NP News

Headmaster Writes

The word of the week is contentment and here are a few heartfelt words to our leavers to encourage them on their journey:

To-day is the Best Day of my life
Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day of my life, ever!
There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today;
but I did! And because I did, I'm going to celebrate!
Today, I'm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far:
the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the
hardships because they have served to make me stronger.
I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy heart.
I will marvel at life’s seemingly simple gifts:
the morning dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds.
Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people.
I'll make someone smile.
I'll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don't even know.
I'll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down.
Today, is the day I quit worrying about what I don't have and
start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me.
As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty
for the best day of my life.  And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child,
excited with expectation because I know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

I wish you all a most contented Summer and look forward to seeing you in September. Kind regards, as always

KS3 News

There has been a flurry of activity at the end of term including Y7 Field Studies, the Y8 Leavers’ Programme and Leavers’ Weekend, House events including a fun Y7/8 House Dodgeball for the very first time, cricket, golf, tennis and swimming fixtures and two memorable evenings of ‘Joseph’. As always, our production and the Celebration Afternoon were well supported by families.

Parents have been equally generous with presents and Year 8 families offered additional gifts to both the Common Room and the School.

Congratulations to Bradley Henwood (Y7) for winning the School’s Open Golf as well as the Stonyhurst and Mill Hill tournaments, Harry Rayner (Y8) for his fine marksmanship, Peter Ladd (Y8) and Nikos Donegan (Y7) for coming second and fourth respectively in the Senior School House Points Competition for the year.

For the record, Newton triumphed in the Senior House Cricket and Ammar Malik / Bradley Henwood (Johnson) won the Senior House Doubles Tennis. Livingstone won overall, however, to their great delight.

My final thanks to boys, colleagues and parents who have contributed so much to the success of the School and enjoyment of Key Stage 3. We extend best wishes to our leavers including parents. Happy holidays to one and all.

KS2 News

It has been a busy time since the last newsletter. Expedition week was a great success with Y4 travelling to Stone Farm, Y5 to Skern Lodge in Devon and Y6 to Calvados, France. Also during this week Y3 travelled to the British Schools Museum, Hitchin for a  Victorian day. All the boys dressed as Victorian school children for the day and were involved in a strict Victorian lesson. All had an exciting and informative day. Y4 visited Frogmore Mill which is where we send paper for recycling and saw how it was used to make various types of paper. Y5 visited Duxford where they dressed up as evacuees and had an   enjoyable day. Y6 experienced Legion XIIII where they learnt about every day life in Ancient Greece, their clothing and household belongings and what life was like for children. The Y4-7 music recital went smoothly with a variety of instruments played. It is always good to see how much the boys improve over the years. Thanks to all staff for organising these events.

The Celebration Afternoon was a great success, despite the inclement weather, with a selection of displays and activities. Despite the weather there has been plenty of sport with tennis, cricket and athletics.

Congratulations go to Rishav Shah for passing the first module of his European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), to Kypros Donegan and Gus Machado for achieving their brown belts in karate, Jonathan Swartz-Briskin and Andrew MacLean for their doubles win in the U12 Riverside tournament. In this tournament Andrew also won the U12 singles and was runner up in the U14 singles. Congratulations to Chaneil Patel for achieving 2nd place in the British International Open Tae-Kwando Championships which were held at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

In the last newsletter there was a misprint and Dilen Sheth was the Y5 Fantasy Football winner. Congratulations! I would like to thank you for all the support that you have given the boys and the school over the year at the various events. Also thank you for your support at the Caribbean Night. £2000 was raised for the sports tours. It has been much appreciated. Have a good holiday.  

