Headmaster's Welcome

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

Nov 16, 2018

16 November 2018

Dear Parents

Mad Science Assembly
Mad Science visited the school on Monday with Explosive Erica delivering an Energiser Assembly all about energy. Explosive Erica asked for lots of volunteers and the first to the stage was Violet to help demonstrate Static Energy. After rubbing a balloon against her hair, Violet’s hair stood up on end and she also made a piece of tinsel attach itself to the bottom of the balloon. Next up to help was Neelesh. Erica asked him what he had had for breakfast and she said he was going to need it to help him to provide movement energy (or kinetic energy). He used his hands on a set of pedals to activate a plasma ball which was really impressive in the dark. Aamir in Year 1 showed how a chemical reaction is caused in a glow stick and then Erica used a chemical to make a large bowl of water glow in the dark, much to the audience’s delight! Sienna helped with the last experiment which showed the children how the Fire of London was started in 1666 in Pudding Lane. After putting on her safety equipment, Sienna operated a foot-pump while Erica used a small blow torch to show how oxygen, fuel (in this case, flour) and an ignition (the blow torch) creates fire. Once again the flame that was produced received a big ‘Wow!’ from the children. It was a great assembly in which the children learnt a lot about energy through these practical experiments.

Year 6 Trip to The World Museum, Liverpool

Extract from Eryk’s account of the trip.
We arrived at the World Museum, in Liverpool, at 10am and walked into the Entrance Hall. My first impression was absolutely amazing. There was a phenomenal skeleton of a pterodactyl and the body of an enormous crab, just on the way in. The Entrance Hall was so grand, as vast as a house, as tall as a tower! It had a great glass ceiling and five amazingly, interesting floors.
Our first activity was ‘Discover Ancient Egypt’ in the Western Discovery Centre. Here we looked at different materials like wood and lapis lazuli: these used to be used to make objects like amulets. Next we looked at mummification and learnt that, as well as humans, animals were sometimes mummified. Another thing we learnt was that if people were too big for their coffins, their legs were sometimes cut off! We then visited the Ancient Egyptian Exhibition. Here we saw some fascinating Egyptian artefacts, including jewellery, mummies and sarcophaguses. On the floor as we walked in, there was an enormous map of the Nile. Labelled with towns and areas like the Valley of the Kings. The map was about 3 metres long! While we were looking at the exhibition, we had to choose two objects to draw. I chose an enormous ‘Head Sculpture’ and the last ‘Girdle on Earth’. I drew the girdle because it belonged to King Ramesses III and it is the last ever girdle in the world. A girdle is a piece of clothing that you could wrap around someone from their waist upwards.
I absolutely loved our visit to the World Museum, it was the first time I was able to touch and handle items that were thousands of years old. If anybody likes anything at all about science or history, I would definitely recommend this museum to them.

Year 1 Science Club
In Year 1 Science Club today we investigated floating and sinking. This came from an experiment we did when we looked at rolling cans and the children were keen to learn more about density. First we predicted if each of the fruits or vegetables would float or sink. We talked about what was inside the fruit and vegetables and compared weights. We were surprised to find that although the banana was heavier than the carrot, the carrot sank and the banana floated. We thought the onion would sink but it floated, the mushroom floated like a boat but the tiny radish sank like an enormous stone. We found sweetcorn and broccoli floated too. We looked at a coconut and we could hear the milk inside when we gave it a shake. From what we had learnt about the other fruit and vegetables, we predicted the coconut would float and it did! We learnt today that with floating and sinking density matters more than weight. Ms Eccles.

Halloween Disco
On Friday night, the PTA held a belated Halloween Disco. One hundred and two children came along, many were wearing amazing costumes and some were unrecognisable in their face paint and monster masks. After a snack of pizza and cake, they took part in games and a disco. A big thank you goes to the PTA members for organising and running what was a fabulous night and to all the parents who helped. A special thank you to Beth, 6P, for offering to run her popular slime stall. Ms Eccles

Pre-School - Creepy Crawly Road Show

We had some very interesting visitors to Pre-School this week! There was Incy Wincy Spider, Colin the Cockroach, Kellogg and Cornflake (the snakes) and Brian and Snowy (the snails), just to name a few of the creepy crawlies. There was also a wishing butterfly. The children had to close their eyes while the butterfly rested on their head or shoulder and make a wish. The children really enjoyed the experience and watched and listened intently as they learnt about each creepy crawly. They were all incredibly brave, holding and touching every creature, including the snake and spider!

Children In Need
The children were wearing a wonderful range of clothing and costumes this morning for Children In Need. It really was a sea of colours with class themes from Be Colourful to Wacky Hair. Thank you to everyone who supported this very worthwhile cause, the amount raise will be announced next week.

Under 11s Rugby Festival
A Highfield team of Under 11s travelled to Sedbergh Prep school to play in a tournament against schools from across the North of the country. The boys were very competitive in all their matches in their first taste of Rugby this year. Their best match was against Mowden Hall School where they led throughout the game with excellent attacking play and an improved defensive game. Mowden managed to claw back a try in the last second of the game to level the match to three tries a piece. The boys’ overall performance showed a lot of promise for the Rugby Season which starts after Christmas.

Under 9s Football
It was great to see our Year 4 boys in action on Tuesday night against our local primary school, St. Maria Goretti. The games were played in excellent spirit with lots of encouragement and support for both sides. I was really pleased with the level of effort and commitment with every boy really enjoying playing in a competitive fixture. Honours were even at the end with both teams achieving a win a piece. Thank you to Mr Turner for organising this fixture.

ISA Regional Swimming Gala
Good luck to Aadi, Bomi, Brooke, Nandini and Rohan who are all competing at the ISA Regional Swimming Gala this weekend. We look forward to finding out how you all got on and reporting back next week. Good luck!

Winter Uniform
Autumn is turning into Winter and the children need to be prepared for all weather. Please ensure that all hats, gloves and scarves are in plain school colours. School hats and gloves are available to buy at the School Office.

Merit Awards
RB: Harriet M RH: William 1D: Joshua 1W: Aidan 2E: Ayesha
3J: Haya 3M: Ayman 4D: Rohan 4S: Ibraheem 5M: Stephen 6H: William 6P: Omar
Monitors of the week: Abdullah and Aishah
High 5 Award: Anoushka

Thought for the Week
‘We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.’ Ronald Reagan

Yours sincerely

J M Duke
Headmaster