We are the champions of the Merit Competition 2021!
It is with a huge amount of pride that I send out this final update for the year. We won Hawking. A massive thank you to you guys for all your sustained hard work throughout the year. We are the clear winners for 2021. It is all down to you and your amazing application and enthusiasm that allowed us to retain the lead on week one and hold on to it. We never, not even once slipped from first place. What a fantastic achievement Hawking! You stepped up despite a year of challenges and a pandemic that has changed our lives. Your teamwork and maturity to recognise your personal role and responsibility for your learning allowed you to shine. Well done to everybody.
In the words of Lena Waithe: “The things that make us different, those are our superpowers”. Never stop backing yourselves guys. Relax, enjoy the holidays and I look forward to seeing you in September! Bonnes vacances!
Northgate students and staff warmly welcomed Breckland Council Leader, Sam Chapman-Allen and Councillors Hilary Bushell and Ian Sherwood into school recently for a very special announcement.
Back in March 2020 Councillor Chapman-Allen visited the school and spoke to School Council members about his role and how he came to be on the Council. He said that one of the main reasons he become the Leader was he ‘wanted to make a difference – everyone has the ability to change something if you are willing to put the work and effort it.’ This certainly rings true with students and staff at Northgate. At this talk, students were very keen to talk about the eco projects that were going on around the school and spoke with real enthusiasm and passion. After a tour of the school and a visit to the technology department, where he spoke to Mr Mottley, in charge of Design Technology, Mr Chapman-Allen felt there was more he could do to support Northgate’s eco efforts.
He came with Councillors Bushell and Sherwood to announce that Breckland Council have awarded Northgate with a £10,000 grant to purchase a plastic recycling machine. This was a huge surprise to both students and staff and a real boost to the school’s environmental efforts. Councillor Ian Sherwood, who is Breckland’s Sustainability Strategy lead, said that a number of local projects and initiatives are able to apply to receive money from Breckland Council as part of their drive on sustainability and climate change. Breckland wants to make positive environmental changes and also work with others on green initiatives. The machine shreds the plastic into smaller pieces and then melts it into flat sheets. We are going to use the machine to recycle as many plastics as they can to make new products within Design Technology and try to create a more sustainable school. We would like pupils and the wider community to bring in their plastics like milk and shampoo bottles to be recycled, shredded and processed.
Miss Theobald, School Council Coordinator, gave an insight into some of the student’s current eco projects including recycling campaigns, social media campaigns to raise awareness of the small positive actions we can all have, litter picks and upcycling old filing cabinets into planters. As a school, we are looking forward to future projects that students, due to attend an Earth Summit in the Autumn in Lund, will come back and work on at Northgate and Dereham Sixth Form.
Mrs Galley and Dr Hone, Heads of School, thanked Breckland Council on behalf of Northgate for the amazing opportunity and commented that this has shown that students really do have a voice. When they are willing to speak out about matters they are enthusiastic and passionate about they can be heard. The plastic recycling machine will be their legacy which students and the community in the future will benefit from.
We hope the machine will arrive in the autumn and so will keep everyone updated as to how they can get involved and recycle their plastic with us – exciting!
We have some incredibly talented Drama, Dance and Music students at both Northgate and Dereham Sixth Form. Former Northgate student, and current Year 12, ClaraBelle, along with current Year 13 Adam have been given incredible opportunities in the coming months to pursue their passions.
Here they tell us more:
ClaraBelle: ‘I am really excited to have successfully auditioned for the British Youth Music Theatre, I have been invited to join the 2021 company and cast in a brand new musical ‘The Curious Case of Katie’s Hysteria’ directed by Helen Tennison.
The BYMT audition over 1000 young people every year across the UK and Ireland. I have previously performed with Northgate, local companies DOSYTCo, DTCO and FADLOS, however this was my first national audition. I am looking forward to spending two weeks living and rehearsing with the rest of the cast and working with top industry professionals. I’m a little nervous, but excited and grateful to be able to return to the stage after a difficult time for the creative arts over the last year and a bit.’
Adam: ‘This August, I am grateful to be offered a place on the Senior Acting Course for National Youth Theatre, to become a member of the company. There’s no doubt that I’m incredibly excited for this course and the opportunities this will possibly bring, especially with the knowledge that many of my favourite actors have also been a member of this company and how it has helped them in this industry. After the pandemic has ultimately taken away so many opportunities in theatre from everyone, it will feel such a relief to step back into it after such a lack of performance in our lives. We’ll now be cracking on with something so important that many of us have missed a lot. If anything, it’s taught me to keep on trying and not giving up at the first hurdle as this was my second audition for the National Youth Theatre, after my first one in 2020 was unsuccessful. Especially in this industry, not everything is achieved first time, so it’s important to keep on trying despite the setbacks, as I have learnt, and will keep facing for sure.’
We wish both ClaraBelle and Adam the very best of luck in these endeavours and look forward to hearing more about their successes in theatre in the future!
We are pleased to introduce our July bulletin. Our bulletin this month has a special eco theme – there’s news about a recent letter we received from Sir David Attenborough, a recent shortlisting for an Environmental Practice Award, updates about the recycling programs and a new social media campaign being run by our Earth Summit Team. There’s also updates on merits a recent History Ambassador competition and much more.
We hope that you are able to take some time to have a look at all the goings on at Northgate from the last month and enjoy seeing what we’ve been up to. Please share with your friends and family via our Facebook and twitter pages.
Miss Theobald (School Council Coordinator) + Northgate School Council.
Raising aspirations and embracing the diversity that studying a language can offer.
On the 15th of June, Northgate welcomed in to school Kyle Mcclelland. He opened our minds with his energy and his many ventures, despite his young age and being a second-year undergraduate at the UEA in French and Italian.
He started the day by spending time with a group of Year 10 boys and described the many amazing things he has achieved so far. His work ethic is admirable and his mindset focused. Last year in lockdown he set up his own teaching website “Teachmyniche” as well as a mini burger van business, men’s jewellery company and now he is presently working as a chef/waiter for Wagamama and a shopper for Iceland at some obscenely early hours of the morning. How does he do it?! He clearly recognises that life is not all about success (he admitted also to his ventures that failed) but it is about creating opportunities and possibilities, about making things happen. The Year 10s were able to reflect on their own personal goals and then decide what it would take to reach them. Rather than being a possibility, he helped actualise some of those personal goals and create movement towards them.
Then for the remainder of the morning he joined us in the MFL department. He shared his experiences of working as an Au Pair in Paris and how he had, despite not initially intending to go to university, taken up a course which would allow him further travel next year and the opportunity to continue to develop his interest in teaching as an assistant teacher in Madrid. He also outlined the many opportunities available for linguists. It was a pleasure to host him in school and we look forward to hearing about his adventures over the next 12 months. The message really was never say never to life. We might not all be able to change the world but we can change how we operate within it. In the words of Viktor Frankl: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”.
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Miss Theobald, School Council Coordinator, gave an insight into some of the student’s current eco projects including recycling campaigns, social media campaigns to raise awareness of the small positive actions we can all have, litter picks and upcycling old filing cabinets into planters. As a school, we are looking forward to future projects that students, due to attend an Earth Summit in the Autumn in Lund, will come back and work on at Northgate and Dereham Sixth Form.
