Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News - 30th June 2017
Jun 30, 2017
30 June 2017
Dear Parents
2M Assembly
Thank you 2M for your excellent assembly all about London which was based on what you have been studying in class. You covered an amazing amount of facts about the history of London and its landmarks. You taught us specific details and stories about London Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben just to name a few of the attractions. Your level of vocabulary, interesting facts, understanding of the topic and your clear delivery were very impressive. You are certainly ready to make the step up into the Junior School next year. Thank you Mr Murray for organising this assembly.
Year 3 Team Building
Year 3 took part in a problem-solving afternoon on Monday. The children were split into groups and were faced with a number of challenges which they had to complete as a group. It is an excellent exercise which really helps the children to improve their leadership skills as well as their ability to communicate with each other. As the afternoon progressed, you could clearly see an improvement in their listening skills and in their ability to support and encourage one another. This improved the speed with which they completed each activity and it also led to a real bond forming within each team as they enjoyed the success of achieving the challenge. The challenges ranged from crossing an imaginary river to using semaphore to relay a message. Evie and Nandini said the water challenge was their favourite as they had to keep transferring water carefully over obstacles to a bucket in a set amount of time. They didn’t get wet at all! Lucas said that his favourite was Swamp Stompers where they had to cross an imaginary swamp on two planks of wood, working as a team. The children were full of stories of the afternoon’s adventures and how they had fared in each activity they had attempted. Thank you to Mrs Jones for organising the afternoon.
Bake-Off
It is Highfield’s annual Bake-Off on Monday. The theme for this year is ‘School’ and all money raised will be going to the charities chosen by the children this year - Just4Children and Derian House. If children would like to buy some of the creations on Monday, please could they bring in £2 in an envelope. Happy baking!
Visit to Jodrell Bank
On 22nd June, Year 5 visited Jodrell Bank; the home of the radio telescopes in the North of England! When we got there, we were all amazed by the size of the telescopes! The first thing we did was split into four groups. Each group had a different activity and then we swapped round - the best bit was when we had to do different tests to see which of the 5 mystery rocks was a real meteorite!
After that, we went to a room that had a clockwork solar system in it which was controlled by a black handle. Around the sides of the room was lots of information and pictures about space. Then we had lunch! The best bit of the day was when we learnt about Mars and had to make Mars Rover Landing Systems! I really enjoyed Jodrell Bank and would like to go back again. Nathaniel, 5M
When we arrived, I was really excited! When I saw the giant telescope, called The Lovell Telescope, I was speechless. It was huge and detected radio waves from space.
We did some experiments which were: detecting light, checking the mass of objects, seeing how craters were made and an investigation to find out which rock was a meteorite.
My favourite part of the day was the meteorite experiment. We figured it out and I was told I was holding a rock that was over 4 billion years old from space itself! We also got to see the Whispering Dishes where you had to whisper into a dish and somebody could hear you from 200m away! Sophie E, 5D
Pre-School Sports Day
On Friday, we witnessed one of the highlights of the Pre-School year: Sports Day. The children have been training hard over the last few weeks with Mrs Parsons in their PE lessons and they were certainly raring to go! The children competed in the sack race, egg and spoon race, hurdles and obstacle race. They demonstrated very impressive balance, speed and agility, concentrating on the task in hand from start to finish and making sure that they didn’t make a mistake. The energy and enthusiasm from all the children were excellent with many desperate to get one last jump in or one final dash before (or even after!) the whistle. Thank you to all the parents who supported the children and to Mrs Parsons for organising the afternoon.
Bikeability
This week, the Year 6 children were really put through their paces taking their Cycling Proficiency, ably supported by five instructors from Lancashire County Council. The children went through a number of safety checks and instructions on site before going out on the local roads. Over Thursday and Friday, they practised a number of manoeuvres in the local area, including passing a parked car, passing a side road and making left and right hand turns. The children really enjoyed the experience and learnt extremely valuable life skills about cycling safely on roads. I would like to thank the instructors from ‘Bikeability’ for an excellent course and Mrs Guthrie for organising it.
Visit by Story Homes
Year 1 were visited by a school liaison team from Story Homes this week who talked to them about safety on a building site and building in the locality, which links closely with what they have been studying in class. I caught up with 1D to see how they had enjoyed their visit. Yusuf told me that the builders had to wear special boots with steel in them to protect their feet. Diya talked about a picture they had looked at where they had to identify lots of hazards. She remembered that one of the main hazards was that there were wires sticking out. Joseph told me that they need to wear hard hats to protect them from the heavy machinery and building materials. Manavi said that everyone on site had to wear hi-vis jackets so that they could be seen clearly. One of their favourite visitors was a life-sized Builder Bear who was a safety superhero! The visit really caught the children’s attention and they certainly had picked up and remembered lots of important information.
Curriculum Evenings
Reception curriculum evening 6pm Wednesday 5 July (for Pre-School parents)
Pre-School curriculum evening 6.15pm Thursday 6 July (for Nursery parents)
Merit Awards
RD: Naina 1D: Diya and Manavi 1W: Amber 2F: Abdullah 2M: The Whole Class
3M: Hashbala 4H: Jaison 4S: Zain 5D: Abdullah 5M: Alfie 6H: Thomas 6J: Aqil
Monitor of the week: Malaika
Thought for the Week - Teamwork
Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.
Henry Ford
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
