Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 11 February 2022
Dear Parents,
This week and next the boys in the prep school have been, and will continue to be, engaged in a process of self-review. As we are now pretty much half-way through the academic year, this is a good time to step to one side for a few moments and to take a look at how well things are going – and for the boys to be a crucial part of that process. This is easier said than done if self-review (or formative self-assessment) is going to be productive. To maximise the chances if it being successful, Miss Krebs has outlined in a recent Parentmail how we have tailored the self-review for different age groups. Essentially, the younger the boys are, the more straightforward and ‘tick-box’ the self-reflections are, with a focus on core subjects; the older the boys are, the more detailed are the opportunities for reflecting on what has gone well and what can be developed further in the future across the whole curriculum. But for all of the boys, at the core of the self-reflection is a focus on the skills we are trying to instil in our pupils in their subjects. As ever at NCS, core subject knowledge isn’t going anywhere, but it needs to be underpinned by subject skills that will prove vital in the future when either that subject knowledge changes, or it gets pushed to one side as even more content comes along.
Self-review, self-assessment, or whatever you want to call it can be a powerful part of the learning process. When it is done well, it keeps pupils in the conversation and helps to ‘open the bonnet’ of that learning process to show openly and transparently what it is we want from them. It reduces the one-way assessment process of marking a piece of mark, giving it back, and hoping that the marking makes some difference. It gives pupils another chance to have their voices heard and for us – teachers and parents – to have another chance to ‘check in’ and perhaps pick up on things that aren’t going so well, when we assumed they had been. Of course, the process cannot just be viewed blithely as some pedagogical panacea. We have to see this as a formative rather than a summative process; the boys aren’t going to be giving themselves their own grades. There are bound to be issues of pupils over-pitching or under-pitching, usually based on their mood at the time and whether they’ve just won the football match in the playground. The educationalist Heidi Andrade, when reviewing recent literature on students’ self-assessment almost threw her hands in the air when concluding, ‘Those of you who like to investigate phenomena that are maddeningly difficult to measure will rejoice to hear that the cognitive and affective mechanisms of self-assessment are the next black box.’ But like most things, the boys will get better at their self-review the more they practise it. And the more chances we have to advance the conversation about the boys’ learning – or indeed to open it if it is a conversation that has not yet been had – the better.
We will still be giving the boys summative grades in reports or orders five times a year, and of course we are always here to provide feedback from our point of view in between those end-of-term or end-of-half-term check-ins. But using this sixth window, half-way through the academic year, to enhance the boys’ self-review and to increase the volume of their voice in that review, should prove very productive. Do look out for the boys’ self-review in their bags at the end of next week.
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
As the scholarship season rolls on, I’m delighted to be able to announce some early results: an enormous well done to Harry for his music scholarship to Radley, to James for his music scholarship to Harrow, to Timon for his music scholarship to MCS, and to Nahum for his music exhibition also to MCS. We are very proud of them all. I look forward to bringing you more news of similar successes as Hilary progresses.
Congratulations to recent alumni Christopher Brain, Lyndon Chen and Thomas Simpson who, as part of the ‘Byte Our Dust!’ team, won the recent Cipher Challenge, organised by the University of Southampton. This was an especially significant achievement considering that there were 2760 teams that entered. Christopher, Lyndon and Thomas have been taking part in these challenges since their time at NCS, and we are thrilled to hear about their continued success: https://www.cipherchallenge.org/leaderboard/?a_or_b=b
It has been a good week for our old boys. Congratulations, too, to Ed Irwin-Singer who was nominated for two Brit Awards at Tuesday’s event in London, and to Orlando Higginbottom for his Grammy nomination in the ‘Best Dance/Electronic Recording’ category.
Well done to Isaac in Year 6 who, last weekend, played for the Oxfordshire Junior Chess Team (Ojays) in the J4NCL (Junior 4 Nations Chess League) in a team of five against other county teams. There were a total of 24 teams in two divisions. Their team played in the division 1 league, and came third. Isaac contributed 3 points to the total of 11 points achieved by the team.
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. 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.
From Mrs Hess: We have been part of the Oxfordshire Book Awards scheme for a few years and we are very excited about participating again this year! There are four picture books in the shortlist. These are being read to Pre-Prep and the boys will vote for their favourite. There are five books on the Primary book shortlist, all of which are excellent and very different: Onjali Q Rauf’s ‘The Night Bus Hero’, Benjamin Dean’s ‘Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow’, Maz Evans’s ‘Licence to Chill’, Lindsay Galvin’s ‘Darwin’s Dragons’, and Hannah Gold’s ‘The Last Bear’. Let me know if you have read one of these books (preferably more than one) and if you think it should win! (Elizabeth.hess@newcollegeschool.org). It would be a super half-term activity as reading for fun is an excellent and productive use of time, and a great opportunity for adults and children to spend time together. www.oxfordshirebookawards.com
World Book Day (3 March) is creeping up on us, so do please begin thinking about some creative (but, please, not expensive) book-themed costumes!
