We are pleased to introduce our April bulletin. In the bulletin this month you will find out all sorts of information and updates including links to recent blogs, upcoming events, charity corner, photos, tweets, merit update, House competition update, what the Team Councils and School Council have been up to and 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.
Miss Theobald (School Council Coordinator) + Northgate School Council.
Over the past few months, Northgate has been fortunate to have the support of Dereham Mayor, Hilary Bushell with a number of special events. She wanted to give an insight into the link she has created with the school and wrote the following for us:
‘In November I was privileged to be asked to attend the Remembrance Service at the School. This was a truly wonderful experience to be able to join the students and members of the Royal British Legion and witness the respectful way in which the whole of the service was held. The readings and music performed by the students were inspiring. I was given the honour of placing a Remembrance Cross on behalf of Dereham Town Council, and therefore for the residents of the town.
At the beginning of December, I joined members of the Students Council who were monitoring the traffic on Quebec Road, and ensuring that students crossed the road safely. During my visit I was shown round various aspects of the school and was very impressed with how the students were reacting to their learning. I was made welcome in all the classes that I visited. It certainly gave me an insight into the daily running of such a large school. It was on this visit that I was welcomed to an assembly in which drama students gave an exciting and interesting show of some of the many topics they had been studying. I loved the drums!!!!! One very important and lasting image that I will carry forward from this day is that when I walked into two of the senior classes all the Students stood when I entered. WELL DONE. This is a true mark of showing respect to a visitor, and more importantly a lady. Thank you.
On another meeting which I had to attend I had the pleasure of liaising with Mr. A. Mason, giving me the opportunity of making further ties with Northgate School. It has proved to be a very ground-breaking move. So we go on with an even closer unity.
The Students Council were keen on becoming involved in my event of commemorating the Suffragette movement and the 100 years since all men and women over the age of 30 received the votes. The students asked me to give a brief introduction as to what happened over the 60 years of intensive negotiating in Parliament which led to the vote being achieved. It was met with great enthusiasm and it was agreed that they would join me, former mayors of Dereham, George Freeman and a member of the Police Force in celebrating such an epic event. Some of us tried to dress up looking a little more like people from the 1918’s rather than the 2018’s. The press came to take photos for the EDP and Dereham Times. That’s TV Norfolk also came and interviewed and recorded the event. The Students proudly walked through the Market Place supporting their placards showing details of meetings being held in the Assembly Rooms during the 1st world war in support of the Suffragette movement. We were also joined by Mr. R. Groom, a Mason as one of the suffragette meetings were held in the Masonic Hall, a rare occurrence in start of the 20th century.
The Students really made the people of Dereham look – they marched with their placards held high, and were truly immaculately turned out. Well Done Northgate High School.
During one of my visits to the school, I joined an assembly which was dealing with safety issues on road awareness. The Assembly was given a wonderful presentation on the thoughts and problems that had arisen during the Students Council initiative of road crossing. It was so enlightening to hear young people speaking so eloquently to their peers about such important issues. I was able to present Safety Certificates to students who had achieved outstanding merit within this important topic.
During my visits to Northgate School I have always been well taken care of and guided in the right direction by a very admirable Head Boy, Will, and Head Girl, Rosie, Deputy Head Boy Adam, and Deputy Head Girl Emily , supported by Mr. C. Macdonald, and Mr A. Mason.
I feel I have been very privileged to have been welcomed into the life of such a great school, and the union that has been forged will continue long into the future.
There are many more things coming in the future which we will share, and I know this will continue long after my year of Mayor.’
Wednesday 21st March saw Northgate hold a Year 11 GCSE information evening. It followed on from a very well supported evening back in October. The evening gave parents the opportunity to look at how they can support students during the exam period and also for departments to be on hand to answer any questions from parents or pupils related to revision and resources to use. There was a talk from Miss Mather, exams officer about procedures and regulations, what to do if you are absent or late on an exam day and the all-important results day.
Mr Oldfield spoke about his own recent experience as a father of a Year 11 and how ‘encouragement’ can take lots of different forms and depends on the individual child. What is important is that we are communicating, are honest and supportive like a ‘family’.
Dr Hone talked through the Easter revision schedule, which is also on the school website here. All students were given a goody bag with pen, ruler and handy revision planner! Former Northgate students were available throughout the evening to offer advice to students about coping with the exam pressures and revision strategies. The next couple of months are going to be extremely busy therefore planning is important.
