Headmaster's Welcome

24 March 2016 

Dear Parents,

What an incredibly busy and successful term for Highfield with so much to celebrate! 

Here are a few highlights from this term: excellent results for our pupils sitting Independent Schools’ Examinations; our amazing swimmers achieved success regionally and nationally; 9 children have been selected to play Chess for the county at Under 9 and Under 11 level and have qualified for the National Finals; 98 pupils were involved in a fantastic production of ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’ at The Charter Theatre and our sporting fortnight has included visits and inspiration from two professional sports stars. What a talented group of children we have at Highfield and all this in just an eleven week term! I think our children all deserve a good rest to recharge their batteries before another exciting term begins. I look forward to seeing you all return for the start of a new term on Tuesday 12 April. 

Year 2 Visit to Blackpool Zoo 

Yesterday, I went to Blackpool Zoo. When we got out of the coach, the first things we saw were some tortoises and a peacock. The peacock was making a really loud noise! The camels were hugging each other, it was so cute! I liked it when we saw two monkeys play fighting. They were trying to snatch the food off each other. It made me laugh so much! We watched giraffes who were eating leaves for their breakfast. We also saw the biggest snake ever! It was a bit scary. My favourite animal was the tiger because I liked watching it walk up and down. After lunch, we saw the orangutan. The orangutan was called Vicky. The funny thing about the orangutan is that it had hay on its head! I learnt a lot about new animals and what they did. I enjoyed going to Blackpool Zoo! 

(Extracts from Year 2s extended writing on their trip to Blackpool Zoo) 

Visit by Jill Scott, England and Manchester City Footballer (Pictures on Facebook) 

On Tuesday afternoon, Jill Scott, an England and Manchester City professional footballer, visited Highfield. She started the afternoon with our Year 2 and Year 3 pupils offering advice, refereeing their matches and introducing some football drills. At the end of the day, Miss Scott had a short assembly with our Juniors in which she told us more about her experiences in football and also answered the children’s questions. Jill said that when she started football, she was the only girl who really played and even though some people wanted her to try other sports, she loved football and was determined to carry on.  Jill then told the children how she was first selected to play football at the age of fourteen and described the experience of being dropped from the squad. She was really knocked back by this experience but her mum told her not to give up. She carried on working really hard on her technique, day and night, and after four years of striving and not giving up she was selected again for England, aged 18. She has gone on to play 108 times for England and has played in three World Cups, beating Germany to win a Bronze medal in the last one. Jill has recently returned from playing for England in America.  

The children, as always, were then full of questions.   Eryk asked her what position she played (midfield). Ameya asked her who had inspired her (David Beckham due to how hard he worked to be an excellent professional footballer and for all the work he does off the field). Daniel asked her what sports she enjoyed outside of football (Running - she won the Junior London Marathon). Abdullah asked what number she played; Abigail knew the answer to this one: 8. Finntan asked her who were the hardest opposition (Chelsea -they won the league last year). Hamdaan asked her what she wanted to do when she finished football (football coaching). Sasha asked her who was best: Ronaldo or Messi? (Messi)  

These are only a selection of the questions and there were still more hands up at the end. Olivia C asked her if she had ever won a raffle - obviously part of her mind was on the next day’s Easter Egg Raffle!  The children asked a range of questions and I think they would have provided excellent preparation for any future Press Conferences!  

Miss Scott then went outside onto our new all-weather pitch to work with our Year 3, 4 and 5 pupils. She put them through their paces with lots of close skills work before refereeing them in a game. Jill commented on the excellent quality of our facilities and the wonderful opportunity the children had to play in a Sports Hall and an all-weather pitch whatever the weather. After a busy afternoon, Jill left to go back to train with Manchester City, who began their competitive season last night.  

On behalf of everyone at Highfield, I would like to thank Jill Scott for coming in to spend time with the children and Miss McShane for organising the afternoon. I know she inspired a lot of pupils and a number of our children will now be following her progress with Manchester City and England with great interest.      

Toby Lester, Lancashire Cricketer 

Toby Lester visited school today and worked with the younger children on their basic striking and fielding skills. The older children were then given a master class in batting and bowling. It was great to see some of the more difficult techniques being performed by a professional cricketer. There will be a full report on his visit in the next Newsletter. 

Please have a look on Facebook (either via Facebook or our Website) over the holiday as we will be uploading pictures from the last two weeks of term. 

Netball v Terra Nova 

The girls finished their netball season on Wednesday against a very strong squad from Terra Nova. In the pink team game we took a 6 goal lead with excellent movement from all the girls and good shooting from Jemima and Olivia E. However, Terra Nova fought to win the game narrowly in the last quarter. The green and blue teams played well their best games so far against a strong opposition but narrowly lost both games. Terra Nova is a new fixture for Highfield and we look forward to playing them in a return fixture next year. 

David Lloyd -Free Passes for Parents 

The David Lloyd centre in Chorley has offered a free five day pass to any of our parents over the Easter holiday. Parents can either call (01257 235100) or email (mship.chorley@davidlloyd.co.uk) to reserve the pass. Parents MUST take the school newsletter with them when visiting the club for the first time.  

Easter Egg Raffle 

The raffle ticket queues have been dominating the hallways all week as the Easter Egg raffle has approached and the temptation of the Easter Eggs in the office has been all the children can think about! As I entered the Sports Hall and Dining Room where the Junior and Infant Raffles were taking place, all I could hear was the rustle of tickets as the children diligently checked their numbers. Finally, the Raffles started and it was lovely to see the delight on the children’s faces as they realised they had won. Every child who had bought a ticket was a lucky winner! I just don’t know how they managed to resist temptation as their prize sat on their desk or at the back of their classroom all day!  On Thursday, we had the draw for the big prizes. These were won by Sophie Year 4 and Hasan Year 1.  

Thank you to the PTA for organising the raffle and to all parents who donated eggs.  

Preston Schools’ Cross-Country 

Six of our runners took part in the Preston Schools’ Cross-Country at Archbishop Temple School on Wednesday against 26 other schools. In the girls’ race, Olivia D came 10th, Katie R 22nd and Katie H 36th. In the boys’ race, Oliver G came 6th, Alex 24th and Ben came 30th. This was an excellent performance out of a field of well over seventy runners. Well done! 

Lancashire Chess Tournament 

Congratulations to Dev, Alexander, Harry, Ben, Muhammad, Ivan and Matthew who all represented the county at the weekend. They qualified for the Nationals, coming second in the Regional tournament. Fantastic! 

National Cheerleading Champions 

Ellie, Evie, Darcey, Grace T and Grace W-Y were all part of a team that became National Cheerleading Champions at the weekend. Congratulations on this amazing achievement. A photograph with their huge trophy can be seen on our Facebook page.  

Thought for the Holiday 

Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.  S.D. Gordon 

Yours sincerely 

J M Duke 

Headmaster