Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 10 October 2025
Dear Parents,
Professor Robert Waldinger from Harvard, with the help of the Princess of Wales, has written an essay titled ‘The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World’. The essay notes that, facing an epidemic of disconnection, ‘We live increasingly lonelier lives, which research shows is toxic to human health’. It encourages families to ‘look the people you care about in the eye and be fully there – because that is where love begins’. That is, aside from the rather Hallmark Cards phraseology, meaningful relationships are important for our happiness and health, and our happiness and health are at risk if we allow the pressures of modern life to break those connections. The boys are growing up in a world where the traditional methods of community-building are in danger of fragmenting, if they haven’t already fragmented. While the devices at which we all stare can be positive in terms of fostering connections – the plus-side of social media – there are potential dangers in not building those connections face-to-face, or in rejecting those connections totally as we get lost in individualised doom-scrolling. Feelings of loneliness and isolation can easily creep up on us in these situations, undermining our wellbeing and resilience.
The future queen and Professor Waldinger could have saved a bit of time and popped into NCS at some point over the past few years, to see that we have been talking about this very issue as part of our wellbeing programme for quite a while. It also, in a remarkable coincidence, happens to be our wellbeing theme of the week. In Nick Hanson’s wellbeing assembly on Tuesday we therefore heard from Year 7 about all of the things they did over the summer to ‘spend time being active and building connections with family and friends’. We also heard about all the benefits of those activities, for our mental and physical health: helping us to avoid loneliness, building trust in others, promoting our teamwork and collaboration skills, and so on. Stephen Young carried on the theme in Thursday’s assembly, when we heard about his passion for outdoor adventure, including rock climbing, especially alongside his family and friends.
We regularly reiterate to the boys the long list of people to whom they can speak if they are feeling worried. Building meaningful connections with family and friends is a powerful first step in pre-empting those worries and engendering a feeling of solidarity and protection. I frequently meet NCS alumni whose best friends are those friends they met here. Through adulthood they speak to one another all the time, sometimes about mundane things, sometimes about more consequential ones. And, even when that dialogue drops for a while because of the realities of day-to-day life, it is soon picked up again without any effort. I imagine most people, perhaps everyone, reading this newsletter can think of an old friend or family member with whom they caught up over the summer, with whom their connection had dropped for a few months or even a year, but with whom they effortlessly picked up the thread. Such is the power of building meaningful connections when we are younger, sustaining us through the vicissitudes of life when it gets that little bit busier.
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
Enormous thanks to all of those boys, parents and colleagues who helped out at our open morning last Saturday. As ever, there was a lovely vibe about the place and lots of prospective parents spoke in glowing terms about the boys and my colleagues. It’s always lovely to hear!
The first evensong of university term is this evening, 10 October, at 18.15 in New College chapel. All NCS families are very warmly invited to the service, and indeed all subsequent services in College, details of which can be found at https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/chapel. The choristers have already been in action this term, singing at graduation and gaude evensongs, and taking part in the Founder’s Obit service in Winchester. They are in excellent voice. Congratulations to the Year 5 choristers – Samson, Wilbur, Liam, Luke and Leo – who will be surpliced in Sunday’s evensong!
The New College School ‘Welcome to the Foundation Service’ will be on Wednesday 15 October in New College Chapel. The service will begin at 9.00 and will take a little longer than our usual Chapel. This is the occasion when all new members of the school, boys and staff, are formally welcomed to the New College Foundation by the Headmaster and the Warden of New College, the school’s chair of governors. We would like to encourage all families of new boys to attend this important occasion if you can. Parents of new boys will be directed to seats at the altar end of the chapel, so they get a good view of the ceremony.
We are once again entering the pre-test season for 13+ entry to some of our senior schools; I wish all those boys involved the very best of luck! Details of our preparation in school can be found at https://www.newcollegeschool.org/future-schools.
