Headmaster's Welcome

Headmaster's Weekly News, Friday 16th March, 2018

Mar 16, 2018

16 March 2018

Dear Parents

Celebration Assembly
This morning was our Celebration Assembly in which we celebrate the children’s achievements outside school. The range of activities was quite incredible from martial arts to chess and the standard the children have achieved was very impressive. What a talented group of individuals you are! Congratulations to all the pupils who brought in their certificates and awards and we look forward to hearing more about your achievements in next term’s assembly. Mrs Prince

Easter Egg Raffle
Raffle tickets will go on sale on Monday morning, in the dining room. We still need a few more eggs for the raffle so that we can ensure that every child who buys a ticket receives one. Please could you donate an egg to the office before the first draw on Thursday next week. Thank you!

Good Luck Mrs Morrice!
Mrs Morrice begins her maternity leave today. All our best wishes go with her and her family for a safe delivery and the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their lives.

Mothers’ Day Shop
Thank you to our PTA for running the Mothers’ Day shop on Friday. There was a wonderful selection of gifts and I know there must have been lots of happy mothers on Sunday. It was lovely to see the children choosing the gifts with many knowing exactly what their mother or grandmother would like. There were some lovely words written on the gift tags too.

Reception Visit an Open Farm
On Tuesday, Reception visited Smithills Open Farm. It was an absolutely fantastic day and the children had a wonderful time. They were able to feed the lambs, stroke a variety of creatures including an alpaca and an owl and they even had the chance to hold a chick. Wei Ann said, “I liked stroking the cute chicks best of all!” The children fed sheep and goats and saw lots of other creatures including meerkats and two Burmese pythons! Drew said, ‘My favourite animal was the snake but I saw a donkey and I got scared.’ Lily’s favourite thing was riding the donkey and feeding the animals. Joshua said, “My favourite thing was the tractor and the donkey rides too. We all enjoyed the bumpy tractor ride up the hill to feed the donkeys. We learnt how cows were milked and even the cows weeing didn’t put us off!” Reuben was enthralled as the milk moved from the cow to the pipe to the churn. Reuben said, ‘I liked seeing the milk coming out of the cows and moving in the pipes.’ What a treat for us all! Tabitha never stopped smiling all day and said, ‘I liked going on the donkey rides!’ In fact, all the children were a credit to the school and their smiling faces showed just how much they enjoyed themselves. A big thank you to Smithills Open Farm for a super day out!

Preston Schools’ Swimming Gala Winners!
Our team of Year 6 swimmers travelled to West View on Monday to compete in the Preston Schools’ Swimming Gala. As reigning champions, the pressure was on but as always the Highfield spirit shone through and got the team off to an excellent start in the individual races, qualifying for 2 out of 6 finals. Then came the relays... Evie, Grace, James and Zahara’s experience and skill were in evidence as they swam to victory with a whole 20m to spare. Next was the Freestyle relay, yet again the skill of our fantastic swimmers shone through and Evie, Daniel, Hamdaan and Sophie came in a very, very close second place. To finish the afternoon, there were the individual finals. First up was Sophie in the Freestyle final. A nail biting race saw Sophie win the silver medal with only an arm’s length between her and the gold medal position. The final competitor of the day for Highfield was Zahara in the Breaststroke final. A fantastic performance earned her a convincing win over one of her club rivals to bring home the gold medal! Overall, a brilliant team performance which brought the trophy back home to Highfield. Mrs Botton

Congratulations to the whole team for an outstanding achievement against very high calibre opponents.

Year 4 Netball
On Friday afternoon, we welcomed a Year 4 Rossall team to Highfield to play netball. The Highfield girls were very excited to play after working so hard in training this half term. They got off to a fantastic start, scoring 2 goals inside the first 3 minutes! The whole team continued to dominate with some excellent defending, interceptions and passing all across the court. The girls had built up a 6-0 lead by half-time but Rossall came out fighting and scored 2 early goals. The girls did not let this faze them and continued to play some excellent netball. The final score was an impressive 10-2! Our players of the match, as voted for by the opposition: team 1-Brooke and team 2- Evie. Well done on a great performance Year 4 and a special mention must go to Asiyah in Year 5 who has been helping to coach the girls during her free time. Mrs Botton

Under 9s Rugby v Rossall
Last Friday saw Highfield Priory send an excited group of Year 3 and 4 boys to our friends at Rossall for their first ever contact rugby fixture. The boys acquitted themselves incredibly well, with numerous examples of great defensive work featuring a number of hard hitting tackles. Offensively, there were a number of excellent passing phases and some fantastic mazy running resulting in very entertaining tries! Our last try of the match was particularly merit-worthy with the pupils demonstrating great support lines and intelligent passing choices in the build-up. It is fair to say that the boys enjoyed themselves greatly and will have learnt a great deal about rugby, thereby providing us with a strong platform upon which to build. Mr Turner

Tag Rugby v Oakhill
Thirteen boys from Years 5 and 6 travelled to Oakhill on Wednesday to play a game of Tag Rugby. They adapted to the game really well and used a number of the skills from the contact game within the match. They kept a good line in defence and the first up runner made a lot of initial ground across the gain line. Three boys who should get a mention for an improvement in their performance are Aditya who made a number of strong runs throughout the game which were very threatening; Josh A who showed good awareness throughout the game and Hamdaan who showed good leadership skills. It was a close game but Oakhill ran out as the narrow winners. Congratulations to all the boys who took part in our last competitive rugby game of the season. Mr Turner

Merit Awards
RD: Monty RJ: Reuben 1W: Hanna 2D: Thomas 2E: Joseph
3H: Isabelle 3M: Ariana 4S: Lucie 5D: Isabelle 5M: Zainab 6H: Lilland 6P: Ameya
Monitor of the week: Ziyad

Thought for the Week
No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else. PT Barnum (The Greatest Showman)

Yours sincerely

J M Duke
Headmaster