Feedback from the evening was very positive and we hope all our Year 11s know that we are all here to support them in achieving their full potential. Thank you to all those who attended and to staff for providing such valuable information. We wish the Year 11s the best of luck in their exams and know they will make us all proud! For more resources and information, please click here.
14th March is a particular day in the year which the Maths Department always look forward to. Why we here you ask? Well, written in American form, 14th March is 3/14. 3.14 is the start of Pi. Pi represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s an important part of Maths, most importantly geometry, where pi is key in calculating the area or circumference of a circle or the volume of a cylinder.
The Maths department once again had lots going on – here’s a run-down of the classes:
Miss Theobald’s classes:
10L1 had the opportunity to complete some Maths dingbats, sing along to the Pi Song and work out the amount of crust you would get on and eighth of a slice of the world’s largest deliverable pizza (56 inches in diameter).
11L1 tried to recite Pi to as many decimal places as possible – the winner being Emil who managed 28 decimal places. They also sang along to the Pi song.
7G were set an investigation to see how many pieces a pizza could be cut into by make 1 cut, then 2 cuts, then 3 cuts and so on. They spotted patterns, made predictions and tested these predictions. They also saw that writing your birthday in figures such as 14/03/18 – these digits can be found somewhere in pi (this happens to appear at digit 1 360 444!!)
Dr Gollop’s classes:
10R2/10L4 completed some Maths dingbats.
7A/7N – Investigated what Pi is by measuring around the circumference of different circular items and diameter. If done accurately, dividing the circumference by the diameter should give Pi.
8L1 – investigated the formula for the circumference of a circle with paper, next lesson they will be looking at area of circles and fractions of circles.
Mr Carter’s classes:
8L2/8R2 looked at how to find the area of a circle in terms of Pi and also with a calculator. They will later be investigating the circumference of a circle.
Mrs Mangler’s classes:
8R1 investigated the circumference and diameter of circles by measuring circular objects, they linked this to rearranging equations to get C = . Finally they worked out areas of circular objects after measuring them. Jimmy also managed to recite Pi to 26 decimal places!
9R2/10R5/7L all completed the Pi Day starters.
Mrs Smith’s classes:
10R1 completed the Pi Day starters and saw how many digits they could recite Pi to.
8R3 made some fantastic and colourful Pi paper chains where each digit in pi was represented by a different colour paper. They worked in small groups and tried to complete as many digits (chains) as possible!
Back in February the History Department ran another unforgettable trip to Berlin. Beatriz and Lucy in Year 10 have written about their experience:
Despite it being a short trip, Berlin 2018 was jam-packed with amazing experiences. On Thursday 1st February we arrived at Northgate at the ridiculous time of 2:00 am! Although we were all tired, we were prepared for the trip ahead. After our farewells, we departed from the school at 2:30 am to head to Heathrow Airport.
At around 5 am we arrived at Heathrow Airport, and once we checked our luggage and went through security we had 30 minutes to browse at Duty Free and pick up an early breakfast. We boarded our plane at 6:30 am and set off to Berlin at 7:10 am.
We landed in Germany at 9 am (GMT), got our luggage and headed to the coach for the hotel. During our coach journey we had a Berlin local, Tatina, informing us about the history of Berlin.
The Berlin Wall.
The Berlin Wall
We arrived at our hotel, Meininger Hotel, and almost straight away we were off to explore Germany’s capital. Firstly, we went to grab lunch at the train station opposite our hotel and once we were done we set off to look at Berlin’s main landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate (which was in fact our first stop), the Reichstag Building, the Holocaust Memorial before having a delicious meal at Maredo. Once we arrived at the hotel we went to our rooms and flopped straight to bed.
The Reichstag Building.
Inside the Reichstag Building.
On the second day, we went downstairs to the dining room to have breakfast. Yet again, another delightful meal. Later on, we headed to the Jüdisches Museum which was dedicated to the memory and education of the Holocaust. There were many interesting exhibits such as the three Voids that the architect designed to emulate a space of thought and reflection of the tragic deaths of so many people.
Before heading for lunch we stopped at Checkpoint Charlie (the most famous crossing point between East and West Germany which was then segregated after The Cold War). We then ventured to the Mall of Berlin to grab some lunch and explore the shops.
Checkpoint Charlie.
Alexandra Platz
Next, we went to the Deutsches Historisches Museum which explained the history of Germany from 1914-1991 and highlighted the tragedies of both world wars and the Cold War on both Germany and opposition. On our way back from Alexander Platz where we sipped a much needed warm drink and grabbed some souvenirs, we headed back to our hotel after our long day to have some dinner consisting of beef stew, boiled potatoes and salad. Afterwards we had some time to relax before having a wonderful night’s sleep.