A reminder that, if you are unable to attend in person, you can attend livestreamed services from New College Chapel via the Choir’s YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/user/NewCollegeChoir . They are in especially fine voice at the moment, so do check in either live or enjoy the recording after the service.
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 week the boys have begun their annual pursuit for inter-house greatness with Years 3 and 4 playing the first rounds of hockey house matches. As usual these games were highly charged and very competitive. Some fantastic hockey was played and brilliant goals scored. I am very much looking forward to the finals in a week’s time where we’ll know the first of this year’s champions. Also on the hockey pitches the U11 and U13 teams played on Wednesday afternoon. Firstly, the U11s played away at The Dragon. All four teams played with heart and determination to show off their ever-improving skills and power. The A team managed to record a 3-0 win with the Bs narrowly missing out and losing their tight encounter 1-0. In the games that followed the D team played so hard and deserved more but a little bit of bad luck meant they also lost 1-0. The boys worked hard to get into attacking positions but just lacked that little bit of fire power in the circle to shoot the ball home. In the final game the C team recorded a great 3-2 win in a game that swung to and fro all afternoon, but eventually the pendulum swung the way of NCS and the cheer from the boys at the final whistle could be heard all over Oxford! This week also saw the turn of the U11 A team to try their luck at the annual IAPS regional tournament and this time it was held locally at Abingdon. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side. The boys worked hard in three tough group games with them ending up in the plate quarter finals. In our final game against Chandlings we had the majority of the possession but simply could not find the back of the net; in the end 2-0 to Chandlings was a fair result.
In the U13 teams the A and B teams played The Dragon and Abingdon while the C and D teams faced The Dragon and Summer Fields. With over 100 boys and so many games of hockey it was hard to keep track on the results as they kept coming in. The C&D teams enjoyed really close games against The Dragon and recorded a 0-0 draw and an unfortunate 1-0 loss thanks to a loose ball in the shooting circle that was fired home in the dying seconds of another cracking game. Mr Rose wants to give special mentions to George W and Kian O-F as they were outstanding in the C team and have both been rewarded with promotion to the Bs. Tolly D was superb in the D team as was Isaac T in goal; I was fortunate enough to see him make some some outstanding saves. In the Summer Fields matches the C team went down 2-0 but the D team recorded a 1-0 win thanks to a Tolly wonder goal. On the other pitches the A and B teams faced The Dragon first and in the B team game it was tough going and the final score of 0-4 didn’t really do the game justice. Despite the loss Mr Mainstone tells me it was the best he’d seen them play, in particular Didrik in attack and Ashwin in midfield. As usual the captain, Paddy A, was his normal inspiring self and played some of his best hockey so far this term. The Abingdon game ended up with the same score line but the boys knew how much they’d improved since the last game and came off with a really positive vibe. Special thanks and congratulations have to go to Carter C as he stepped into goal for the second game and performed brilliantly to keep the Abingdon shots at bay. Finally, the A team played some of their best hockey and quickly put their IAPS disappointment behind them. The boys weathered the initial Dragon storm and then quickly established themselves as the dominant team. In the second half Dan C weaved his way through to feed Leo the ball for a brilliant goal. After this the NCS were really on top and showed class and skill to keep the ball away from our guests. The score remained 1-0 and a famous win was secured. In our second game we were still thinking back to our loss to Abingdon earlier in the term and we were hoping for a better end to this game. I was not to be disappointed and despite the final score being 2-0 to Abingdon, it was clear to everyone how much progress they’d made. This much-improved performance bodes well for a busy second half of term; well done all.
Upcoming Events
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
Orders issued
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
Monday, 28 February 2022
Return from Half-Term
MCS Academic Scholarship starts
14.00 U13 All Hockey House Matches, St Edward's
Tuesday, 1 March 2022
9.30-11.50 Year 5 Visit to the Synagogue in Jericho
14.15 U9 A-C Hockey v Dragon, Away
Wednesday, 2 March 2022
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Revd Kate Harford, Chaplain of Oxford Brookes University
8.15 School council meeting, library
12.30 U10 A Hockey Festival, St Edward's
14.00 U13 A&B Hockey v Thorngrove, Bradfield
14.00 U11 A-D Hockey v Thorngrove, Bradfield
18.00 Year 5 parents' evening
Thursday, 3 March 2022
World Book Day
9.00 Year 8 HPV Vaccinations: Catch up Session
Friday, 4 March 2022
14.00 U11 All Hockey House Matches, St Edward's