High News 8 February 2019

Monday 11 February
6.2 Mock Examinations
U5 Tutorials
L4 Tutorials
Senior School Assembly – Internet Safety

Tuesday 12 February
6.2 Mock Examinations
U5 Tutorials
L4 Tutorials
L5 & 6.1 Trip to London Art Galleries
Netball – 1st VII vs Pitsford School (H)

Wednesday 13 February
6.2 Mock Examinations
U5 Tutorials
L4 Tutorials
Biology Sanger Institute visit
U4 ePortfolio Launch Assembly
SOS Charity Fashion Show for Zanzibar Trip
Netball – U11A vs Winchester House (A)
Netball – U13A vs Oundle School (H)
Netball – U13B vs Oundle School (H)
Netball – U13C vs Oundle School (H)

Thursday 14 February
6.2 Mock Examinations
U5 Tutorials
L4 Tutorials
School Production Rehearsals
Netball –  2nd VII vs Thornton College (A)

Friday 15 January
6.2 Mock Examinations
U5 Tutorials
L4 Tutorials
Candle Conference
Senior School Assembly – Sports Personality Nominees
Spring Half Term Break Begins

Book Week in the Senior Library has been a busy one, including the annual Book Sale provided by Waterstones, with the usual lovely new books and fun accessories. The competitions, author word search and book challenge have also been fiercely contested.

The highlight of the week was The Murder Most Unladylike Party on Thursday evening, hosted by Mrs Fordham, Mrs Halstead and Miss Buxton. Girls from year 6 and the U3 gathered in the Senior Library to enjoy quizzes, craft and coding activities, along with Mrs McCue’s excellent chocolate muffins! The decorations, provided by Mrs Attwood, created a suitably crime scene related feeling and helped the party go with a swing! Robin Stevens novels are ever popular with the girls and a great source of creative inspiration.

The week finished with as assembly on how publishers are adjusting how they present girls and young women in the stories they publish, looking specifically at The Restless Girls by Jessie Burton, a retelling of The Dancing Princesses originally written by the Brothers Grimm. The beginning of the story was ably read to the school by Jess Cressy-Jones and Lexy Daley.

All very timely with half term in sight and the prospect of down time reading!

Miss Buxton
School Librarian

This week, U5 student Diya took part in the Chrystall Public Speaking Competition held by the GDST at Royal High School Bath.

Chrystall Carter was Legal Adviser to the GDST for nine years, and then Deputy Legal Secretary, until her sudden and untimely death in 1999. This public speaking competition was set up by her husband Richard in her memory, to mark her commitment to the girls themselves, her pleasure in their success and her belief in the power of argument. Year 11 students speak for up to seven minutes on their allocated topic. This is followed by questions from the audience for up to three minutes. The winner receives a £100 book token.

Diya’s speech was titled ‘The creative shall inherit the earth’, and she spoke eloquently and captured the imagination of an enthralled audience, talking passionately about her chosen subject. Well done Diya!

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Officer

On Tuesday, Northampton High School were well represented strongly when we took part in the ESU Public Speaking Competition Branch Final.

‘Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind’  was the topic covered by Chelsea as she spoke with passion to a captivated audience, along with Ebube who had the challenge of opening the delayed round of the competition – a challenge which our girls were more than equal to!

A mixture of good team work, composure, and calmness under pressure saw our students scoop second place, which was testament to all of their hard work and preparation. Well done girls!

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Officer

We are delighted to be able to host our fundraising Fashion Show next Wednesday 13 February, raising funds ahead of Zanzibar 2019.

Doors will open at 7:00pm, and you will be able to purchase your favourite brands at up to 75% off. The girls modelling clothes from the company SOS, and brands sold on the night will include ASOS, M&S, New Look, Miss Selfridge, Next, Topshop, Boden and many more. There will also be a tombola and refreshment stalls to make for a fun and enjoyable evening.

Funds rasied will go to Global Action Zanzibar, a great cause, to help the conservation of rainforests and oceans, and to support children in orphanages and with community education.

Advance tickets are £5 and £7 on the door on the night. To avoid disappointment, please purchase your tickets at the school reception or buy online at https://www.trybooking.co.uk/IKK

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Officer

This week’s Creative Arts Spotlight falls onto Samiha in U3H, who has produced an excellent painting of a tiger. Great work, Samiha!

Mr Laubscher
Teacher of Art & Drama

Another busy week of fixtures started with the U14 and U16 badminton squads competing against Bedford Girls’ School. The friendly fixture brought some tough competition but we were triumphant in the majority of matches (around 20!). Well done to all the girls involved especially the U5s that used the fixture for preparation and practice for their GCSE practical PE moderation in March.