Inside the Deutsches Museum.
View from the Berlin TV Tower.
With great new friends made and new memories formed, we packed our bags and headed to the coach for our last day in Berlin. Firstly, we went to the Berlin TV Tower, the tallest building in Berlin. To see the amazing view of Berlin, we had to go in a lift that went up so high it actually made our eyes pop! Once we got up there, we went around to see the skyline of the capital. We saw landmarks and some gorgeous buildings. Next, we went to a small café on the outskirts of Berlin for a nice lunch before heading to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Sachsenhausen was an informative yet very emotional and hard-hitting experience. We explored different huts, each one showed how life was for prisoners. It was an eye-opening experience. It was a time of reflection and memory to those who had to suffer through the conditions and treatments of a place like Sachsenhausen and we believe that everyone on the trip took something from this moment.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
We then proceeded to the airport for our 6:40 pm (GMT) departure, although our flight was delayed for 90 minutes, which was not a fun moment at all. Finally, after a two hour flight we landed in Heathrow Airport and ready to return home. Although we did enjoy our time in Berlin, everyone was excited to go home and rest for the remainder of the weekend.
To end this, we collected some quotes from students who attended the trip:
“The amount of culture and history we saw was unforgettable”
“I feel so lucky to have experienced an amazing city and to be able to imagine how different it would have looked like in Nazi Germany. I made some memories with some amazing people I know I’ll never forget.”
“An amazing experience with great people”
“Had an absolutely amazing time, cherished every second,”
Thanks go to Mr Guy for organising such a fantastic and educational trip along with Mrs Sutcliffe, Miss Ling, Mrs Anders and Mr MacDonald who came as well.
Cathedral in Berlin.
Lustgarten looking towards the Altes Museum (Old Museum) in Berlin.
At the beginning of December, I joined members of the Students Council who were monitoring the traffic on Quebec Road, and ensuring that students crossed the road safely. During my visit I was shown round various aspects of the school and was very impressed with how the students were reacting to their learning. I was made welcome in all the classes that I visited. It certainly gave me an insight into the daily running of such a large school. It was on this visit that I was welcomed to an assembly in which drama students gave an exciting and interesting show of some of the many topics they had been studying. I loved the drums!!!!! One very important and lasting image that I will carry forward from this day is that when I walked into two of the senior classes all the Students stood when I entered. WELL DONE. This is a true mark of showing respect to a visitor, and more importantly a lady. Thank you. 
The Students Council were keen on becoming involved in my event of commemorating the Suffragette movement and the 100 years since all men and women over the age of 30 received the votes. The students asked me to give a brief introduction as to what happened over the 60 years of intensive negotiating in Parliament which led to the vote being achieved. It was met with great enthusiasm and it was agreed that they would join me, former mayors of Dereham, George Freeman and a member of the Police Force in celebrating such an epic event. Some of us tried to dress up looking a little more like people from the 1918’s rather than the 2018’s. The press came to take photos for the EDP and Dereham Times. That’s TV Norfolk also came and interviewed and recorded the event. The Students proudly walked through the Market Place supporting their placards showing details of meetings being held in the Assembly Rooms during the 1st world war in support of the Suffragette movement. We were also joined by Mr. R. Groom, a Mason as one of the suffragette meetings were held in the Masonic Hall, a rare occurrence in start of the 20th century. 
During my visits to Northgate School I have always been well taken care of and guided in the right direction by a very admirable Head Boy, Will, and Head Girl, Rosie, Deputy Head Boy Adam, and Deputy Head Girl Emily , supported by Mr. C. Macdonald, and Mr A. Mason.
Wednesday 21st March saw Northgate hold a Year 11 GCSE information evening. It followed on from a very well supported evening back in October. The evening gave parents the opportunity to look at how they can support students during the exam period and also for departments to be on hand to answer any questions from parents or pupils related to revision and resources to use. There was a talk from Miss Mather, exams officer about procedures and regulations, what to do if you are absent or late on an exam day and the all-important results day. 
Dr Hone talked through the Easter revision schedule, which is also on the school website here. All students were given a goody bag with pen, ruler and handy revision planner! Former Northgate students were available throughout the evening to offer advice to students about coping with the exam pressures and revision strategies. The next couple of months are going to be extremely busy therefore planning is important.
Dr Gollop’s classes:
