Building Strength and Individuality

At Highfield Priory School, we are committed to promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing across our whole school community. Our community is the heart of Highfield Priory School and looking after it, both physically and mentally, is a high priority for us. Teaching our children how to overcome difficult situations, with the support of both the school staff and parents, builds resilience and allows our pupils to move forward, equipped with the skills to cope with whatever life presents to them. From Highfield Heights which aims to build a child’s strength and individuality, to our public speaking programme (HPSED), to our team building activity days and Forest School sessions, our children spend focused time building confidence and inner strength on a daily basis.

Leaders in their Fields

Our pupils enter Secondary School with confidence and a determination to be the best version of themselves. They are regularly chosen as leaders of their Secondary Schools with Highfield pupils serving as Heads of School at Bolton School, Preston Muslim Girls’ School, Lancaster Royal Grammar School, Clitheroe Grammar School and Merchiston. Our Alumni continue to aim high in their choice of university and subsequent careers.

Excellence and Innovation

The school was a finalist at the ISA Awards for Innovation and Excellence for proving that the children’s results in our yearly CATS tests went up significantly following the introduction of our HPSED programme. The children really get a sense that they can achieve anything, especially after their Year 4 public performance, which can be seen in their written feedback as well as their results.

The school was awarded the ISA Academic Excellence Award from the Independent Schools Association for its focus on developing the whole child through giving our children more opportunities within the curriculum and in our extracurricular activities. The children really do work hard and play hard, and the school proved that it can be an academic school as well as encouraging its children to aim high in so many other areas. We believe and can prove that extra-curricular success actually supports and leads to academic success.

In 2023 we received an ISA Award for Innovation and Excellence in Mental Health and Wellbeing, showcasing the school understands the importance of educating students about mental health and destigmatising mental health issue. At Highfield we incorporate mental health education into the curriculum, allowing pupils to gain a better understanding of their emotions, coping mechanisms, and strategies for maintaining good mental health. By prioritising mental health, the school enables young learners to focus better, engage actively in learning, and achieve their full potential academically.

Alongside Well-Being Wednesday sessions, where all children have a dedicated period in the school day to talk openly, freely and without judgement on the issues that matter the most to them. We now offer a lunch time drop-in service with our professionally trained and certified Mental Health First Aider, offering dedicated counselling services to the pupils. We also put time aside each week for the children to focus on recognising and celebrating what makes them unique. We encourage pupils to understand that before we can achieve great heights, we need to establish firm foundations, and this starts with the individual. Through weekly sessions of reflection and class discussion, the children develop a clear understanding of who they are and who they want to be. As a result, pupils at Highfield Priory School are better prepared to face life's challenges, develop strong interpersonal skills, and become resilient individuals ready to contribute positively to society.

Highfield’s Heights

At Highfield, we put time aside each week for the children to focus on building their mental strength and resilience, recognising and celebrating what makes them unique. We encourage them to understand that before we can achieve great heights, we need to establish firm foundations, and this starts with the individual.

Highfield’s Heights focuses on building up a child’s personal strength at the base of the mountain. Once they have a firm foundation in themselves, they are ready to develop other aspects of their personality and begin to scale the mountain. At Highfield, we aim to grow strong and resilient in our academic, creative and physical endeavours.  As the children grow in strength and confidence, they become more aware of the people around them and how they can be useful, kind and considerate towards others. They start to take their place as a respected and valued member of the community.

Through weekly sessions of reflection and class discussion, the children develop a clear understanding of who they are and who they want to be. By the time they leave Highfield, they are established at the top of their mountain, ready to celebrate and embrace who they are before embarking on the next stage of their academic journey.

Highfield Public Speaking, Elocution and Drama (HPSED)

Highfield pupils begin the study of Public Speaking, Elocution and Drama when they enter the Junior School and begin Year Three. At Highfield, we believe in the importance of preparing our pupils, not just for their secondary school, but for life. Our Public Speaking, Elocution and Drama lessons aim to develop a child’s communication and presentation skills. The voice is the basic tool with which they are able to make friends, share experiences, develop their talents and present themselves to the world. Through the study of Speech and of Drama, we teach our pupils to speak with clear diction and appropriate intonation. We teach them the importance of self-awareness and awareness of their audience. As they grow in confidence, our pupils become more able to speak out freely in any given situation; and to speak with clarity and judgement. We also aim to make sure our pupils are courteous and effective listeners. Through small group work, they learn to value each other’s contribution and to show each other respect. The importance of retaining information in order to ask and to answer relevant questions is constantly enforced. Our principle aim is that each child is confident and comfortable in their ability to communicate and that each child is given the opportunity to speak publicly in front of an audience on a regular basis. Please see each Year Group for more details.

Team Building Activity Days

The sport facilities are also used for team building. Each year group in the Junior School embarks on a team building activity day in which they put their problem-solving and team work skills to the test in a series of physical problem-solving activities. The children develop their communication skills as they talk each other through the challenge and decide on the best approach to each new problem. They learn to lead and to follow; to speak and to listen; to encourage and to praise. They develop resilience when their ideas don’t work and they have to look for a new approach to their problem.

Forest School

Forest School is an inspirational process that offers children opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and self-esteem, through hands on learning experiences in a Woodland environment. Forest Schools originated in Europe in the early 20th century as a way of teaching about the natural world. By the 1980s it became part of the Danish early years programme. Forest School is a long term child-led educational process that promotes, observes and explicitly supports the social, emotional and physical development of children in a Woodland surrounding. All children, up to Year 3, enjoy their time in Forest School in Highfield Haven at Highfield Priory School.