Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 13 December 2024

Why? The Times summarised it thus: ‘The key to Estonia’s success is a broad and balanced curriculum, with an emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and digital competence, the qualities that employers want. Pupils are expected to be active participants in their learning rather than passive recipients of facts … The curriculum is far broader than [the three subjects school leavers are assessed in: Estonian, maths and a foreign language] and it is compulsory for pupils to study humanities and sciences up to the age of 19 … Creative subjects are seen as central to a balanced education and music, sport and art are part of the curriculum. Students must complete a cross-disciplinary creative project to graduate from basic school and a research project before they leave upper school … There are no silent corridors … digital skills are integrated into the whole curriculum’. A lot of this sounded rather familiar, because at NCS apparently we already do much of what apparently makes Estonia so successful. And none of it is rocket science. Active critical thinking; digital competence; a research-focused independent project which sounds suspiciously like our Year 7-8 ‘special subject’; a broad and balanced curriculum; keeping the humanities alongside STEM; valuing the arts within the curriculum rather than discarding them, like many schools do, because they’d rather kill the joy of learning by doing the same core things (and/or verbal reasoning) over and over and over and over again. Obviously, we don’t do everything – partly because we only go up to thirteen and we have to leave something for the boys’ senior schools – and I’ll talk to my colleagues about introducing an Estonian language paper for our Year 8s.

Anyway, these lessons from Estonia bring us neatly to the end of Michaelmas 2024, and not just because we’re probably sharing similar weather at the moment. I’ve just come back to school from our second carol service of the week, which showed just what you can do if you value the arts, spend time on them, and showcase them as the boys have done so brilliantly. There are very few, if any, schools in the prep world that can put on a carol service like NCS boys. So with carols ringing in my ears, I will bring Michaelmas to a close by thanking you all for your enormous loyalty and support this term. Fourteen weeks is the longest term we ever do, and we’ve managed successfully thanks to your excellent company and dedication. I hope you all have a great break – see you in January!

Have a great vacation,

Matt Jenkinson

Well done to all those involved in the OCCO concert last Saturday morning. A rather dismal and stormy morning was more than brightened by fantastic chamber performances and then a great whole-orchestra performance of The Carnival of the Animals. It was a special and fitting end to OCCO’s Michaelmas term, as the orchestra goes from strength to strength following its foundation last year.

And well done, too, to the choristers who have not quite finished their Christmas performances, but sang brilliantly at the College Advent and carol services over the past two weekends. Britten’s Ceremony of Carols later today, alumni carol service tomorrow, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and then a more-than-well-earned rest! You can watch the recording of last Sunday's carol service at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnoEaUbeRko.

Speaking of carol services, it has been wonderful to have over three hundred people in the chapel both on Wednesday and Friday mornings for our two school carol services. With singing from all areas of the school and readings from across the prep school year groups, we hope that you are well and truly set up for the holidays. Carol service attendees may have noticed that we premiered a brand-new carol (words by yours truly; music by Tom Neal), ‘Watch for the Morning’, which you can hear at https://www.newcollegeschool.org/video-gallery. This year the service collection is supporting the Gatehouse, a local charity offering free support to adults in Oxford who are homeless. If you would like to donate please do so via https://www.justgiving.com/page/new-college-school-1732011274738.

Well done to all those boys in pre-prep who performed so well in their Nativity play this week. It is always one of the most heartwarming events of the season, and this year was no exception. Thanks to all my pre-prep colleagues for preparing the boys so well, to our pre-prep families who helped the boys learn their lines, to Izzy Rose for her work on the music, and Rosemary Cox for writing her wonderfully bespoke script!

Attached to the newsletter Parentmail is the most recent edition of The Eco-Nomist – our in-house eco-magazine, written by the boys and edited by Nick Hanson. We are also running an eco-based photography competition on the theme of ‘Winter’. Entries to Nicholas.hanson@newcollegeschool.org by Friday 10 January, please.

