Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's Weekly News, Friday 23rd March, 2018
Mar 23, 2018
23 March 2018
Dear Parents
Easter Egg Raffle
Thank you to our PTA and to all our parents for making the very popular Easter Egg Raffle possible. There was lots of excitement on Thursday as tickets were checked and children kept an eager eye on the egg that they wanted. All the children were lucky winners and went away with huge smiles on their faces! In today’s draw for the larger egg and special prizes, the winners were Amritha, 3H, Ayesha 1W and Wei Ann RJ. I hope all the children share out their prizes with their family!
Sport at Highfield Goes From Strength to Strength!
We have recently been contacted by a number of our Alumni who have shared their sporting achievements with us. We are delighted with their success! Alfie Topping is now playing Rugby for Lancashire Under 18s and the North of England, Rachel Greenwood is playing Hockey for England Under 18s, Daniel Cooper is playing Rugby for Lancashire Under 16s and for the Sale Under 16s Rugby Academy and Natalie Panagarry is playing Netball for England. We are very proud of the success they have achieved.
In a recent interview, it was lovely to hear Natalie showing that the Highfield ethos has stayed with her and is being passed on to future generations:
Interviewer: Any tips for aspiring netball players?
Natalie: Always aim high, never give up until the whistle blows and play with a smile.
Well said, Natalie!
We are always thrilled to hear from our old boys and girls –please keep your news coming in!
Out and About with Year 4 Poetry
I visited a Year 4 poetry lesson on Wednesday. The children started the lesson by closing their eyes and listening to the sounds around them. Mr Sheppeck then asked the question,
“What would it be like to live in a world without sound?”
He then introduced the children to Roger McGough’s poem, ‘The Sound Collector’. The children were asked what they needed to consider when writing a poem and they discussed rhyme, similes, metaphors, line length, vocabulary and alliteration. The children worked in pairs to build word-banks of sound words they could use later. Edie and Lucas wrote a long list of words which included crackling, chirping and tapping. Saimah and Alexander’s list included drumming, crunching and chirping. They were really enjoying working as a team and writing down agreed words. Mr Sheppeck then asked the children to write their own sound collector poems. The children were excited to get started and were full of ideas after their initial discussions. Here are a couple of examples of their poems.
A stranger came this morning
Dressed all in black and grey,
Put every sound into a bag,
And carried them away.
The wailing of the children.
The purring of the cat.
The moaning of the baby.
The scrunching of the hat.
The chirping of the birds.
The barking of the dogs.
The tapping of the raindrops.
The grunting of the hogs. Saimah
The purring of the kitten,
The screeching of the monkey.
The growling of the wolf,
The stomping of the donkey.
The roaring of the lion,
The hissing of the snake,
The bubbling of three fish,
The splashing of the lake. Hashbala
A stranger called this morning,
He didn’t leave his name,
Left us only silence,
Life will never be the same.
I really enjoyed this lesson. It was lovely to see the enthusiasm of the children for poetry.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Years 3 and 5 will be performing in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ next term. Please help them to practise their lines during the holiday and put the performance date in your diaries.
Evening Performance: Thursday 3rd May at 6pm. Thank you. Mrs Duke and Miss Macklam
House Points
Congratulations to Fylde who were overall House Points winners and enjoyed a Mufti day today.
Individual winners:
3M: 1st Rohan 2nd Sasha 3H: 1st Isa 2nd Aadi 4S: 1st Bomi 2nd Tia 5D: 1st Eryk 2nd Aditi
5M: 1st Ayesha 2nd Daisy 6H: 1st Danya 2nd Lilland 6P: 1st Apala 2nd Elizabeth
Lancashire Chess
Congratulations to Daniel D who competed for Lancashire on Board 5 in the Northern Regional Tournament last weekend.
Parentmail - PMX
Parentmail is an effective way for the school to send messages to parents quickly. Could all parents please check your phone settings to ensure you are receiving notifications of new messages.
Download the Parentmail app onto your phone and log in as usual
Click on the icon at the top left of the page (3 horizontal bars)
Go to ‘Settings’ (at the bottom of the page)
Click on ‘Notification Settings’
Click on ‘Instant Email’ for all messages
Medicine in School
If your child requires any medicine at school, please visit the Office to complete a consent form. Thank you.
Summer Uniform
Please remember that the children will be in summer uniform on the first day back after Easter. Girls should wear: light blue and white striped dresses, white ankle socks or white tights. Boys should wear grey shorts and grey ankle socks, no cargo shorts please.
Preston Schools’ Cross Country
Our cross country runners were back in action at the Preston Schools Cross Country competition at Archbishop Temple School on Wednesday afternoon. The girls ran superbly in cold, windy conditions finishing in the following positions: Grace W-Y 5th, Zahara 14th and Sophie P 22nd out of 80 runners from 25 different primary schools! This earned the Girls’ team a brilliant Bronze Medal!
Next up was the Boys’ race. Another tough race, as the wind picked up, saw our strong runners finish in the following positions: Alfie 13th, Ivan 33rd and Josh 34th out of 80+ runners. Another great team performance, however not quite enough to earn them a medal this year. Well done to all the Highfield runners on an excellent final cross country race of the season. Mrs Botton
Netball v Harris
All our Year 5 & Year 6 netballers were in action this week for the final match of the netball season against Harris School. The Year 6 teams played first in what was a thrilling game of netball. Highfield got off to a fantastic start and were 6-1 up after the first quarter. However, Harris came back strong in the 2nd quarter to level the scores at 8-8. The Highfield girls did not let their heads go down and really began to dominate with some great periods of play to finish the match with a convincing 15-11 victory. Players of the Match were Zahara and Grace WY.
Next up were the Year 5 teams. This game was a very close one right from the start with both Highfield and Harris scoring one after the other. By half time, the Highfield girls had taken the lead after some fantastic play from the whole team and started the second half with a 5-3 lead. Both Highfield and Harris defended the ball extremely well preventing each other from gaining much of a lead. With the scores neck and neck at 5 – 5 the final whistle went to end a thrilling game of netball. Players of the match were Isabelle and Asiyah.
What a lovely end to the netball season! Well done to all of the Year 5 and 6 girls who have attended netball club throughout the year. Your skills and techniques have developed a great deal and I hope you will all continue to enjoy and play the game next year. Mrs Botton
Schools Skiing Competition
Congratulations to Elizabeth and Sophie who competed for Highfield in the NWSF skiing competition. Both girls really enjoyed the experience.
David Lloyd
Enjoy a complimentary family day pass to David Lloyd Chorley any day until Monday 9th April. Contact the club on 01257 235103 to book your day and quote Highfield Priory as your reference.
Merit Awards
RD: Lily RJ: Luke 1W: Zaidan 2D: Jaya 2E: Leo
3H: Macaulay 3M: Jack 4S: Hashbala 5D: Eryk 5M: Daisy 6H: Alexandra 6P: Matthew
Monitor of the week: Zaynab Monitor of the term: Faatimah
Thought for the Week
It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.
B. C. Forbes
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter break and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 10 April.
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
