Headmaster's News

Jan 9, 2015

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break. The children look refreshed and are full of all the activities and quality time they spent with their families over the holidays. My break was certainly less eventful than last year; I wasn’t in Casualty on Christmas Day (!) and we managed to fit in two very enjoyable trips to the theatre.

Dec 12, 2014

What an incredibly busy and successful term this has been. It began with the excellent news that our Year 6 children had passed their Grammar school examinations. This was followed later in the term with Highfield retaining its position as the top Independent Preparatory school in Lancashire (and 29th in the country) for our NCT results which were published in The Sunday Times. Our academic prowess also shone through in the Bolton Big Quiz General Knowledge competition in which Highfield finished 1st out of 14 teams. It has been a busy term for music and drama with our accomplished musicians performing in a musical assembly and singing carols at Barton Grange, Bethany House and our Carol Service; our dramatists have been rehearsing for next term’s Charter Theatre performance of “The Witches”. We have also enjoyed wonderful performances by our Infants, Reception Class, Pre-School and Nursery and our Juniors have been busy with their Public Speaking exams. It has been busy on the games front with our girls winning the Under 10 ISA Northern Swimming Gala and three swimmers qualifying to swim in the Olympic pool in London at the national final. Our cross country team came second out of 23 teams at the Malsis cross country and we made an impressive start in the ISA football cup. Our chess players continue to do well, being placed highly in the county congresses. So many memories from our Autumn Term and these are just a few of our successes this term.

Dec 5, 2014

The Christmas season has really got underway this week: our Pre -School entertained us with their Christmas Dance Performance on Thursday; the Infants performed their Nativity for Pre-School; the choir visited the church in preparation for the Carol Service and Year 6 choir performed Christmas Carols at Barton Grange. The week ended with much fun and laughter from all the children at our Christmas Party and Fayre on Friday. Thank you to all the PTA who made the Christmas Fayre so enjoyable for the children. They loved all the activities, had a great time with the entertainer and met Father Christmas!

Nov 28, 2014

Today we say a very sad farewell to two longstanding members of the Highfield community. Mrs Bennett has been at Highfield for 16 years, teaching predominantly in the Infant Department. She has also been our PSHEE co-ordinator. She is an outstanding teacher and a valued member of our school and she will be missed by staff and children alike. Our best wishes go with Mrs Bennett and her family as they embark on their new adventure in Saudi Arabia.

Nov 21, 2014

I was back in Nursery this week and, as always, every child was on the go, absorbed in a variety of activities. Robert was squealing with delight as he got very messy enjoying the texture of the jelly bath. Milo was working alongside him, chatting away as he filled up a jug right to the top with the jelly. Aibhlin and Samuel were busy creating masterpieces with colouring pens; orange seemed to be the colour of the moment as each picture took shape. Eloise and Aamir were playing in the water area, washing baby dolls and ducks and really enjoying filling up bottles and pouring them out. Amelia and Ayesha were playing with the sand and looking at pictures on the wall. They were discussing their trips to the Highfield Haven and all the conkers and leaves they had collected.  I then popped upstairs to see the babies who were also having a great time with water. They were blowing bubbles, splashing and really interacting with each other and Mrs Beaumont. I reluctantly left and, as I passed the 2+ area again downstairs, they had all moved into the movement room and were singing a song which involved buying currant buns from the baker’s shop. There were lots of actions and props and the children were having lots of fun taking it in turns to play each role. Thank you Nursery for a very enjoyable insight into how busy and interactive your mornings are. I really enjoyed watching you take part in all your activities and experiencing how much fun you have as you learn and discover new things.

Nov 7, 2014

Thank you to all our musicians who performed in our first musical assembly of the year this morning. We had 17 performers playing a range of instruments. Their composure and confidence was amazing, especially with many of them having only been playing for a short period of time and in their first public appearance. I also enjoyed listening to our junior choir for the first time this year which included the new choir members. I can’t wait to see you perform later in the year and see what progress you have made. Thank you to Miss Macklam for arranging this assembly.

Aug 14, 2014

Thank you Year 4 for your excellent assembly on Children in Need this morning. This is a very important charity which the school supports each year and it was very important and interesting for the school to hear about the history of the charity including Pudsey Bear and who the money supports. I enjoyed Year 4’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and I really enjoyed listening to their song, “Wake Me Up”: the Children In Need song for this year. A big thank you to Mr Drake for organising his first assembly at Highfield.