School Blog

First and foremost, you may be asking, “What is RSE?”  RSE stands for Relationship and Sex Education. It is usually taught as part of the PSHE schemes of work in most schools and is made compulsory for schools to offer it, by the government. Relationship and sex education is about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, relationships, sex, gender, sexuality and sexual health and is tailored according to age, and physical and emotional maturity of the children and teenagers to which it is delivered. 

The Department for Education introduced compulsory Relationships Education for primary pupils and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) for secondary pupils from September 2020, though here at Northampton High School, we have been doing that for many years as we believe it to be a vital part of education for all children and teenagers.

Through the topics covered in these lessons, the government aims to “support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe”. As part of the wider education of our pupils, we aim to ensure that they are able to leave us, after completing their education, as well rounded citizens with excellent A level grades, are able to navigate the tricky waters of the modern world. It is also important to us here at the High School, that we are able to engage in open dialogue with you as parents about this, and believe that working in partnership is essential to your understanding of what we are teaching, but also giving you options for you and your child. We fully appreciate that there may well be topics that you are less comfortable with and even topics that you wish to opt out of for your child. Our hope is that with further discussions and consultation, we are able to put your minds at rest, and offer further detail on what is delivered, however that decision remains yours to make. The idea is not to indoctrinate pupils with ideas that go against the individual beliefs of members of our community, but to foster opportunities for pupils to explore themes that they are exposed to via social media and through conversations and interactions with their peers. 

So why is it so important to include it within our curriculum? High quality RSE ensures children and young people are equipped with the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to cope with the many pressures and challenges of modern society. Learning about friendships and family in RSE are the building blocks to help children to understand themselves and others. Knowledge alone is not enough. Developing skills such as listening, negotiation and decision making means young people will be more prepared to take responsibility for, and enjoy, sexual and emotional relationships free from the unwanted consequences of sexual relationships such as sexually transmitted infections and the dangers of exploitation and abuse. 

RSE makes an important contribution to health and wellbeing by supporting children and young people’s ability to learn, achieve and flourish, but of course, these topics are taught in an age appropriate way and we ensure that it is delivered in a safe environment, where pupils are free to express their opinions and ask questions. 

Statistically, young people who are not able to discuss sex and relationships in a safe environment, are more at risk of falling victim to sex related crimes and are less well equipped to recognise dangers or support their peers. In 2016, research was published from the National Library of Medicine on global rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. They concluded that in countries like Switzerland, the “long-established sex education programs, widespread expectation that sexually active teens will use contraception, free family planning services and low-cost emergency contraception” were significant factors in reducing teen pregnancy and transmission of STI’s in teenagers. Similarly, in Canada, the introduction of compulsroty Sex Education correlated with a dramatic decrease in teenage pregnancy rates. 

One of the biggest reasons for ensuring that Relationships and Sex Education is delivered in school, is to help combat the dangers from social media and exposure to heavily edited television. Mis-information about sex, or unrealistic expectations about relationships are shared regularly in the media via Reality TV, like Love Island and children are exposed to significantly more adult themes through social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat.

In one of my blogs last year, based on Teens and Screens, I wrote of some of the new dangers that materialise through online interactions, and the increase in vulnerability of children and teenagers to explicit content that they are not ready for. In particular, their risk has increased in the last few years as the pandemic forced our lives to exist online more than ever before. Whilst we are unable to fully protect them from content that they might stumble across or be sent by others, we can address the sorts of feelings and worries that this might present to our pupils and offer practical advice on how to safeguard themselves from harm in this way. In Key Stage 4, for example, we discuss the dangers of assuming pornography is representative of real sexual experiences and talk about the importance of trust and companionship prior to physical relationships developing. We also talk about the concept of ‘revenge porn’, and their rights as young adults to privacy and the impact of sharing videos and/or images of others without their consent. 

