Northampton School For Boys

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Northampton School for Boys
Motto To create a passion for learning
Established 1541
Type Grant maintained
Headmaster Mr. Michael Griffiths
Founder Thomas Chipsey
Students 1600[1]
Location Northampton, England
Website www.nsb.northants.sch.uk

Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is a secondary school in Northampton, England.

Contents

[edit] History

The school was originally founded in 1541 by mayor Thomas Chipsey, as the town's free boys grammar school.[2] In 1557, the school moved to St. Gregory's church, which was adapted for its use. The School remained on this site until 1864, when it moved to the Corn Exchange in the Market Square. In 1870, additional premises were opened in Abington Square to educate a further 200 pupils. Due to popularity, the school moved again in 1911, to new buildings constructed on the present site at Billing Road.[3]

The school continuted to flourish as Northampton Town and County Grammar School, until 1974 when it became a comprehensive school; as a result of this fall, the school was demonised in the local press in 1980/81 when the Northants Post dubbed it the "School for Scoundrels" - a reference to the perception that sections of the school population was causing mayhem across the Abington area of the town.

In 1992, NSB became Grant Maintained[3] (later becoming a Foundation school) and under the administration of Sir Bruce Liddington, it became a prominent and over-subscribed school. From 1994, the school's GCSE results improved year upon year, and NSB has since become the only school to have achieved an 11 year period of continual improvement. It was, perhaps, unsurprising, that upon the resignation of Sir Bruce and assumption of the post of headmaster by Mr Michael Griffiths (a lesser man by any standard, a fact he is surely constantly reminded of in his professional career) the school experienced an interruption of this impressive record. [4]

During the 1990s, the school allowed the admission of girls into the Sixth Form. Currently up to a quarter of the Sixth Form are girls. [3]

In the summer of 1999 the school completed a new complex, the Cripps Hall, named in honour of Sir Humphrey Cripps, a former pupil of the school. It includes a theatre used for school productions and concerts as well as public performances. The building is home to the School's Expressive Arts and Modern Foreign Languages departments, as well as a conference room and a sports bar.

During 2004, Northampton switched back to the two-tier system[5], once again making NSB a secondary school - consequently, the school had to admit pupils from the age of eleven. To cope with the increased numbers, the school occupied a second site ("NSB West") at the former Cliftonville Middle School - separated from the main site by the famous St. Andrew's Hospital - for the new year sevens and eights; with the completion of the new building, all pupils are now located on one site.

Northampton School for Boys operates a house system; however, as this is in its infancy, it currently has very little impact on education; one of its main purposes is to break down the barriers between the years. Each house consists of one class from the East Wing and another from the West[6].

[edit] Achievements

The school has achieved recognition for its success, particularly in the areas of sport[1] and music. Six music groups from the school achieved places in the finals of the National Festival of Music for Youth. Out of these, the Jazz Big Band won the tournament, and two other groups finished as runners-up in their categories.[4] In December 2005 NSB was named Daily Telegraph 'State School of the Year' for its achievements in sport.[7]

The school was selected to be an ambassador school for the NAGTY due to its excellent gifted and talented programme, which was hailed as a model system by DfES.[8]

In terms of sport, the school has had many of its former students go into professional rugby, and international status in other sports, i.e. Hockey. An unofficial report stated: "The PE staff at the school are of the highest quality, and the general enthusiasm is immense throughout lessons."

[edit] Buildings

Because of the generosity of its benefactors, the school has a number of excellent buildings which are continually refurbished. The centre of the school is occupied by the 1911 Building, which over the years have been extended to include an extension to the library and which is now attached to the science block and the new (2006) building.

In the summer of 1999 the school completed the Cripps Hall, named in honour of Sir Humphrey Cripps, a former pupil of the school. It includes a theatre used for school productions and concerts as well as public performances. The building is home to the School's Expressive Arts and Modern Foreign Languages departments, as well as a conference room and a sports bar.

Beginning in 2005, the school has had a refurbishment and building programme, called Project 465 (the school was to be 465 years old when finished, but because of building delays it was 466), which was finished in early 2007. One of the purposes of the programme was to accommodate the newly added years sevens and eights. Constructed in a post-modern style which has faced mixed reactions, the building features new English and mathematics classroms, alongside two new ICT suites, a sixth form lounge (known colloquially as "The Pod") a 'restaurant/bistro' and a concourse for indoor recreation at breaktimes.

One of the innovations brought with the new building is a system of cashless catering, where students pay for any meals bought by having their fingerprint scanned; the money is then deducted from an account which can be topped-up either by credit card from home, or through a machine in the concourse. The school hopes to extend the cashless system in future to pay for school trips, music lessons, the school shop and the library. In practice, many of the scanners read pupil's fingerprints quickly and consistency, reducing queuing times marginally.

[edit] Education

Northampton School for Boys' motto is "to create a passion for learning" and to this effect the school aims to stretch every pupil as much as possible, something for which Ofsted have commended them[citation needed]. In the words of the headteacher, Mr. Michael Griffiths:

Our philosophy of education is a simple one. We believe that children are at their best when they know where they stand; when those around them expect high standards and when they are fully occupied. We believe that our way of striving towards varied and demanding lessons which really stretch pupils to the utmost, whatever their abilities, is the right one.

[citation needed]

Most pupils usually study ten subjects for GCSE, alongside Physical Education and Citizenship & Guidance. All pupils must take English, English Literature; mathematics; science; design technology; one foreign language (either French or Spanish); a humanity (either history or geography); an expressive art; and another subject of their own choice - either another foreign language; another humanity; separate sciences; business studies, religious studies or ICT.

With the exception of ceramics and dance (which are studied within art and drama respectively), all of these subjects may be continued at A-Level, in addition to the Social sciences (economics, psychology, politics and sociology), further mathematics and music technology.

German used to be offered as a modern foreign language, but has recently been removed from the curriculum. In response to criticism from Ofsted, the school is also looking to introduce Religious Education (although at present this is only offered to the lower years). The 2002 Ofsted report said the school is yet to provide "spiritual development" or to "comply with statutory requirements for religious education".[9] However, as of 2007, Religious Studies is available as an option for GCSE and focuses on philosophy and ethics, which will be later available for A-Level.

Another educational opportunity available to students is that to become a Senior Prefect. A team of 10 is elected each year by their peers and teachers to represent the students within school and to act as ambassadors for the school in the wider community. They learn a great deal about teamwork, managing money and dealing with people. Skills that will help them enormously in their futures. Additionally, the Senior Prefect Team organise the Annual Summer Ball, attended by staff and students to celebrate a years hard work, and to send off the current year 13, who are going off into the wide world, on to university, college or jobs.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b School Profile 2004/2005. Directgov. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  2. ^ a b c Marius Wilson, John. "Northampton", Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). Vision of Britain. Retrieved on 2006-09-05. 
  3. ^ a b c A Brief History. Northampton School for Boys. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  4. ^ a b Prospective Parents' Evening Speech. Northampton School for Boys. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  5. ^ Brief History. Northampton County Council. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  6. ^ Settling In. Northampton School for Boys. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  7. ^ Gareth A Davies. Winners of the inaugural Awards. The Telegraph. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  8. ^ Northampton School for Boys. National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  9. ^ Ofsted Inspection Report. Ofsted. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  10. ^ Northamptonshire people - Francis Crick. BBC (July 2004). Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
  11. ^ Lee banks on the team ethic pulling Northampton through. Daily Mail (2006-11-09). Retrieved on 2006-12-24.

[edit] External links