Headteacher’s message

By now you should have received a communication from our chair of governors thanking members of our school community for the way in which they have responded to the challenges we have faced since September. I think it’s only fair that I return this vote of thanks to governors. Their support has been invaluable over the last months. They have definitely offered a level of challenge and accountability, but they have managed to do this in a spirit of support and positivity. I have worked for a number of governing boards over the last 25 years or so and I feel that none has been more acute, insightful and positive than this one. When under pressure I feel they have my back and I am extremely grateful for this.

I am always loathed to appear to be moaning about our lot in education. My family and friends are in other industries and face comparable pressures to ours. This notwithstanding I want to point out that I have never seen staff looking as tired as they have this week. I hope everyone gets a few moments over half term to collect their thoughts, have a quick breather and steel themselves for the journey ahead.

I wonder what you think about this… I cannot stand litter and will tend to habitually pick it up around our school sites. Sometimes I pick it up by hand and sometimes, when the fields are being used in the warmer months, I take around a bin bag and ask students to put their litter in it. An ex- headteacher of mine once told me off for this saying it was unseemly for a senior team member to be seen acting in such a way. I’m not so sure… what do you think? Either way I have a pathological hatred of litter and so it’s difficult for me to stop. Any waste left on our site tends to blow into a local stream and from there to a river and from there I suppose some of it heads out to sea. I was approached by some students the other day whilst picking up said litter and they asked if they could help. So that’s something we’ll have a think about.

As usual we are getting into lessons to check on student behaviour and generally get a feel for what’s going on. This week some highlights (images left to right below) were Y7 students using a microscope to figure out the difference between animal and plant cells (‘wobbly walls’ apparently). Next door students tried to get a bulb to light up which became a lot easier once they had established the role of positive and negative terminals. And in a sixth form art lesson, Elysia was producing the most gorgeous dry point print.

As if that wasn’t enough wonder for one week, I also got to be in the audience for Y11 GCSE drama performances. These were ALL thoughtful, well scripted, well directed pieces of work which were brilliantly performed and I really enjoyed seeing the range of students who were excelling on stage. When you see what goes on in our classrooms it makes all of the worry worth it.

Thanks for all your support, have a safe and peaceful half term and never forget… we are Highfields.

Deadline for year 6 families to apply for a place at Highfields School is 31 October 2020

Welcoming Y6 families to Highfields School

Y6 families – choosing a secondary school for September 2021

As year 6 families will not have the opportunity to meet our amazing students and staff this year because we have been unable to hold our usual open evenings, we have provided a wealth of information on our website to help you decide if Highfields is the school for you (see details below).

We hope you have all enjoyed our videos and virtual tour, as well as the additional information and resources about Highfields. If you have not had the opportunity to look at our website, please follow the link below to our year 6 dedicated page to find out more: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/parents/year-six-information/

If you have any general questions please contact Mrs Green (Y7 manager) by email, who will be happy to help - tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk.

Applications for places at Highfields School are administered by Derbyshire County Council. The

deadline to apply for a year 6 place is by 31 October 2020:

https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools/school-places/secondary-admissions/secondaryschool-admissions.aspx

Thank you for considering Highfields School for your choice of secondary school.

Year 6 and year 12 families considering Highfields School in September 2021

Please look at the video of our students and staff, and the virtual tour to give you a sense of our site and transition process:

‘Check out Highfields School’ for year 6 families: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_OaKFSM6n4&feature=youtu.be

‘Check out Highfields sixth form’ for year 12 families (further information on our sixth form opportunities will follow): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFEvGvUoTRg&feature=youtu.be

For a virtual tour of Highfields School lower site: https://youtu.be/1bq-YFfwFdI

Read through our year 6 information guide for an overview of our school and the guide to Highfields School that provides a more in-depth look into Highfields life: https://issuu.com/highfieldsschool/docs/y6information http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/year-6-information-guide/

The KS3 curriculum booklet provides full details of the curriculum on offer to students in years 7–9: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/KS3CurriculumBooklet-1.pdf

We have also included examples of some of the work our students completed during lockdown in our Virtual Learning Studio, further information regarding our uniform, transport and other key areas can be found in the information section: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/parents/year-six-information/

Sixth Form Open Evening Information – launching November 2020

We will be launching our sixth form open evening package in November, to help students think about the options available.

Tuesday 17 November - Zoom open evening talk

Will give you an impression of sixth form, the wider opportunities available and some advice about choosing your subjects. The arrangements for the talk, and the Zoom link, will be sent to interested students nearer the time.

Sixth form subject information

Each subject will have information to help you decide if it is what you want to choose. These links will be on the website. This information will be posted ready for the open evening and will remain on the website for the rest of the year so you will be able to keep looking at it if you want to.

Sixth form prospectus

The 2021 online prospectus will also be available on the website providing further course content detail.

Process

At the end of November we will ask you for your top four subject preferences. This will not commit you to those subjects, but it helps us to plan for demand and to build our option blocks to allow the best fit with what students want to study. We will do this by an electronic survey.

We then publish the option blocks in late January and students complete an application form, including their subject choices.

In February and March we will then have individual meetings with students to discuss options.

Decisions on your future take time, so this is the start of the process. It is not unusual for students and parents/carers to still have questions in the summer of next year, and so we will be happy to keep up the conversations with you over time. We don’t want you to feel rushed. We do want you to feel informed.

The sixth form team would be happy to hear from you and can be contacted on the following emails:

Mrs Sargeant (sixth form manager) rsargeant@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mr Flett (Director of sixth form) mflett@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mrs Cruise (Assistant head of sixth form) lcruise@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk