North London Collegiate School

Professor AC Grayling visits NLCS

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:47:02 PST

Philosophy Society was delighted to welcome the distinguished writer, broadcaster and philosopher Professor AC Grayling to NLCS. Having taught at both Oxford University and Birkbeck College, Professor Grayling is now the first Master of the New College of the Humanities. Professor Grayling gave a fascinating talk concerning the importance of the humanities as an aspect of intellectual endeavour.

The Mathematics of the Impossible

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:37:42 PST

Year 9 enjoy a Maths workshop led by Dr Vinay Kathotia from the Nuffield Institute.

Before we arrived we wondered how the day would unfold. Would we sit through a four period lesson just listening or would we find ourselves solving problems in groups of four?

Much to our delight we found ourselves engrossed in mathematical challenges and problem solving. We realised after only a couple of minutes that instead of answering set questions, we were expected to ask our own. Dr Vinay Kathotia kept us on our toes with complicated sums and almost unanswerable questions.

We not only solved problems with a pen and paper, but also with colourful cubes and flexible shapes. We faced the challenge of making a three dimensional construction out of pentagons and hexagons. We thought the task would be simple, but we struggled to make a non-symmetrical shape. We were so engaged with explaining our answers and putting forward our theories that we lost track of the time! We all really enjoyed the day solving mathematical problems and experimenting with shapes.

Article: Sophia Breslauer, Molly Cowen, Aashni Patel & Izzy Dean, Yr 9

University ONL Drinks - Cambridge

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:05:47 PST

Thirty ONLs took the opportunity to catch up with Mr Wilson (RS & Philosophy), Mr Hardy (Art & Design), Dr Goward (History & Politics) and Miss Elliot (Classics) at the annual University ONL drinks at Cambridge last night.

Mr Kitt (former History teacher) dropped in to introduce baby Emily, adding to the NLCS family atmosphere.

University ONL drinks will be held in Nottingham, Bristol and London later this term. See Forthcoming Events for details.

Dr Ken Eames visits NLCS

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:24:19 PST

On Tuesday 31^st January, as part of Maths and Science Week, Maths and Science Societies welcomed Dr Ken Eames from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to give a talk on The Mathematics of Plagues. His talk on infectious disease modelling and the limitations of modelling epidemics mathematically, was presented in a very engaging way.

Dr Eames used The Standing Plague, as a way of representing a simplification of the spread of infections. This effectively explained various trends and the ways in which mathematicians can use the information to plan vaccination campaigns. He concluded by relating modelling of plagues to specific pandemics such as Smallpox and Swine Flu, which have affected millions, as well as explaining the UK Flu Survey, which Dr Eames has successfully run since 2009.

Although the spread of infection in the real world is far too complicated to be modelled exactly, Dr Eames provided us with a fascinating insight into a simplistic model's vital indication of how to respond to a pandemic. The talk highlighted the significance of epidemiology for infectious diseases ranging from flu to Malaria.

Article: Keshni Gudka & Siobhan Amutharasan, Yr 12

Kathy Castle talks at History Society

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:12:44 PST

On 31^st January 2012 Kathy Castle came to NLCS History Society to deliver an engaging and interesting talk about race and imperialism in children's literature from 1890-1918.

She initially talked about the controversial aspects of history as a subject such as the use of it as propaganda to instil certain beliefs about a nations history in people. Kathy Castle went on to describe how children's textbooks and more so their literature were used to encourage patriotism within them by using the people in the British Empire to show how positive Britain was. These stories made impacts on generations of people who were bought up on the values of the middle class and denied the opportunity to think critically. Finally, she also described how visual images were used to create the image of the English as heroes and helpful people.

It is easy to see today how the teaching of history has changed since we are always told to analyse - but next time you read a historical book think critically about whether it is an overview or a biased account of the past.

