Culture Week 2026 was a vibrant and memorable celebration of diversity, and global connection of students here at NSB. We began the week by immersing ourselves in the storytelling of a Bollywood film, setting the tone for the week ahead. On Tuesday, students participated in a Henna workshop, which was well received and enjoyed by students and staff. Wednesday featured the much-anticipated culture fair, where students experienced a rich variety of cuisines, traditional dress, and cultural knowledge from countries spanning from Greece to China. The week concluded with a spectacular showcase, highlighted by energetic Bollywood and African dancing, beautiful singing performances, and a lively cultural catwalk. The event was made even more meaningful by a touching reflection on the importance of celebrating and honoring our cultural identities; a reminder that all traditions, heritage, and stories are what make the NSB community unique, connected, and strong.

On Tuesday, the First XV enjoyed a visit from a representative of the Daily Mail who presented the squad with medals and the Daily Mail Trophy for winning the English School Boy U18 League for rugby union this year in a special assembly. Huge congratulations to such a talented group of students and coaches. It was a quite remarkable season drawing on the incredible depth of talent in the squad to pull out some epic victories against England's very top rugby schools, particularly at the latter end of the season.

 

The Senior Drama Production - 'Cloud Bursting' had it's opening show on Thursday evening in front of a National Theatre judge and expectant Cripps audience. It was a wonderfully performed and hugely moving production, sensitively tackling the theme of bullying and the lingering negative tentacles of its impact. The judge was extremely positive with his feedback and the cast and backstage crew will work on his recommendations before performing the piece again at the Derngate with the carrot of a place in the Regional National Theatre Finals at stake. There is another showing tonight from 7pm and I couldn't recommend it more!

 

Recently 8 of our 14 charities attended the Charity Handover - Mrs Greenaway has sent in this report:

The event was hosted brilliantly by The Student Leadership Group who were able to tell the Charity Representatives all about Charity Week including all the numerous events and challenges including XX factor, Taskmaster, I'm A House Leader, the raffle, the Staff Panto and band, the Tins, Toys and Toiletries and so much more. They highlighted how each Form contributes by putting on an event and undertaking a sponsored challenge, altogether raising a phenomenal £14,092 - a charity week record - highlighting how generous and enterprising the NSB community are. Also attending was Mr Bradbury and some of the BTEC students who rowed all night on the "Killer Whale Challenge", completing the challenge with 2 minutes to spare and raising £1,800 - an outstanding achievement. In addition, we were able to thank Mrs Shaw for counting the cash, delivering it safely to the bank and organising all the online payments - a remarkable achievement too! 

It was wonderful to see the students talking so  avidly with the charity reps, who also had an opportunity to tell us about aspects of the work they undertake and convey how the money will be used. It also gave us an opportunity to formally thank them for the hard work they do. 

We had some great feedback from the charities and several we are forging links with on future endeavours. Thank you to everyone involved in Charity Week - what a difference NSB will have made to so many lives.

"I wanted to say a HUGE thank you for allowing me to attend yesterday!

I was overwhelmed by the £1000 donation from the Boys' school, this donation will have a great impact on our wonderful charity, and we are all very grateful.

I am so impressed with your students, the confidence they displayed as young adults talking to the charity representatives was lovely to see. 

The charity week sounded like a fabulous event!

The students asked lots of questions and we chatted about the possibility of them visiting us once we are all settled into our new Baby Basics HQ!" Alisha Pacey

 

"Thank you so much for inviting me to yesterday’s presentation and for supporting NSPCC during your amazing charity week.  It was wonderful to hear all about the innovative fundraising your pupils did during the week and to hear about how hard working and dedicated they are to helping others.  They are truly inspirational.  Just to put it into perspective, it costs £4 to answer a call to Childline so your donation of £1,000 could help answer 250 calls from children who need our help." Suzanne Reddit

 

We also recently celebrated Mental Health Week just before the recent holiday. Mrs Greenaway reports on a range of impactful activities that took place at NSB:

