We received notification of several highly impressive outcomes for our Expressive Arts students this week in Art, Music and Drama.

Miss Clark, Ms Hasan and Mrs Yates have sent in the following reports:

Art

We are excited to announce that the results for the second round of the ArtBytes competition are in. We are delighted that Chance Enane has been awarded first place for his highly detailed and atmospheric drawing of Nairobi, created in black pen. The competition was open to Year 5 and Year 9 students across the country, with over 130 schools taking part. It has been a great opportunity for students to be creative both in and beyond the classroom, allowing them to explore their own artistic styles and ideas. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the public vote to select the NSB winner. Each school’s winning artwork will now go forward for regional, and possibly national award consideration by the judging panel, and will also be featured in the virtual gallery. Congratulations to Ben Dewar for achieving second place and Abdullah Vladi for placing third in the NSB competition selection. I would also like to thank the Arts Society Northamptonshire for sponsoring our Year 9 students to take part in this competition.

Drama

The talented and upcoming actor TJ Fair in Year 10 has successfully made it to the Regional Finals for the Inter- National Youth Monologues in May. TJ has been working hard to perfect his craft and it has certainly paid off. This year there were over 4,000 applicants, so to get into the regional finals is no small feat. If TJ is successful in his category, he will be invited to participate in the finals and perform at the West End in June. TJ has already performed this particular monologue, at the MK Festival and will be performing again at The Deco Theatre in Northampton next month under the guidance of his acting coach. With TJ's charm and charisma he is sure to impress the judges and as a school, we couldn't be prouder. We are keeping everything crossed for you TJ!

Music

Congratulations to Symphonic Winds, Metalworks, Big Band and The Iris String Quartet (NMPAT coached) on receiving invitations to perform at the Music for Youth National Festival.

This year, eight NSB ensembles took part in the Regional Festival held at The Cripps Theatre in March. Across the country, an estimated 30,000 young musicians participated in these regional events, with around 10,000 musicians selected to advance to the National Festival.

The National Festival takes place over two days in July in prestigious venues across Birmingham, including Symphony Hall and the CBSO Centre, offering an incredible platform for our musicians to showcase their talent.

There has been further superb music success for the following students who are to be warmly congratulated for passing their graded music exams:

 

We were delighted to welcome multi-award winning author Tom Palmer to the school on Thursday. Trust Director of Reading, Mrs Barlow reports on an inspirational guest visit:

On Thursday, NSB welcomed award-winning author Tom Palmer to deliver assemblies to Years 7 and 8 and sign an enormous 185 books! Tom shared stories ranging from football to rugby to history and the boys were fascinated with his accounts of the people he had met and the events that inspired his fiction. Students learnt a lot from Tom, including:

• the importance of reading about topics that you love to spark a love of reading (Tom grew up reading football magazines and comics and Leeds United match reports!);

• you can struggle with reading as a child and still become a highly successful writer;

• the importance of research and care when writing historical fiction, in order to tell people's stories authentically and respectfully.

Staff learnt that Year 8 would choose money over their football team loyalties! 

Tom shared his research and planning, including a 3-metre-long planning diagram and a scrapbook of images, maps and historical artefacts to inspire "If the Invader Comes". Tom has also generously donated the manuscript of his upcoming book "Real Madrid's Greatest Moments" to the library, which is sure to attract a lot of attention in upcoming lessons!

At lunchtime, a long queue snaked around the library whilst students had copies of Tom's latest book "If the Invader Comes" signed. This book is not due for release until next week, so we are fortunate to be amongst the only people in the world to have copies at the moment! 

Overall, in the great NSB tradition of annual author visits, it was a wonderful celebration of reading and storytelling - especially in the National Year of Reading.

Huge thanks go to Mrs Thomson and Mrs Rutherford for their hard work in preparing for the visit and for making our library such a popular space every day.

 

Well done to our amazing U16 Basketball team who have made it through to the National Cup Final to be played in Manchester next Wednesday. Congratulations also to  Luke Rushbury - Year 7 who achieved a phenomenal 3 podium finishes to win two bronze and one silver medal in the U12 Northants County Advanced Gymnastics competition last weekend. There has also been some glittering success on the water for Northampton Rowing Club and Year 10 student Fraser McKenzie who with his crew mate from Bedford represented the East region at the prestigious Interregional Regatta at the National Water Sports centre in Nottingham last weekend. Having initially qualified to represent team East in the J15 double sculls with a course record in Peterborough, the duo took to the water in the National Final where they placed an excellent 5th in the UK after an incredibly tight race which resulted in a mass photo finish -  the top six boats finished within one second of each other!

Richard Bernard

Headteacher