NSB Sixth Formers have also been busy spreading the Christmas spirit in the local community:

On Tuesday members of the student Leadership Team had a hugely rewarding trip over the road to the Old School House where stories and memories were shared with residents alongside a wonderful sing-along led expertly by Y12 student, Alessia Della-Vedova.

 

Sixth formers, Naomi Robinson, Chloe Alcazar, Maisy Bull and Erin Searing played as a Saxophone Quartet last Friday night to provide background music for the St Matthew's Church Christmas Fayre with their performance hugely appreciated by the church organisers and audience.

 

 

 

 

There has also been some outstanding individual musical success in recent graded exams. Well done to all of the following:

Kamran Hussain (Yr 12)- Grade 8 Violin with Distinction 

Alex Dixon (Yr 12) - Grade 8 Cello with Distinction 

Caitlin Johnson (Yr 12) - Grade 8 Clarinet with Merit 

Oliver Clews (Yr 12) - Grade 7 Basson with Distinction 

James Moore Yr 10) - Grade 6 Cello with Merit 

 

Keeping on the festive theme, Mrs Barlow has been busy compiling a Christmas Reading list for the students. She reports: 

With the festive season approaching, it is the perfect time to enjoy or gift books together as a family. We have put together a variety of Christmassy and wintry reads for all ages and abilities to help families enjoy their own version of the Icelandic tradition of "Jolabokaflod" (Yule book flood), in which friends and family gift each other books on Christmas Eve before reading them for the remainder of the evening. The recommended reads can be found here: 

 

Thirteen students attended a model UN Conference at Caroline Chisholm School this week and enjoyed an  amazing day,  winning 7 out of the 12 awards at an inspirational event which was led and judged by an actual member of a United Nations Council. Ms Morrison has sent in this report, with special congratulations to Benji Ani- Adjei from Year 11 who won the award for best speaker in his cohort despite competing against a wide number of students from two years up! Please see link to article below:

 

 

There were some astonishing performances at the British Indoor Rowing Championships last weekend held at the NEC in Birmingham. Under the consistently outstanding guidance of lead coach Andy Graham, NSB athletes excelled bringing home a veritable trove of medals and personal bests including 8 Gold (National Champions) / 1 Silver and 4 Bronze - as listed below. Andy's write up can be found through link below:

Year 7

Xander Tilley  - Gold x 2 (500m and timed event)

Bradley Feasey  - Bronze (500m) 

Year 9

Jack Jackson-Parish - Bronze (500m)

Year 10

Max Roper - Silver (5 minute race) Gold (500m)

                        - Bronze in elimination race - against Y11-13 students

Year 11

Mikey Graham - Gold x 4 (500m, 100m, 250m and 1 minute race) 

Year 13

Cade Sivil - Bronze (500m)

Personal bests: 

Zac Maule - Y7

Ethan White-Robinson - Y8

Monty Leahy - Y8

Emily Gates - Y13

 

The NSB First XV are preparing for one of the biggest matches in the school's history which takes place tomorrow against a strong Sir Thomas Rich outfit. Thanks to a magnificent winning try by James Civil with the last play against Seaford College on Tuesday (which won NSB the inaugural John Green Trophy), this incredibly talented NSB squad now have the National Daily Mail League Title  in their hands - a win with a bonus point (four tries) will see NSB as the first State School to ever win the Daily Mail title and be officially crowned as the top school team in England. The game kicks off at 11.30am on the First XV pitch - spectators are welcome - it promises to be a fantastic game with so much on the line!

There has been a great deal of national media interest around the team's achievements this year and Director of Rugby Mr Beaumont, has been invited on several national podcasts to discuss the success of the NSB programme over the coming week, including this one from 3 minutes 20 seconds in: NSB rugby national podcast

 

Well done also to the following teams who all progressed through to the next rounds of their National Cups after excellent wins this week: U15A, U15B, U12A football, U18B, U14B basketball and U14A rugby - the U14B football team have their Rd 3 game this afternoon. There were also impressive victories for the U16 Water Polo team, the U18A basketball team as well as the Girls rugby team in their first competitive run out of the season!

We had one of our first student charity events today with a richly entertaining Netball match between the NSB First Team Squad Girls and the Boys Basketball Team - there was a huge amount of skill and endeavour on show, but the girls' tactical know-how saw them having the edge throughout - running out deserved 26-17 winners.

 

We now look forward to a bumper packed Charity Week - details of which have been emailed to parents / carers by Mrs Greenaway with reminders to follow next week.

 

Richard Bernard

Headteacher