Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 5th September 2025
Dear Parents,
A very warm welcome to the 646th year of New College School. I hope you all had very happy and restful holidays.
At the very start of the summer, my appetite for Sicily not totally sated by the Year 8 leavers’ trip, I returned to the island for some sunshine, good food, and generally wandering around looking at nice architecture. While trying to find somewhere for dinner on my first evening in Ragusa, in the very south of Sicily, I came across one of many tiny churches in the town: the church of Santa Maria delle Scale: Saint Mary of the Steps.
The church is so called because it sits at the top of 340 steps which join the two parts of the town of Ragusa: Ragusa Superiore and Ragusa Ibla. When it was originally built, in the Norman period, it stood on the edge of a ravine. Nowadays it has a lively bar outside it and an excellent restaurant just above it – that’s where I had my dinner. Visitors go up and down those 340 steps largely unaware of the treasures behind the church door they are passing. Like many places that have been around for almost a millennium, the church’s architecture reflects many changes. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style by Cistercian monks in the 1300s, around the same time that New College was being founded and built. Then, more dramatically, much (but not all) of the church was destroyed in an earthquake in 1693. The subsequent rebuilding project was done in the Baroque style, reflecting the taste of the times in Ragusa and its surrounding towns.
But, as I say, not everything was destroyed. There is beautiful Gothic stonework which is just a little bit older than New College chapel, and which survived the earthquake. There is a pulpit from the 1400s; a baptismal font from the 1550s. You can still see frescoes from the 1590s. All of these different architectural styles sit together and provide us with a reminder that we can ‘read’ buildings in much the same way that we can ‘read’ other sources when learning about the past. We can see what was valued at different times, what has stayed, what has gone, and often why those things have disappeared.
The church of Saint Mary of the Steps reminded me of the importance of the longevity of institutions, but also that institutions face challenges throughout history and then need to rethink, and sometimes rebuild. New College and New College School are not quite as old as the church, but they are not far off it. During their long histories they have stood firm as the world around them outside has changed. The Wars of the Roses, the Reformation, the English Civil War, two world wars, pandemics: NCS pupils have kept working and learning throughout. This week we welcomed the 646th generation of pupils here. There are very few schools in the world that can say such a thing.
Like the church of Saint Mary of the Steps, the NCS that welcomed our new boys and their families this week has changed in many, many ways since it was founded. But, like that Sicilian church, there are some crucial things which endure, and we can summarise these by referring to our foundations. Standing strong on the side of a rocky hill, above a ravine, the church’s founders made sure the foundations were strong enough for it to survive and thrive. While the architecture above ground may have changed with time, those foundations have endured. Equally, the NCS foundations have endured for various reasons, and I think one such reason is the importance of values within those foundations.
Educational fads come and go. Governments come and go. Trendy ways of teaching and learning come and go. The best institutions take the best bits of these innovations, while letting the short-term gimmicks wither away. Decent values, though, do not and should not come and go. You hear the phrase ‘manners makyth man’ here rather a lot, and that’s because the motto of William of Wykeham’s foundations endures. It is a simple and memorable guide to life: you are what you do, how you behave, how you treat one another. You are not defined by your bank balance, your phone, or your car. There are various other values that spring from this core principle: the importance of collaboration, of looking out for one another, taking care of one another – especially the younger and more vulnerable members of our community; of respecting those around you, even if their views may differ from yours; of integrity and honesty in our work, at a time when there are many temptations that might take us in the opposite direction. All of these values are enshrined in our code of conduct, our school rules, which apply to everyone in the school, from the youngest boy in Reception to the longest-serving teacher.
But codes of conduct can get a bit wordy, a bit long, and hard to remember — something to put in a planner or on the form room wall, but perhaps not to remember and internalise. That is why short memorable mottoes and day-to-day embodying and living of values are more important. So in Wednesday’s chapel I asked the boys to do some fairly simple, but important, things: “think about what you say to those around you, and how you are saying it. Think about how you play in the playground, how you engage with others when you disagree about something in your football game. Think about how you treat others when are walking (and I stress the word ‘walking’) around the corridors between lessons: are you cheerful and friendly to those you pass, whether pupils or adults, friends or strangers? Do you hold doors open? When something goes wrong, which it inevitably does in life, are you honest with your parents and teachers about it? Do you grease the wheel of our NCS community by these small acts of kindness, of cheerful and effective coexistence?”.
You may have heard me say such things before — but that’s because they are important, and it is helpful to begin week one of Michaelmas 2025 in the way that we want the rest of the year to run. The NCS buildings do not hang over a ravine, like that beautiful Sicilian church I encountered in July. I’m rather grateful for this; I don’t fancy writing that risk assessment. But we do have strong foundations in common, and we have a shared history of facing many different challenges over hundreds of years. There will, no doubt, be more challenges in the future — that’s the nature of history and longevity over centuries. But with the right foundations based on our values, like the church of St Mary of the Steps, we can look at and treasure the layers of our past, while looking optimistically to the future.
