NP News

Headmaster Writes

Welcome to the latest edition of the Northwood Prep Newsletter and a special welcome to those who are visiting us to-day as prospective members of our school community. It is a particularly exciting time to be visiting our school. We are entering a vibrant stage of our development, building on the outstanding inspection report and academic achievements of the boys in the previous academic year. We have enjoyed not only a record breaking number of awards and scholarships at 13+ but also superb academic results in externally moderated tests at Key Stage 2, where an average of 90% of pupils achieved a level five. This is far above both national expectations and attainment in similar independent schools. In addition to these excellent academic standards, the boys are enjoying a rich and stimulating extra curricular life.

We have so much to look forward to this year with the opening of a new performing arts centre, music school and sports hall extension. It is a fantastic time to be at NP and we commend our school to our visitors in the knowledge that every  pupil will be nurtured to the fullest extent— “everyone is someone” — and that there continues to be so much that we can truly celebrate.  

Kind regards, as always

KS3 News

The autumn term is in full swing as are the conkers! Subject progress testing, rugby matches and 13+ interviews have been the other old chestnuts. Congratulations to the 2nd XV on last week's victory, to the boys who took part in the Moor Park `Fun Run' and to our pupil representatives at the Harrow School Music Day.

Thanks to Y8 for their first official Ambassador duties at Open Morning today and best wishes to our Y7 mathematicians taking part in the Merchant Taylors' Prep Schools Challenge. Can they match Shrenik Sangrajka's recent success and add to our record of three wins in the last five years? Thanks for your support of Harvest Festival (Water Aid) and the Macmillan Coffee Morning. There is a mufti day next Friday and a Parents' Association Cake Sale. Founder's Day celebrations last week coincided with our silver anniversary on this splendid Moor Farm site.

Finally, we look forward to seeing parents at Target Setting on Friday 19th October. Revision packs for the November exams will be available at this time as usual.

Pictured here are the principal Y8 Ambassadors, Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy.

KS2 News

Last Friday NP was involved in the ‘Worlds Biggest Coffee Event’ in aid of the Macmillan foundation. Thanks go to the P.A. and catering staff for helping and organising this event. On the same day, we celebrated Founder’s Day with a magnificent birthday cake at lunchtime. Our Harvest assembly for the charity ‘Water Aid’ was very thought provoking. Thank you for your generosity and Mrs Johnson for organising this worthwhile event.

Since the last newsletter some of our talented musicians went to Harrow School for the day and played in a concert in the evening (article below). In sport the U8’s have played Thorpe House School, the  U9 & U10 teams have played Davenies Prep School and the U11 team have played in the Saracens Challenge Trophy where they were coached by professional coaches and some Saracens Academy players before the main tournament.

Congratulations to all who represented the school as they played with plenty of enthusiasm and skill. May I take this opportunity to thank you all for your support at the matches. It is appreciated by the boys. I would also like to congratulate Frazer Pegler & Henry Douch for being members of the winning Fullerians team at the Barnet Festival, Daniel Green for being awarded the Fullerians U9 coaches player of the season and to all those who supported the Moor Park Linda Jackson Macmillan Centre ‘Fun Run’.

Junior School News

All the children really enjoyed the storyteller, John Harris, and I hope that they all managed to continue  his tradition by re-telling one of his stories at home. Thank you to everyone who contributed towards Water Aid at Harvest Festival and thank you also to Mrs. Johnson and 4J who came to our Junior School assembly to talk to the boys about the important work that Water Aid carries out.

Christmas always comes very early at Northwood Prep and this year it has arrived even earlier with the ‘Design a Christmas Card’ activity that boys (and parents) have been feverishly working on at home. The designs have been sent to the printers and the cards will be delivered to school by the end of November. We have also raised £400 for the Theatre Appeal in the process, so many thanks to everyone for that. Year 1 went on their visit to Gunnersbury Park yesterday and further information about this exciting day will follow in the next newsletter. I have included a photograph of Country Dancing, which has made a very welcome comeback as part of our After School Activities programme.