In the younger years, the focus is more on forming positive relationships. We look at what ‘Coercion’ means and ask pupils to recognise that controlling behaviours can occur in a platonic relationship between friends as well as in romantic relationships. We talk about the importance of trust and link this with a wider understanding of tolerance and mutual respect. Of course, we also talk about the physical side of growing up. With the average age of puberty in girls at 11 years old in the UK, we recognise that some of our pupils will start their periods whilst still in the junior school. It is therefore vital that we can share information about this with them, to reassure them and to allow them to ask questions. 

In addition to taught sessions in PSHE, we utilise the knowledge and expertise of our school nurse who is able to ensure that the medical information surrounding puberty, sex and the body is delivered effectively and correctly. Pupils also have access to an anonymous drop box where they can ask questions about their bodies, or about sex and relationships, witout fear of ridicule or embarrassment. These questions are answered generally and sensitively with different year groups to ensure the responses are appropriate, and they help us to understand what pupils might be worried about so that we are able to offer support. 

So, as part of our ongoing dialogue with you as parents, I would like to invite you to take part in our short survey on our school’s RSE policy, and to open the floor to any questions you may wish to find answers to or general points that you would like to raise with us. This was sent out a few weeks ago but I wanted to offer a further opportunity for parents to be involved. Below, you will find the link to the survey and also the link to our policy for you to read at your convenience. I look forward to following up on the discussion points raised in the near future.

The link to the survey 

The link to our RSE policy

Finally, I will end with this:

“The right to education includes the right to sexual education, which is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realising other human rights, such as the right to health, the right to information and sexual and reproductive rights.”

Report to the UN General Assembly – July 2010, Item 69, Paragraph 18

With the right knowledge and understanding, we are able to make better decisions and overall are less at risk of harm, if we can recognise the dangers. The wellbeing and safety of our pupils is and will remain at the heart of all that we do, and I thank you for your engagement with us across all aspects of our community. 

Rebecca Kneen
Assistant Head Pastoral

The High School’s Year 13 students are in the midst of animated discussions about their plans for life after school. Personal statements are being edited and re-edited, the relative benefits of city vs. campus university are being weighed and everyone agrees that there is actually a lot to be said for having access to one’s own washing machine at home. In the course of these conversations, I have been struck by the degree to which the university landscape is in flux. Changes in Higher Education are nothing new, of course. Northampton can lay claim to the UK’s third most venerable university, a foundation that was established in 1261 and dissolved by Henry III in 1265 – apparently on account of the threat it posed to some rather insecure scholars in Oxford. But the changes of the last few years have been notably rapid and represent an acceleration of a trend that has been apparent since the introduction of university tuition fees by Tony Blair’s Labour government.

Since 1998, just under 20 new institutions have been founded, existing ones expanded, new courses introduced and others retired. University funding per student has increased significantly, as has the degree to which universities are scrutinised, held accountable and managed. There are now more different types of higher education provider and different methods of assessment and learning, with a greater focus on employability and on traditionally vocational courses. The UK’s higher education participation rate has grown to over 50 per cent, while the proportion of students who are female has risen to 57 per cent. The UK’s university system continues to gain in popularity worldwide, as more international students are choosing to study here than ever before, with particularly strong growth coming from China, India and Nigeria over the last five years. Such changes are not confined to the UK, as countries seek to attract talented young people from across the globe. Many universities in non-English-speaking countries now deliver some undergraduate courses in English, whether in Egypt, the Netherlands, Singapore or Sweden.

What does all this mean for our High School students? Cutting through the complexity, there are two sets of seemingly contradictory advice that I think matter most.

First, the most competitive courses are becoming more competitive – but don’t underestimate your potential. There is no escaping the fact that competition for “high-tariff” courses has increased hugely. To maximise their chances of success, students must be engaging in their subjects widely outside class, as well as developing a solid base of general knowledge (they could be reading the Financial Times online through our school subscription and listening to Radio 4, say). They must begin to do so early and during the first half of Year 12 at the latest. That said, our students are excellent and should feel confident that, with the right attitude to their learning and supercurricular studies, they have every reason to aspire to the most competitive courses.

