Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News, Friday 4th March, 2022
Mar 4, 2022
4th March 2022
Dear Parents
Music Assembly
Last Friday saw our first Musical Assembly in front of parents and children for over two years. It was lovely to witness our school community come together to celebrate and appreciate the achievements of our instrumentalists and singers. We watched over 20 children from Years 3-6 performing on a wide range of instruments. It was really inspiring to watch children who are just starting their journey with an instrument performing alongside our Year 6 musicians who are now playing complex compositions with apparent ease. I know the assembly will encourage other children in the school to start their journey too. Congratulations to all our performers; we can’t wait to watch your progress next term and in the years to come. A huge thank you to Miss Macklam for organising this assembly.
The Wizard Of Oz
On Tuesday night, the Highfield Priory School production of The Wizard of Oz was the biggest show in town! Performers from Reception through to Year 6 graced the stage of The Landmark Theatre in front of an audience of over 200. The children were incredible, with our Year 4s leading the way as if they had been on the stage all their lives. There was no sign of nerves as they commanded the stage with a very impressive performance. They were supported by Miss Burns’ fabulous dancers who told parts of this famous story through the medium of dance. Congratulations to all the children and thank you to Mrs Jones and Miss Burns for the huge amount of work they put in to producing this show, and to all the staff who helped to make it possible.
Our Performance of The Wizard of Oz by Toby
Firstly, Mrs Jones gave us our parts for the play and I was told that I was the Gatekeeper. After I knew that I was the gatekeeper and everyone else knew who they were, we started by reading the play. Everyone was really interested and I excitedly wanted to do the play straight away but then Mrs Jones said we were doing the play on 1st March. We were all told to learn our lines and then learn the actions.
After half-term, we had just over a week until the play. Proudly, I said my lines along with some actions.
I was really starting to enjoy the play and I thought I was quite good at my part. I really liked how Drew pulled Imogen's leg and said, "Come on, you big lug!"
Our Performance of The Wizard of Oz by Raj
When we finally arrived at The Landmark Theatre, my eyes raced around. I knew, as I was the Tin Man, that I needed to learn the places. When we rehearsed the play, we were very nervous. As Mrs Haythornthwaite said, “five minutes, until the play starts,” my nerves danced. I walked in and waited whilst I watched the tales of Glinda and the Munchkins with the Scarecrow. As I went on and heard the cue for the first line, I humbly and mechanically said, “Oh Kah!” I was nervous, but I knew this event was going to be unbelievable. I played my part and then I changed into a monkey (but not really) and I bowed before the Wicked Witch of the West. After this, I quickly changed to do the ‘Grand Finale.’
Whether it was the Scarecrow and myself mimicking Toto, or the teachers working hard since Christmas, our show was great!
World Book Day and Mastermind
Yesterday, we saw a real celebration of literature at Highfield. We had a wonderful array of characters on display from Medusa to Mary Poppins. Please look on Facebook and see if you can guess the character! The children really enjoyed discussing who they were and explaining why they had chosen to dress up as this person. I hope this day inspires the children to discover new authors and I look forward to seeing the impact that this has on their Reading Challenge.
The highlight of the day was our Mastermind competition which involves all our Year 6 children. They read and were tested on five books initially and then the finalists were given an extra book for the final, answering questions in front of a live audience! The finalists’ understanding of each book was quite incredible, with each competitor answering a range of questions fired at them by Mrs Haythornthwaite who has now been Quiz Master for many years. The competition was incredibly close and it all came down to the final round. After a very tense finish, our winner and Mastermind Champion for 2022 was Jaya! Congratulations to James, Jaya, Lily, Manavi and Yusuf for all reaching the final and thank you to Mrs Haythornthwaite for organising this great Highfield tradition.
Open Day
We will be holding our first Open Day for two years on Sunday 20th March from 11am. This is an incredibly important event for the school and a real chance to celebrate the amazing achievements of our children over the last two years under extremely difficult circumstances. This last week alone highlights how talented our children are and how brightly they are shining in sport, music, drama and literacy. We want to celebrate this success with as many people as possible. Please share this information with friends, neighbours and colleagues and forward on our Facebook posts. Thank you for your support.
Staff Announcements
Mrs Williams will be leaving us at the end of this term to take up the position of Teaching Assistant at St Bernard’s School. This is an exciting new challenge for Mrs Williams and I want to wish her the best of luck in her new role. Thank you Mrs Williams for all your hard work and commitment to Highfield over the last 12 years. You will be greatly missed.
Miss Cara Jones has started work at Highfield this week as our Apprentice Communications Coordinator. One of her roles will be to help us to celebrate the fantastic work and achievements of our children. What a week to start with so much to celebrate!
Netball v Oakhill College
Twelve girls played Netball against Oakhill College. Highfield started strongly, connecting some passes together and resulting in a goal being scored by Taylor. Hanna, Heba, Malaaikah and Lola defended brilliantly, showing good intercepting skills. Lily, Amelia and Evie developed some good passes in attack and Ayesha, Malaaikah, Avni and Violet worked hard moving up and down the court. Taylor scored 2 more goals and the final score was Highfield 3, Oakhill 7.
Even with a loss we enjoyed the whole game. Well done girls! Mrs Parsons
Netball v Sedbergh by Evie and Manavi
On 2nd March, we played netball against Sedbergh School. The team has played Sedbergh before but thoroughly enjoyed playing them again. Amelia and Naina took on the positions of GA and GS phenomenally, resulting in the score coming to a total of 4-4. We look forward to playing Sedbergh again sometime in the future.
Rugby v St Mary’s Hall
Last Wednesday, all the boys in Years 5 and 6 played rugby against St Mary’s Hall at Preston Grasshoppers. The energy, enthusiasm and work rate have really improved since our last game, with all the boys really enjoying the experience. Lots of tries were scored by both teams but we also witnessed improved tackling and rucking. The boys really threw themselves into the challenge of a competitive game of contact rugby. It was a very successful afternoon and the boys’ performance bodes well for the rest of the season.
Rossall Invitational Tournament
This Wednesday, a squad of Highfield rugby players travelled to Rossall to play in their annual tournament. The boys were very excited to put into practice what they had worked hard on in training and in our recent warm up matches. The boys attacked well in all games, off-loading at the right time and trying to use the space. They also won the majority of the rucks which led to a lot of possession and well-worked tries. Our defensive positioning and shoulder tackling still needs to be developed, and we did struggle to stop the stronger runners. In our opening games, we lost two and drew one game. However, in our final game against Bolton School from the parallel group, we won by three tries to one, much to the boys’ delight! This final game really highlighted the progress they had made throughout the afternoon. Their reward was a well-deserved hot chocolate which they all ran towards in celebration! Thank you to Mrs Williams for helping with the transport. We now look forward to our tag-rugby match against Oakhill next week.
Merit Awards 25.2.22
RB: Niralya 1W: William 2E: Abu Bakr
3J: Sarah 3M: Amelie 4H: Nahla 4M: Imogen 5D: Avni 6P: Jaya
Merit Awards 4.3.22
RB: Evie 1W: Francis 2E: Lana
3J: Zarlala 3M:Dylan 4H and 4M: The Whole Year Group 5D: Yaseen 6P: James
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
