Headmaster's Welcome

Headmaster's Weekly News, Friday 23rd November, 2018

Nov 23, 2018

23rd November 2018

Dear Parents

1W Topic Assembly
It was 1W’s turn to present their Topic Assembly to the rest of the school today. In History, the class have been learning about change over time. The children talked about their own family trees and how they were different to other members of their class. They then discussed the memory boxes they had made and filled with things that reminded them of all their achievements and experiences so far. It was a very special assembly and I am sure the subject has brought the class very close to each other as a result of sharing what is important to them. Thank you Year 1 and Mrs Wilson; what a lovely way to end the week.

The Sunday Times –Top Independent Preparatory Schools
Highfield Priory School was placed 7th in the country in The Sunday Times list of Independent Prep Schools on Sunday for its National Curriculum results. This is the highest position the school has ever achieved! For eight years now, the school has been in the top thirty which is a consistent level of attainment only achieved by a handful of schools across the country. We were also the highest placed school outside the London Region. This is an incredible achievement by the children, parents, staff and governors. Congratulations to the whole Highfield community!

Out and About with our Highfield Babies
I paid a visit to our youngest members of the school on Wednesday in our Baby Nursery. I was greeted with a big smile from Fatimah who chuckled away and then went to get me a whisk so I could join in her game. Eliza and Jeeva were busy looking at the books and were very happy in each other’s company. Miss Kidd then set up an activity with lots of different types of sand and brushes. Jeeva crawled quickly over, followed by Eliza. They really enjoyed the different textures between their fingers and using the different brushes. Juliette was enjoying her morning snack, having just woken up, before going to join Jenson in the sand. It was lovely to see the communication flowing between the babies and the staff and each other. They were all enjoying exploring the different activities in the room, using their fine and gross motor skills to play with a wide range of equipment. I left the room with Eliza pretending to brush Miss Louise’s teeth with a big cheeky smile.

Children in Need
Thank you to everyone who supported Children in Need last week. We raised over £260.

Winter Fayre
The Winter Fayre will be held next Friday, 30th November, straight after school. There will be lots of stalls and the children have been busy making items to sell. I look forward to seeing you there.

SMH Cross Country
On Thursday, some of our Year 5 and 6 children took part in a Cross Country competition at SMH. The course has always been notoriously tough and hilly but our Highfield pupils all ran a fantastic race. The girls’ team finished 11th out of 18 schools and the boys finished 13th out of 16. Well done to all our runners!

ISA Swimming Gala
On Saturday, our swimmers travelled to Macclesfield, along with Mrs Botton, to compete in the ISA Swimming Gala. For some of our swimmers it was their first ever competitive gala so there were a lot of nerves. Well done to all our swimmers in their races:
Aadi - 4th place U10 Freestyle
Rohan - 4th place U10 Backstroke, 4th place U10 Breaststroke
Bomi - 4th place U11 Breaststroke, 4th place U11 Backstroke.
Brooke - 3rd place U11 Backstroke, 5th place open age Butterfly.
Nandini - 1st place U11 Breaststroke, 4th place U11 Freestyle.
A huge congratulations to Nandini who has qualified to represent the North at the National Championships in London on 1st December- she will be swimming in the individual Breaststroke and Freestyle Relay. We can’t wait to hear how you get on Nandini. Good luck!
Thank you to all the parents for their support on the day.

U11 Netball v Rossall
On Wednesday, we travelled to a very cold Rossall to play Netball. After a thorough warm up, both Highfield teams started brilliantly, scoring lots of goals. The A team were winning 10-0 by half time, whilst the B team were winning 13-0. A big change around with our teams, saw the girls playing in positions they have never played in before, however, they continued to dominate down the whole court. The final scores were: A team won 16-1 and the B team won 21-0! Players of the match: Sasha and Darcey. What fantastic results girls, well done!

Under 11s Football v AKS
Well done to all the boys who travelled to AKS on Wednesday to play football. They showed excellent team spirit and a positive attitude in cold conditions. All the boys were committed, with William playing particularly well in goal and Arjun distributing the ball well in midfield. Although we came second in the end, the boys can take a lot of positives into their next game against Rossall.

Mission Christmas
Highfield Priory is delighted to be supporting the Rock FM Mission Christmas appeal again this year.
Mission Christmas is Cash for Kids’ biggest fundraising and gift appeal. Each Christmas, they encourage people to provide gifts for underprivileged, disadvantaged and disabled children who will wake up on Christmas Day without a gift from Santa or their loved ones. Across the North West, 1 in 4 children live in poverty. Child poverty is described as living in a house without central heating, going to bed without a hot meal and waking up to an inadequate school uniform. For these families, Christmas is a luxury they cannot afford.
We are asking parents to support the appeal by buying extra gifts to donate to this worthy cause. Gifts can be left in the school office and should remain unwrapped. Mission Christmas needs gifts for boys and girls of all ages from newborn to 18.
The cut-off date for you to drop gifts off at school is Monday 17th December when a small group of our Y6 children will be taking the gifts down to the Rock FM Control Centre to help sort them.
Thank you for your support.

Reminder: late arrivals
If a child arrives later than 8.40am, they should report to the school office to be registered.

Merit Awards
RB: Ayyub RH: Isobel 1D: Omer 1W: Shreya 2E: Luca
3J: Hiba 3M: Eliza 4D: Umar 4S: Aadi 5M: Nandini 6H: Asiyah 6P: Kavya
Monitor of the week: Aditya and Omar
High 5 Award: Kavya

Thought for the Week
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. Eleanor Roosevelt

Yours sincerely

J M Duke
Headmaster