After much deliberation, the judges announced the winners:

• Third Place: Jemina Thompson NS – The Standardisation of Success

• Second Place: Elise Belcher NS – Man or Bear: The Viral Dichotomy That Reveals the Reality of Women in 2026

• First Place and winner of the Morcea Walker Cup: Leo West NSB – Social Media: A Double-Edged Sword

The evening was a wonderful celebration of student voice and was enjoyed by everyone who attended. A huge thank you goes to our fantastic presenters, Freddie Love and Hussain Qureshi, who kept the evening running smoothly, and to Hanley Webb for providing the musical accompaniment throughout the event.

Congratulations to every finalist who took part. Standing on stage and sharing your voice in front of an audience is a remarkable achievement, and we hope the confidence and skills you have developed through Find Your Voice will stay with you in every aspect of your lives.

Finally, a special thank you to Ms Hasan for her continuous support of the oracy programme. Mrs Rodgers from NS, whose enthusiasm and hard work were invaluable in bringing this competition together, and Mrs Greenaway, whose organisation and support were instrumental in making the evening such a tremendous success.

We are already looking forward to next year's Trust Find Your Voice Challenge!

 

We were delighted to welcome Lucy Rigby MP to the school today. Lucy fielded a series of searching questions from Year 10 and 12 related to her roles of Chief Secretary to the Treasury and her representation of Northampton North in Parliament. 

One of the most enjoyable parts of a Headteacher role is to meet with students who have excelled. This was certainly the case this week when I had the pleasure of discussing two shortlisted entries for the hugely prestigious and global 'John Locke Essay Competition' with the Y12 authors - Harry Grimshaw - Philosophy essay and Holly Rashid - Politics essay. To put the shortlisting achievement into context, the competition attracted 100,227 of the highest calibre contestants from 183 countries and the shortlist was drawn from the top 17.5 percent. To be numbered among the best of the best is a remarkable achievement!

 

An amazing total of five NSB girls will be representing England next week at The Dance World Cup in Dublin for their Dance club 'Oncore' who qualified as the national representatives after a number of intense qualification rounds. All five are not only fantastic dancers but also brilliant role models and we wish them all the very best of luck in bringing home the ultimate prize! 

Grace Redshaw, Jasmine Cross, Aoife Coles, Evie Randall, Isla Jeffreys

 

After a hugely competitive interview schedule, the Head Girl / Head Boy and their Deputies have been decided. Mrs Bradley-Brophy reports on a selection round where all candidates excelled!

We are delighted to announce our Head Girl and Head Boy Team for the forthcoming academic year.

Following an exceptionally tight selection process, we are proud to share that Sehrish Wajahat has been appointed as Head Girl. Supporting her in this role will be Patricia Dinu and Josie Mansell as Deputy Head Girls.

We are equally pleased to announce that Aidan Ashwell has been appointed as Head Boy, supported by Ben Jones and Mihir Sharma as Deputy Head Boys.

This year's selection process was one of the most rigorous we have undertaken, with the introduction of a new application process and an outstanding field of candidates. Every student who applied demonstrated enthusiasm, dedication and a genuine commitment to making a positive contribution to our school community. We would like to thank and congratulate all applicants for the time, effort and courage they showed throughout.

We have every confidence that our newly appointed team will be excellent ambassadors for the school and will lead by example throughout the coming year.

We look forward to seeing all that they will achieve in their leadership roles over the coming year.

 

It is always wonderful to hear of the success of our former students and there were a number of notable highlights this week. Posi Morakinyo is starring as Simba in the Lion King and an excited group of current NSB students and staff travelled to London recently to watch him perform in this West End Lead role! Cameron McKenzie and his crew mates from Leander Club have been setting the rowing world alight and they didn't disappoint at Henley where they won the prestigious Fawley Challenge Cup which is a phenomenal accomplishment. Adding to the alumni highlights, three of our Year 11 students and four other recent NSB leavers have signed professional terms in the last few weeks with football clubs - Aston Villa / Leicester City and Northampton Town as per the below:

 

Congratulations also to all 26 of our NTTP trainees who graduated from their teacher training this week. Almost all of them have landed teaching jobs for September with many going into local schools. 

The very best of luck to our talented  musicians who are performing today and over the weekend at The National Music for Youth Finals and to our fantastic athletes performing at The English Schools Championships - both events are in Birmingham!

Finally, we are all very much looking forward to our 'Showstoppers' medley of Musical hits tonight and tomorrow evening. A small number of  tickets are still available from the Box Office!

 

Richard Bernard MBE

Headteacher