At the end of this term we say a couple of ‘goodbyes’ and ‘welcomes’. Firstly, we say thank you to Jacinta Evans, who is coming to the end of her stint as Year 1 TA during Kate Lam’s maternity leave. Jacinta was an NCS parent, with three boys through the school during the 2000s and 2010s, so it was especially lovely to be able to welcome her back. I’d like to thank her for entering into the NCS pre-prep ‘slipstream’ so well, and for taking such good care of the boys over the past year. As Jacinta has already demonstrated, one never really leaves the NCS community, so we look forward to welcoming her back whenever she would like to visit in the future! Kate has decided that she will not be returning to NCS full-time in January 2025; nonetheless, she will remain on the staff to lead some enrichment activities, offer some cover teaching, and continue as the school’s EDI rep. I am delighted to announce that our new Year 1 TA, from January, will be Yili Hu. Yili studied at the University of Melbourne and University College London. She has worked at the Athena Academy in Shanghai, the Grapeseed English Institution in Wenzhou, and at University College London. She has, most recently, been a Teaching Assistant at Maiden Erlegh School in Reading.

It is difficult to do adequate justice to all that Izzy Rose has brought to NCS over the past five and a bit years: as Assistant Director of Music, Year 7 Form Tutor, Chorister Tutor, and Director of Enrichment Activities. As that list of roles demonstrates, Izzy has thrown herself into all areas of NCS life and lent us her talents in so many different ways. Every bit of the school in which she has been involved has been enhanced by her presence and efforts. Alongside Izzy’s phenomenal work ethic, she has demonstrated granular knowledge of the boys, and deep empathy for them and their needs. She has been a brilliant teacher and colleague, and we wish her all the very best as she expands her teaching repertoire with some secondary experience at John Hampden School in High Wycombe.

In Izzy’s stead, I am delighted to report that Natalie Bath has been appointed Assistant Director of Music and Chorister Tutor at NCS from January 2025. Natalie received a distinction in her BMus at the University of Cape Town before pursuing postgraduate studies there, and then received a PGDip (distinction) in Singing at the Royal College of Music in London and an MEd in International Education from the University of Dundee. She has taught across all the key stages, including as: Director of Music at Abercorn School in London; music and singing teacher at Beaulieu Nursery, Prep and College in South Africa; Head of Arts at Raffles World Academy in Dubai; and, most recently, music teacher at Jumeirah College in Dubai. Natalie is also a professional opera singer and singing teacher, having been in-house soprano for Cape Town Opera and vocal coach for Dubai Opera Festival Chorus. She also plays the piano and clarinet, among many other instruments. Natalie has also taught drama and been a head of house and form tutor.

At the end of this term I also note a couple of gubernatorial changes at NCS. Jess Williams has come to the end of her ‘stint’ as the NCS safeguarding governor, so stands down at the end of this term. As you might imagine, the safeguarding governor role is a crucial one, and Jess has done it consummately: working assiduously and sensitively with all NCS constituencies and being an ever-reliable support. I am pleased to say that it is rare that we need to call on our safeguarding governor at NCS, but Jess has always been on the end of the phone when needed, with sage and sensible advice. From January 2025 our new safeguarding governor will be Aidan Vine KC, a Summertown-based family law barrister at Harcourt Chambers. He studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and at Cornell (where he was a Fulbright Scholar), before taking silk in 2016. In addition to his work as a barrister, Aidan has been a judicial assistant in the Court of Appeal, and temporary lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights. He was named Family Law KC of the Year at the 2023 LexisNexis Family Law Awards. Aidan’s two sons were pupils at NCS. To complete our board of governors, I am also pleased to announce that Matthew Albrighton will be joining us from January 2025. Matthew is currently the Headteacher of Burford School. Prior to his appointment he was, for nine years, Deputy Head Academic at St Edward’s School in Oxford. He has also taught at Wellington College, Warwick School and King Edward VI School in Birmingham. He read for his undergraduate and Master’s degrees at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and he holds a PGCE from the University of Birmingham. He will be governor with oversight of Inclusion (SEND matters) at NCS.

My thanks to the NCSPA committee and all those who sent in donations and helped out to make the Christmas Fair such a success on Thursday afternoon. This is one of the highlights of the year for the boys, and I appreciate that a lot of time, resources and effort go into making it so special. It was great to see so many boys wearing their Christmas jumpers as well, raising money for Save the Children. Our attentions now turn to the NCSPA Quiz on 31 January, so start getting your teams together!

You should have received an electronic copy of your son’s report via Schoolbase. Please let office@newcollegeschool.org if you have experienced any logistical issues with this.