Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's Weekly News, Friday 22nd June, 2018
Jun 22, 2018
22 June 2018
Dear Parents
5M Assembly
Thank you, Year 5, for your assembly about the Football World Cup. We learnt many fascinating facts including that it is the first time the tournament has taken place in Eastern Europe and that the population of the Russian Federation is 140 million. It was also interesting to hear the comparisons between our school and schools in Russia. We all enjoyed hearing about the personal goals you set at the start of the year and how you have set about achieving them. The World Cup will certainly take over much of the media and many conversations over the next few weeks and I think this assembly has really helped to emphasise that it is about so much more than just football. Congratulations on a very well-delivered assembly and thank you to Miss Macklam for organising it.
Reception Go Exploring!
This week Reception visited Nurtured In Nature to explore their wonderful woodland setting. The children loved exploring everything around them, asking questions and letting their imaginations create amazing stories and explanations for everything they saw. Just hearing the vocabulary they were using in context was an excellent learning experience. The following are just a few statements from the children about the trip:
‘I enjoyed fishing for rocks in the stream with my friends.’ Esme
‘We made a stone castle down by the stream.’ Monty
‘My favourite bit was stepping on the stones in the stream and looking at the weed moving in the water.’ Samira
‘I fell into the water and got a little bit wet. It was funny! And when the woodlouse was creeping on my hand it was tricky and I shook it off!’ Penny
‘I made a soil cake in the mud kitchen. I walked to the other side of the stream on some slippery stones. I didn’t fall in because I was balancing.’ Aidan
‘Toasting marshmallow! I loved them! They were crispy, juicy and really, really tasty.’ Ali
What an amazing trip! It sounds like you had a fantastic time. Thank you to Mrs Diston for organising it and all the parents who helped.
ISA National Athletics
Congratulations to Lucie Duckett who competed at the ISA National Finals in Birmingham, representing the North, on Tuesday, in the Relay. Her team finished 4th. Well done, Lucie!
Highfield Bake-Off
We will be holding our annual Bake-Off again this year to raise funds for our school charities, Derian House and MakeAWish on Monday 2nd July. The children have chosen ‘The Movies’ as the theme this year which gives plenty of scope for some very interesting designs! As usual, there will be certificates and prizes for best design and best taste. This is always a popular event as the children love to plan out their design, measure out the ingredients and bake with their parents. Children will be allowed to bring in £2 to spend on cakes on the day and there are usually some available at the end of the day for parents
Coffee Morning
We will be holding an informal Coffee Morning straight after drop-off next Thursday. It will give you a chance to meet parents and staff. Please let the office know if you plan to attend for catering purposes. I look forward to seeing you there!
School Survey
We will be launching a school survey this afternoon. This will be open until 2nd July. Please could as many people as possible fill it in so that we can get a breadth of opinion from across the school. The survey is very important as it highlights areas that you as parents feel are important and need protecting and also informs the school of any areas we need to look at or change. However, to be effective, we need the whole school body to respond. The last survey was very valuable and really helped to shape the school’s approach in many areas. Thank you for your support. The login details are:
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/50LGJ/
Junior Sports Day
Monday saw our annual trip to UCLAN for Junior Sports Day. The children were very excited, cheering on their House and giving each other last-minute pep talks and words of encouragement. The event started with an Opening Ceremony provided by Miss Burns’ Street Dancers entertaining the spectators with a very lively and impressive dance routine and then Sports Day was underway! The children all gave one hundred percent commitment throughout the afternoon with many of the races going down to the wire. The range of events tested the children’s throwing, strength, speed, stamina and jumping skills with events ranging from the sprint and javelin through to the more traditional sack race and tug of war. Teamwork and enthusiasm were in abundance throughout the afternoon with all the children finishing with big smiles on their faces, even after the long distance events. Bowland were triumphant in the tug of war and Pendle were very close winners of the whole event followed by Fylde. Congratulations to all the competitors and a big thank you to Mrs Botton for organising it.
ISA Cricket
Congratulations to all the boys who travelled to Queen Ethelburga’s last Friday to play in the Northern ISA Kwik Cricket tournament. The boys’ performance improved throughout the afternoon and, with an excellent winning batting performance against Tower College, we managed to secure a place in the Plate Final. Huddersfield Grammar kept a tight grip on this match throughout, eventually winning the game. The boys performed incredibly well and I was very proud of each and every one of them.
ISA Rounders
The Year 6 girls travelled to Manchester to compete in the ISA Rounders tournament last week. The girls started strongly with convincing wins against Loretto, Brabyns and Queen Ethelburga’s. There was some excellent fielding from all the team alongside some spectacular hitting. The next two matches were much closer and, despite some fantastic play, Highfield was narrowly beaten by Bowden and The Grange. After a super performance, the girls finished a very close 3rd in their group and 5th out of 12 schools in the tournament. Well done to all the team in their final tournament for Highfield.
Under 11s Rounders v Sedbergh
Years 4, 5 and 6 Rounders teams were in action against Sedbergh on Wednesday.
The Year 4 team started off batting and came up against some tough fielding opposition who managed to get 6 out of 8 Highfield players out on their first hit. This did not deter the team and, with some great hitting and running from Nandini and Inas, the team managed to record a good score. The team were much more focused in their fielding innings, stopping the Sedbergh team from scoring. The final score after 2 innings was in favour of the Highfield team who won 121/2 - 10.
The Year 5 A Team has really improved in each of their matches this term and they continued to do so against Sedbergh. They started off batting and scored some excellent rounders from some great hits. They remained composed throughout and worked together as a team to minimise the Sedbergh score. After some changes to the Highfield team, the Sedbergh girls remained focused and came back strongly. After 2 innings, the final score was a very close 13-11 to Sedbergh.
The Year 6 team played some excellent Rounders against a very experienced and structured Sedbergh team. The Highfield girls really thought about all the skills they had learned over the Summer term and applied them to their game. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t stop the Sedbergh girls from scoring some excellent rounders and they were narrowly defeated 81/2 - 51/2.
King’s Camp
King’s Camp is planning to run a two-week block of activities between 23 July and 3 August. These weeks have been successful in the past with excellent feedback from the children (and their parents) who have attended. If you are interested, please book a place www.kingscamp.co.uk. There is a 10% discount until Monday.
Merit Awards
RD: Daisy RJ: Ali 1W: Aarnav 2D: Hollie 2E: Hiba
3H: Abdullah 3M: Yaamini 4S: Lucas 5D: Olivia 5M: The Whole Class 6H: Hamdaan
6P: Charlotte
Monitors of the week: Ameya and Evie
Thought for the Week
Champions keep playing until they get it right. Billie Jean King
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
