Headmaster's Welcome

Headmaster's Weekly News, Friday 7th December, 2018

Dec 7, 2018

7 December 2018

Dear Parents

3J Assembly
Thank you to 3J for their wonderful Assembly this morning all about currency and money which they have been studying in their PSHEE lessons. They told us some amazing facts, such as decimalisation came into place in 1971 and before that money included shillings, farthings and threepenny pieces. Also, in Argentina, when they had a shortage of coins, change was sometimes given in sweets! I also enjoyed guessing the amount each item cost, from a loaf of Warburton’s bread to a season ticket at PNE. I think your final message was very important: the things we want most in the world we cannot buy, like happiness, friendship and love. Thank you 3J for a very interesting and well-presented assembly and thank you Mrs Jones for organising it.

Christmas Decorations
Thank you to our fantastic PTA for transforming the school on Monday. Christmas has now come to Highfield!

Winter Fayre
Thank you to all the parents, children and staff for all your contributions to the Winter Fayre last Friday. It really felt like a whole team effort and the children were delighted to be the focal point. They created a range of wonderful gifts to sell and the final sum raised will be announced next week. Well done everyone!

Out and About with 4D
I visited a 4D PSHEE lesson on Tuesday which was focused on friendships. Mr Drake displayed a diagram on the whiteboard which consisted of lots of circles. Sasha was deciding who would be in her first three circles. She said that Mia was her closest friend as she had known her from Pre-School and then it would be the girls in this class and then the girls in the other class. Mr Drake then asked who they might have in the outer circle. Danial said it may be a friend from another part of the country or city who you do not see often and communicate with via text, email or phone.
Mr Drake said that we might use different circles to help us with different problems. Genevieve was asked to choose two groups of people: one to represent friends from inside school and one group to represent friends outside school. Yaamini and Sara represented one group and Jack and Zorain represented her gymnastics group of friends. She was then given a task to build a tower out of bricks. She chose her school friends to help. Mr Drake then asked whether the other groups could build it higher and Genevieve felt they could because they were taller. They put the bricks end on end to create a larger tower. Finally, Genevieve asked both her sets of friends to help her. They created an even bigger tower which was very tall and received a huge cheer before it toppled and fell. The activity really emphasised the importance of using different friend circles to support you and the benefits of the groups all working together. The children were then given their own worksheet with circles to fill in. Sam said he would probably have Tim and Jack at the centre and Moin from Year 3 would also be in one of the circles along with football friends and cousins. It was really important for the children to speak about and share the groups they come into contact with and that friends are not only fun to have but they also support you when you need help. Thank you Year 4 and Mr Drake, I really enjoyed your lesson.

Pre- School Christmas Show
Thank you to all of our wonderful Pre-School pupils for a lovely performance on Thursday morning. They were so excited before the show, all dressed up as snowmen, angels and reindeer. The children performed a number of dances confidently with lots of moves, a big smile and an even bigger wave every time they circled the Christmas Tree. There was a different dance and music for each costume which really helped the children to get fully immersed in the music. It was very obvious from the performance that they really enjoy their dance sessions and were excited to share what they have doing in class. Thank you to Miss Burns and all the Pre-School staff for all their hard work in the lead up to the show.

Air Ambulance
The school is collecting used stamps to raise funds for Lancashire Air Ambulance. Please cut off the stamp corner of the envelope and bring them into the School Office and we will send them off to the Air Ambulance.

Mission Christmas
Thank you to all those parents who have already brought in an extra present for Mission Christmas. If you are still able to drop off a present you are not too late! 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 them down to the Rock FM Control Centre to help sort the gifts.
Mission Christmas is Cash for Kids biggest fundraising and gift appeal. Each Christmas, it encourages people to provide gifts to underprivileged, disadvantaged and disabled children who will wake up on Christmas Day without a gift from Santa or their loved ones.
We are asking parents to support this appeal by buying extra gifts to donate. 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.

Car Park
Please could you make sure that all engines are turned off when waiting for your children at pick-up time. The fumes have been very noticeable in the playground and I know we all wish to protect our children and keep them safe. Thank you for your support.
It will be exceptionally busy in the car park in the lead up to Christmas. Please could you leave the site as quickly as possible after pick-up to relieve pressure on the car park. The Nativity will be the busiest evening, so you may want to think about your journey to school on that evening as there may not be enough places for all parents to park on site. Thank you for your support.

Dates for the Diary
11 December 2pm Nativity
12 December 6pm Nativity
13 December 6pm Carol Service to be held in the School Hall due to renovation work at St Maria Goretti.
14 December Christmas jumper and party day

Under 11s Girls’ Hockey
On Wednesday, our U11 Hockey girls travelled to Rossall, just managing to dodge the torrential downpours! The experienced Rossall girls started strongly and had a lot of possession in our half, however, our Highfield defenders, Natasha, Tia, Kavya and Daisy, made some excellent tackles to deny them chances. Just before the end of the first quarter, a single Rossall shot sneaked into the goal and they took the lead. The Highfield girls did not let their heads drop and came out strongly. Some nice passing in the midfield, allowed Olivia and Eva to make some great runs towards the circle, winning a couple of penalty corners in the last quarter. A fantastic push out from Brooke to our player of the match and captain, Eva, created our best chance of the game with Isabelle following up a great rebound. In the dying minutes, as the heavens opened, despite some spectacular saves from Beth, Rossall managed to score another goal making the final score 2-0. Well done girls on a much-improved team performance!

Under 11s Football
We played two matches against Rossall on Wednesday. The A team played some excellent football, working really well as a team and using the space to create chances. Although it was a close game, we really took advantage of the chances we created and eventually ran out winners. The B team was a really close game with both teams really competing hard for the ball in the middle of the pitch with lots of enthusiasm and commitment. Rossall managed to create a few more genuine chances which led to them just winning the game. With honours even we all went inside to dry off and have a well-deserved drink and cookie! Well done, boys, and thank you to Rossall School.

Merit Awards
RB: Aryana RH: Muhammad 1D: Ariana 1W: Johnny 2E: Lyla
3J: The Whole Class 3M; amber 4D: Sara 5M: Sienna 6H: Olivia 6P: Sasha
Monitor of the week: Asiyah
High 5 Award: Sasha

Thought for the Week
One of the most beautiful qualities of true frendship is to understand and to be understood.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Yours sincerely

J M Duke
Headmaster