Article: Pernia Price, Yr 12

Parents' Guild Quiz Night

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:40:58 PST

On Saturday the 28^th of January, the Parents' Guild held a sold-out annual Supper Quiz Night, with 24 tables competing in the event. The buffet supper and the quiz took place in the Dining Hall, which was decorated by the Parents' Guild. Before the quiz, a supper of lasagne, salad and apple crumble was served and the competitors socialised with those on their table and around the Dining Hall.

There were eight rounds in the quiz, with the addition of a marathon round and a "Name that Jimmy" round. The last round was a terrifying "All or Nothing" round of general knowledge, where tables only received points if all the answers given were correct. There was much competition, but at the end of the quiz the Abrahams, Taylor-Fields, Vennings and Voelkers emerged victorious.

The Quiz Night was a roaring success and great fun. The Parents' Guild would like to thank the Quiz Masters for compiling and presiding over the quiz, the donors of the raffle prizes and the School for the use of the Dining Hall for the event.

Chinese New Year

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:09:11 PST

Students took part in Chinese New Year celebrations last week which included festive food in the dining hall and a calligraphy workshop.

The catering department created a 'Year of the Dragon' themed dining hall with paper lanterns and dragon decorations. Students were treated to a Chinese feast which included traditional dishes such as pork and bean shoots, sweet and sour chicken balls and vegetarian spring rolls, followed with a delicious dessert of warm pineapple rings and bananas with a caramel sauce.

The Oriental Society also organised a calligraphy workshop for students.

'A professional Chinese Calligrapher came in to give a lesson to students on this traditional art form. Firstly she demonstrated how to write and read different New Year greetings, and then each student was given their own symbol to draw whilst the teacher explained different customs in China. We used large wooden calligraphy brushes and black ink created from a special black stone to write our Chinese New Year wishes.

Finally, we were each given a traditional paper lantern to assemble and then paint on our favourite Chinese greetings. It was interesting to learn how each stroke had to be put in a certain order, and how this affects the meaning of the word. Oriental society certainly excelled with this activity and everyone thoroughly enjoyed learning the art of calligraphy.' Leila Hussein & Mallaika Viswanath Yr 8

Photographs: Larraine Bristow, Marketing Department

National Essay Competition Winner

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:35:20 PST

The History department at North London is delighted to announce that Year 13 student Sakshi Rathi recently won a major national essay competition on the history of Parliament. The competition, organised by the History of Parliament Trust, called upon students to submit a 3000 word essay on any aspect of parliamentary history. Sakshi's essay on the Home Rule Bills for Ireland asked the question "Why was Home Rule only achieved in 1914, despite first being introduced in the Commons in 1886?"

Sakshi with Baroness D’Souza, Lord Cormack and competition runners-up

Sakshi's essay was described by the competition judges as "wonderfully well written and ...something of a joy to read." On January 17^th, Sakshi attended a ceremony at the House of Lords where she was presented with a prize of £100 by the Rt. Hon. Baroness D'Souza, the Speaker of the House of Lords, and Lord Cormack, Chairman of the History of Parliament Trust. Sakshi was also given a tour of Parliament, including a visit to the Hansard records and Parliamentary Archives, where she saw, amongst other things, the death warrant issued for Charles I.

Congratulations to Sakshi on her fantastic achievement.

The Brief History of Bread

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:19:29 PST

At the end of last term History Society took on a culinary challenge! Two Year 13 girls, Jessica Taylor and Hannah Mills, led a session entitled ‘The Brief History of Bread', and the Society enjoyed a discussion about the origins, traditions and the historical significance of our humble loaf of bread.

An interesting and original topic, we were all fascinated to find that we had known so little about one of our favourite foods, but now consider ourselves experts on the subject! It has an extensive and intriguing history spanning 30,000 years, and ‘the work of human hands' has become embedded into culture and the human identity. The meeting also included a bread-making demonstration, and all members went home with a bread ration for tea!

Watch out for more food history on 31st January, in a session led by Dr Melissa Calaresu (Cambridge Professor), who will be introducing us to The History of Ice-Cream.