National Year of Reading: October is Black History Month and Kate Lam would like to suggest a few books that boys will enjoy and learn a lot from. David Olusoga’s 2016 Black and British is a comprehensive account, and may be on many NCS parents’ bookshelves. But, at nearly 700 pages, it’s a bit bulky for the average school rucksack. An abridged version, Black and British: A Short, Essential History, is available in the library and highly recommended to boys in Years 6-8. Boys in Years 3-5 may also enjoy Alison Hammond’s Black in Time: The Most Awesome Black Britons from Yesterday to Today, which focuses on famous (and hopefully-soon-to-be-more-famous) individuals. Both books are illustrated introductions to fascinating lives.
The theme for our annual SHTEAM Festival next Hilary will be ‘Our Green Planet’. We will be exploring this theme from many different angles across all our subjects, running talks and workshops, as well as incorporating the theme in our day-to-day lessons. If there are any parents, taking into account their specialist knowledge, who would like to offer a talk or workshop to the boys on an aspect of ‘Our Green Planet’, do please contact emma.krebs@newcollegeschool.org.
On Sunday 14 December at 6pm, the New College School Chamber Choir and Choral Society will present their annual Christmas concert in New College Chapel. This year, we are performing alongside members of The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra in a festive programme including Respighi's Lauda per la Natività del Signore and Britten's Ceremony of Carols. Tickets are now on sale via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ncs-christmas-concert-respighi-britten-tickets-1741687266499. Tickets at a discounted rate are available for NCS parents: simply use the promo code 'Respighi1379' at the checkout.
Sport roundup: After a very busy couple of weeks on the football pitches, the NCS teams are beginning to gel and put in the performances that we know they are capable of. Over the past few days, we have seen teams from across the whole of the prep school in action, and even the Year 2 boys got in on the act with their fabulous afternoon of football alongside St Michael’s Primary and East Oxford Primary. It was marvellous to see so many children running around and enjoying their sport, and they were expertly refereed and guided by our Year 8 Sports Leaders.
Both the U11 and U13 teams have competed in the recent IAPS regional qualifiers, and both teams gave a great account of themselves, with quarter-finals of the “Plate” an achievement to be very proud of. We set up at IAPS knowing that to be successful we would have to make ourselves hard to beat and as compact as possible. Tournament football is often won by the team that concedes the fewest goals, rather than the one that scores the most. This set the tone for our first two games, both hard-fought 0–0 draws against Cheltenham Prep and Cottesmore. In the third game we knew that a win would secure qualification. That was easier said than done against a Repton side that had demolished the other two teams in the group. Setting out to defend deep and try to score on the counter, we did exactly that. A smash-and-grab win was cruelly denied with the last kick of the game when Repton equalised through a very soft penalty. Three draws against three very good sides is definitely an afternoon to be proud of. On the same afternoon, the U8 and U9 teams hosted Abingdon Prep and Cothill in a mini festival of football. With nearly 100 children out playing football, it was a really satisfying sight to look across the NCS sports ground and see such high-quality games. NCS enjoyed a really positive afternoon with good wins across both age groups, but on this occasion the NCS U8 teams stole the show thanks to their dominant display of great football and even better team spirit.
On Wednesday afternoon, the U11 A and B teams travelled to Cothill to play both Cothill and Bruern Abbey, with the U13s also away at Cothill, though on this occasion just to play our hosts. U11 A went down 3–0 to a strong Cothill side, but they fought really hard and pushed our hosts all the way, and could – maybe should – have had a couple of goals of our own. Against Bruern Abbey, we came from behind to win 3–2. With a slight change of position, the boys forced Bruern onto the back foot and started to create and take their chances in front of goal. They worked well in their new formation, with fitness, marking, composure and passing under pressure being the main areas of improvement. In the U11 B team, the boys found their form after half-time and took the game to our hosts, Cothill. Unfortunately, they could not claw back their first-half advantage and, despite their best efforts, lost the opening game. In the second game against Bruern Abbey, the boys settled into a rhythm, starting to find better touches on the ball and reading the play. The midfield was often in space on the wing and was able to receive the ball and cross to the strikers, both of whom scored. We conceded only the one Bruern goal, when play changed direction quickly – a fine win to cap a great afternoon.