Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News - 3rd July 2015
Jul 3, 2015
3 July 2015
Dear Parents
Another very busy and successful week at Highfield. The amount of activities and experiences the children have in a week and the heights they achieve never cease to amaze me. Below is just a flavour of what they have been up to.
Year 4 trip to Tatton Park by Olivia E
Today we went on a school trip to Tatton Park, we were learning about Vikings and Anglo Saxons. We did four activities: in the first activity we passed around horns, shells, sheep fur and different materials; we then made bracelets out of wool, the way the Saxons did it, using seven pieces of wool to make the bracelet. In the last activity, we went into the woodland to make dens out of sticks and twigs; it was hard to find twigs the right size. You had to build the dens against the tree, you also had to fit people in the den.
The first activity and the last activity were my favourite because I like crafts and buildings.
From the school trip I learnt how Vikings and Anglo Saxons lived, the clothing they wore and what they ate. Their clothing wasn’t brightly coloured, their clothes were colours like green and brown; they get green from nettles and they get brown from nuts. I learnt that cows and other big animals need as much as a bath full of water to drink. We also fed the different types of chickens. Overall the day was really good and I would like to do it again (photos on website).
Year 3 Team Building and Problem Solving Afternoon
On Tuesday, all our Year Three pupils took part in an afternoon of team building. The events consisted of the river crossing, semaphore, water obstacle race, great crate challenge and swamp stompers! The children’s teamwork really improved throughout the afternoon as they took it in turns to lead and support each other with advice and encouragement. At the half way point, they had a break in the shade to discuss their progress and how they could improve as a team. The completion of each activity really improved throughout the session as did the group cohesion and respect for each other. There were lots of smiles and giggles and the water obstacle was definitely the most popular activity! Thank you to Mrs Jones for organising the event (photos on website).
Aughton Chess Congress
A Lancashire Chess Association Junior Congress and Coaching day was held on Saturday 27 June at St Michael's Primary School, Aughton; 11 Highfield pupils attended. We had players in all six sections with the best result of the day coming from Ben (5H) who won the Queens section. Dev (5H) came 3rd in the Knights section; Harry (5H) was 4th and Matthew (3M) was 5th. Hannah (5H) played in her first Congress and managed to gain points in the Tiny Pawns section.
Congratulations to all our players who are going from strength to strength and meeting some tough opposition as they move up to the next section. A big thank you to all the parents who have supported their children with chess this year as it really is a big commitment at the weekends. It has been great to see so many of our players being chosen to represent Lancashire this season and I hope this will encourage more Highfield pupils to get involved and make this their aim too. Mrs Haythornthwaite
Preston Schools’ Athletics
This was our last competitive sporting event of the year. There were more than 16 schools from all over Preston competing at the UCLAN Sports Arena. We finished 9th overall with the boys finishing 9th and the girls finishing 6th. This was a particularly good result considering that we had many Year 4 girls competing against children in Years 5 and 6. The best results on the day were: Archie 3rd in long jump, Isabelle D 5th in the 800m, Jemima 4th in long jump, Olivia D 4th in the 100m, Harvey G 5th in speed bounce and the boys’ relay team came 4th. Congratulations to all those pupils who took part.
Cricket against St. Mary’s Hall
Last Thursday was our last hard ball game of the season. The boys really rose to the occasion against a side that had reached the County final. The boys bowled very well putting St. Mary’s Hall under a lot of
pressure. Sam bowled leg spin for the first time and bowled an excellent wicket maiden. This was followed by a devastating bowling spell by Ali, who took four wickets in 12 balls, all bowled, including their best batsmen and captain twice. We managed to restrict SMH to a very achievable score. Our batsmen also played sensibly with the first few pairs not getting out and keeping the scoreboard ticking over. However, our foot movement let us down and we were unable to despatch the poor balls for four. The last pair had over twenty runs to hit and Kieran took us very close, hitting a number of balls for four. In the end, we were only five runs short! This was an excellent performance against a very strong team. I know the boys have learnt a lot from this year’s cricket season and they will continue to develop their individual game at Secondary School (photos on website).
Sporting Success
2015, BMX World Championship
Kenny and Finntan from Year 5 have both been selected to represent Great Britain in the BMX World Championship in Zolder, Belgium during the summer holidays. We are very proud of them both and wish them the very best of luck!
LEP’s Education Awards
Congratulations to Tia, 1D and James, 3H who were jointly nominated for Primary School Pupil of the Year. This nomination was for their achievement in last month's Morrison’s Mini Great Manchester Run in aid of the Ronald McDonald House Charity.
They received a Highly Commended Award in front of hundreds of people at the Guild Hall. A fantastic achievement. Well done! (photos on website)
Move-up Day
The children were introduced to their new class teacher this afternoon. They were chattering away about it all morning and are already excited about next year.
Leavers’ Party
Our Year 6 are off to their Leavers’ Party this evening. I hope they have a great time. We will post some photographs on Facebook over the weekend to give you a flavour of what they got up to! Thank you to Mrs Merridew for organising this event.
Summer Fayre
I hope to see you all at our Summer Fayre on Sunday. There are so many activities on throughout the afternoon, including our first open public performance of the Little Voices and School Band which is not to be missed. I have also heard that there may be a few people going in the stocks! Monkhouse will be here with uniform to purchase.
Dates for the Diary
Wednesday 8 July Matinée performance of Frankie and Me
Thursday 9 July Evening performance of Frankie and Me
Monday 13 July The School Bake Off!
Merit Awards
RB:Lola RF: Zorain 1D: Tia 2M: Aditya 2W: Adam
3H: Lilland 3M: Alfie 4D: Haris 4M: Zara and Noah 5H; Alexander 6H; Freddie
Monitor of the week: Jamie
Thought for the Week
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible: and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
St Francis of Assisi
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
