Headmaster's Newsletter
Friday 13 March 2026
Dear Parents, I was, as one does, recently reading a seventeenth-century essay on gardening. Sir William Temple’s ‘Upon the Gardens of Epicurus’ was written in 1685 after he had retired from public life, and when he was trying to achieve some peace of mind. It is well worth a read, not least for his rather cutting comments about his political contemporaries, and for a defence of the English weather. I suspect that he had had enough of hearing jibes from his southern European counterparts when on diplomatic missions. Our Year 8s learnt about Temple and his garden this week in history lessons during our SHTEAM Festival, as we have been thinking about ‘Our Green Planet’ in lessons and workshops. Temple was very keen on his little bit of our green planet and on extolling its benefits, not least for people’s mental health.
It is one of the many joys of a school like at NCS that we have the freedom to think broadly and imaginatively, and to make connections between subjects that have much in common. Overarching SHTEAM themes make this even easier, and they remind us that all parts of our curriculum are important and that – as important as STEM subjects are – they should coexist happily and healthily, learn from, and be in dialogue with the arts and humanities. We have seen this in action across the school, from Reception to Year 8, in all of our subjects: ‘Was Shakespeare an Environmentalist?’ in English; ‘Nature and Humanity in Ovid’s Metamorphoses’ in Classics; ‘Stats and Facts in Nature’ in Maths; ‘France’s Regional, National and Marine Parks’ in French; ‘Food from Plants’ workshops delivered by our caterers, Thomas Franks; collaborative work in Art on our new giant beanstalk (reaching all the way from bottom to top of our new building); ‘Recycled Eco-Friendly Solar-Powered Vehicles’ in DTE; ‘The Natural World in the Abrahamic Faiths’ in RSP; ‘All the Colours of Nature’ in Wild Learning; ‘Sustainability in the Fourteenth Century’ in History; ‘Rewilding in the UK’ in Geography; musical theatre listening diaries based on nature in Music. And so on, and so on – dozens of things. Plus, I think I counted fifteen or sixteen guest speakers and workshops on a variety of green topics ranging from biodiversity to nature recovery, outsmarting the world’s deadliest animal, producing food sustainably, and working together for the sake of the planet.
A real highlight of the week was our annual Holloway Lecture, this year given by Professor Cameron Hepburn, Battcock Professor of Environmental Economics at Oxford. Cameron spoke about the danger of undermining the future health of the planet for the sake of the immediate comfort of fossil fuels. More optimistically, he spoke about the fact that there is a ‘social tipping point’ after which green choices become easier ones. Global problems need global solutions with people from all disciplines coming together, Cameron concluded, as he optimistically looked to a world after that tipping point. Enormous thanks to all those visiting speakers, especially those from the parent body, who came in to talk to the boys – we are incredibly lucky to have such a well of talent and enthusiasm among NCS parents, from which we can draw!
Naturally, such a busy, complex and successful week only comes about because of a great deal of hard work from my colleagues, and in particular Emma Krebs has, as ever, been at the SHTEAM helm, guiding the festival from inception to completion. Many thanks, too, to Caroline Hitchings who has masterminded the Pre-Prep QED week to complement our SHTEAM topic. We are already looking forward to next year – I think we’ve settled on a theme!
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
Many congratulations to Henry, Samuel and Monty who have been awarded academic scholarships to MCS, to Freddie who has been awarded an academic scholarship to Abingdon, and to Theo who has been awarded an academic scholarship to St Edward's!
The choristers were on superb form during their BBC Radio 3 live broadcast on Wednesday afternoon. A huge well done to them. You can listen to a recording at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002s3w5
We are looking forward to our junior recital, next Monday 16 March, at 17.15. Parking will be available once the playground is clear of pupils after their enrichment activities (c.17.00).
Next Wednesday, 18 March, we will be enjoying our annual College Day, with a series of special College-based events, including lunch in the medieval dining hall.
Looking ahead to the last week of term, do join us for our very special Spring Service in the chapel on Wednesday 25 March from 9.00. We will have a selection of music and readings, hopefully ushering in the joys of the new season. The service should last around 50 minutes, so it will be a little longer than our normal Wednesday chapel slots.
Sport roundup: The U8 and U9 teams ended last week with a resounding set of games away at Chandlings, with all of the NCS teams recording super wins and scoring lots of goals. This strong showing was carried over to Tuesday afternoon this week, where the boys faced their toughest test of the season so far. We made our way through the University Parks to The Dragon where the NCS teams faced, as predicted, some tough opposition. After weathering the initial storm, the boys quickly found their stride and managed to record three fabulous wins. Hearty congratulations to the NCS U9s.
The U13s have also been in action this week, and on three separate occasions they proved what a delight they are to take away to matches. Monday afternoon saw Christ Church visit us. In two epic encounters, the NCS strikers ran riot and dismantled the CCCS defences to run away with two comprehensive wins. This was followed up on Wednesday afternoon with an equally impressive showing when Cothill were our guests. Three wins out of four games, with one draw, was a great return for the boys’ efforts.
Finally this week, the U13A team played in the South-Central regional finals, following the County Championship win back in January. A brilliant day of hockey was enjoyed by the entire squad, and another “Plate Final” appearance was a fantastic result. Unfortunately, on this occasion we lost the final 3–2 to King Edward’s School in a last-second thriller that saw us concede a penalty flick that was duly converted by the KES striker. This did not dampen the spirits, and we reflected with the boys on a great day that included a close-fought win over Hall Grove and a 4–1 semi-final victory over MCS.
Upcoming Events Saturday 14 March 2026 End of University Term 9.00 OCCO Composers' Workshop and Concert (Auditorium) Monday 16 March 2026 All Week: Years 3-8 PTM in ICT Suite. All Week: Pre Prep Individual Parent Meetings 17.15 Junior Recital, Auditorium (parking from 17.00) Tuesday 17 March 2026 ABRSM exams 18.00 Year 6 French Cabaret, Dining Hall (ends 20.00) 9.30 tbc Year 3 Botanic Gardens Wednesday 18 March 2026 College Day 8.15 Eco Committee meeting, CLC 9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mr Felix Nolan, former NCS head boy 14.00 U11 A-D Hockey v Dragon, Away 14.00 U13 A-D Hockey v Dragon, St Edward's Thursday 19 March 2026 9.45 Year 6 Science trip to Natural History Museum (return 11.30) Saturday 21 March 2026 10.00 OCCO Chamber Music Recital Monday 23 March 2026 All Week: Eco: Great Big School Clean All Week: Pre Prep Individual Parent Meetings 17.15 Senior Recital, Auditorium (parking from 17.00) Tuesday 24 March 2026 Last day of VMT 1:1 Music Lessons (pre-prep and prep) Last day of After-school Enrichment Activities (pre-prep and prep) 9.30 Year 3 Ashmolean Museum visit to Egyptian Gallery (return 1.30) 11.00 U8 (All) Hockey v Summer Fields, Away 14.00 U8&9 Hockey House Match Finals, Iffley Road Wednesday 25 March 2026 9.00 Spring Service 14.00 U11 A-D Hockey v CCCS, St Edward's 14.00 U13 (All) Pre-Season Cricket, Uni Club & Field Thursday 26 March 2026 14.00 Pre-Prep Poetry Recitation and ‘Show and Tell’ Pre-Prep Spring Concert Friday 27 March 2026 Easter House Brunch 12.00 End of term (12 noon) Saturday 28 March 2026 13.00 Choral Society/Chamber Choir rehearsal (New College Chapel) 18.00 Choral Society/Chamber Choir concert (New College Chapel)