Highfields School
Issue 09: 13 November 2020
Newsletter Headteacher’s message In my PSE lesson with Y8 this week we worked through the post Covid ‘recovery curriculum’. This particular lesson was about the importance of gratitude to counter adversity. The research we looked at suggested that scientists found that people who regularly noted things they were grateful for were both physically and mentally healthier than others who didn’t. This builds on what we learnt about Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and other Stoics who tended to note down positive mediations at the end of each day. Anyway, I need all the mental and physical healthiness I can get so here’s my attempt to list the things I am grateful for this week. On Monday Mr Hodkin couldn’t get his mask out of his massive ginger beard. I didn’t say anything at the time but it made me kind of giggle a bit. Also on Monday I had a meeting with a musician and we got to talk about music for…well, all of three minutes but it was worth it. On Tuesday I was patrolling the lane behind upper school and Amy walked past. She had a Tupperware container and I asked what was in it and then tried to look a bit pitiable. She fell for it and gave me a freshly made blueberry muffin (no fingers). It was SO delicious. On Wednesday I stood in Starkholmes at 11am and listened to Michael H’s trumpet sound the Last Post around our school. It emanated from every classroom (see the video on my YouTube channelsearch ‘Highfields Remembers’) as every student stood to attention in memory of the fallen. It was breath taking and humbling and reminded us of the importance of peacefulness, kindness and a determination to talk to others whose beliefs oppose our own. As if this weren’t enough, I got into quite a few wonderful lessons including one where Josh in Y8 was using circuitry to make a randomised electric die for a board game (see pic). On Thursday some students and I watched a seagull ‘dogfight’ which involved several seagulls chasing each other around the sky for a beakful of bread (it was more exciting than it sounds). And this morning I got to finish this newsletter which indicates that I still have a job and that the job is still as the headteacher of the world’s most wonderful school. I hope that, however hard your week has been, you are able to think of something for which you are grateful. We are Highfields. Andrew Marsh Headteacher
Be the best you can
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