Second, your choice of course matters and it must be one that suits your strengths and interests – but you are also quite likely to study another course at master’s level. Applying successfully to a university isn’t an end in itself. What matters are the subsequent three or four years. This is why the choice of course is so important: will you enjoy your studies, flourish and be successful; does the format of assessment suit you; does the location fill you with joy (rolling countryside or urban buzz); will your extracurricular skills and talents find an outlet to enrich your life? It is more than likely that there is a course that suits you. That said, increasing numbers of undergraduates are staying at or returning to university to complete postgraduate courses. If you can’t decide between two courses now, make a decision in the knowledge that you may be able to study at the other university at a later date.

I am proud of the support we offer our students when preparing for university. Throughout the year, we run sessions and hold events that help develop students’ understanding of life after school. The Sixth Form Information Evening on Wednesday 19 October will give Year 11 students a flavour of Sixth Form and I would encourage them to start having conversations about university options with the subject teachers who already know them so well. On Friday 27 January 2023 the University of Leicester will be giving a talk on universities and careers at the High School, while on Tuesday 21 February the University of Birmingham will be joining us for our Higher Education Evening, with a further two talks from other providers later in the year. Our tutors and subject teachers have a huge amount of experience; Mrs Carr offers bespoke support for medics, Miss Kilby for Oxbridge applicants and Miss Robinson for personal statements across all courses. They all know the higher education landscape well, but, more importantly, they know their students.

Mr Viesel
Director of Sixth Form

One of my abiding memories of primary school was chanting my Multiplication tables out loud in class with the rest of my classmates, and if I didn’t get them right having to do it again on my own! I am sure most parents have memories of learning their times tables in school and largely this will be by rote. On reflection, this did make me learn these facts faster but mainly through the motivation of fear of humiliation if I didn’t know them. So, once I could recite them did that then help me to be a better mathematician? Well the answer to that was yes and no. When faced with a multiplication question I could answer it by applying my recall of the multiplication facts but my understanding of what the calculation meant was not secure, i.e. I didn’t understand what 6 x 3 = 18 actually meant. Therefore, if I was asked a problem solving question such as: ‘I have 3 bags with 6 apples in each, how many apples have I got?’ I could not relate that to the multiplication fact I had learnt.

After the Plowden Report (Central Advisory Council for Education (England) 1967) this practice of rote was mostly discontinued in English schools, although did remain a method people would revert to based on their own experiences. Changes to the National Curriculum that came into effect in September 2014 require that by the end of Year 4 (age 9) children know all the multiplication facts up to 12 × 12 (Department for Education, 2013). The non-statutory guidance advises that children are introduced to tables, and that they practise to recall facts and become fluent, but offers no suggestions for teachers, parents, or the pupils themselves, as to how this might be achieved.

By memorising facts it can help children develop an increased confidence in mathematics and help them to respond more quickly to questions but this does not mean that they will be able to apply their knowledge to reasoning and problem solving tasks.

In conclusion, through my many years of teaching I have found that it is important for children to rote learn their tables, although I have now reverted to singing rather than chanting them with the use of some fun YouTube videos. Learning facts as rote certainly doesn’t need to be as boring or as intimidating as my own experience. The learning to recall these facts needs to be done alongside a demonstration with manipulatives and drawings of arrays to show the children what the sums mean and how they look as a visual representation. This allows them when they are asked to apply their multiplication knowledge to be more confident and able to do so accurately.

Samantha Dadge
Curriculum Leader for Junior School, Year 2 Teacher, Joint Maths Coordinator

As a Geography teacher, it is perhaps to be expected that I have strong feelings about learning opportunities that are afforded to us when we venture out of the confines of a classroom. My own A Level Geography teacher was equally keen on learning outside and indeed has written books on the subject. For disciplines such as Geography or Biology it is easy to see the links to outdoor education and the field trips that are required to facilitate field work. From traffic flows to pedestrian questionnaires, sand dune succession to channel flow calculations or beach profiles to dehydration rates of seaweed (a personal favourite from my own A Level experience!!), Geography and Biology departments nationwide have got us covered! The ramifications of this type of outdoor learning are clear. It offers opportunities to see the world in real time. It produces opportunities for getting stuck into the practical element of these subjects and reinforces the learning that takes place more formally in a classroom. 

