Extra-Curricular

Extra-curricular Highlights

DRAMA

Following a year of curated online events, students embraced the thrill of live performance opportunities. Reflecting our whole-school goal of reuniting the community, projects and productions gave the students a forum for creating together. The department also launched a new Technical Theatre Club, teaching a range of stagecraft led by our Theatre Technician. Students from across every year group joined and were actively involved in building sets for our productions, making props and scenery, and supporting with lighting and technical backstage.

To open the Performing Art Centre again after the pandemic, our senior students took to the stage in their ever-popular Musical Theatre Evening, and the ‘Glimmers’ Showcase took over the Old House in their promenade production inspired by the 165th anniversary of George Bernard Shaw’s birth. Drama Productions have been superb and have included the Year 9 Production of ‘The Wardrobe’, the Senior School production of ‘Treasure Island’, and the Year 7 and 8 production of ‘Anansi’. In the Summer term, we became the first school in the world to perform ‘SIX: TEEN EDITION’, a new version of the hit musical ‘SIX’ about the six wives of Henry VIII.

On the opening night, we had the immense privilege of welcoming the writers of the musical Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss to mark the special performance. Six talented Year 10 students took to the stage and gave stunning performances as the Tudor Queens. After the show, the writers celebrated with the cast and gave the production rave reviews.

This was truly, truly a sensational production. Every cast member was so talented and charismatic and had such ownership over the material. They made me laugh in ways I hadn’t before over the songs. Such congratulations to everyone!! 5 stars! ” - Toby Marlow

MUSIC

The Autumn saw a return to mixed-year ensembles, orchestras, and choirs, ensuring an exciting array of repertoire and opportunities for younger students to be inspired to collaborate with our more senior students, resulting in a real buzz of musical activity once again.

Our Winter and Spring concerts featured a host of larger ensembles and choirs to sell out audiences.

Students have embraced opportunities to perform live to audiences once again, showcasing their talents in our Old House Concert Series and Drummond Recitals. Our annual Year 13 Gala Concert celebrated all the diverse musical talents in Year 13, including performances on viola, veena and violin, and featuring Debussy, Muse and French-Brazilian pop.

We continue to celebrate a wealth of student musical successes. Several girls have won places in national orchestras and the highly prestigious National Youth Orchestra. Students have been selected for the National Children’s Orchestra and National Youth Choir, and our Chamber musicians went through to the finals at St John’s Smith Square of the National Chamber Music Competition.

Extra-curricular Highlights

FANTASY FASHION

For the past 25 years, NLCS has been showcasing the talent and creativity of our students in our Fantasy Fashion event, founded by Old North Londoner Stephanie Lee in 1999 to raise money for the Karenni Student Development Programme (KSDP). This year’s theme, “Myths and Legends”, provided the audience with some breathtaking designs, including pieces inspired by Pericles and Medusa, to name but a few. We were delighted to welcome three fantastic judges this year, Fashion Designers Helen Hutton, Louise Bennetts and Stella McCartney, who had the tricky task of picking the winning designs. Whilst the judges deliberated, there were chances to bid on some excellent prizes in the auction. Since the event was set up, NLCS has raised over £161,000, and in 2021 we raised a record £7,188.38.

TRIPS AND EXPEDITIONS

More than 130 students have participated in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards Scheme, completing their bronze, silver and gold awards throughout the year, including expeditions to the Cotswolds, Brecon Beacons and Yorkshire Dales. In addition, there have been over 50 trips across the Senior School, including visits to Chessington World of Adventures, the Royal Opera, museums, galleries, and productions in the West End. Our residential trips programme has again resumed, and our Year 9 students challenged themselves physically and mentally on their adventure week in the Peak District whilst Year 8 explored the historic cities of Bath and Bristol.