faced The Downs School from Malvern. This was a very strong side and despite the boys’ best efforts I’m afraid this was the end of our journey this year. Well done to the whole team and especially their captain, Timon, who was an excellent leader.
Upcoming Events
Monday, 7 February 2022
14.00 U13 All Hockey House Matches, St Edward's
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
Safer Internet Day
14.00 U8 A&B Hockey v Manor Prep, Iffley
14.45 U9 A&B Hockey v Manor Prep, Iffley
Wednesday, 9 February 2022
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Revd Miriam Moul, Methodist Chaplain, Oxford Brookes
14.00 U11 A-D Hockey v Dragon, Away
U13 A-D Hockey Vs Dragon @ St Edward's
Thursday, 10 February 2022
Abingdon drama scholarship
9.00 U11 A IAPS Hockey, Abingdon
Friday, 11 February 2022
16.00 U11 A County Cup Hockey, Hawks Astro
Monday, 14 February 2022
Start of PSB/scholarship mocks week
Charity Week
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
14.15 U9 A-C Football v Ashfold, Away
Wednesday, 16 February 2022
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: the Chaplain
14.15 U13 A-D Hockey v Ashfold, Away
14.15 U11 A-D Hockey v Ashfold, St Edward's
Friday, 18 February 2022
Home Clothes Day
14.00 U11 All Hockey House Matches, St Edward's
Saturday, 19 February 2022
Start of Half-Term