Junior School News

The run-up to the end of the year seems to approach faster and faster and this year it really has been at lightning speed. It has been such a pleasurable few weeks with one of the biggest highlights being our ‘Appreciating Animals’ days. The children achieved and learned so much in their sessions and I hope that the parents have enjoyed hearing all about it and viewing the fantastic photographs on the website. We also had a lovely Celebration Afternoon and it was very rewarding to see all the boys proudly showing their parents their classroom displays. This week’s ‘Presentation of Certificates’ was also a highlight and it is vitally important that we take the time at the end of the year to congratulate the children, each and every one of the them, on their many achievements throughout the year. In recognising the boys’ achievements, it is also entirely appropriate to recognise and thank all of the staff in Junior School and Nursery for their outstanding endeavour in nurturing and encouraging all of their pupils. I know that they would like me to thank all of the parents for their considerable contribution to their sons’ education, particularly the many (and often varied) homework tasks that have been sent home. Your gifts at the end of the year were very gratefully received and it means a lot to us that so many of you have taken the time to personally offer your thanks for the year’s work. Happy summer holidays to you all!  

nursery

Thank you very much to the mums and dads who joined us on Celebration Day.  It was a delight to see proud children escorting their parents round the Nursery. We concluded the year at Little Terry’s with a visit to Willows Farm Village.  This gave the children first-hand experience of interacting with and feeding small animals.  We were lucky to be accompanied by many keen and helpful parents and we very much appreciated their support.
At this time of year it is always sad to say goodbye to our ‘little ones’, however, we do so knowing that they are fully prepared for their next big step.  On behalf of all of us in Nursery, thank you for your generous gifts and kind words.  Have a lovely summer.

MIP & MVP

Most Valuable Pupil

This time we congratulate Adam Green & The Technical Crew from the Play

Most Improved Pupil

This time we congratulate Max Kellar / Ben Pinsent & Tristram Newman

To encourage further effort and achievement, two cups are awarded to boys in the Senior School each week: Most Valuable Pupil of the week and Most Improved Pupil of the week.

house points

1st W Rishav Shah Y5T   16th W Julian Man Y5K 2nd L Peter Ladd Y8W   17th J Dilraj Sarvaiya Y8S 3rd W Shamil Shah Y4B   18th= N Akash Roy Y5K 4th W Nikos Donegan Y7B   18th= L Karan Kapoor Y5K 5th N Hao-Lam Chan Y3E   20th L Nikil Shah Y3B 6th L Shrenik Sanghrajka Y8W   21st J Ammar Malik Y7B 7th= W Ashil Shah Y7B   22nd N Alistair Parker Y5K 7th= J Govind Grewal Y3B   23rd= L Michael Silva Y8S 9th W Daniel Green Y4H   23rd= L Dylan Patel Y3E 10th N Vivek Midha Y6F   25th J Achuthan Baburaj Y4B 11th J Bhavik Mehta Y5K   26th N Krishen Shah Y4B 12th W Raghav Vohora Y8W   27th J Zohaib Arain Y5T 13th= N Oliver Beyrich Y5K   28th L Frederick Minihan Y4B 13th= J Paaras Kantaria Y4B   29th W Adam Lalani Y3B 15th N Anthony Nwokenna Y3B   30th W Nathan Dale Y5K

Congratulations to the top 30 with the most House Points for the academic year 2006 -2007

joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat

The 4th & 5th of July were the historic dates of the last major Production in the old school hall. Parents watched through misty eyes as a combined Y7 & 8 cast performed a rousing version of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat'. The boys rose to the occasion superbly and were most deserving of the rapturous applause. Special thanks go to Mrs Gelernter for contributing so much of her own time to ensure the show's success.

golf news

Our Golf team has had a marvellous couple of weeks, excelling in two prestigious Tournaments.  The team of Bradley Henwood, Max Kellar, Adam Green and Ben Pinsent firstly travelled to Stonyhurst School, where at the end of the competition NP emerged as the overall winners.  Furthermore Bradley won the individual event and Adam emerged victorious in the Under 12 category.  This was a superb achievement. The following week was the Mill Hill Junior Open. Bradley and Ben were the winners and runners up for their age group and were 3rd and 4th overall.  Adam played really well and finished 11th overall.  The school finished 2nd in the team event. Many congratulations to the team and it is great to see golf being played to such a high standard.

school colours

Congratulations to the following boys who have recently been awarded or re-awarded School Colours:
Bradley Henwood, Ben Pinsent, Max  Kellar, Adam Green, Nikos Donegan,  Peter  Sinberberry, Ashil Shah, Jehan Jeffrie Tejas Mistry, Durshan Mistry, Peter Ladd.

