Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 31 January 2025
Dear parents,
My old PGCE tutor, who then went on to become one of my MEd tutors, was not a big fan of putting grades on students’ work. Not unreasonably, he pointed out that pupils tend to open their books, skip over their teacher’s marking scribble, go ‘Yay, I got an A’, or ‘Boo, I got a D’, or whatever. They then, he argued, close their books and move on to the next thing preoccupying them that day. I’ve never fully agreed with him on this and, if we are to design our pedagogy based on our pupils’ less wholesome instincts, we might as well all give up now. I’ve always, rather, been of the view that we do need to put grades on work – otherwise how will they (and their parents) know how well they’ve done? How can we, as teachers, effectively gauge progress if we shy away from this summative assessment method? At the same time, though, we can put things in place to coax, tempt – or, indeed, in a nice way, force – pupils back to reading their teachers’ helpful comments. That is why, for example, part of our marking process includes ‘notes to self’. Yes, the boys can look at their grades but, no, they can’t then just shut their books. They have to engage with what their teacher has said or written, jot down the area to focus on next, and then get on with their lives.
None of this is very difficult, and once it is established as part of the routine of the lesson, it becomes automatic. Which is precisely what we want – we want the boys automatically to reflect on their performance, not get too hung up on where they are at the moment, but engage with the process of knowing how to improve. This puts a degree of responsibility and ownership on children at a relatively young age, but that’s no bad thing. Actually, it’s a really good thing, because it means that they enter their secondary schools at 13 with beneficial learning habits, and an understanding that learning is a process with ups and downs, responding to guidance along the way. Various benefits to such an approach have been noted among educational professionals: moving pupils’ attention away from be-all and end-all grades to the actual process of effective learning; boosting independence and self-confidence; encouraging critical thinking; promoting personal engagement in learning and, as a result, one’s self-motivation; and underlining the fact that one learning ‘journey’ might be different from the ‘journey’ of another.
So, this week, the boys in the prep school have been engaging in their half-year self-review. We do this every six months or so, to give them the chance to look back, and think back, over their performance in different subjects: to celebrate those areas that have been going well, and to identify those areas that might benefit from further attention and improvement. This is all within a supportive environment, and with the understanding that everyone in the room – child or adult – has areas they could develop. The fruits of this process, in self-reflection form, will arrive home at the end of this half term. But the overall benefits, the overall sense of patient and sensible self-review, will ideally be felt for a lifetime.
I’ll finish with a short anecdote from my first year at university, and a ‘tutor’ who I think competes as being one of the very worst ‘educators’ ever to have ‘taught’ me. At the end of my first term, keen to see how I could get my essay from a B++ to an A- (or whichever convoluted method of ‘assessment’ he got a kick out of deploying), I asked him at the end of the seminar how I might go about improving my work for next time. He looked at me, verging on the dumbfounded, and uttered, ‘Oh … You’re one of those, are you?’. Yes, yes I was. And I still am. And I want NCS boys to be ‘one of those’ too.
Have a great weekend, and happy Lunar New Year to all those celebrating!
Matt Jenkinson
The Charity Committee has selected The Gatehouse as our local charity to support this term (https://oxfordgatehouse.org/). The Gatehouse is local to NCS and a charity that the school has a proud history of supporting. They have been assisting Oxford’s homeless community since 1988, offering a wide range of free services and activities to adults who are homeless, vulnerably housed, on low or no income, or simply seeking company and community at their drop-in centre on Woodstock Road. The boys on the committee were eager to get involved in supporting this local, community-based charity, which does so much for those facing housing insecurity. In addition to the money raised this term, we will also be collecting donations of men’s clothing, with a particular focus on coats, jumpers, trousers, and shoes. If you have any items in good condition that you no longer need, please consider donating them via the school office before half term.
There will be cake sales every morning in break time, £1 per item, competing for the NCS Bake Off prize; last entries submitted by Thursday morning. Some pupils will be baking cakes with heart designs, others will opt for an ‘art’ theme, but any tasty treats will be gratefully appreciated (all to be nut free please, and ingredients listed on any home-made items). Our Home Clothes Day is Friday 14 February at a cost of £2. Years 5 and 6 should wear or bring clothes suitable for games in the afternoon. In the lead up to Valentine’s Day and showing our love for the Gatehouse, pupils will have the opportunity to try land the bunch of roses onto the cut-out heart in our morning break competition. 50p for 3 attempts with sweet prizes to be won. Then, at the end of the week, to celebrate Charity Week staff and Year 8 pupils will compete in a friendly basketball match on Friday 13:30 – 13:50.
Congratulations to Eddy in Year 3 whose painting won first prize in the ACD International Art Competition in China (for celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France). A total of 4,000 works qualified for the competition, and 80 won ‘first prize’ status. Eddy’s work will be sent to France as an excellent first prize representative, and will be part of a special exhibition in in early February.
Thanks to all those parents who responded to the ISI survey earlier this week, and enormous thanks to all those boys – and, of course, my colleagues – who showed NCS in its usual fantastic light while we had our visitors. If I start to doze off during the NCSPA quiz later, you’ll know why.
Speaking of the NCSPA Quiz – slightly in advance, I’d like to thank the NCSPA committee for all of their hard work putting the logistics of the evening together, and the SLT who have put together this evening’s questions. We are looking forward to crowning our new champions! A reminder that this is a sign-up only event as I think we are pretty much nearing capacity in the sports hall.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
U8 & 9 Hockey vs Chandlings, Iffley Road
Wednesday, 5 February 2025
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Lyndon Webb, Associate Chaplain, Merton College
14.15 U11 A-D Hockey vs Chandlings, Away
14.15 U13 A-D Hockey vs Cranford House, St Edward's
17.30 Governors’ Meeting (McGregor Matthews Room)
19.30 Year 6 theatre trip: Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, New Theatre, George St.
Thursday, 6 February 2025
15.00 U11 A IAPS Hockey, Tilsley Park
Friday, 7 February 2025
8.15 Tosca rehearsal, CLC
Monday, 10 February 2025
Charity Week begins
Start of Year 8/8S PSB/scholarship mocks week
Year 3-8 mid-year self-reviews completed and sent home this week
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mr Edward Beswick, former NCS Head Boy and Academical Clerk
14.15 U11 A-D Hockey vs Ashfold, Away
14.15 U13 A-D Hockey vs Ashfold, St Edward's
Thursday, 13 February 2025
8.15 Tosca rehearsal, CLC
Friday, 14 February 2025
Charity week home clothes day
Saturday, 15 February 2025
Start of Half-Term