Before the half term break it was Children's Mental Health Week (CMHW) with the theme of "This is My Place". The previous week in House Assemblies the House Leaders addressed belonging and looked at community through the lens of the House system and The Student Leadership Team created videos highlighting different aspects of wellbeing and how people can look after their mental health, and where young people can go for support. Mrs Greenaway also talked in assemblies about LGBT History Month - the theme being Innovation and Science. This highlighted important role models from past and present and linked to CMHW with the need to be respectful and kind to ensure that every individual, no matter what their background, feels safe and secure in our community with a sense of belonging to reach their full potential academically, in extra-curricular activities and socially. On Wednesday we had our annual Wellbeing Fair with an NSB stall alongside The Lowdown, who we often signpost students to if they need further support outside school, and who are one of our annually supported charities and MHST, an NHS organisation who are supporting  some students in school who may have concerns with their wellbeing. The event was supported by students across all year groups who came to get information, leaflets and to put their stresses into the stress bucket! Thank you to all involved. It's good to come together and to talk! NSB - this is our place!   

 

We are looking forward to hosting our annual Employment and Opportunities Evening at Northampton School for Boys on Tuesday March 17th. Mrs Rickaby-Collins reports:

The event is open to all our students in Years 11, 12 and 13 and aims to showcase the wide variety of organisations and opportunities available to students Post 16 and 18; at the evening we will promote the breadth of the range of pathways that can be undertaken including: further education, apprenticeships, graduate careers, work experience, gap years, voluntary/temporary work, scholarships and conferences. This event is designed to complement a student's careers education in school as well as our Post 16 and Post 18 information evenings, and Apprentice Information Evening (held in May).

The evening is run in the style of a careers fair with doors opening to students and parents/carers at 5:00pm, and the event closing at 7:00pm. 

Previous success stories from attending the event include: work experience placements, work shadowing, professional mentoring, site visits, mock interviews and even an offer of employment!

Last year's event was an enormous success with over 70 exhibitor stands and in excess of 750 students and parents attending. 

You do not need to reserve a place, it is open to all and we look forward to welcoming you to the event!

 

Many congratulations to the U12A and U14B football and U14 Basketball teams who came through very touch match ups to make their respective National Cup Semi-Finals. The U14B game deserves a special mention as after conceding a virtual last kick of the game equaliser, the squad showed great heart to win through a barnstorming penalty shoot out which ended up 15-14 to NSB! It was tough luck to the U18 Water Polo Team who just missed out by one spot on qualification from their Semi-Final Round - despite defeating Bedford School the team ended up finishing 3^rd in their group with the top two schools qualifying for the Final. 

 

Many congratulations also to Year 7 students Harry O'Dell and Seb Welch who are making serious global waves in Junior Golf. Both boys competed over the recent holiday in the World WAGR Series Robert Rock Golf League event at the Grand Hyatt La Manga Golf Club in Spain. Facing three challenging rounds in strong, gusty winds, both boys delivered outstanding performances. Harry finished third in the Boys’ Under 14 Gross competition, while Seb secured third place in the Boys’ Under 12 Gross competition — an excellent achievement in very tough conditions.

 

 

Next week we have 3 National Cup rugby Semi Finals to look forward to. The U15 and U18 games will be live streamed with commentary - the links to these games will be shared on NSB Sport / NSB Rugby Instagram.

U14 Rugby National Cup Semi-Final v Sedbergh School - Tuesday, March 3rd - 2.30pm kick off - Home 

U18 Rugby National Cup Semi-Final v Campion School - Saturday, March 7^th - 2.20pm kick off - Aylesbury Rugby Club

U15 Rugby National Cup Quarter-Final v Warwick School - Sunday, March 8^th - 3.45pm kick off - Aylesbury Rugby Club

 

The incredible success of the NSB rugby programme this year has triggered significant national media interest. On Monday the BBC were in school filming a Documentary which is likely to be released in Mid- March and on Tuesday we were the guests in a National Podcast focused on school rugby which can be accessed here:

'Little and Large - Northampton School for Boys Special' National Rugby Podcast

 

Finally, a message from Trust Director of Reading, Mrs Barlow:

To engage or re-engage readers, research shows that offering reading material matched to students' interests is crucial. This term's recommended reading list is available on the school website. It offers suggestions of reading materials that are linked to the school's curriculum, to guide students towards books about topics in which they may have a particular interest or to expand their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. 

Northampton School for Boys - Reading

 

Richard Bernard

Headteacher