First Ever School Archives Day at NHEHS Uncovers Hidden Treasures
By Neve P and Alexandra D, Archives Leads
Wednesday 12th March 2025 was the inaugural School Archives Day, a national event promoted by SARA (The School Archives and Records Association). To celebrate the day we held a quiz and an exhibition of school treasures, such as: the first school House cup; summer and winter hats, which used to be part of the uniform; and the school’s Guinness world record. As it was also Science week at NHEHS, we celebrated with a display featuring a few of our wonderful STEM-focused alumnae. This prompted one student to ask why her mother was on our display!
The quiz was a resounding success with swarms of students (and a few teachers!) delving through the online archives in search of answers to the questions. It was particularly entertaining to mark the responses to the ‘most unexpected or fascinating event in the school’s history’, which ranged from helicopter landings, to the DT bus, and of course, the fact that there used to be boys at Notting Hill!
Ms Critcher and I were thrilled with how well the archives quiz had been completed, with seven students being commended as runners up for getting almost full marks. The winners, who achieved full marks, were Eleanor Price and Ella Chalcraft and they will be awarded their prizes in the end-of-term awards assembly. They will also enjoy a tour of the NHEHS archives in the summer term.
Overall the first School Archives day has been a resounding success and it was thoroughly enjoyable to work with Dr Letters and Ms Critcher to organise it; we hope that it will become a cherished tradition at our school, inspiring students to engage with the rich history of Notting Hill. A huge thank you to everyone who took part and helped make the day so special. We look forward to uncovering even more hidden gems in the years to come!
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