On Wednesday, a small group of Year 9 students attended a celebration event at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln as part of the nationwide Art Bytes competition.

The day began with a guided tour of the gallery, followed by a printmaking workshop and the prize-giving presentation. We were delighted to see several NSB students recognised for their outstanding artistic achievements. Abdullah Vladi was awarded 3rd place and Ben Dewar received 2nd place among the NSB entries, with both students receiving a certificate and prize for their participation.

Chance Enane was awarded 1st place for NSB and was announced as the Regional Winner. During the presentation, it was then revealed that Chance had also been incredibly selected as the overall National Secondary School winner of the Art Bytes competition.

With approximately 150 schools from across the country taking part, this is an exceptional achievement. We are immensely proud of Chance and of all the students who participated and represented NSB so positively.

We are also pleased to announce that NSB was named the Secondary School winner of the Community Engagement Award. A huge thank you goes to everyone in the NSB community who took the time to cast their vote and support our students. Congratulations to all involved on these fantastic accomplishments.

Three of our Sixth Form students took the business world by storm in London this week. Miss Kennedy reports:

As part of our role as a Centre of Excellence for Financial Education, NSB was invited by Young Enterprise to a Parliamentary reception to mark the launch of this years’ My Money Week.

My Money Week is a national activity week from Young Enterprise that aims to get children and young people aged 3 – 19 excited and interested in financial matters.

Miss Kennedy (Director of PSHE) and Mr Crooke (PD Financial Education) took three Year 12 students: Bodie Hamilton, Aidan Ashwell and Jack Morgan. After listening to speeches from some MPs from the Cross party committee on Financial Education, Bodie and Aidan were interviewed by the CEO of Young Enterprise, Sarah Poretta.

The boys spoke with eloquence and authority on Financial Education, and their experience of this at NSB through the PSHE programme. They discussed how confident they now feel stepping into adulthood due to that education.

All three young men were complimented highly by Young Enterprise, the politicians in attendance and Jose Carvalho, Head of Retail Banking and Wealth at HSBC.

They were fantastic ambassadors for NSB, and demonstrated not only the importance of financial education for young people, but the importance of student voice in formulating this.

We were delighted to welcome back former student and award winning author, Mitch Johnston to the school this week. Mrs Barlow reports on an inspirational visit!

On Wednesday, we welcomed award-winning author, and NSB alumnus, Mitch Johnson to school. He delivered a thought-provoking and engaging assembly to Year 7 students, in which he explored some of the themes of his new book "Strike": football, friendship, family and inequality. Mitch discussed the lives of many millions of children working in sweat-shops making football boots, and the reality that those workers would need to work for 20,000 years to earn the same as a top footballer's salary. He discussed the power of reading to build empathy, compassion and connection – a vital step in starting to change the world.

Mitch also treated some of our stand-out readers in Year 7 to a writing workshop, which was much enjoyed by all. The day was rounded off with a popular book signing and opportunity to chat to Mitch about his writing, sport and the inspiration for his stories. We were delighted to have a second author visit this year, as part of the National Year of Reading 2026. 

Well done to our athletes who excelled at the recent County Championships - Mr Taplin reports:

NSB students got their athletics season back on 'track' with some fine performances at the County Championships at a warm but windy Corby Rockingham Stadium.

In the Junior Boys competition the following students won their event to become 2026 County Champion:

Ezra Graham - 200m

Alex Kampta - 800m

Sam Pinney - 80m Hurdles

 

These students performed brilliantly to podium:

These Intermediate Boys won their events to also crown themselves as County Champions:

Reuben Walter - 400m Hurdles

Michael Graham - Shot

Harry Bradley-Brophy - High Jump

Podium finishers: 

Joe Taylor - Javelin and Spencer Porter - 1500m came fourth in their events. Freddie Love - 800m and Alfie Goodman came 5^th and Ben Andrews was 6^th in the High Jump. Incidentally, these last five boys are Y10 competing against Y11 so lots of experience gained.

It was a fantastic event with some really high quality performances and the boys were super ambassadors for NSB and Northampton Athletics.  Those in the top two have qualified (along with Josh Pinney and Thomas Leeson - 1500m Steeplechase and Rhys Owen - Pole Vault) to compete for Northamptonshire against 6 other counties at the prestigious Mason Trophy in Stoke on Saturday.

This week the Junior Boys team will be competing in the Track and Field Cup Regional Final and a Year 7 Team will be competing in the Town Championships. 

And finally (for now) we have had confirmation that the following students have reached the qualifying standards to compete at The English Schools Athletics Association Championships at Alexander Stadium in July. This is the pinnacle of Schools Sport and will once again be held at the venue for the most recent Commonwealth Games.

 

With the World Cup in full swing, it is fantastic to see NSB representation at such a prestigious tournament - look out for former NSB students Carney Chukwuemeka (Austria), Darren Bazeley (New Zealand Manager) and the best of luck also to Assistant Referee Stuart Burt who regularly referees NSB school games. 

The annual parental questionnaire has been sent out today via EduLink - the feedback of parents is greatly valued, and we are very grateful for the time taken to complete the responses.

Finally, a reminder of the NSB entertainment crackers coming up shortly in the Cripps Theatre:

 

Richard Bernard MBE

Headteacher