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
Many congratulations to Michael Staveley, who has been awarded a drama scholarship to d’Overbroeck’s!
We have recently been updating our policies in relation to ‘Martyn’s Law’, which mandates institutions to have certain procedures in place in the event of emergencies. While it is important for the boys to know what to do in the event of an emergency, we are also very aware of the fact that we have young pupils at NCS, of a variety of ages, so we need to be careful about how this information is conveyed without causing alarm or distress. Over the coming weeks, form tutors will be talking through emergency procedures at a level appropriate to the age of each class.
The school’s 2025-26 safeguarding policy is available on the school website via
https://www.newcollegeschool.org/_site/data/files/documents/F0C327BA45C29C91461E0EBC09590B18.pdf
The school’s RSHE (Relationships, Sex and Health Education) policy is available to view at https://www.newcollegeschool.org/wellbeing-and-happiness. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact brett.morrison@newcollegeschool.org or office@newcollegeschool.org.
The school’s Attendance and Registration policy is available to view at https://www.newcollegeschool.org/page/?title=Attendance+and+Registration&pid=111 . The Senior Attendance Champion is Rosemary Cox (rosemary.cox@newcollegeschool.org).
We are looking forward to our start-of-year information evenings next week. Please find the key information below:
Reception and Year 1 form tutor information evening. Monday 8 September 2025, 18.00. Parking available on-site from 17.15: first come, first served. 18.00: meetings with form tutors in Reception/Year 1 form rooms. 18.30: drinks in dining room
Years 2-3 form tutor information evening, and introduction to the prep school. Monday 8 September 2025, 18.00. Parking available on-site from 17.15: first come, first served. 18.00: introduction to the prep school in auditorium. 18.30: meetings with form tutors in Years 2 and 3 form rooms. 19.00: drinks in dining room
Years 4-6 form tutor information evening, internet safety and 13+ destinations briefing. Tuesday 9 September 2025, 18.00. Parking available on-site from 17.15: first come, first served. 18.00: 13+ destinations and internet safety briefing in auditorium. 18.30: meetings with form tutors in Years 4-6 form rooms. 19.00: meeting registrars of 13+ future schools + drinks in sports hall
Years 7-8/8S form tutor information evening and PSB briefing. Thursday 11 September 2025, 18.00. Parking available on-site from 17.15: first come, first served. 18.00: academic and pastoral briefing in auditorium. 18.30: meetings with form tutors in Years 7 and 8 form rooms. 19.00: drinks in dining room
And, for your diaries, here are the dates and times for this year’s parents’ evenings. For the prep school, parents’ evenings formally begin at 18.00, but there are often colleagues ready to chat to parents earlier (from c.17.45) for those who wish to get a head start. Parking is usually available from 17.15 once the playground is clear of boys leaving after-school enrichment activities. We request that parents arrive in good time to get around all of the teachers to whom they need to speak, usually no later than 18.30, to enable colleagues to get home at a sensible time.
Year 7 parents’ evening: Wednesday 1 October 2025, 18.00
Year 6 parents’ evening: Wednesday 26 November 2025, 18.00
Year 3 and 8S parents’ evening: Wednesday 14 January 2026, 18.00
Year 4 parents’ evening: Wednesday 28 January 2026, 18.00
Year 5 parents’ evening: Wednesday 25 February 2026, 18.00
Year 8 parents' evening: Wednesday 4 March 2026, 18.00
Pre-Prep parents' evening: Wednesday 18 March 2026, 17.30 tbc
Many thanks for sending in your pictures of the boys reading in interesting locations, for our annual competition. If you have any more to send in, please do email them to office@newcollegeschool.org. We will then be able to announce our winner and add to our photo wall outside the library. Holiday diaries are also very much enjoyed, so do please drop them into the office for us to read.
Please can I reiterate my usual plea about allergies? We aspire to be a nut-free school, due to a number of children with allergies, so we request that nuts are not put into school snack boxes, cakes, and the like. Many thanks.
Upcoming Events
03 September 2025
Start of Term
After School Enrichment Activities start (pre-prep and prep)
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Headmaster
06 September 2025
9.30 OCCO INSET (staff only)
08 September 2025
18.00 Reception and Year 1 form tutor information evening
Years 2-3 form tutor information evening and introduction to the prep school
09 September 2025
9.00 Portrait photos
18.00 Years 4-6 form tutor information evening, internet safety and 13+ destinations briefing
10 September 2025
VMT Music lessons begin
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Chaplain
9.15-3.30 Years 3 and 4 Team Building Day - Hill End
14.15 U13 A-C/D Football vs Thorngrove, home
14.15 U11 A-C/D Football vs Thorngrove, away
11 September 2025
18.00 Years 7-8 form tutor information evening and PSB briefing
13 September 2025
9.00 OCCO commences