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Headmaster's Welcome

Headmaster's News - 17th June 2016

Jun 17, 2016


17 June 2016

 

Dear Parents,

Musical Assembly

Thank you to all the musicians who performed in the musical assembly this morning. It was very rewarding to watch the progress you have made, especially our Year 6 performers in their last musical assembly. Hassan actually composed and played his own piece of music which is an excellent achievement. I also really enjoyed listening to our mainly Year 3 recorder group who were introduced by Suzanna. Lucas, our youngest performer, also really impressed the school by playing a piece that he has been practising for his Grade 1 examination. Well done to everyone who performed. Thank you Miss Macklam for arranging the assembly; what a wonderful way to end the week!

Year 1 visit to ‘Bring Yer Wellies’ by Isa and Izzy

In the beginning, we saw Crikey and Barney, the horses. Nigel, our guide, gave them sweets. Nigel then told us about plants. He talked about a big willow branch and told us to rub the leaves of plants to discover what they smelt like. My plant smelt lovely. After that we planted herbs and watered them. Next we went pond dipping and looked at the creatures. My team found 8 tadpoles! Afterwards, we looked at the compost and after lunch we made dens and eventually we raced boats.

Thank you Isa and Izzy! It sounds like you had a very busy day and I look forward to seeing all the photographs from your trip.

Staff News

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Smithson who are expecting their first baby in December.

Compliance Inspection

The school will be inspected on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. This inspection was due before the end of this academic year and will look solely at whether the school is compliant with the regulatory requirements. The school will receive a Quality Inspection at a later date. As part of the Inspection, the Inspectors would like you to complete a parent questionnaire. The link to this questionnaire and explanation is on the attached sheet. This questionnaire will help the Inspectors to gain as complete a picture as possible of the school. Please could all parents take the time to complete this questionnaire on-line. If you require a paper copy of the questionnaire, please collect this from the school office. All questionnaires need to be completed and returned by the end of school on Monday. Thank you for your time and support.

Kings Camp

This Summer, we have invited Kings Camp, a dedicated holiday club company, to run activity weeks between 25-29 July and 1-5 August for ages 4 upwards. They run holiday camps throughout the country at leading Independent schools and have an excellent reputation. This club will also be open to children who do not attend Highfield Priory School so you can bring family and friends. Our holiday club will run as normal during this period. Please have a look at the attached letter.

Sports Day

This has been rearranged for 1st July. I hope the forecast is more favourable.

Whole School Photograph

This will now be taken on Monday 27 June.

Cricket at Terra Nova

Seventeen boys travelled down to Terra Nova, next to Jodrell Bank, to play cricket on Wednesday. I was very pleased with both teams’ approach to the game. They organised themselves and really encouraged each other throughout the matches. In the soft ball game, Hassan played particularly well and received recognition from the opposition’s umpire for a fine performance with the bat.  In the hard ball game, all the boys played well, captained very ably by Rohan. At the end of the day, Highfield won the hard ball game and Terra Nova won the soft ball game. Thank you to Terra Nova for hosting us and providing the children with a very well received match tea afterwards!

Alumni Hockey

This evening we have a number of former pupils coming back to school to coach our current pupils and to play in an exhibition match. It promises to be an excellent event and I look forward to reporting back on it next week.

Manor Adventure

A party of Year 5 and 6 children travelled to Manor Adventure in Shropshire on the Bank Holiday weekend to take part in a range of outdoor adventurous activities from an underground maze to the high ropes! We were blessed with wonderful weather and the children took full advantage of every activity on offer. Highlights were the canoeing and kayaking which involved lots of games, singing and getting very wet! Another very popular activity was the new high ropes course which could take over ten pupils at a time working their way round an assault course which was very high above the ground. All the teachers had a go at this activity but I’m afraid many of the children put us to shame, whizzing round the course quickly as we progressed very cautiously with one child completing the course five times! It was a very successful weekend with the children really working hard together, supporting and encouraging one another. Thank you to Mr Drake, Miss McShane and Mr Sheppeck for running the weekend.

Independent Schools Athletic Championships

On Wednesday 8 June, 32 children attended the Manchester Arena to take part in the Northern Independent Schools’ Athletics Championships.  All the children did incredibly well, competing against 24 schools from across the North in a range of events. In the track events, Oliver C, James and Olivia D made it through to the finals. James came third in the 60m and Olivia won the 75m and 150m. Olivia has qualified for the Nationals at The Alexander Stadium in Birmingham in both these events and the relay with James. Grace W also had an excellent run in the 800m coming third and missing out on the Nationals by just one place!  The Under 9 girls relay team made up of Grace W, Bebe, Charlotte and Zahara qualified for the final coming 6th and the Under 10 girls relay team made up of Isabelle, Olivia D, Jemima and Katie H won the final.  In the field events, Katie R came third in the high jump and Charlotte came third in the long jump; an excellent effort out of 24 competitors. Congratulations to all our competitors and thank you to the parents who came to support and Mrs Parsons, Mrs Duke and Miss Warburton for their help on the day.

Bake-Off

We will be having our Annual Bake-Off again this year, as requested by the children, to raise money for Baby Beat one of the school charities. The theme will be ‘Sport’ in celebration of the opening of our all-weather pitch, the current European Football tournament and the forthcoming Olympics in Rio. The date will be Monday 4th July.  The children really enjoy this event and look forward to seeing the wonderful creations and hearing the stories about the work and the thought-process behind each cake.

Fathers’ Day

Thank you to our PTA for organising the Fathers’ Day shop today. I know there will be some very happy fathers on Sunday!

Merit Awards

RD: Haya  RF: Aaron  1D: Aadi 1W: Genevieve  2M: Khadija

3J: Eva  3M: Isabelle  4D: Alfie  4S: Evie  5H: Roan  5M: Katie  6H: Matthew

Monitors of the week: George and Hannah

Thought for the week

Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved

Mattie J.T Stepanek

 

Yours sincerely

 

J M Duke

Headmaster

 

Highfield Priory School

Building Strength and Individuality

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