It also allows for development of exploration and investigation. The latter is a critical skill that students are expected to utilise at university. Whether they are out in the field or formulating a literature review, the skills required are similar and the thought process identical. Those who are able to hone this skill go on to be the world’s great problem solvers, considering how investigations may take place to produce results that can then be used to better a part of our world. Year 7, currently on the Shropshire residential are starting their journey with fieldwork and discovering its many applications to a range of the humanities subjects. I look forward to hearing about their experiences next week when they return.

But learning beyond the classroom is far more than just fieldwork opportunities. This week Year 9 are enjoying this fabulous weather from the picturesque setting of the Lake District, incidentally also a Geographers paradise! Whilst there, they will not be learning about mountain formation or processes of glaciation. In fact they are lucky that no members of the geography department are there with them otherwise they would certainly be enduring an influx of geeky geography facts on an hourly basis! Instead, they will be learning about themselves, learning about their friends and their peers, testing their limits and problem solving as teams and as individuals. They will learn to value the art of real communication, be forced out of their comfort zone and learn to make compromises whilst leading each other to success.

These bonding experiences and opportunities for personal growth are so important for our students at Northampton High School, and nationally for our current generation of children and teens. They will learn more about themselves and develop more personal strengths and transferable skills in these environments than they will by simply attending an excellent school. In turn, this will support their academic growth and make them greater educational and professional risk takers. They will be more likely to push themselves out of their comfort zone and be brave enough to try new things. The culmination of these things will be a happier and more fulfilling life and greater chances of success in future relationships and careers.

Since the pandemic, our school calendar has been feeling a little bare when it comes to trips. This year, happily we have been able to start to run trips again and I am pleased to say that there are many more planned for the years ahead. Both curriculum and extra curricular trips now rightfully dominating the months ahead and there are huge numbers of exciting things to look forward to.

In the meantime, I wish all of our community at Northampton High School a rewarding, opportunity filled and fun summer holiday ahead, and I look forward to many more trips returning to our calendars in the months and years to follow.

Miss Kneen
Assistant Head Pastoral

The title of my blog this week might suggest notions of fairytale or fable, much like ‘The Princess and the Pea’, or ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Not entirely inappropriate as it happens, although this is more of a cautionary tale than a fluffy bedtime story. 

There is no question that the internet is a fabulous tool available to us all, and I cannot imagine a world without it now. Even as I write this, I am connected to the Cloud via Google and, rather embarrassingly, I just used a search engine to find appropriate fairytale titles as it has been a while since I had bedtime stories myself! So, we can probably all agree that modern life is fairly dependent on the internet and, on the whole, has made our lives more efficient, and significantly easier. However, as with all powerful tools, a certain amount of caution must be advised when using, and certainly for younger users, there are a myriad of challenges to overcome along the way.

In my role as part of the pastoral team, I am regularly sent links to things online which warn of the dangers of the internet for teenagers and invariably, they lead to worrying stories of image or video sharing, usually explicit and often with a sinister undertone of predatory behaviour. Much of the conversation around online ‘peril’ focuses on images, video and social media, and they are certainly issues to be aware of. 

On Monday this week, we welcomed Tanya Goodin into school to address our Year 9 and 10 students and to discuss these matters further with our parents. The talk was fascinating and a really poignant reminder of the side effects of too much screen use. She discussed, at length, the negative impacts of social media on mental health, particularly for teenage girls. She alluded to the research conducted by the GDST in 2017, where it was found that over 60% of students said they wished social media had never been invented, and yet they feel compelled to use it on a daily basis for fear of missing out. 

Social media might well be the biggest concern for many parents out there. Who is your child conversing with and what are they conversing about? Are they receiving unsolicited images or unkind messages? Or perhaps, are they the ones sending the messages? Either way, the implications for all concerned in these exchanges are serious ones. For the sender, the message or image or video is now out there and out of their control. The potential for resharing, grabbing a screenshot or retrieving deleted data is unlimited. Even for messaging sites that claim their content is automatically deleted after a set time period. Essentially, once that send or upload button has been pressed, there is no going back. The permanence of their actions in sending or uploading content is something that young children and teenagers forget time and time again. Equally alarmingly for the receiver of messages, not only may they be potentially harmful to them as an individual, but they may suddenly be at risk of owning inappropriate or illegal content, regardless of whether they asked for it or not. 

