Headmaster's Welcome

Headmaster's News, Friday 4th September 2020

Sep 4, 2020

4th September, 2020

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! It was lovely to see happy and excited children entering the school gates again. The children have been excellent this week and have quickly adapted to the new routines which are in place to keep them safe and healthy. They are enjoying their new classrooms, teachers, timetables and, for some years, new subjects.

Thank You
Thank you for your continued support over the last 6 months. Your kind words have really helped to keep us all going and have kept the staff in good spirits throughout this difficult time. I am very fortunate to work with such an experienced and dedicated staff who are Highfield through and through. We have 10 staff who have over 15 years’ experience at Highfield; Miss Macklam is in her thirtieth year and Mrs Haythornthwaite is now in her 34th year! This will be my eleventh year as Head and thirteenth at the school. It is with this experience and your support that I know we will continue to build on Highfield’s success and face any challenges that come our way.

Calendar
There will be no calendar to begin with this year as government and local guidelines are changing on a daily basis and this will have an impact on what we do as a school. We will publish events via parentmail giving you as much notice as possible.
We will not be taking the children off the school site until at least October half-term and there will be no trips or Year 4 Swimming.
We will try our hardest to replicate the events of a normal year whilst closely following government and local guidelines. We will continue to use Teams to bring the children together for assemblies and to keep in contact with you at home. We are planning to do our usual Curriculum Evenings on Teams and we will publish these dates in due course.

Pick-Up
Please could you keep to the Pick-Up times published and leave the school site as soon as possible after picking-up your child. If you could remain in your car until it is your time, it will reduce the number of adults in the playground. We are working incredibly hard to keep groups separate during the day and we need to maintain this at Pick-Up. A copy of the details sent out during the holidays has been attached. The only amendment is the Pick-Up location for Reception Class which will now be at the back of the school next to the Reception Classroom. The Drop-Off location will remain the same.

Thank you for your support.

J M Duke
Headmaster