Biology 

Congratulations to all the Year 12 students who delivered some inspirational entries into the 2026 Cambridge Biology Challenge. A special mention for:

Briony Bernhardt Cooper

Abigail Davie

Patricia Dinu

Mini Liu

 They tied as winners of the top of the ‘most original’ entry for their Round 1 submission answering the question ‘ Can we create new life?’. They creatively answered this question through the medium of a board game, and as you can see from the video clip below, it really impressed the judges.

The first round this year attracted a record 840 team entries and is massively competitive.

 Round 1 results (2025-26)  (discussion of their entry can be viewed from 23:43 mins).

We look forward to seeing their, and our other teams’, response for Round 2 on ‘Why is maths a gift for biologists?’.

 

Chemistry

Over the past 2 weeks we have had some of the top Chemists at NSB involved in 2 highly challenging events.  We had 7 students take part in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Olympiad where students sit a 2 hour paper.  The questions asked cover some of the content they are taught as part of their A Level but the majority of it is based on content that is degree level and requires a high level of mathematical ability.  We are awaiting the final results but I had to send off 4 out of the 7 students papers to the RSC as they had attained a grade that puts them at the upper end of expected attainment.  Of these, we have 2 students Oliver Davison & Edward Rushmore who stand a good chance of being invited to be involved in the next stage of the competition.

Following the Olympiad we had a team of 5 students enter the Cambridge Chemistry Race competition last weekend.  The competition, run by the University of Cambridge, sees teams go against each other to tackle a wide range of chemistry problems, access to further problems unlocks as they answer earlier questions with the aim of racking up as many points as possible.  The NSB team took part in the event at Rugby school and did incredibly well by placing 2nd in the that event and 16th overall out of 75 teams from some of the best schools in the country.

Students involved were Oliver Davison, Edward Rushmore, Karl Edochi, James Hackett, Donnacha MacMannus, Sophie Adeleye and Shane Nightingale.  Congratulations to all for representing NSB and achieving so well.

 

It's been a busy week for our musicians and Performing Arts students as Mrs Yates reports:

On Thursday morning, our Year 12 Music class visited St Luke’s CofE Primary School to deliver a music recital for the whole school. Students performed a varied programme spanning a wide range of genres and styles — from Liszt to Black Sabbath!

The children at St Luke’s thoroughly enjoyed the performance (as did their teachers!). The recital formed part of the school’s Wellbeing Week and provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to inspire the next generation of young musicians in Northampton. It also gave our students invaluable real-world experience, helping them to develop confidence, professionalism, and the ability to engage and communicate with a live audience — skills that will serve them well both in their musical journeys and beyond.

On Wednesday evening, we took a coach full of students to Milton Keynes Theatre to see Matthew Bourne’s ballet The Red Shoes. Students were treated to an outstanding production, with many commenting that it was their first experience of watching a live ballet.

While some were slightly puzzled by the storyline (the main character does, after all, die twice!), they were hugely impressed by the music, costumes, set design, and choreography. The trip provided a valuable opportunity for students to experience high-quality live performance and broaden their understanding of theatrical storytelling.

 

There have been some epic NSB sports performances to celebrate this week, not least in the pool where the U16 Water Polo team won the prestigious London League with impressive wins against Haberdashers', Whitgift and Trinity Schools.

The U14 Rugby Team showed exceptional resilience and physicality to defeat Warwick School 14-10 in their National Cup Quarter Final and in doing so became Champions of the Midlands section of the draw. Both teams enjoyed periods of dominance  with NSB heroically resisting a wave of last ditch Warwick attacks on our Try Line to hold out for a brilliant win.  NSB's points were scored by flying winger Ashton McWilliams with a brace of exceptional tries, expertly converted by Elliot Coles and Jake Darlaston (from the touch line) respectively. Next up is the winner of the North section - Sedbergh School from Cumbria - the game will be played at home, early next term - date to be confirmed.

Well done as well to the Girls Rugby Team who put on a good showing at the Millfield Sevens Festival as their preparation for Rosslyn Park ramps up. The U12 football team had a resounding 6-1 victory in Round 7 of their National Cup over Thomas Telford School and the U16 Basketball team marched forward into the next round of their National Cup after an excellent win on Thursday.

 

Huge congratulations also to Sixth Formers, Andreea Evtodiev and Mario Vasconcellos-Blanch who have been selected for Team GB and England in Wrestling (in Austria) and Swimming (in Ireland) respectively. The very best of luck too to Year 13 student Jack Lewis who has been selected for his Northampton Saints Senior debut tonight in the Premiership Cup against Harlequins.

 

To top the sporting week off, we thoroughly enjoyed a visit to the school from the CEO of the RFU - Bill Sweeney who has strategic oversight of all aspects of rugby in England. During Bill's visit we were able to pick his brains as to the future direction of schools' rugby, as well as discussing at length with him the framework of the NSB rugby programme and the guiding principles behind its success. 

We are excited to announce the visit of an award-winning author to NS and NSB in Term 5! More details are included in this term's reading newsletter "Beyond the Pages", which also includes a digital copy of this year's World Book Day voucher, which can be redeemed in a wide range of bookshops and supermarkets. 

 

 

Finally, I hope all students have a great break, including those on the Ski Trip (!) and we look forward to their safe return to school on Monday, February 23rd.

Richard Bernard

Headteacher