Beyond the Classroom
While, of course, academic lessons are a crucial part of New College School life, we also want to develop pupils who have a wide variety of interests and who want to engage with the world around them. To that end, we have a lively enrichment activities programme, a large number of trips to places both locally and abroad, and a healthy programme of visiting speakers.
Enrichment Activities
At NCS we run both lunchtime and after-school enrichment activities sessions. Lunchtime enrichment activities are run every day apart from Wednesday and the after school programme operates on Monday - Friday evenings. For more information about the enrichment activities on offer each term, please contact our Director of Enrichment (isobel.rose@newcollegeschool.org). Recent activities have included:
• Photography • Senior Play • AV Club • French Play • Creative Writing • Mandarin • Cooking Club • Historical films • Table Tennis • Drama • Basketball • Chamber Choir • Archery • Pottery • Board games • Classics Club • Recorder Club • Chess • Junior Strings • Yoga • Ukulele Club • Judo • Indoor Football • Fencing • Health Related Fitness • Museum Visiting • Karate • Choir (junior and senior) • ICT, Coding and Electronics • Greek •Model Railway Club • Public Speaking and Interview preparation
Trips & Outings
NCS also offers a large variety of day and residential trips to our pupils, substantially enriching classroom teaching. Being in the centre of a cultural hotspot like Oxford, we make excellent use of the local sights; from world-class museums, libraries, music venues to college archives, churches and natural spaces. Our trips begin in Year 3 and give the boys the opportunity to learn in a more liberal and experiential context. The trips start with a day away locally and then develop to destinations such as the Malvern Hills, Snowdonia, France and Italy. The majority of the trips have an academic focus with particular interest in Geography, History, Classics and Languages, but the boys also get the chance to let their hair down or go paddling in the Mediterranean.
Recent ncs trips
- Rome, including St Peter's, the Vatican, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Pantheon, Il Gesu, the Forum and Colosseum, the catacombs of San Callisto, Circus Maximus, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps
- Sicily, including Siracusa, Noto, Piazza Armerina, Valley of the Temples, Segesta, Selinunte, Palermo, Monreale and Mondello
- Normandy, Avranches, Mont St Michel and Bayeux
- USA, including New York, San Francisco, Stanford, Tulsa, Dallas, Charleston, Pittsburgh, Columbia, Atlanta
- Wittenham Clumps
- Malvern Hills
- Merton College, Oxford
- Christ Church Picture Collection
- Harlech and Caenarfon Castles, Wales
- The Science Museum
- Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums, Oxford
- Exmoor National Park
- New College Archives
- Bate Instruments Collection
- Sheldonian Theatre
- The Andrew Marr Show, BBC
- Royal Opera House
- Hill End
- 'Little Canada', Isle of Wight
- Chedworth Roman Villa
- Condover Hall
- British Museum
- Snowdonia
- Grosvenor Hall
- Imperial War Museum
- National Space Centre
- Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
- Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral
- Houses of Parliament
- Oxford City Museum
- Pensarn Outward Bound Centre
- The Ashmolean Museum
- Cadogan Hall
- Dorchester Abbey
- Nuffield Place
- Youlbury Scout Centre
- Milton Keynes Theatre
- Woodstock Museum
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
- Watermill Theatre, Newbury
- The Swan and Royal Shakespeare Theatres, Stratford
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
- Woodstock Museum
- Cotswold Wildlife Park
- Grosvenor Hall
- Oxford Castle
- Bletchley Park
Talks & Lectures
At NCS we provide a number of different forums for talks and lectures. We host the annual Holloway Lecture, to which pupils from all local schools are invited. We also host guest preachers in Chapel most Wednesdays, as well as inviting speakers into school on an ad hoc basis. These speakers are very generous in telling us about their research, careers, and world affairs more generally.
recent ncs talks and lectures
- Professor Ashleigh Griffin: Professor of Evolutionary Biology, University of Oxford
- Professor Judith Weir: Master of the Queen's Music
- Professor Marcus Du Sautoy: Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science
- Professor Eric Clarke: Oxford University Heather Professor of Music
- Professor David Clifton: Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford; Research Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering; Visiting Chair in AI for Healthcare at the University of Manchester; Fellow of Fudan University, China.
- Professor Guy Cuthbertson: Professor of British Literature and Culture
- Professor Sarah Blagden: Professor of Experimental Oncology
- Professor Lucie Cluver: Professor of Child and Family Social Work
- Lord John Krebs: former President of the British Science Association
- Ms Emily Gee: Director for Cathedral and Church Buildings, Church of England
- Mr Oliver Holt: journalist, sports writer and broadcaster
- Mr Dominic Sandbrook: historian and broadcaster
- Mr Tim Harford: economist, journalist and broadcaster
- Mr John Simpson: foreign correspondent and BBC world affairs editor
- Mr Jerome Monahan: teacher and journalist
- Mr Andrew Graham-Dixon: art historian and critic
- Mr Alexander Armstrong: comedian, presenter and singer
- Mr Adrian Hodges: BAFTA-winning screenwriter
- Ms Griselda Heppel: People's Book Prize-winning author
- Ms Joanna Trollope: author
- Ms Jess Leydon: Great Britain rower
- Mr Piers Torday: author
- Dr Liz Jenkinson: Chief Technical Officer, Green Biologics
- Mr Christopher William Hill: author
- Mr Rupert Allen: commercial barrister, Fountain Court Chambers
- Professor Steven Balbus: Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Oxford
- Mr Ralph Allwood: former Director of Music, Eton College
- Mr Carll Cneut: children's book illustrator
- Dr Clive Holmes: emeritus Fellow in History, Lady Margaret Hall
- Dr George Southcombe: Director of the Sarah Lawrence Programme, Wadham College
- Dr Cory Way: Dean of Kirkland House, Harvard
- Dr Nik Sabharwal: Consultant cardiologist
- Professor Richard Katz: Professor of Geodynamics, University of Oxford