More recently though, another challenge has become more prevalent for the teenage target audience. Online fan fiction and literature, where anyone can write and upload content to blog sites, online discussion groups and tumblr.com, to name just a few, are becoming areas of the internet that conceal multiple dangers. Much of this is harmless and fairly innocent, providing a good opportunity for budding literaries and authors alike. However, there are multiple examples of where the content of these sites is not age appropriate and in some more concerning examples, it is wildly unsuitable in that it describes illegal and profoundly harmful practices, to put it euphemistically. These range from sexually explicit to self-harm and suicide, everything in between, and to be frank, a combination of the two in some instances. 

So what are our children and teens reading at bedtime? Is it appropriate or is it potentially harmful? What are they downloading, and what are they uploading? These are questions we need to be asking and discussions that we need to be opening up at home. These concepts are introduced to all our students through the PSHE programme at the High School and they are revisited across each year group. However, it is an easy thing to forget when you think you are anonymous. The key thing to remember here is that when you are online, you are never really anonymous.

The internet and all its applications is a very powerful tool and this week’s slightly negative approach is more of a cautionary message than a message of total despair. However, I do think that further conversations around managing online activity will be invaluable for our students as individuals and as a community. In conversation with someone last week, the phrase, “Oh they just need to get on with it and be mature in their approach to social media”, was used. In one sense, yes they do, but would you hand your teenager the keys to your car and tell them to work it out and just be sensible? Guidance is necessary in many things and I believe that navigating social media is more difficult than people imagine it to be. 

Ongoing work in school on this subject area will continue across all year groups, but please do open up a dialogue with us if you are at all concerned about how best to support your daughter in an online world. We will continue to share useful information about online safety, but to get us started, I have included a here sheet on what parents need to know about group chats online. I hope it helps!

Miss Rebecca Kneen
Assistant Head – Pastoral

In our school crest the rose represents the pupils, who are, naturally, at the heart of our educational approach. We recognise that school days are precious and fleeting, and our golden opportunity to shape the future. Our imperative is to get to know the children in front of us today and to help them achieve their ambitions for tomorrow. This means pupils have to understand themselves too and develop a positive academic self-image, as well as the ability to become life-long learners. We believe this comes through a 360-degree approach to teaching and learning, as reflected in the Northampton High Approach Wheel.

We have worked on shared language around the intellectual character dispositions, or mindsets, that we would like our pupils to develop over their time at the school. We have settled on five key areas to enable us to achieve our aims in learning and personal development and, logically, they also appear at the centre of the diagram, around the rose. It is perhaps worth looking a little more closely at these, as they are the result of many hours of research and discussion among colleagues and pupils.

Collaboration – we value shared experiences and trust those around us to support us in our learning.

Curiosity – we strive to expand the limits of our learning and delight in the discovery of new ideas.

Independence – we take the initiative and trust our instincts; we do not accept artificial limits to our potential.

Perseverance – we keep trying when things go wrong and we celebrate the new learning this brings.

Risk taking – we challenge ourselves every day and we do not see perfection as the ultimate goal.

It is impossible to separate the purely academic aspects of school life from the wider cocurriculum and the pastoral threads that run through school. This is why the High School approach takes the form of a circle or wheel, with these aspects represented by the words Learn, Reach and Coach. They form a unity; without one part the others would be incomplete and the rounded education we seek to provide would be compromised. Of course, there is no attempt to itemise the whole programme at Northampton High. Instead, the labels in each section aim to give a flavour of the many areas of focus.

The Learn banner represents the curricular programme, including class and subject academic study across the school, and public examinations and other assessments. Individual 360-degree learning profiles are developed for every student as they move up the school and, of course, dedicated support for different learning styles and needs are on offer from our Learning Enhancement Coordinator and the school’s pupil-focused Examinations Officer. Keystones are vital nonexamined elements such as social and health education, alongside careers and financial awareness training. Under the subheading Digacy, we look at key tech skills as well as the ‘360-degree me’ eportfolios that each pupil builds up over the senior school years.

By Reach, we refer to the expansive and diverse cocurricular programme of activities to support, stretch and inspire pupils throughout the school. Clubs and societies under the subheadings of Spark, Explorer and Thinker scatter their paths with opportunities to satiate their curiosity and expand their horizons, or inspire them in various ecological, scientific, sporting and artistic areas. Many clubs run across the junior and senior school years, allowing older pupils to enjoy time in the company of younger ones at lunchtimes.

The Enrichment programme in Years 10-13 also contributes, with a huge range of courses, from politics and international relations to computing, from dance to yoga. Our Scholar programme gives pupils with specific skills and talents the opportunity to shine. The Focus subheading caters for the needs of groups of students, such as those taking public examinations, or with specific university requirements, such as for medicine and engineering.

Coach stands for Confidence and Challenge. We strive to foster a safe and supportive environment for our pupils in school, however, it would be a mistake to assume that school life comes without its anxieties. Indeed, helping young people to navigate their complex daily interactions is a priority for all schools. Growing up is not always easy and we are experts in supporting girls to develop close and rewarding friendships, where problems are not ignored, but resolved through caring and sympathetic systems, such as the Girls on Board and Positive programmes.

Developing pupils’ knowledge of themselves and how they come across in communal situations is enhanced by our comprehensive trips and visits programme. The school House system builds community spirit and allows older pupils to develop their leadership skills. Volunteering and philanthropy, too, are hugely important as pupils continue their pathways through the school. These take on a new imperative in the Sixth Form, where pupils gain one or more of the Northampton Laureates that reflect the distinct contributions students have made over their time at the school.

The final element of the holistic wheel are personal development aspirations, running through all areas of Learn, Reach and Coach. There is a focus here on diversity and inclusivity, as represented by our Undivided programme and concepts of moral compass and social responsibility. Here, pupils are asked to set themselves high standards of decency and behaviour, not only in their interactions in school with fellow pupils, staff and guests, but also at home and online.

We help them to understand their own welfare and safety needs and support them when needed via our dedicated wellbeing team in school, including our family liaison officer and the school nurse. Emotional intelligence and a renowned High School trait, kindness, complete this circle, as we help pupils to live their lives with the needs of others at the forefront of their minds. As compassionate, reflective and impactful members of society.

Mr Henry Rickman
Deputy Head Academic

 

 

Last week we were fortunate enough to be able to invite a speaker into school who is an expert on one of our more difficult pastoral issues in school. Satveer Nijjar is a well-renowned public speaker on the subject of dealing with self-harm. She has worked for many years in this field and is passionate about removing the stigma attached to the subject, so that we might discuss it more openly as teachers, as parents and as friends.

I’m sure for all of you, the idea of your child engaging in such behaviours is terrifying and something that you would rather not consider. However, sadly, there is a rising trend in self-harm, particularly amongst teenagers, and ever more so since the outbreak of COVID, back in late 2019. It is therefore vital that we, as a community, take on board the information available to us.

Many of you will know that I am not usually speechless at any moment, but the raw and honest way in which Satveer was able to convey her messages, based on first-hand experience, was quite remarkable, and directly after the talk I found that I had a lot more thinking to do than talking. She held her audience captive for a full 90 minutes and engaged with us to allow exploration of the reasons for self-harm, highlighting the issues as being the root cause, rather than the behaviour itself. In many cases, self-harm is not medically significant, although we must, of course, be mindful of the clear links between self-harm and suicide. That said, in most cases, self-harm is used as a coping strategy, and when we delved into this further, we discovered that it could be argued that a great many of us engage in ‘self-harm-type behaviours’ from time to time. A large glass of wine after a hard day at work, “just to take the edge off”, or binge-watching the entire series of Bridgerton in one go ‘to avoid reality for a short while’, resulting in us being tired and less effective at work the next day, could be seen as potentially harmful behaviours. An interesting topic for debate perhaps!

I very much hope to invite Satveer back into school in the autumn term to speak with us again, to offer parents another chance to be involved in the discussion. I cannot possible sum up her talk eloquently enough to do it justice, so I will sign off here and instead attach her own summary sheet which I encourage you to read. If you are concerned about your daughter in regards to self-harm, please talk about it with us. We do not have all the answers but we can work with you to support her if she is struggling. The attached helpsheet gives a range of insightful tips on how to start conversations with your teenager or child on this difficult subject, and could be an opportunity to start dealing with self-harm.

The May event in our Parent Talks programme will take place on Monday 9 May at 6pm. This event will feature Tanya Goodin (www.tanyagoodin.com/) on the subject of Teens and Screens.

Tanya is a trailblazing author, pioneering thinker and campaigner on digital wellbeing and tech ethics, and founder of the digital detox movement, Time to Log Off.

The event will be held in the Theatre; please arrive at 5.45pm for a 6pm start. Light refreshments will be served and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session.

To book a place for the Teens and Screens event, please click here.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Miss Rebecca Kneen
Assistant Head – Pastoral Care and Guidance

The theme of Science Week this year is growth.  Seems a sensible topic as Biology is all about growth and there are many aspects that the wonderful Science faculty could deliver lessons about.   

I wanted to take this a bit further and extend past the ordinary simple definition and grow our Science Week.  This year we have seen Year 7 take on engineering challenges to grow the tallest/strongest tower; Year 8 and 9 have grown their ideas about careers in STEM and found some jobs they didn’t know existed.  Year 11 and some Sixth Formers were treated to a truly inspirational talk from Dr Emily Grossman about her career in science and the performing arts, and how her personal and professional growth has led to her being able to marry her two passions of performing and science as a Science Communicator.  I think I can speak for everyone when I say we were captivated and motivated by Dr Grossman and look forward to welcoming her to school in the future.   

Years 1 to 4 had a workshop with Grace Webb, from CBeebies’ Grace’s Amazing Machines, where they learned about forces and motion.  What is this to do with growth Mrs H-T?   

Well, I saw them all grow and refine their teamwork skills alongside their growing interest in a career in mini moto racing.  We have also experienced gastronomic growth in the canteen on Wednesday at lunchtime when we had the opportunity to make some dessert topping from alginate balls made from apple juice.  Move over Heston, here come the High School students! On Friday, we welcomed Dr Sharon Brookes, Lead Scientist for Animal and Zoonotic Viral Diseases at APHA, who gave a fascinating talk on career growth in STEM-based subjects.   

The topic of growth can be defined in many ways and the meaning according to the dictionary I found online is “the process of increasing in size”; this often makes me wonder how many times we grow in a day.  Do we just grow in the physical sense until we hit 16 years old, or do we grow daily?  As a good biologist will tell you, as you read this your cells are both dying and reproducing simultaneously, so an aspect of you is always growing.   

Can we explain growth in any other ways?  In my assembly this week to both Senior and Junior pupils, I talked about mindset and use words to encourage a growth mindset.  In school today we face many tasks that are challenging, and if we approach them with a ‘can do’ attitude, we may, in fact, be able to achieve a lot more. 

I also spoke about lifelong learning, and I included this in the theme of growth as I feel that even though I have the relevant qualifications to do my job, I always treat every day as a learning day.  I feel utterly privileged to work with young people on a daily basis and remind myself that we are always learning from each other.  Only recently I have learned how to make a reel on Instagram by listening to the Year 10 students make their videos in class, showing the growth of global climate change.  Sadly, yet another form of growth we have discussed this week. 

Science Week kicked off last week with a wonderful assembly led by Mrs Vizor and the Year 12 Physics class about the growth of the universe.  Mrs Vizor made an exceptionally difficult concept seem very straightforward and left me wondering why I found the thought of Physics A Level such an awful concept when I was making my choices at age 16.  Maybe I should have been taught about a growth mindset when I was at school and I might have tried Physics rather than Biology which I perceived to be easier. It wasn’t. Little tip for you: all A Levels are hard if you don’t work at them.  I clearly hadn’t grown my “able to work independently” skills enough for my first year of A Levels, but we got there in the end. 

So, this week I have been reminded about the growth that I see every day around me.  Students growing their academic ability alongside their personal growth. Everywhere I have looked this week I have found an aspect of growth and growing, from the new bulbs springing into life, to students growing in confidence in their own abilities.  I think everyone should take a few minutes each day to either appreciate the growth around them or try something to grow their minds.   

I always remember a quote I heard from one of my most inspirational teachers, “growing old is inevitable growing up is optional”. 

When applying to become a UCL Beacon school for Holocaust Education, we realised early on in the process that Northampton High School had an amazing opportunity to bring together the fantastic range of lessons and personal experiences already being shared with the students. From studying human rights in Geography, to life in Berlin under the National Socialists, in German lessons, students were gaining an understanding of how the legacy of the Holocaust still has an impact on the world to this day.  

It therefore made perfect sense to bring the school together for a week of focused education and reflection, rather than just one day’s remembrance on the official date of January 27. 

Theology and Philosophy and History lessons were an obvious starting point, but very quickly we were able to assemble a week-long series of focused assemblies, lessons and events involving staff from Psychology, Drama, Film, Food, and English, to name but a few, as well as a team of student volunteers from Year 8 to 13. 

Reflecting on the week’s events with the volunteer student team, the Sixth Formers overwhelmingly agreed that Ms Heimfeld’s assembly and lunchtime session had the most impact on them, hearing about  how her parents survived Auschwitz in very different ways. Georgie expressed how hearing about it from a child of survivors brought a different perspective that she hadn’t considered before. They were all fascinated and moved to hear how life continues after such experiences. 

One member of the team, Molly, explained how impactful she had found researching and sharing individual stories under the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s theme of ‘One Day’. As an older student she was aware of the statistics – 6 million Jews murdered, including 1.5 million Jewish children – but found investigation into and reflection on the individual stories deeply moving and perspective-altering. Another student, Bella, commented how varied survivor stories are, and, again, how the personal connection widened understanding of more components of the Holocaust, such as the geography of the Holocaust and the ethnicities affected, rather than just the history of it through facts and statistics.  

We learned about survivors like Lily Ebert, Margaret and Hans Rey and Florence Nankivell, sharing our findings in a recorded assembly on Monday. One powerful element of the assembly was the contribution of Lilybella whose Oma (Grandmother) and Opa’s (Grandfather) families experienced the Holocaust. We loved Lilybella’s interview with her grandparents who shared with us a positive message of hope, love and peace for the future. Opa passionately made a connection to our challenges today with refugees urging kindness and compassion. Oma and Opa closed the interview with the beautiful expression of ‘Shalom’ (meaning hello, goodbye, peace, harmony, wholeness and prosperity) to us all. 

Other members of the team, including Florence, felt they were now thinking differently about when this happened, realising that it really was not that long ago. Film screenings (for example Modern Foreign Language’s showing of ‘The Roundup’) and personal testimonies enhanced realisation that the Holocaust is still in living memory. 

The students also spoke about how they had shared their thoughts and feelings with families. The whole team had found dinner time an opportunity to have conversations with parents and siblings, who, in turn, shared their understanding of the Holocaust. Some students spoke of an emotional exchange, others of a storytelling atmosphere and others moving from the Holocaust to subsequent genocides, politics, history, religion and other relevant topics. All triggered from our Holocaust Awareness week. They also felt it helped them engage more with the news, as they understood more about what was going on in the world today. 

Jasmine and Honor reflected on how Mr Earp’s assembly on the Holocaust and subsequent genocides had been inspiring when he shared the personal experience of Arn Chorn-Pond who survived the Cambodian genocide. Born in Battambang (the second largest city in Cambodia), Arn was taken, along with thousands of other children, to prison camps by the Khmer Rouge. Arn’s ‘One Day’ of survival was simply about him being able to play the flute for which he was selected and used to entertain soldiers, avoiding death.