A number of NSB students this week proudly represented the school in National Challenges!

On Monday, a team of 4 Mathematicians from Year 8 and Year 9 (Seb Bloomer, Jiahao Ao, James Utteridge, Max Panton) travelled to Manchester with Miss Crooke and Mrs King to compete in the prestigious Team Maths Challenge National Final, having successfully won the Regional Final earlier in the year. Miss Crooke reports:

The competition consisted of 5 rounds testing a range of Mathematical skills: Group Round, Shuttle Round, Cross-number Round, concluding with an exhilarating Relay Round finale.  In addition to this, the team took part in a Poster Round, in which they had just 45 minutes to create a poster on Japanese Temple Geometry.

The standard of competition was exceptionally high, with 60 teams taking part, including many of the leading independent schools in the UK, in addition to 6 teams who had flown in from China to compete.  Against this strong opposition, the team did fantastically well to achieve 25^th place overall.

Throughout the day, the boys demonstrated excellent teamwork and resilience, representing NSB impeccably.  They were partnered with a member of staff from another school who sought me out at the end of the event to commend the boys on how well they behaved, and particularly on how well they supported each other through difficult problems.

Congratulations again to the team for this fantastic achievement!

On Tuesday morning, eight of our top Mathematicians from Year 7 and 8 competed in the National Finals of the Maths Junior Team 'Kangaroo' and Jiahao then individually competed in the highly prestigious individual 'Junior Olympiad' following his regional qualification earlier this year. We await the results, but congratulations to the following students for reaching the elite stage of these competitions, which attract a vast number of national entries.

On Wednesday, a supremely talented Year 9 Team represented the school wonderfully at the County Challenge Event held at Wootton Park Police Headquarters. Miss Bason reports on an impressive performance:

I have been fortunate enough to work with 14 amazing Year 9 students who have taken part in the County Challenge this year. The challenge required students to create an idea to tackle anti-social behaviour - a growing national concern.

This group of students has been absolutely fantastic from start to finish. After numerous group discussions and decisions, and with an idea that initially came from student Chance Enane, the group decided to pitch a “What’s On” app. This app will allow anyone in the Northampton local area to download it and find out what is happening in the local community, as well as report anti-social behaviour such as fly-tipping.

The students delivered their pitch brilliantly in front of a panel of judges from the police force, and it is fair to say they were extremely impressed with the students’ professionalism, their idea, and how the app would work in practice. The judges were so impressed with their pitch that they received the Johnson Award for their understanding of the benefits of working in partnership with others. Being awarded this recognition highlights just how strong and impactful their idea is.

Thank you to all the students who took part. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you over the past couple of months. I would also like to thank Mrs Greenaway for her support throughout the process and for helping us every step of the way.

Many congratulations to Aby Davie - Y12, who has been selected for the Great Britain Powerlifting Team at the World Championships in South Africa this August. This is a huge achievement and a fantastic opportunity for Aby, particularly as it will be her first international competition at this premium level. 

 

A massive well done also to Max Roper - Y10, who has been recognised as one of the most promising rowing talents in Great Britain by being selected for the British Rowing Performance Academy on the Olympic Rowing pathway -the aim of the pathway being to fast-track elite athletics into Olympic Champions. Rumours flying out of the national camp suggest that Max, who is already a multi-UK gold medalist, almost broke the measuring devices in the Trials such is his immense strength and explosive power! He will train six times a week under the eye of the nation's top coaches with regular bespoke training visits to the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont.

 

On the sporting front we also recently participated in the first ever Northamptonshire Schools Padel Championships, expertly hosted by 'Padel Power'.  There were 28 entries from schools across the county and despite the fierce competition,  the NSB pairs showed great skill and tactical awareness to carry off the silverware - congratulations to Jesse Leah and Tom  Gomersall for winning the Cup, Will Bernard and Josh Boardman for reaching the Cup Final and to Oli Boardman and Joss Price for winning the Plate.

 

Finally, a reminder that there are two school events at Cripps coming up shortly which both promise to be amazing - tickets are available from the Box Office - The Summer Concert is on July 2^nd and the joint NSB / NS production - Show Stoppers is on Friday July 10^th and Saturday, July 11th.

 

Richard Bernard

Headteacher