Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News, Friday 15th November, 2019
Nov 15, 2019
Friday 15th November
School News
Musical Assembly
This was our first Musical Assembly of the year. Some of the children were playing for the first time whilst others were experienced performers. It was also the first public performance of the new Junior Choir with 23 new members from Year 3 to Year 6. The Choir has been rehearsing songs dating back 80 years, imagining what it would have been like to be one of the first ever Highfield pupils. The song they performed in the Assembly was ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ which was made famous by Dame Vera Lynn back in 1939 at the start of the Second World War. The children found out that this lady, who was a very popular singer 80 years ago, is still alive today at the grand age of 102!
Our Year 6 pupils will be visiting our local Residential Home, Bethany House, to sing these songs to the residents. It was also lovely to hear Hanna from Y3 choosing to perform a piece on the piano, ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, by our Composer of the Term – Mozart! Miss Macklam
Congratulations to all our performers! It was amazing to see your progress and the standard was incredible. Keep aiming high! Please have a look at our wonderful musicians on our Facebook page.
Snow White
M&M Productions visited the school this week to perform Snow White. The children loved their performance; their laughter and responses could be heard all around school! They really enjoyed joining in with the modern songs and current jokes. They were also mesmerised by the magic mirror which they thought was very effective. Thank you to M&M and Mrs Jones for making this event possible.
Out and About with 1W
Last week, I was with Year 1 in their Geography lesson as they were learning about where their food comes from. They began by talking about different types of bread and describing it. I was very impressed by the children’s knowledge as we discussed how bread was made. They understood that the main ingredient was flour which comes from grain on farms. They knew that water was added and they also showed an understanding of how yeast is used to make it rise in the oven. The children were very good at telling me from where the bread originated: baguettes and croissants from France and naan from countries in Asia. The children were excited to start the task and sensibly moved around the room describing the bread on their table. Summer was very keen to describe it exactly right, spelling out the words carefully and really trying hard to write a different descriptive word for each type of bread. Alfie and Arthur quickly sat down, taking their time to describe the texture and what it felt like. Eliza enjoyed sampling the bread with a big smile on her face before taking her time to make sure she was happy with the descriptive word she used. I was very pleased with the children’s approach to the activity and felt that by the end of the lesson they had improved their ability to describe taste and texture, and to understand where bread comes from. Well done, Year 1!
Year 2 PSHEE
This Tuesday, I was with 2E in their PSHEE lesson on Friendship. The children discussed what made a good friend and what made a bad friend. They worked closely with their partners to write lots of words and phrases to explain the difference between a good and bad friend. They worked really well with their partners with lots of good discussions going on. They all demonstrated a clear understanding of Friendship with words like trust, caring, listening and sharing. It was touching to see the children demonstrating many of the traits they were discussing throughout the lesson. Thank you Year 2 for a very enjoyable lesson. I look forward to teaching you again later in the year.
Our Trip to The World Museum by Saimah and Tia
On Tuesday, Year 6 visited The World Museum in Liverpool. In our History topic, we have been learning about the Egyptians so we did an Egyptian workshop and got to touch REAL artefacts! We all had the chance to put our hand inside a red canopic jar (where they kept the organs). Then we went to the Mummy Room where we drew real mummies and wrote facts about them. After lunch, we saw scorpions, a tarantula and hissing cockroaches.
Thank you to all the staff and The World Museum for organising this trip.
Art Exhibition
We would love to showcase our children’s amazing artwork in the local community so that it can be enjoyed by others, as well as increasing awareness of Highfield within the county. If you work in a public place – maybe a museum, a hospital, a doctor’s surgery, council buildings etc – or you know someone who does, could you please contact Miss Jewitt via email: mjewitt@highfieldpriory.co.uk
Thank you to all those parents who have responded so far.
Coffee Morning
Thank you to all the parents who attended the Coffee Morning today. It was a really good opportunity to meet staff and parents on an informal basis. Thank you to the kitchen staff for looking after us so well!
Nursery News
Highfield Nursery Leads the Way!
Congratulations to our Early Years team and to Miss Halstead for achieving Lead Practitioner Status again for 2019-2020. We are the only school in the Preston region to have gained this award and the right to use the logo. This status highlights Highfield as a Centre of Excellence for Early Years Education in Lancashire. Other Nurseries can now visit Highfield to seek advice on good practice and to see our wonderful setting and resources.
Nursery’s News
Nursery has had a very busy few weeks! We have been spending a lot of time in Highfield Haven, taking part in Forest School activities such as making magic wands, nature colour hunts and chopping up pumpkins from Halloween to feed to the wildlife. We have been working on our scissor skills over the last two weeks and have enjoyed snipping jelly, playdough and using the sand scissors in gloop with colour bears. The children are demonstrating a great interest in rhythm and rhyme and we have had many music sessions, both in the dance studio and on our outdoor decking. To top our week off, the children have LOVED exploring our dinosaur swamp in the messy area!
