Last weekend the Derngate hosted a glorious celebration of youth music from across the county. The NMPAT's Youth in Concert was a fantastic evening that featured over 60 pupils from NSB on stage in various ensembles, including the County Youth Big Band which is directed by our very own Mr Druker. Seven former students from NSB were also honoured on the evening with 'Gordon Robinson' Speciality Awards for 2023.

On the Expressive Arts theme, we have our much anticipated Senior school production, an immersive performance of 'The Every Brothers', playing next week on November 24^th / 25^th  from 7.00pm in the Cripps Theatre - tickets available from the Box Office.

Two of our top student engineers - Ali Mustafa Y13 and James Redwood Y11, enjoyed an inspirational day at Mercedes at the end of last week following their award winning design entries of futuristic rockets. Over the course of the day, the two NSB students  enjoyed the opportunity to present their designs to lead Mercedes engineers who critiqued their work. Following the presentations, they enjoyed a tour of the facility, before having the wonderful opportunity to talk to Tim Peake - the first British Astronaut to walk in Space.

Y11 student, Oliver Underwood  represented  the Northamptonshire Emergency Cadets in the Royal British Legion Remembrance Day Parade at the London Cenotaph last weekend. In doing so, Oliver was high praised by his Unit Commander for being an excellent ambassador for both the Cadets and the School. In the spirit of Remembrance there was also a deeply poignant service at the Old Northamptonians on Sunday which has deep rooted meaning for the school, as the club was created by former Headteacher, Edward Reynolds for the returning former students and staff from World War 1. Several current NSB students can be seen in the picture, including Caelin Chin Y11 carrying the wreath - main inset.

On the sporting front, Water Polo at the school continues to be a resounding success and we were delighted to be notified that seven NSB boys have been selected for the Boys U14 Inter-Regional Water Polo Team and Championship in Walsall this weekend. Many congratulations and the very best of luck to:

• Ethan Buckley
• Max Glennon
• Jonah Ansell
• Ford Wiles
• Frey Wiles
• Jack Auburn
• Fraser McKenzie

We were also excited to receive notification from the National Cricketer's Magazine that NSB has been ranked in the top 100 senior schools in the country for cricket - one of only two Northamptonshire Schools (alongside Oundle School) to make this prestigious list.

We have also enjoyed some phenomenal Cross Country success - last week we took four teams to the Regional Final of the ESAA Cross Country Cup. The event was held at Stowe School and is a qualification round for the National Final on 2^nd December at Woodbridge School, Suffolk. The top three teams in each race go through.

The girls acquitted themselves very well and finished a very creditable 11th.  The Intermediate Boys team (Y9 and 10) scored 29 points to finish a very close 2^nd overall. Both the Junior Boys and Senior Boys teams dominated their races to win the team event and join the Inter Boys in the final as Regional Champions. Freddie Love, Oliver Groves, Alex Kampta, Monty Whitehead, Jake Clarke, Josh Pinney,  Malachy Collins, Nathan Lamb and Danny Carter all secured top ten finishes in their respective races alongside the Regional champion of the Inter Boys - Freddie Harris.

It is the first time we have had three teams qualify and we will be one of only three schools to have all three boys teams at the National Final.

Very well done to all of the following students who ran incredibly hard for the school:

Junior Boys

• Freddie Love 
• Oliver Groves 
• Alex Kampta 
• Monty Whitehead 
• William Davey 
• Kaiden Mark 

Inter Boys

• Freddie Harris 
• Jake Clarke 
• Joshua Pinney 
• Malachy Renihan 
• Reuben Walter 
• Daniel Pigott 

Senior Girls

• Sophie Wood 
• Marni Walker 
• Amelia Lonergan 
• Sophie McMenamin 
• Annabel Heap 

Senior Boys

• Malachy Collins 
• Nathan Lamb 
• Danny Carter 
• Ollie Walls 
• Oliver Melling 
• Lewis Robson 

Well done also to the U18A and U12 football teams for winning through their National Cup fixtures this week and we also enjoyed the first ever NSB v NS sports fixture in the Y7 Junior NBA Basketball competition, which proved to be a brilliant game, going down to the wire until the very last set of plays.

Finally, huge congratulations to Mrs Hennah (Chemistry) whose education research article on digital badges has been included in the final of six special issues celebrating one hundred years of the American Chemistry Society's Journal of Chemistry Education. This highly acclaimed article was awarded Editor's choice, which makes it freely available to access. 

Richard Bernard

Executive Headteacher