Harrow MUSIC Day

Thirteen musicians visited Harrow School to take part in the Prep Schools’ Music Day. When we arrived we split into two groups; strings and brass/woodwind. Both groups practised pieces which we would perform later on in a concert. After lunch we returned to our instruments for yet more rehearsing. Then we proceeded to our individual activities which ranged from 5 a side football to Russian. We then went for even more rehearsals and perfected the pieces we would  be performing. A quick half hour of relaxation and eating was taken before the concert. The strings played Bethena Waltz, Villanella, Largo from the New World Symphony. The brass/woodwind played The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Any Dream Will Do and Grease Lightning. For the Grand    Finale the whole orchestra played Pomp and Circumstance March No.4.  Thanks to Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Edwards and the music department at  Harrow School for a great day out.

MIP & MVP

Most Valuable Pupil

This time we congratulate Romi Gupta Y7 and the U13 Ten-a-side Team

Most Improved Pupil

This time we congratulate Dhian Sara Y5 and Harshal Patel Y8

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.

10-a-side tournament

This week our U13 squad played in the annual Davenies 10's tournament. The squad won all the games in their group which consisted of Gayhurst (5-0), The Oratory ( 25-0) and Thorpe House (21-0). In the semi final they met Davenies and beat them 26 - 0. A fantastic achievement. In the final they met The Beacon School but tired legs and strong opposition meant they were unable to win the tournament going down 29 - 0. The whole squad played excellent rugby throughout the day. Well done on being runners up.

national archives at kew

On  2nd October the boys of Y7 visited The National Archive to take part in a History Workshop entitled 'What is History?' First of all the boys learned a little about the history and purpose of The National Archive and discovered a few facts. The National Archive has 100 miles of shelving in its storerooms. On these shelves are stored 10 million cardboard boxes and over 100 million documents are stored in them. Some of these documents are over 1000 years old. Anybody over the age of fourteen years living in this country can visit the Archive and request to look at particular documents.

During this Workshop the boys had the opportunity to investigate five carefully selected original documents to establish when they were created and also to think about and discuss what each one can show us or tell us as Historians. The documents included a legal document from the reign of King Henry VIII, a copy of a map of London dating from 1667, a Victorian census return, a letter to the Metropolitan Police allegedly from the notorious Jack the Ripper and an original of a World War II propaganda poster. At the end of the workshop each group of boys had to give a presentation about what they had learned about these documents.

year 5 verulamium

On the 19th September, Y5 went to Verulamium with Mr. Waddington, Mr. Watts, Mr. Kenny & Mrs. Pollock. We arrived and we split up into our groups and we had a handling session and a session where we looked round the museum.

Some of the artifacts were real, while others were replicas. On one table they had floor tiles and roof tiles. They were really heavy!On another table they had things from the kitchen. They had frying pans with a fold up handle. How clever!In the museum, we saw lots of different coins. Did you know that 25 denarii equal a gold coin? We also learnt a bit about trade, the baths and Boudicca’s revolt.

After lunch, we saw a room of a rich Roman house, with mosaics and a heating system. A fire heats the air that would then go through pipes in the walls and floor to heat the rooms in the house. Then some of us ran (Year 5 and Mr. Kenny) to the ruins of the wall surrounding   Verulamium. We then ran to the theatre where games and plays would have been put on. It had sunk really low down in the ground. In medieval times it was used as a  rubbish dump by people from the abbey.  Then we walked back to the coach for the drive back to school.

sports news

Marathon Challenge Update
As you will be aware the boys are attempting to run a marathon over the Autumn Term, running a mile at a time during break.  Well done to all who have taken up the challenge and it would be great to have some new faces.  At present there are a number of boys half way through and it seems as though we may have boys who will complete the challenge by half term!

Rugby                            
The season is gathering pace and last week we had a series of close run games against Davenies. The 1st XV, Under 10A and Under 9B teams suffered narrow defeats.  The 2nd/3rd XV boys claimed a memorable victory, coming from two tries down to beat Davenies. Akshay Doshi scored a brace of tries in a thrilling encounter.

Hockey
We have secured the services of John Shaw to develop the hockey here at the school. John was capped 207 times by Great Britain in an international career stretching 12 years that included 2 Olympics and 2 World Cups. We are delighted to have him here and to have the services of a group of South African International players who are helping coach our boys.  The boys are obviously privileged to learn from these coaches and we hope to continue to develop the game of hockey within our school.

 

photos round school recently

	A few photos taken this week and a few from recent activities. John Harris Founders Day Saracens Challenge Verulamium