It was a busy Tuesday, as on top of the NSB Art Exhibition, a stellar team of NSB Mathematicians competed in the Regional Finals of the Senior Maths Challenge. Mr Hatton-Perkins coached the team and he reports on a highly successful day in Leicester!

On Tuesday, four of our Further Mathematicians made the trip to Leicester Grammar School to compete in the Regional Finals of the Senior Team Maths Challenge. Made up of Edward Rushmore (bottom right), Isaac So (top right), Auguste Yoong (bottom left), and Mihir Sharma (top left), the team had high hopes of taking on the other 19 schools attending and coming out on top.

The competition started with a group round, where all four students worked together through a series of ten progressively tougher questions. NSB had an extremely strong start, scoring a perfect 60/60 in the first round. It was revealed that eight other teams had also scored perfectly, so NSB knew they had their work cut out.

Round 2 saw the team split into pairs to complete a “cross-number” — one pair completing the across clues, the other the down clues. Accuracy and effective communication were essential here. Unfazed, NSB scored another perfect round of 60/60. It remained tight at the top, with other teams trailing by just a point or two.

The final round would be the decider: NSB faced the “Shuttle” — four progressively harder rounds, four questions per round, and eight minutes to complete each one. The first three rounds went perfectly, with no mistakes and bonus marks picked up for speed. The final round saw our first mistake of the day — the time pressure got to the team, and the last question went unanswered.

Our final score for the day was 174/180. We were narrowly beaten by a score of 175/180 and so secured a solid second place. All students should be immensely proud of their performance and can look forward to the possibility of attending the National Finals as one of the best runners-up." 

 

At the beginning of the week, Mr Taplin took a team of budding engineers to the British Grand Prix venue for an exciting day of all things motor sport! Mr Taplin reports:

On Monday 3rd November ten NSB students made the short trip to Silverstone for the Grand Prix Trust's second 'meet the motorsport industry day'. It was an idea dreamed up by former F1 driver and now highly respected summariser Martin Brundle which was designed to allow secondary school aged students an opportunity to meet people in the industry who can give them an idea of how to progress. Interests varied from pit lane work to power unit engineering to eco sustainability to aero dynamics and there were several experts on hand to answer each of the questions. With the chance to also meet F1 legend (I do not use that often overused term lightly here) Ross Brawn, former Aston Martin pit wall strategist and current Sky analyst Bernie Collins, engineer for the newest F1 team Cadillac Pat Symonds, journalist Louise Goodman and Red Bull pitlane mechanic Calum Nicholas - it really was a brilliant morning and all of our students left with a clearer idea of what goals they might have, and more importantly how they might go about achieving them. All of the major teams were represented, as were the likes of Pirelli and Cosworth.

The most common questions asked of the experts by our students revolved around the part AI will play in motor sport (they welcome it with open arms); what changes will come into play in the next 10 years - when they will be entering the profession (some great insights given across the board); who will win this year's World Championships (the consensus is Lando Norris). They were all outstanding ambassadors for NSB and great company.

 

 

Mr Taplin has been busy as on Tuesday he took 4 NSB cross country teams to compete in the ESAA Cross Country Cup Regional Final at Cokethorpe School in Oxfordshire. He reports:

The racing was tough, to say the least with the Intermediate Boys,  the Senior Boys and the Senior Girls racing strongly but ultimately all missing out on qualification for the National Final.

The Junior Boys all ran with great intelligence and paced it to perfection with Myles Marks finishing 2^nd and Rex Nicklin coming home in 13th. This was part of a final score of 70 meaning they finished 2^nd as a team. This ensured they qualified for the National Final on 6^th December at Princethorpe College in Warwickshire.

 

There were good wins for the U14A and U15A teams against rugby heavyweights - Sedbergh School and the U18A and U12 Elite football teams also progressed well in their National Cups. Our Basketball Teams are currently enjoying a rich vein of form with the U18A team beating Bedford Academy in the CBL and the B team defeating both Oundle A Team and Bedford Academy B Team convincingly in the U19 National Cup. 

 

Huge congratulations to Ollie Golby who has won the overall gross Order of Merit for the 13 and under category on the Fairway Legends Tour, which is a popular junior golf tour played at courses, mainly in and around the Midlands.  Ollie fought hard all season to win the title and he has earned himself £1,000 to spend at a Ping fitting day, which is a fantastic prize and just reward for a consistently excellent season.

 

The Daily Mail today published a full spread on our hugely talented U18 rugby team after their incredibly close top of the league clash v Sedbergh School last Sunday.

 

This week, Ms Kennedy led a series of deeply moving Remembrance Assemblies to Years 7-11 with the Sixth Form Assembly on Remembrance Day itself next Tuesday. NSB Poppy Badges are available via Parent Pay or during next Monday morning's Personal Development / Registration session  when the Sixth Form Leadership Team will visit all Y7-11 Form Groups  - all money collected will be donated to the British Legion.

 

Finally, a reminder to all parents / carers that students should not be dropped off / picked up outside the front of the school in the Crescent unless special dispensation (evident by a NSB pass displayed on the dashboard) has been granted by the Inclusion Department of the school. Parents / carers are also reminded that they should not be using private land / entrance area of St Andrew's Hospital to drop off / pick up students. The entrance must be kept clear at all times, not least to ensure that urgent ambulance / hospital staff access is not impeded.

Richard Bernard

Headteacher