Article: Hannah Mills, Yr 13

Adele Geras visit

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:57:21 PST

Award winning author Adele Geras visited NLCS on 18^th January 2012. Author of over 90 books for children and shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize, Ms Geras told us a little about some of her books and how she came to write them.

She explained how she enjoys writing books of different genres and loves trying out new ideas. She spoke about her books which are set in the past and how Dido, Ithaka and Troy, all set in Ancient Greece, were her favourites.

The talk was very interesting and Adele Geras gave us many tips on how to improve our writing. Her talk was made extra special as we were joined by students from Sacred Heart Language College in the Library and remotely via video link by students from South Hampstead High School.

Article: Mallaika Viswanath, Yr 8

Photographs: Larraine Bristow, Marketing Dept

RMS Badminton Tournament

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:17:21 PST

On Saturday 14^th January 8 girls from NLCS took part in the annual RMS Open Invite Badminton Tournament. Schools from a wide geographical area entered which meant that competition was strong. NLCS entered pairs in both the U15 and U14 age groups.

U15

Kaye Song & Monisha Kochar

Shivani Patel & Charlotte Caplan

U14

Nikita Shah & Ashnee Shah

Nishka Patel & Priya Gopaldas

There were some terrific performances and many pairs made progress throughout the day working on their variety of shots, combinations and rotations.

Each game lasted 5 minutes with every rally counting and the score being declared at the end. There were some very convincing wins throughout the day combined with some very tightly fought matches with it literally coming down to the last rally - very exciting!

Overall it was a fantastic team performance with Kaye and Monisha coming second in their age group and the U15 team retaining the team shield when both pairs totals were combined. In the U14 section Nikita and Ashnee narrowly missed out on the medals finishing 3^rd in their age group.

Well done to all the girls who took part and we look forward to the rest of the Badminton season and the upcoming county round of the Schools National Badminton Tournament.

Article: Miss Hopkins

Man Spricht Deutsch

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:54:56 PST

On 11^th January girls from Years 7-9 had the ultimate treat of watching a Germany play performed by the Flying Theatre Company in the PAC. The theatre company's performance left a lasting impression as it provided an entertaining comedy performance filled with live music, circus skills, break-dancing, magic and live-music. The play dealt with the entertaining inhabitants of the small German village of Weisnichtwie which provided an insight into a utopia of interesting people.

The play was fully interactive from bringing girls onto the stage to learn some new dance moves, German vocabulary and the Beethoven Direction Rap to spraying water on to the crowds to imitate the weather forecast for the current week in Germany.

Not only did the students love watching the play, they also picked up some key German vocabulary and learnt more about German culture.

Article: Jessica Rogers, Yr 12

Young Enterprise Competition

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:25:11 PST

NLCS Young Enterprise companies got off to a flying start in this year's interim competition, held recently at The Jewish Free School. As ever, the three North London companies represent a diverse and highly creative year, with products ranging from must-have vintage jewellery, to sumptuous sleepwear and an innovative educational activity case.

The Education Station

Impress

Forty Winks

The three companies were judged on their product and trade stand by local business leaders, before delivering polished presentations to a large audience. "Impress" received a Special Judges' Commendation for the quality and style of their jewellery, whilst "The Education Station" picked up a well-deserved award for Best Trade Stand. In the end, it was the NLCS company "Forty Winks" that took the prize for Best Overall Company.

All three groups performed brilliantly against tough opposition and now have their sights set on the Area Final, to be held in the Performing Arts Centre at NLCS at the end of March.

Article: Dr. Goward, Young Enterprise Coordinator

Impress

Best Company Award -Forty Winks

Trade Stand Award - The Education Station

ONL shortlisted for Saatchi Competition

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:55:40 PST

Two pieces of work by former student Emily Cummin,18 from North London Collegiate School have been selected from thousands of entries for the Saatchi Gallery - Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for Schools 2011 Competition.

