Headteacher's Bulletin - Friday, January 12th 2024
Year 11 and Year 13 have hit the ground running after the holidays, returning to their Trial examinations and actual papers for Year 12/13 BTEC students. The respective cohorts have demonstrated an excellent attitude throughout the exam window to date.
There has been a huge amount of student success to celebrate both over the holiday period and since the return to school. This was epitomised brilliantly by our inaugural Personal Development Awards Evening which was held last Friday. Guest speaker and former Marine and current World Record Holder for several fitness milestones, Jack Fleckney, was an inspirational guest speaker on the night, setting the tone for a brimful of tales of extraordinary student bravery / resilience / commitment / entrepreneurship, environmentalism, achievement and selfless devotion to compelling causes in both the school and wider community. The evening was capped with the award of the two most prestigious prizes - the Junior and Senior Personal Development student of the year which went to Ethan Round and Chloe Walding respectively. A wonderful night of student achievement and an excellent addition to the suite of annual NSB Award Evenings!
On the theme of Personal Development, at the end of last Term, Charity Week was a huge success and we are delighted to report that the final total raised for a wide range of local and national charities is well over the £12,000 mark. Many congratulations and thanks to all students, staff and parents / carers who have contributed to this magnificent total.
Over the holidays there were two notable individual achievements that were brought to my attention, - one by a former NSB student - Jamie Dunk and one by current Year 9 student Mason Huo. Jamie scored an avalanche of runs for NSB during his time here as a cricketer and his sublime talent has been rewarded with selection by Scotland for the upcoming Cricket U19 World Cup. Mason, who performed brilliantly in the Musical Prelude at the Personal Development Awards, secured a Distinction in Grade 8 piano, dropping only two marks over his three set pieces, with examiner comments summarising his performance as 'both masterful and atmospheric'. A huge well done to both boys.
There has been an abundance of National Cup Sport since our return and we haven't lost yet - at least at the time of writing! Excellent wins have been recorded by the U14 rugby team and the U13B football team who are now in the Quarter Finals of their cups and the U12A and U13A football teams who are now firmly ensconced in the last 16 of their National competitions which is a fantastic effort, given circa 600 teams enter both competitions in Round 1.
Twenty of our Upper School students are taking part in a tremendously exciting event tomorrow when the NSB Law Society, led by Miss Rickaby and Miss Harvey head to Birmingham Crown Court for the Senior Mock Bar Competition. The participating students have been incredibly diligent in their preparation as Counsel to the Defence / Prosecution for differing cases, which will hopefully see us edge the final verdicts.
Finally, we have a big event coming up later this month with a New Year Spectacular Jazz @ The Cripps on Sunday, January 28th at 7pm. It promises to be a wonderful evening of entertainment, featuring the NSB Big Band and our immensely popular NSB folk group - Bodhran Bodhran alongside the mighty BBC Big Band and internationally renowned vocalist Claire Martin, who is widely referred to as one of the finest jazz vocalists in the world. Tickets are available from the NSB Box Office.
Mr Bernard
Headteacher
