The Head Girl Team led a lively assembly to kick off the final week of the autumn term listing their favourite 12 NHEHS traditions. For the younger students, it was a great chance to hear about the events they’ll be involved with over the last few days of term as the HGT shared their fondest memories and mischievous exploits during their time at the school. 

How many of these favourite traditions are you aware of?

Christmas jumper day – a fun day wearing Christmas jumpers throughout the school. Participants donated £1 to local charity The Log Cabin in Northfields.

Boar’s Head Assembly – held on the last day of term at St Barnabas’ Church, Pitshanger, this mystical cult-ish event has its origins in Anglo Saxon times and has been celebrated since Mediaeval times. No spoiler alert here but this event is the favourite of every NHEHS alumnae! 

Five Gold Rings Assembly – a carol singing extravaganza with 600 girls squeezed into the hall, culminating in a wild rendition, or should we say Shout Out, of The 12 Days of Christmas. 

Charity at Christmas – there are lots of charity events to take part in, including putting together gift bags for Care 4 Calais and singing in a local care home. Last week, with Care 4 Calais, pupils gave the gift bags to the child recipients directly and could see first hand how their contributions and the charity impacts those in need.  

Carol Concert – walking down the aisle of St Barnabas’ Church carrying lighted candles is a beloved tradition, and having burning wax drip on one’s hands is all part of the fun apparently!

Christmas Song Competition – each form pick a festive song, changes the words and performs to their peers.  

Christmas form room decorating – in this highly competitive event, form try to outdo each other to create the most stunning room decorations. Judged by VIP Mr Shoults, this year’s theme is ‘Christmas cheer’ and the winners will display an illuminated reindeer for the last few days of term.

School elves – Mr Livings and Miss Cagnino work their magic.

Teacher choir – Head Girl Lewhat laid down a challenge that the A-Cappella choir will be able to beat the teacher’s choir in a musical sing-off!

Reindeer in the courtyard – last year real, live reindeer came to visit the school! A fondly remembered event that has sadly not been repeated this year…!

Mr Shoults’ Christmas Quiz – some form reps are extremely competitive and race to get the quiz as soon as it’s released so they have every second possible to work on the answers. Form tutors are not supposed to help but some are more persuadable than others and Mr Shoults makes the answers more and more un-Google-able each year!

Christmas Lunch – a key tradition as food is of the utmost importance to our students! Crackers are opened at the same time and gets everyone together. Side note: The current Year 13s, when in Year 9, conducted an experiment on the bouncy-ness of the stuffing and deemed it similar to a tennis ball. 

There are plenty of other festive events happening around the school in different year groups too including festive assemblies. Year 8 enjoyed making festive fascinators and Years 9 and 10 made pomades from oranges and cloves in form time as fun end-of-term activities. The sports teams also got festive with team dress ups and hockey party too!