Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News - 7th November 2014
Nov 7, 2014
Dear Parents
Thank you to all our musicians who performed in our first musical assembly of the year this morning. We had 17 performers playing a range of instruments. Their composure and confidence was amazing, especially with many of them having only been playing for a short period of time and in their first public appearance. I also enjoyed listening to our junior choir for the first time this year which included the new choir members. I can’t wait to see you perform later in the year and see what progress you have made. Thank you to Miss Macklam for arranging this assembly.
Out and About
I visited 2M’s lesson on Monday which was focused on the Gunpowder Plot and safety on Bonfire Night. The class first recapped the work they had been doing before half term. Aditya said there was a sequence of events that led up to the Gunpowder Plot and Beth gave a summary. Mr Murray then asked some specific questions relating to the event. He asked the class to write down the name of the king at the time. To my astonishment, the whole class wrote down King James I, they then proceeded to write down that he was a Protestant, with a little help from their talking partners! Daisy said that the Catholics disagreed with some of the changes that were being made. Hands were flying up with all the children desperate to answer any questions. Connie said that the Houses of Parliament were in London and Renée said that it was the capital city of this country. Joshua talked about Guy Fawkes’ involvement before Sasha gave some detail about the Gunpowder Plot. I was staggered by this class’ knowledge and their retention of the key facts from the initial introduction to the topic before half term. The class then moved on to talking about the rules and safety on Bonfire Night. The class were very aware of the dangers and familiarised themselves with the Firework Code. The main activity was then to design a poster to illustrate one of the rules which they were going to show to Reception later in the day. Joshua was one of the first up to make a start, quickly followed by the rest of the class. The atmosphere and the children’s eagerness to absorb new information was very impressive. Thank you Year 2 and I look forward to returning later in the year to watch you in action again!
Holiday Dates
The provisional holiday dates for the next academic year (2015/2016) have been included in the Newsletter. We will be trialling a two week half-term next year in the Autumn term instead of three weeks at Christmas (which will be reduced to two weeks). This will bring us in line with a number of other Independent Schools in the North West.
Holiday club with Ms Burns
In response to the survey last year, the school is considering trialling a club, for Juniors, to be run by Miss Burns and her staff on 16, 17 and 18 December. If you are interested, please could you hand your name in to the office. We will need at least eight children for this club to go ahead. We will be asking the children over the next couple of weeks which activities they would be interested in doing so that we can provide as varied a programme as possible.
Winter Uniform
Children should now be wearing winter uniform. Hats and scarves should be in the school colours and have no logos. School hats, gloves and scarves can be bought from the office.
M and M Productions
M and M productions paid their annual visit this year to perform ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. This is always a very popular event with lots of audience participation! The laughter and singing could be heard from Nursery. They used a lot of familiar songs and many from ‘Frozen’ which was definitely popular with the girls and younger members of the school. All the children were still chattering about it and telling some of the jokes the next day!
Halloween Party
Thank you to all the parents who helped out with our Halloween Party. It was a very successful event with over 120 tickets sold. The children had a great time and there were many very scary and quite amazing costumes! It was lovely to see so many children and parents there and a great way to finish before half-term. I would like to thank, particularly, the two main organisers, Mrs Hornby and Mrs Muhammad, whose hard work in the lead up to the event was rewarded with a lot of very happy children.
HPPTA
We'd like to share with you the amount we've raised so far and will be keeping you updated with the resources we purchase for the school.
Christmas Cards raised £186.34
Mufti Day raised £173
Halloween Disco raised £496.36
Our next big event is the children's Christmas party and fair. We are always looking for helpers and if you could spare some time, please let us know. Further details will be sent out soon, along with suggested donations for items needed.
Thank you for your ongoing support "The PTA"
Netball v Harris
Two teams played against Harris on Wednesday after school. The first game was thrilling, with Highfield dominating possession to begin with and having lots of chances to score but unfortunately the ball wouldn’t go through the net. Eventually, Highfield scored after 5 minutes of play. The game then opened up with end to end action with both teams equally determined. The final score was 5-3 to Harris. In the second game, a Highfield team made up predominately of Year 4 players, played against a Harris Year 5 team. All the girls tried incredibly hard with Evie Hewitt Smith scoring the Highfield goal. Harris eventually won the game. Congratulations to all the girls who played. Players of the Match were Katie and Evie. Mrs Parsons
Football v Oakhill
18 boys from Year 5 and 6 travelled to Oakhill last Wednesday to play football. Although we lost out in both games, the commitment and work rate of all our boys should be commended. They now need to focus on their first touch and awareness of the players around them for their next outing to Westholme.
Children in Need
We will be supporting Children in Need again this year, next Friday, along with most other schools in the country. Each class has come up with an idea for Fancy Dress for the day and each child will need to bring £1, as a donation, for Children in Need. The aim is to keep the costumes as simple as possible so all money raised can go directly to Children in Need. It is 4Ds Assembly on the day which will be based on Children in Need and Mr Drake has kindly volunteered to go in the stocks later in the day. So if your child would like to throw a few wet sponges at Mr Drake they will need to bring in an extra £1!
The children have made the following choices for fancy dress:
6H - crazy hair and crazy tie
5H - pyjamas
Y4 - crazy hair
3H - pyjamas
3M - crazy outfits/socks/hair
Y2 - own clothes and crazy hair
1D - wear as many colours as you can
Reception - superheroes and fancy dress
Pre-School and Nursery - pyjamas
Please could you make sure that all children have sensible footwear, school coats and a few layers under their pyjamas or crazy clothing. Thank you!
Merit Awards
6H:Mack 5H:Hannah 4M:Katie 4D:Katie 3M:Ivan 3H:Henry
2M:Connie 2W:Jaison 1D:Arjun RB:Ibraheem RF:Jack
Monitors of the week: Jake, Oscar and Sam
Dates for the Diary
13 November from 3:15-4:45pm – HPPTA Tuck Shop
Week commencing 24 November - last week for sports clubs
24 November - last hockey practice at West View
1 December - final Little Aces
Please note that extended care will be in the Y3 classrooms on Tuesday 11 November.
Thought for the Week
Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant, there is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.
Johann Gottfried von Herder.
Yours sincerely,
J M Duke
Headmaster