News from the Sports Field
Girls’ Football at Highfield
Last Friday saw the inaugural football fixture for the Girls’ Football team at Highfield Priory. We welcomed our near neighbours, St Maria Goretti, to play against us. The hard work and endeavour that the girls had been pouring in to their training sessions with Mrs Botton was plain to see. The girls demonstrated an excellent attitude and a definite amount of skill. I was really impressed by their teamwork and the way they sought to stick to their positions. Both our teams really grew into the game and the defending in the second half provided us with a decent foundation to build upon before our next fixture. Ariana and Megan scored our first ever goals. The footballers were: Hiba, Alaia, Inas, Tia, Saimah, Megan, Genevieve, Talia, Sasha, Sara, Evie, Ariana and Diya. Mr Turner
Sedbergh Rugby Festival
Congratulations to all the boys who had their first taste of competitive Rugby this year at the Sedbergh Rugby Festival, involving 300 boys and girls from across the region. They all acquitted themselves very well, scoring some excellent tries from good off-loads and strong running. It was really good to see the boys performing techniques that they had practised in training. We now need to work on our line speed in defence and our tackling technique for our next fixture after Christmas.
Netball v Westholme (by the team)
On Wednesday, the Year 5 and 6 girls played a Netball match against Westholme School. Our first team played really well, with great passes, amazing shooting and quick movement around the court. In the end, we won by a brilliant 11-1. Player of the match was Nandini.
Our second team also played very well. Our shooters were very accurate, scoring lots of goals and the final score was 14-7 to us. Player of the match was Evie. Well done everyone!
SMH Hockey Festival
Last Wednesday, our U11 Hockey team travelled to SMH to take part in their Hockey Festival. After a superb win a couple of weeks ago, the girls were excited to carry on their success. With our usual goalkeeper unavailable, Tia took her place and played amazingly well for her first time in this position. The first game was against the strongest and most experienced team of the tournament. Our Highfield girls took some time to settle but came together to produce some outstanding defending, however, the SMH girls showed some excellent finishes and Highfield lost their first game. They didn’t let their heads go down and they came out fighting against Westholme. Some excellent passing and dribbling between the midfield and forwards led to some excellent attacking play, resulting in a great finish by Hollie to take the lead. Highfield maintained possession for the majority of the game, however, Westholme managed to score in the dying seconds resulting in a 1-1 draw. In the final game of the festival, Highfield showed just how much they’d learned this year and really started to dominate. An early goal by Genevieve set the tone for the game and Highfield made attack after attack, keeping the opposition in their own half. Another great finish by Genevieve, quickly followed by Hollie, meant Highfield were winning 3-0 at half time. More of the same followed and Genevieve completed her hat trick with Sasha and Ariana scoring to make the final score 6-0. Well done girls! Mrs Botton
ISA Regional Swimming
Good Luck to Nandini and Brooke who are taking part in the ISA Northern Area Swimming Gala on Saturday.
Merits and Awards
Week ending 8.11.19
RB: Chad 1D: Muhammad 1W: Ayyub 2E: Raj 2J: Aamir
3M: Avni 4D: Leo 4S: Jaya 5H: Fatimah 5M: Genevieve 6P: Lucas
Monitors of the week: Alaia and Hiba
High 5 Award: Isabel
Week ending 15.11.19
RB: Lailah 1D: Lilia 1W: Arthur 2E: Penny 2J: Esme
3M: Sharan 4D: Manavi 4S: Taylor 5H: Ibraheem 5M: Sam 6P: Nandini
Monitors of the week: Sienna and Inas
High 5 Award: Hanna
Reminders
Driving on the School Site
Please could all parents take care when driving on the school site. The speed limit is 5mph. We have spent a lot of time over the last few years improving traffic flow, parking, lighting and pavements. All these measures are designed to keep our children and everyone on site safe. Thank you for your continued support.
Extended Care Contact Number
Please could I remind parents that the Extended Care number is 01772 706704. If you know that you are going to be unavoidably detained, please could you phone Extended Care and arrange for your child to be picked up by a relative, guardian or another parent.
Dates for the Diary
Effort Grades for Years 3-6 – Wednesday 20th November
1D Assembly – Friday 22nd November
3M Assembly – Friday 29nd November
Fact of the Fortnight
The fear that a duck is watching you is called Anatidaephobia!
Do you have an interesting fact that you would like to share with the school? Bring it to Mr Duke next week!
Highfield Priory School enjoys a long reputation of academic excellence.
This is our ninth year running in the top 30 of The Sunday Times Top 100 Independent Preparatory Schools in England and our second year in the top 10.
We are currently 6th in England and 1st in the North West (November 2019).
Congratulations to all pupils and staff!
