Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's Weekly News, Friday 13th October, 2017
Oct 16, 2017
13 October 2017
Dear Parents
6H Assembly
Thank you 6H for your excellent assembly on trusting others and being a trustworthy person. I really enjoyed the way you used the story from the film ‘Finding Nemo’ and the story of Samson in rhyme from The Bible to illustrate your important message. Your presentation and delivery were very impressive, especially considering the busy start to the year you have had. You have all made many trusting friendships with children and staff at Highfield which I know you will continue to cherish this year and when you move on to your new schools. Thank you Mrs Haythornthwaite for arranging this assembly.
Improvements to our Website
The website has been refreshed with many new pictures and improved functions. We also have a live calendar which we are planning to keep up to date. The Nursery, School and Alumni Facebook pages can all be accessed at the bottom of the relevant website pages. These pages are updated regularly so please take a look and ‘like’ our posts and pages.
Pre-School has some interesting visitors
The Creepy Crawly Roadshow visited Pre-School on Wednesday afternoon. The children met Colin the Cockroach, Mildred the Millipede, Snowy the Giant Snail, Incy-Wincy Spider and Pinky and Perky the Grand Pythons. They were all incredibly excited and keen to learn all about the animals. John and Tracey told us that the hairs all over Incy-Wincy are ears, and she has eight eyes! Harriet, Frank, Eva and Eliza held every animal and showed excellent animal handling skills. Abdullah listened carefully to John and Tracey and repeated everything they said, and Arthur asked lots of interesting questions such as, “Do millipedes eat slugs?” Miss Halstead
Rugby ISA Tournament
Congratulations to all the boys who competed on Wednesday. In our first competitive tournament of the season, we won 5 matches, drew 3, and lost 2. The boys played some great attacking rugby, causing problems for all teams. Our defensive play also improved with some excellent tackling and rucking especially in the last few games. We put The Grange under a lot of pressure in our penultimate match but were unable to level the game after having the majority of the possession. This was a great performance as The Grange ended up as overall winners. A very promising first outing which will set the team up for the rest of the year.
England Hockey Star (and former pupil) visits Highfield
Rachel Greenwood, former Highfield pupil, visited school yesterday to coach the girls and put them through their paces. Rachel has won 35 Caps for England and was the highest scorer for the England under 16s last year. The girls really enjoyed the session, picking up lots of tips from Rachel who is playing at the highest level. Rachel is currently planning to continue her studies and her hockey at Harvard University in America. It was an absolute pleasure to have Rachel once again at Highfield. I would like to thank her for coming back to see us and we all wish her luck for the future. Please look at our Facebook pages for pictures from the afternoon.
Our School Charity (2017-2018)
Everyone in the school, from Year 1 to Year 6, has been busy finding out about different charities and voting for their favourite one. In our whole school assembly on Monday, we learnt about the different charities which had been put forward by each class. On Thursday, Year Six were busy sorting out all the voting slips and counting the votes. After a very tense but exciting time, they discovered that the ‘Make a Wish’ charity had the most votes and will be our school charity for this year.
Family and Individual Photographs
This is one of my favourite days of the year as I get the opportunity to watch, and talk to, many of the children in our school. The children looked very smart and were very excited about having their photograph taken. The sibling photographs were taken after Nursery and it was lovely to watch the big smiles and waves as children greeted their brothers and sisters. Adam was looking after his youngest brother Ali with a brotherly hand on his shoulder as Ali chatted away. Ayman stood by his older brother’s side looking very smart and proud with his blazer on and his tie done up tightly. Frank gave his brother Monty a big smile and wave as soon as he walked into the room before they met up and chatted away about the start of the day and the photograph to come. Joseph and Joshua were chatting away happily, very content in each other’s company before striding forward for their photograph. Darcey gave her brother Drew a quick check over to make sure his tie was done up, his shirt was tucked in and he looked presentable. After all checks were passed, they stood happily together with Drew chatting away to his big sister. Joshua stood hand-in-hand with Melissa, who looked up at her big brother very proudly and happily as he talked to other members of his class. The family bond was lovely to watch with all the siblings really caring and looking after their younger siblings before taking them back to their class. Many of the children practised their smiles before their photograph was taken. Avni took real pleasure in showing me her best beaming photograph smile after her picture was taken which I am sure will have made for a fantastic photograph. The children’s conduct was excellent all morning which allowed us to finish earlier than usual. The staff from Tempest commented on the wonderful manners of the children and how confident they were; a comment not made lightly and certainly not to every school they said.
Supervision at the end of the day
Please could all children be supervised closely in the car parks and playground areas at the end of the day. Please remember that Infant children can wait in the Reception classroom until 3.25pm while you wait to pick up their older siblings.
Term Dates
Term dates for the Academic Year 2018-2019 are attached to this newsletter.
Merit Awards
RD: Samira RJ: Anoushka 1W: Eloise 2D: Taylor 2E: Lily
3H: Isa 3M: Ahmad 4S: Alaia 5D: Aditi 5M: Darcey 6H: The Whole Class 6P: Daniel
Monitor of the week: Grace W-Y
Thought for the Week
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. William Arthur Ward
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