T.E.S. NEWSPAPER AWARDS

David, Shrenik, Nikhil and Jerome went to the House of Commons on 2nd July to collect their Distinction Certificate for the TES Newsday competition. Brian Robinson (organiser) presented it to them.

 

senior tennis team

The Senior Tennis Team drew with St John’s and beat St Martin’s in recent matches whilst the Colts won both matches. Andrew MacLean (Y5) and Jonathan Schwarz-Briskin (Y5) won all their sets in both singles and doubles and have been entered in the U11 IAPS Tennis Tournament this summer.

 

victorian day

On 22nd June Y3, went to the British Schools Museum in Hitchin for our Victorian Day. Everybody got dressed up in Victorian boy’s clothes and we took a typical Victorian lunch with us. Our first activity was a toys session with Mr Burton. He showed us some toys Victorian children had and we demonstrated how they would have been used. He told us that some   Victorian children only had one toy to play with so we had to pick our favourite one. I chose the spinning top. Next we went to the shop and bought some items such as pop guns, dipping pens and marbles. After that we had a school lesson with Mr Kingsley. We had to give him a penny to pay for our school lesson. We did reading, handwriting and arithmetic. One boy had to wear the dunce cap and another got the cane, but we were only pretending! I really enjoyed the day.

 

french link

Last week the Y5 boys produced a CD of their final French pair work. This has now been sent to the French School in Tunisia. The boys and girls over there will look and listen to it in September, after their summer vacation. I would like to thank my Y5 boys as they have done a fantastic job in the creation of this international link. Bravo les années 5!

duxford

On 27th June, Y5 visited the Imperial War Museum at Duxford for the annual World War II event. The boys all looked splendid dressed up as wartime evacuees. The boys had a great time looking at the wonderful collection of World War II airplanes, tanks and lorries. They also had the opportunity to talk to various experts about aspects of World War II such as the Home Guard or what it was like to be a fighter pilot in the RAF or what it was like to be a ‘Spiv’. We also had a very interesting talk called ‘Khaki on Campaign’ from Captain Black.  He told the boys what everyday life was like for the British soldiers fighting in World War II. Some of the boys had the opportunity to dress up in the different uniforms and hold some of the weapons/equipment.Kyan wrote “I would recommend it to a friend or a relative as a really interesting place to visit. Thank you to Mr Watts for organising this visit.”

chess

The following gold medals and a trophy have been awarded by Mr and Mrs Hodgson for this term. Y3-4 Roman Mitra, Christopher Driver, Kushil Patel, Thomas Goulde, Rushil Soni, Alexander Mellis, Nikil Patel and to Sebastian Allibone in Y7. The Chess Trophy went to Kavan Kothari in Y5. Last Saturday Kavan Kothari and Kyan Karashah represented the school in the Southern Region Giga Finals at Wellington College. They played 6 matches against tough opposition. Kavan won 3 matches and Kyan won 2 matches. Unfortunately they didn’t qualify for the National final but they must be congratulated for being Northwood Prep’s first representatives at this level.

the globe

Recently Y8 visited The Globe Theatre. We toured the reconstruction of the Globe, found out why it was built, what happened to the original theatre, and about theatres in England at the time.  We participated in a drama workshop and learnt the Shakespeare Hakka!  We acted on the stage and looked at different ways to persuade.
After the workshop we looked at the exhibition in The Globe. We found   out many interesting facts about Shakespeare’s plays, including less  well known ones, such as ‘Titus Andronicus’. Many thanks should go to Mr. Smith for arranging the trip.

 

stone farm

What a fabulous adventure it was for the boys again this year. Although the weather wasn’t the best we were still able to have a most enjoyable time. On our arrival we had a tour of the farm, got settled in and then in the evening had songs around the campfire.

On Tuesday, we retreated to The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth instead of Dartmoor because of the adverse weather. It was wonderful to have the Tiger sharks swimming over our heads.

