Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News - 30th January 2015
Jan 30, 2015
30 January 2015
Dear Parents
Assembly
Thank you Year 1 for your fabulous assembly this morning about your families. I loved listening to the poems about the individual members of a family and your own personal accounts about your relatives. I could hear every word very clearly and you showed no nerves, enjoying your moment centre stage. The smiles on your faces and your enthusiasm were apparent throughout, especially in the class poem at the end about granddads which involved lots of actions. I particularly enjoyed how you gave your grandparents’ and parents’ poems at the end with your personal handprint on it. I am sure they will treasure them! I have included the ‘Parents’ poem below.
A Poem for Parents
Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints on the wall.
But every day I’m growing-
I’ll be grown some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away.
So here’s a little handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small.
After the assembly all the grandparents and parents were invited to your ‘class museum’ to have a look at a variety of different artefacts brought in by you from the last 100 years of your family. Thank you to Mrs Davidson for arranging the assembly and Miss Warburton for her support.
PTA Funds Transform School Assemblies
This week, a new projector and trolley have arrived for use in the Sports Hall. This new equipment will be used in class assemblies, movie evenings and sports lessons. It has been funded by the PTA. I would like to thank the PTA and Mr Jones for working with the school to help get the wiring ready for an improved aural experience in the Sports Hall. Mr. Turner
Holiday Club
We are continuing to trial a number of specialised Junior Holiday Club sessions during half-term. The sessions will run between 8am-1pm and are as follows:
Tuesday, popstars with Mr Murray, Wednesday tennis with Mrs Lowe and on Thursday PNE will be running a session.
The times tie in with our usual Holiday Club so if you would like to book a full day children will be able to join the School Holiday Club in the afternoon run by Mrs Hayes. Numbers are limited so I would advise booking clubs as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Open Day
Open Day is on Sunday 1 March, from 11am until 3pm. This is open to all parents and their families. Please pass on the details to any friends who may be interested in visiting the school. We do like to celebrate our children’s achievements on the day so there will be an exhibition of the children’s work. We will also need as many junior children as possible to take part in activities and to act as guides, especially in Years 4, 5 and 6. We are continuing to expand and many of the new children who come to the school come on recommendations from current parents. This has allowed the school to develop facilities such as the Performing Arts Studio and the newly planned astro turf. Thank you for your support on what is always a very important day in the school’s calendar.
All-Weather Pitch
The all-weather pitch plans have now been passed! We are in the process of deciding on a contractor so the project can get underway during the summer holidays. This will be a very exciting addition to the school and will really improve the sporting opportunities available to the children as it will transform the sports field. It is exciting to think that this time next year we should be able to host football and hockey matches and be the only Independent Prep School in the area to have sole use of its own all-weather pitch.
Rugby against Westholme
All the boys in Years 5 and 6 were given the opportunity to play rugby against Westholme on Wednesday. The boys did particularly well in extremely cold and windy conditions. After a good warm up with Westholme, the boys were split into two matches. The A team took control very early in the game with good rucking and ball handling. In the first half, Ali, Tom, Jake and Freddie all went over for tries after good team play and incisive running. In the second half, Westholme fought back to score a good try after a number of good counter attacks from Oscar and Jamie. Highfield ran out comfortable winners with five tries to one. George was awarded man of the match for his performance at scrum half where he passed with confidence and harried opponents in defence. The B Team game was very high tempo from the whistle with both sides trying to keep hold of the ball. Highfield defended well and as the game went on our boys started to dominate possession. Harry had a number of strong runs along with Finntan whose strong running and determination won him man of the match. All the team tackled well, demonstrating many of the skills they had learnt at Sedbergh two weeks ago. The final score was 5-1 to Highfield. I would like to thank Mr Lewis and Westholme for their hospitality and for their much needed hot showers afterwards!
Swimming Olympic Style!
Three Highfield swimmers had an incredible experience last Saturday at the National ISA swimming finals in the Olympic Pool, London. Just stepping through the entrance and looking down at the Olympic pool below with the electronic scoreboards and over 1000 spectators either side took your breath away. As I took in my surroundings we realised that Katie was about to start her breaststroke final. We were in a prime position to watch her dominate the race and become National Champion; this was quickly followed by Matthew in his backstroke event. Matthew’s strength and determination in the second half of the race beat all the opposition and he too became National Champion. In the afternoon, Katie repeated her fantastic performance from the morning with a convincing win in front crawl to become National Champion in a second event.
The times they achieved also made Matthew and Katie the fastest swimmers in the country in their age group for these events; an incredible achievement!
Matthew put in a strong performance to gain a Silver medal in his front crawl. Katie and Matthew anchored the front crawl relays with very determined swims to win Silver and Gold respectively. Tom led his team out for the Year 6 relay which came in fourth.
What a day! Three National individual champions out of over 300 Independent schools in the Independent Schools’ Association. It was an incredible experience and I felt very privileged as a parent and Head teacher to watch our swimmers do so well in the Olympic Pool.
(Following us on Facebook meant that you could hear how we went on in real time!)
Six Schools’ Swimming Gala at West View
A team of 12 swimmers swam in the gala. In the individual races we gained two first places from Katie H and Matthew W. One second place from Tom D and a third from Tyler. In the relays, we came second in the Year 6 medley and we won the canon relay, which is always the highlight and the final event. All the Highfield swimmers competed with lots of determination and showed great teamwork, a couple of swimmers swam a year above their age group. We now look forward to the Preston Schools’ Swimming Gala in March. Mrs Parsons
Netball v Harris
This was the girls’ first match of the term. Highfield struggled against an older team (Year 6) and Harris’ shooting was very accurate. Highfield’s determination throughout was great to see. The girls started to connect passes together and move the ball down the court, with Highfield scoring a goal.
The second match was Harris’ Year 5 team against Highfield’s Year 4 girls. The match was fast paced and closely fought with Highfield scoring many goals. Highfield’s next match is against Windermere School.
Would you like to advertise in The Highfeldian?
We have a limited number of A4 colour pages available at a cost of £150. Please see Miss Smith in the school office if you would like to advertise your company/business in this year’s school magazine.
Change of Postcode
Our school postcode is changing from 9 Feb to PR2 6BW.
Merit Awards
RB: Macaulay RF: Talia 1D: The Whole Class 2M: Beatrice 2W: Asiyah
3H: Ellie 3M: Rebecca 4D: Suzanna 4M: Shyalen 5H: Muhammad 6H: Freddie
Monitors of the week: Ali and Kieran
Thought for the week
People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built. Eleanor Roosevelt
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