On Tuesday, the U14A and U15A netball teams travelled to Thornton College and played extremely well, with both teams being victorious! Well done to all, especially Lilly who showed great determination and skill. Wednesday it was the U12 and U13 netball teams’ turn against a very competitive Beachborough team. Both the As and Bs won and the Cs were narrowly defeated. All girls showed great team spirit with a special mention to Phoebe, who displayed excellent leadership skills.

Thursday and it was time for the NHS Swim Squads to show off their skills at the Warwick 50’s. Impressive performances from Phoebe in the 50m Fly and Hannah in the 100 IM both gaining second place.

This weekend we have a full schedule of netball fixtures against Ratcliffe College. Good luck to all the teams involved home and away. The GDST Select Netball Team are also travelling to Leeds this weekend to play in their first set of netball fixtures, starting against Leeds Rhinos. Representing the team from the High School is Georgie, and she is the youngest player chosen across all the GDST schools, so well done and good luck to her.  Good Luck also to Head Coach, Mrs Webb, and Mrs Hackett who will be accompanying the girls.

Mrs Williamson
Deputy Director of Sport

Netball

U14A vs Pitsford –  A very, very cold Thursday afternoon saw us at home against Pitsford. After the disappointment of not progressing to Nationals the team wanted to keep up their winning streak in our school matches so went into the match feeling determined to win, which is exactly what we did.

Unfortunately, Pitsford didn’t seem to get into the match, hindered by the cold and the final score was 41-0 to us. The match saw some great passing, interceptions finished by some lovely shooting, and player of the match went to Jane Ampiah.

U14A vs Thornton – Still undefeated in our school matches, we went to Thornton College feeling very positive and hoping to continue our winning streak. The match started well and, although Thornton scored the first goal, we didn’t allow them any more in the first quarter and the score was 7-1 to us.  With a couple of changes made, the team continued to work well together against a very physical Thornton side, keeping our composure and turning over the centre passes, allowing us to increase our lead to 12-4 at half time.

The team settled into the match and played some great netball. Jane and Jelly got some great interceptions, and Amy played really well at GK, preventing the Thornton GS from scoring.  Eve made some great shots and worked well in the circle, with Jess allowing us to increase our lead further to 19-6 at the end of the third quarter.  In the final quarter, Lilli changed position and came on as GS, scoring some fantastic long-range goals, the score ending 27-7, with player of the match again going to Jane.

Jess
U14A Netball Captain

Cross Country

On Saturday 2 February, Ella Darby and Ruby Curtis Free represented the school at the Anglian Cross Country Championships at Abington Park, Northampton.

Both girls ran in the minor girls age category and out of 72 runners Ruby came home in 50th place and Ella in 5th. This is an outstanding performance by both who were competing against the best athletes in their age category from the Northamptonshire, Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk regions. Their results totalled meant that Northamptonshire as a team came second in the competition.

Mrs Littlewood
PE Teacher

Phoebe Haynes in U4 is captain of the U13 netball team this year, and was also an integral  member of the U14 school team that qualified for the Regional Finals last weekend. Phoebe is a talented netballer, who not only trains with our County U15 squad, but is also a member of the Loughborough Lightning U15 Northampton Hub who train every week. We are proud to have such a talented young player at school and look forward to her future success.

Mrs Ford
PE Teacher

Letters From the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll

We weren’t supposed to be going to the pictures that night. We weren’t even meant to be outside, not in a blackout, and definitely not when German bombs had been falling on London all month like pennies from a jar.

February, 1941. After months of bombing raids in London, twelve year old Olive Bradshaw and her little brother Cliff are evacuated to the Devon coast. The only person with two spare beds is Mr Ephraim, the local lighthouse keeper. But he’s not used to company and he certainly doesn’t want any evacuees.

Desperate to be helpful, Olive becomes his post-girl, carrying secret messages (as she likes to think of the letters) to the villagers. But Olive has a secret of her own. Her older sister Sukie went missing in an air raid, and she’s desperate to discover what happened to her. And then she finds a strange coded note which seems to link Sukie to Devon, and to something dark and impossibly dangerous.

Miss Buxton
School Librarian

Congratulations go to Jessica Packer, who is part of the Catering and Hospitality team here at Northampton High, as she took part in The Big Sleep Out on Friday 1 February in bitterly cold and snowy conditions at Abington Park.

Jessica raised an amazing £674 for the Northampton Hope Centre for homeless people who use the centre, which relies solely on charity to remain open. Over three hundred other people slept out all night to raise funds and awareness for the centre. Well done Jessica!

Mrs McCue
Catering & Hospitality Manager