Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 13 February 2026
Dear Parents,
We are currently in an interesting situation when it comes to mental health in schools. Schools rightly take mental health seriously, whatever the week, but this week has been the annual Schools Mental Health Week, following the theme ‘This is My Place’. Whenever I carry out mock interviews for our pupils going through the 13+ entry process for their senior schools, I begin with a ludicrous question – ‘Which school do you go to at the moment?’ – and follow up with a slightly more sensible one – ‘Do you like it there?’. If they say ‘yes’, which (phew) they always do, I then ask, ‘What do you like about it?’. More often than not the word ‘inclusive’ comes up, in that the boys feel that they belong here, and they accept and celebrate others in our environment whether or not they are like them.
I say we are in an ‘interesting situation’ because, at the same time, there are some notes of caution being sounded about how we talk about mental health among young people (and older ones, but let’s stick to the young ones for now). James Dahl, Master of Wellington College, has been in the press recently to make the point that there is a danger of over-diagnosing mental health conditions among young people who are experiencing what he calls the ‘bumps in the road of growing up’. At the same time, he says, young people are learning medical psychiatric terms on social media, which they are then self-diagnosing and applying to themselves, without (understandably) a full understanding of what those terms and diagnoses actually denote. One such example is a TikTok video which says, ‘Watch this and in twenty seconds we will give you the three questions that will tell you whether you’re depressed or not’. Dahl says that, as a whole, ‘society is still over-willing to pathologise and diagnose as chronic the sort of issues that are just the natural ups and downs of being a human and being a teenager’.
It is difficult to discuss these issues in the way that Dahl does, because there is the immediate keyboard-warrior temptation to accuse him of downplaying real mental health issues, brushing such issues under the carpet, or in extremis accusing him of promoting the outdated stiff-upper-lip just-get-on-with-it approach of childhood sadness. I don’t think he is doing any of those things. Rather, by being judicious and careful about the language that we use, and the diagnoses that we make, we actually take mental health even more seriously. If everyone is anxious (with a small ‘a’) when they are showing natural day-to-day nerves, then we risk missing or downplaying those who do genuinely suffer from Anxiety (with a capital ‘A’). If we use the word ‘depression’ in a pervasive way whenever someone feels sad or down – part of growing up, part of being human once we are grown up – then we run the risk of not really seeing and taking it seriously when someone is actually suffering from Depression that would likely lead to a clinical diagnosis.
Careful, cautious and judicious use of language is important when it comes to mental health, then, and so is the sense of belonging that the Schools Mental Health Week is seeking to promote. It is in the nature of a small school with a strong sense of its long history, and where everyone knows everyone else, that the boys develop a sense of belonging. I remember chatting to a former pupil at the gate one afternoon, who had come back from his senior school just to take a quick look at NCS from the outside. ‘It was like a family’, he said, which kind of stopped me in my tracks. Though in the general sense I understand what this place means to the people within it, I don’t think I’d appreciated just how profoundly this pupil had seen us, and how important we had been to him and his sense of belonging. It is difficult, but of course not impossible, for this to happen again in a big senior school or an even bigger university. But I was proud, and just a little choked up, to hear how much he felt that he belonged at NCS.
Have a great half term break – and Happy Lunar New Year to all those celebrating next week,
Matt Jenkinson
Well done to all our Year 8s who took their mocks in their stride this week. This is all good practice in a supportive and benign environment, so there are no surprises when the ‘real things’ come along later in the year.
The rain has done nothing to dampen the philanthropic spirit at NCS this week. As ever the excitement over breaktime cake sales has been palpable. We have enjoyed some extraordinary and delicious creations and clearly our community is full of very talented bakers. We have also run a competition throwing heart lollies through a heart shaped box (to reflect the week’s and experienced the adrenaline rush of a Staff vs Year 8 Dodgeball competition. Our sincere thanks to everyone who helped their sons make or buy cakes this week. We have raised over £1,100 for the NSPCC in just a few days.
We are looking forward to our Year 5 parents’ evening on Wednesday 25 February at 18.00. My usual notices regarding parents’ evenings: some colleagues like to make an early start so do please arrive a little earlier than 18.00 if you are at a loose end. Please aim to arrive by 18.30 so you have enough time to get around every colleague by 20.00. Parking is available in the playground from 17.00 once the area is clear of boys departing after their enrichment activities. If there are any issues that you feel would need longer than a c.5-minute meeting, please contact the relevant teacher in advance to arrange a separate chat.
World Book Day is on 5 March, and will be upon us before we know it after half term. As ever, we will be joining schools around the country in encouraging boys to come in dressed as a literary character (though not one who looks, say, surprisingly like a prep school boy in home clothes). Please do not go to any great effort or expense for this; imaginative and recycled costumes are often the best ones!
Elizabeth Hess would like to recommend all pupils (and parents) explore the pleasures of enjoying a story through an audiobook. There remains debate about whether listening to an audiobook 'counts' as reading. Research by the National Literary Trust shows that listening to a story supports younger children's literacy development just as much as reading from the page; it may also be even more effective than a handheld book at encouraging older children to maintain the habit of reading for pleasure. Adults, too, can benefit from listening to a book while doing everyday activities. Oxfordshire Libraries have made available two curated lists of audiobooks that Pre-Prep students, Prep students, parents and teachers will surely enjoy: Read Out Loud - Oxfordshire County Council - OverDrive All eAudiobooks | Oxfordshire County Council Libraries - BorrowBox As part of our World Book Day celebrations after half term, we will be running our annual poetry recital competition. Every student in the prep school is asked to learn a short (around fourteen lines is ideal) poem by heart to be recited in front of their class after half term. Those selected as each class's winners will then recite their poem in front of the whole school prep school on World Book Day. Pupils have been selecting their poems in their English lessons this week and have been tasked with practising them over the break. We would be very grateful for any support you can offer your son.
Upcoming Events
Sunday 22 February 2026 PM Chamber Choir rehearsal, Sheldonian Theatre Monday 23 February 2026 12.30 U13 A Prep Schools' Hockey Festival, Stowe Tuesday 24 February 2026 14.15 U8 (All) Hockey v MCS, Away 14.00 U9 (All) Hockey v Beachborough, Iffley Road Wednesday 25 February 2026 8.15 School Council meeting, CLC 9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mr Matty Rolfe, former NCS pupil and current New College student 12.00 U10 A St Edward's Hockey Festival, St Edward's 14.00 U11 B-D Hockey v Chandlings, Away 14.15 U13 Cross Country House Matches, Uni Parks 18.00 Year 5 parents' evening Friday 27 February 2026 9.00 HPV Vaccinations Year 8 (ends 11.00) 14.15 U11 Hockey House matches, St Edward's Sunday 01 March 2026 18.00 Kids go Classical! Concert, Sheldonian Theatre (Chamber Choir only) Monday 02 March 2026 All week: Eco: Food Waste Action Week 14.15 U13 Hockey House matches, St Edward's Tuesday 03 March 2026 14.00 U9 A&B Hockey v Winchester House, Away Wednesday 04 March 2026 Provisional date for Music Scholars' opera trip 9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Chaplain 12.10 Year 4 Trip to History of Science Museum (return 14.30) 14.00 U11 A-D Hockey v Winchester House, St Edward's 18.00 Year 8 Parents' Evening Thursday 05 March 2026 NCS Festival of Literature World Book Day 14.15 U8&9 Hockey v Chandlings, Away Friday 06 March 2026 14.15 U11 Hockey House Match Finals, St Edward's