Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 28 March 2025

Maybe the boys noticed these signs of spring as they hurtled around the College garden at breaktime on Wednesday, as they enjoyed our annual College Day. To walk straight from chapel to a variety of College-based activities is, of course, a great joy and privilege. Seventeen years in to my time here, I still get goosebumps when I take the boys to the College archives and we get to look at, say, Isaac Newton’s notebooks (with optics sketch), or Edward VI’s signature (shaky, close to death), or Jane Grey’s autograph from the brief time when she was ‘queen’ (with ‘regina’ crossed out by a later detractor). Perhaps some of the boys were more enthused by their lovely lunch in the College dining hall; I appreciate that we won’t all get excited by old stuff. Or box hedging.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues for their incredible hard work and support this term; events like the above don’t just happen – they take a lot of organising (and a lot of paperwork!). The boys, too, have worked very hard over this relatively short term. They, and you, deserve a fantastic break, and I look forward to seeing you at the start of Trinity.

Matt Jenkinson

I note, by the way, that I think this is my 200th newsletter. Obviously, I’ve been wanting to talk about box hedging since day 1, but I’ve been saving it up for a special occasion.

This morning we have been celebrating the treasured value of 'verticality' at NCS, through our house brunch. The boys, in their houses, have been taking part in quizzes and teamwork exercises, accompanied by pastries and chocolate milk! Many thanks to Brett Morrison for masterminding the morning, to our Year 8s who set the quizzes, and to all my colleagues who made the brunch such an enjoyable event.

At the end of this term, we say thank you and goodbye to Reuben McLusky, who has been a gap-year Sports Assistant here since September. You will notice that, for Reuben, it has been a gap-not-quite-a-year, as he now leaves us to go travelling before starting university. Reuben was a pupil at NCS, so it has been an especial joy welcoming him back to his old school, and he has been an excellent colleague over the past few months. We wish him all the well for the future.

I am delighted to announce that Camilla Scarf will be joining NCS from September 2025 as a Sports Assistant. Camilla was formerly a Sports Coach at Headington School, and she has many years’ experience coaching sports outside the school environment as well, including at Falcon Boat Club. Camilla is passionate about a lot of sports, and she was competed in many of them, including horse riding, rowing, tennis, swimming, athletics, and pickleball. I am sure that she will be made most welcome when she joins us at NCS in September.

Judo awards were presented earlier this week. These awards are given for demonstrating the values of Judo and for working within its code of conduct, showing discipline, respect, hard work and enthusiasm. Well done to Henry McK and Henry Sab (gold), Monty S and Michael K (silver), Alexander Fr, Henry D (bronze)!

Well done to the twelve boys who took part in our annual composers' workshop last Saturday morning. Under Mike Jennings' guidance, they had produced compositions for string quartet which were workshopped and performed by four professional musicians. The standard was extremely high and the visiting musicians all commented on the quality of the boys' work.

On Wednesday 14 May there will be a talk by Karl Hopwood on a ‘smartphone free childhood’. https://www.childnet.com/who-we-are/staff-and-trustees/trustees/karl-hopwood/ This is scheduled to start at 18.00 in the auditorium, and there will be an opportunity for parents of different years to meet, chat, and share ideas after the talk. Karl will provide an overview of what children and young people are doing when they are online, utilising the latest research, before focusing on the real risks and challenges that they face, and then looking at solutions which are both technical and practical things that parents and carers can do to help their children. Please note that, as there will be some sensitive issues discussed, this talk will not be appropriate for children to attend.