Charles Saatchi's reputation for launching the art world's next big thing is second to none with names such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Rachel Whiteread in his portfolio... And, true to form, his gallery in Chelsea will be showcasing the 20 artworks shortlisted for this year's competition.

Emily with NLCS Art & Design teachers, Mrs Fiori, Miss Young and Mr Hardy.

The Saatchi Gallery - Sunday Telegraph Art Prize Competition is open to students up to the age of 18 from around the world. Over 12,000 entries were submitted this year and among the 20 shortlisted works were entries from Germany and the US, as well as the UK.

Emily submitted 3 paintings to the competition from a series of watercolours based on her travels around India that formed part of her final A level course work.

Amazingly 2 of the 3 pieces were shortlisted in the final 20, the only candidate ever to achieve this. "Emily developed extraordinary watercolour skills while in the 6^th form and her travels gave her wonderful subject matter. This accolade is well deserved". Tom Hardy, Head of Art and Design

Emily is currently studying an Art Foundation course at City and Guilds and is planning to study History of Art next year.

This year's judges are Marc Quinn, artist; Alistair Hicks, art adviser to Deutsche Bank; Kaye Umansky, children's author; Rebecca Wilson, Saatchi Gallery associate director; and Alastair Smart, Sunday Telegraph arts editor

The Prize is part of the Saatchi Gallery's education programme, which is committed to introducing contemporary art to younger audiences. More than 2,500 school groups have visited the new Saatchi Gallery since it opened in Chelsea in October 2008.

For further information please visit:

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/portfolio/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8995361/The-Saatchi-GallerySunday-Telegraph-Art-Prize-for-Schools-2011.html?image=10

NLCS catering staff hold mufti day

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:38:29 PST

Friday 20^th January saw an unusual sight with the catering staff from Chartwell's, rather than the students at NLCS, taking part in a mufti day in an attempt to raise money for Hospitality Action.

Hospitality Action is a charity that aims to alleviate the stresses and problems of those in the catering industry, whether in restaurants or bars. The stresses involved in this industry are not always evident, however, the strain of long hours and small salaries can lead to many different problems which Hospitality Action aim to stop.

The catering staff at NLCS and a number of other schools across the country that are a part of the Compass Group dressed up in red today donating a pound for this charity in to hope to raise £2000. You may be thinking why red? This is perhaps due to the fact that the Hospitality Action charity's logo is red and as well as raising money the aim is also to raise awareness and promote their cause.

The catering staff do so much for us at school it is great that we can support them in this initiative.

Article: Pernia Price, Yr 12

Gymnastics Success

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:56:49 PST

Mallinson Gymnastics Competition

Recently 16 NLCS girls ranging from Years 3 to 13, competed in the Mallinson Gymnastics Competition, against 6 other teams. They all performed a floor routine and voluntary vault. The competition was split into two categories; Novice and Advanced. Every gymnast performed exceptionally well, and NLCS came away with 10 individual gold medals, 4 silver and 1 bronze. Finally all of the girls scores were added together to form a team total and NLCS had the highest combined scores in both the novice and advanced categories, therefore winning the ‘Serpente Cup' in each section. Congratulations to all the girls involved in the competition.

2011 GISGA Championships

A number of NLCS gymnasts have also competed in the 2011 GISGA Championships in Roberstbridge. The U9 team competed in the national final, where they performed a set floor, voluntary floor, set vault, voluntary vault and group routine. The U11, U13, O13 and U15 teams performed a set floor routine and a voluntary vault to try and secure themselves a place in the GISGA national championships in March 2012. All teams performed excellently, as they were up against some extremely tough competition. The U9 team achieved 13^th place overall in the national finals, which is a huge achievement for such a young team. The O13 team secured silver medal position overall, and a place in the 2012 finals, along with the U13 team. Medals for individual performance were awarded to Camilla De Pourbaix (U11 team), and Milli Karlstrom (O13 team). Congratulations to all of the girls involved in such a great weekend, and good luck to the O13 and U13 teams for the national finals in March 2012.

