Just before the Easter break 38 students enjoyed the amazing scenery of Iceland which is one of the best locations to cover so many aspects of Geography in just one place.
We arrived in Iceland and visited Grindlevik, our first port of call, to see the deserted town due to the recent volcanic activity. Houses, churches, sports centres all deserted and we felt the sorrow of the townsfolk.
Our year 13 students celebrated their last formal day here at North Leamington School Sixth Form as they start their study leave.
With a fancy dress theme of famous characters (literary, historical, TV or film-based), we celebrated all the things our students have achieved during their time with us and all the many wonderful plans they have going forward.
Our trip to New York this April was a truly unforgettable adventure with 61 Year 10s able take part and I am delighted to share a few reflections.
The students were a credit to the school from the moment we boarded our Virgin Atlantic flight and were excitable and full of energy for the days ahead. Their enthusiasm never waned, as we walked an average of 30,000 steps a day – always with a smile on their faces.
New York offered a feast of experiences, and the highlights were as impressive as the skyline itself. We marvelled at the city from the top of the Empire State Building at night, the dazzling lights creating a memory that will stay with us for a lifetime. The Top of the Rock gave us another breathtaking view – this time looking out over Central Park and the Empire State itself, a perfect opportunity for some iconic photos.
We are delighted to share the success of our Year 7, and 9 football teams who both reached the District Cup Finals!
The finals took place on Wednesday 9 April and our Year 7 team hoped to follow to success of last year's Yr 7 team and bring home a trophy in their first season and year 9 hoped to repeat the success of our teams for the previous three years and win the cup again for NLS
On 3 April , 45 Year 10 students, and four staff members, set off for a three-day tour of the Battlefields of World War 1, mainly with a focus of visiting sites that were related to the medicine in the historic environment section of Paper 1 of the History GCSE.
This week, three NLS teams have played in Netball finals, with Year 8 and Year 10 winning the District Cup and District Plate against Aylesford and Kenilworth teams. Our Year 7 did fantastically well and, in a closely fought game, were runners up to King’s High.
This week we welcomed back into school our 12 students who visited our partner school in India from Sunday 23 March to Saturday 29 March. Mrs Harding our International Schools Coordinator accompanied the six year 9 and six year 12 students.
I had the pleasure of accompanying twelve of our students to visit our partner school, Anjuman I’Islam Girls High School, in Mumbai, India. We were able to secure £20 000 from the Turing Grant in order to significantly subsidise this trip.
We had a fantastic week taking part in lessons, playing sport and learning about single use plastic and AI. Our students really enjoyed working alongside the students at our partner school and learning all about their lives. As their school day finishes at 12.30, after lunch, we visited many of the sites in Mumbai including the planetarium, Elephanta caves, Crawford market, the Nehu museum and Prince of Wales museum.
The students had a fantastic time and this is how they described the experience:
Year 9 students recently had an exciting Engineering Experience Day, run for us by the Smallpeice Trust. Working in teams, students had the opportunity to explore designing and building landing craft for a potential visit to Mars. The day included three main sections - designing, testing and a presentation showing their findings. As part of this, students had to assess different conditions on different parts of Mars and decide where to most effectively place their base. Following this, they designed a landing module to successfully land their mars rover safely, modelled using a ping-pong ball and a 9V battery.
All of the teams successfully landed and worked well together to design an effective lander.
Our Race for Life Event last Friday has raised over £2,200 which is absolutely fantastic!
On Wednesday evening (March 26), 65 students showcased their wonderful talent and passion for dance at the annual Dance Recital.
An audience of over 200 were treated to a range of styles by students across Years 7 to 13 who are members of our Dance Club, Dance Leaders and those who study Dance.
There were a range of styles performed including Contemporary, Commercial, Jazz, Tap and Ballet from BTEC assessment work to extracurricular clubs and students’ own choreographed pieces and their dedication and passion were evident in every routine.
All the dancers involved, along with our student photographer in Year 10 and student backstage crew, were so professional and enthusiastic during the show.
It was fantastic to see all their hard work and creativity come to light in the performance.
On Friday 21 March we are supporting the Cancer Research UK Race for Life as a whole school event.
Starting in Tutor Time, students will have the opportunity to run or walk a marked out route of our school field. Students can come into school in their NLS PE kit and NLS blazer on Friday and can wear a pink accessory and remember to bring a water bottle.
All students and staff are encouraged to donate £1, either in cash or via ParentPay (www.parentpay.com)
This event has been rescheduled from its original date of Friday 27 September when we unfortunately had to cancel due to the weather.
This week our Sixth Form students have been involved in the Electoral Commission’s Your Vote Week. This started by welcoming Matt Western (MP) to North Leamington School to speak with Sixth Form Politics students, and was capped with a visit by a team from the local authority.
The aim of 'Your Vote Week' is to support young people to have the knowledge they need to get involved in democracy and elections – in particular, to use their vote. This year’s theme is: “get informed and get involved”.
This entails accessing trustworthy information to get informed about politics, democracy and elections, and taking the first steps to get involved locally. At NLS, we have:
On Thursday we welcomed Steve, Harriet and Emily who gave a terrific assembly to Sixth Form students on the vitality of using their vote and ended the session with a mock vote on whether the age of voting in England should be lowered to 16 – to follow suit with other home nations and to better correspond with the ability to marry, pay taxes or be involved in the armed forces at that age!