On Wednesday, we ventured on to Dartmoor for a small climb to the top of Cox Tor with our eyes constantly scanning the skies for rain. In the afternoon we visited Buckland Abbey, the home of Sir Francis Drake. After dinner we had a falconry display.

On Thursday, again it was overcast as we set off for Tamar Otter and Wildlife Sanctuary. Here we were lucky enough to see the young fallow deer and a very special baby Monkjack deer called PG. The sun came out in the afternoon so we headed to Widemouth Bay where we did some beachcombing, built some sandcastles and walked along the beach. That evening we packed and had our Awards Ceremony.

All the boys had a wonderful time thanks to the dedicated staff. A big thank you to Miss Hunter, Mrs Maher, Mr Mlotshwa and Mr Evans.

skern lodge

Against a background of blustery skies Y5 set off on the long trek across the rolling British Countryside to our long established favourite activities destination at Skern Lodge. As the beautiful  fishing village of Appledore, near Bideford in North Devon, came into sight the staff could barely contain their own sharpened sense of anticipation, let alone the boys’ excitement. Surrounded by rural farm land and situated on one of Britain’s finest surfing coastlines, the site offered our boys high quality managed activities.
The week passed in a blur of climbing, net crawling, high rope challenges, abseiling, tunnelling, obstacles…and of course swimming. As the photographic record on the school’s website shows we all proudly made exhibitions of ourselves!
With the boys stuck to the traversing wall like flies before attempting the high rope challenge, the staff could only gaze upwards in wonder and admiration as their charges took wing, proudly   demonstrating new skills and achieving their dreams. Back on terra firma they jumped and bombed into the lodge’s heated pool to cool down before the evening. As ever Skern Lodge did us proud and we returned to Northwood Prep tired but exhilarated. We shall return!

french visit

On Monday we travelled from the school by coach and ferry to our centre (La Grange d`Espins) in France. We    arrived quite late so we were all very tired. However, on our arrival we had a bite to eat. On Tuesday morning we   visited the Chocolaterie. We had the opportunity to taste and buy freshly made chocolates. We have also learnt about the history of chocolate and how it is made.  In the afternoon, we saw the Bayeux Tapestry followed by an exiting evening activity. The next day it was our activity day. We went canoeing, mountain biking and had another enjoyable evening of French activities. On Thursday we visited the nearby market and interviewed stall holders and shoppers testing our language skills. In the afternoon we went to Monsieur Martin’s goat farm. We had lunch there. We were allowed to milk, feed and stroke the goats. We also had the chance to taste some goat’s cheese. On Friday we said au revoir to La Grange and headed home. When we arrived we were all delighted to see our parents and said ”bonjour!”

Abergavenny, South Wales

This June saw 32 eager boys embark on  a very successful field visit to Abergavenny, South Wales.
Usually blessed with good weather, our fortunes dipped as we were exposed to the legendary Welsh rain, but the boys were undeterred and should be proud of the way they fought through the worst and made a great effort to gather all the information they needed from each day in the field, to eventually produce excellent Geography Projects for 13+ .
As ever we managed to balance hard work with some well earned leisure time though I hope all involved will find time over the holidays to put a superb project together. I can’t wait to read them! There are some photos on the website.

leavers weekend

On Friday the 6th July, Y8 travelled to Butlins, Minehead in Somerset. When we arrived, we headed immediately to   the pool where we spent lots of time on the water slides, wave machines and rapids. Soon after we moved into our chalets.

All of the chalets were given a generous shopping budget and we went out to buy some food for the weekend.  Later on that evening all of the boys had the opportunity to go to “Centre Stage” Redcoats which was a spectacular show in cabaret-style.

The next day, Mr Crook informed us that we were going to go to the funfair and go-karting. The most popular rides among the group at the fair were Sky-Master, Meteor and the Dodgems (Bumper Cars). We also found time for crazy golf, ten pin bowling, pool, arcades, football and basketball. On the last day, Mr. Crook kindly treated us to see Shrek the Third which was hilarious and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. We were very sad to leave Butlins on Monday but before we left we were allowed a last hour at the fun fair. We all had a great time and would like to give a big thanks to Mr. Crook and the rest of the staff for taking us on our Leavers’ Weekend.