Harrow Gymnastics Competition

9 NLCS gymnasts competed in the annual Harrow gymnastics competition, against a variety of schools in the local area. They performed a voluntary floor routine to music, and a voluntary vault. The junior team; consisting of 6 girls from Years 7 to 9, performed extremely well gaining an overall 1^st place position.

Individually, 3 girls from NLCS also achieved Gold, silver and bronze positions. In the Individual senior category, NLCS came away with both a 1^st and 3^rd place overall. Congratulations to all the girls involved.

Libertimes January 2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:02:06 PST

Libertimes is the library's exciting online newsletter. It highlights new additions to the library stock, author events, displays and events in the McLauchlan library, as well as current developments in the wider world of literature.

Click here for the latest edition http://libertimes.wordpress.com/

Nina - Gallery

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:37:26 PST

Girls from Years 10-12 delighted an enthusiastic audience on the final evening of term in their performance of Nina. This original dance piece conceived and produced by Deborah Gibbs, Director of Drama, explored the themes of the novel One Day by David Nicholls and used music by Nina Simone. This highly talented cast created a magical evening demonstrating wonderful enthusiasm, excellent technique and an infectious joy and commitment in what they were doing. It was a truly delightful way to end the term.

Photos by Graham Ryder.

Fantasy Fashion 2011 - Gallery

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:32:43 PST

On Monday 12th December we were treated to the fifteenth annual Fantasy Fashion show in aid of KSDP. This year's theme of ‘Legend' saw spectacular costumes inspired by the likes of Lady Gaga, Alexander McQueen, Medusa and Nelson Mandela.

In 1998, Stephanie Lee (ONL), as Chair of Art Society, held the very first Fantasy Fashion show. During her gap year, she founded the charity Karenni Student Development Programme (KSDP) in order to provide homes and educational support for thousands of Karenni refugees. Tragically, in 2001, Stephanie was killed in a motor bike accident close to the refugee camp. KSDP continues to be run in her honour by Stephanie's parents Beryl and Steve Lee.

Beryl commented that she "is really grateful for Fantasy Fashion which is the highlight of KSDP's year' and would like to thank everyone for donating to KSDP through ticket sales and through the sale of over 500 raffle tickets". The fabulous prizes included a Jenny Packham dress and a coat donated by Melanie Press.

The judging panel consisted of Darius Sanai, Editor-in-Chief at Conde Nast publications, Samantha Sanai and Mayumi Ihara-Quinones (ONL 2010).They were delighted with the ‘fantastic show' which highlighted NLCS girls' ‘enormous sophistication and thoughtfulness in designs'. The judging panel particularly noted that it is wonderful that Fantasy Fashion is successful in showcasing the inter-relationship between the fashion industry and charity.

Fantasy Fashion was organised by the Chairs of Art Society, Sabrina Barr, Anna Bateson and Maria Saeki, who would like to thank everyone involved in making the night such a resounding success. Our congratulations go to all the winners. We look forward to seeing their unique and creative designs on the cover of Vogue in the future!

Article: Gina Sternberg Yr 12

NLCS teacher is Chess Master

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:23:31 PST

Mr Lorin D'Costa is a chess teacher at NLCS, he teaches throughout the Junior and Senior Schools as well as running numerous chess clubs. As well as teaching he occasionally plays in international chess tournaments.

Recently he played in the London Chess Classic International Open, held at Kensington Olympia from 3-11 December. He began with 4 wins out of 4, beating a Grandmaster in the 4th round who is one of England's highest rated players. His final result was 7 out of 9, ranking him 3^rd equal. Mr D'Costa currently holds the title of International Master, which places him just one rung below Grandmaster.

Mr D'Costa has an excellent website www.lorinchess.com which advises parents on how their children can improve in chess.