Message from the Headteacher
What do you get up to on a Thursday night? Water polo? Crazy golf? Swimming with sharks? I write my newsletter bit. This is an absolute thrill but sometimes means that I omit things which either happen or I find out about on Fridays…
On Friday last week, for example, I learned that our head librarian Mrs Robinson had prepared a wide range of World Book Day activities designed to encourage reading for pleasure. She billed it as "World Book Week", as it was such a packed programme, including: a theatre trip for Y7 and Y8 pupils to see an adaptation of the children's book "The Boy at the Back of the Class" on Tuesday night in Sheffield, the launch of the Highfields Y7 Best Book Awards in assembly (22 Y7 students have signed up for this), the launch of the Y9 "9 in 9" reading challenge, the launch of the SPARK! Book Awards, a national awards programme, for Y9 and Y10 students, Story-in-aday at Lower School, "Book tasters" in each lesson at Upper School, Big Book Quiz at Upper School one lunchtime (great prizes, including a £25 Costa voucher!), Big Book Swap at Lower School (really popular, students queuing down the corridor to swap a book), National Reading Champions Quiz and try outs for the quiz team attended by 40 students. This week we fielded two Highfields teams in the East Midlands heat of the National Reading Champions Quiz. Twenty-three teams from schools across the region took part and Highfields students did brilliantly.
I also failed in last week’s newsletter to refer to Friday’s International Women’s Day which was celebrated through assemblies to year groups.
Talking of women, this week we hosted a netball tournament featuring 10 Derbyshire schools and Highfields’ young women (above far left) performed brilliantly. AND there were some brilliant female performers amongst the GCSE stars who did their performance on Thursday evening. I went straight from there to the Y7 disco which was brilliantly DJ’ed by Toby F who is one of our wonderful sixth formers.
I’m sorry if this newsletter bit looks a bit rushed only earlier this evening I attempted a minor DIY task. It got very much out of hand and I had to spend some time calming neighbours and convincing them not to call emergency services. My daughter, having previously banned me from DIY tasks, then gave me a good talking to and finally I had to clean up the mess which included some black sealant which I’d somehow squirted into my own pocket.
Have a wonderful weekend if at all possible! A Marsh, Headteacher
Coming up next week…
Summer 2024 GCSE/A Level Timetables
Timetables for the summer external exams starting in May are now available on the school website on the Exams page. Final versions of the timetables, with afternoon start times added, will be published nearer to the start of the exams, and paper copies will be issued to students at this time. Please note when planning holidays after the end of exams for Year 11 and Year 13 students, that they must be available to sit exams up to and including the exam boards' contingency date of Wednesday 26 June.
GCSE timetable: https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Student-GCSETimetable-Summer-2024-v.1.pdf
A Level timetable: https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/A-LevelStudent-Timetable-Summer-2024-v.1.pdf
Year 12/13 Vocational timetable: https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2024/01/Student-Vocational-Timetable-Summer-2024-v.1.xlsx.pdf
Parents’ Evening update
Y7 Parents' evening Tuesday 19th March (4pm-6.50pm, 4 min appointments, online). Appointments will go live at 7pm on Tuesday 5th March.
“On Thursday 29th February 2024, the Year 7 students doing woodwork and metalwork got a visit from Mr Wooley and Mr Malcolm from Nottingham Trent University. With Mr Wooley, we played a fast-paced drawing game where we had to design and label a toy with a mechanism. We then chose our best design. We then swapped classrooms with the other Year 7 class to draw cubes and vehicles from two-point perspectives with Mr Malcolm. It was quite challenging, but also super good fun too!” (Sophia, Year 7)
Here's what some other pupils had to say:
“Well, the lesson was the best D&T lesson I have ever had because we got to do a really cool thing. So, for the first 50 minutes we learned to perspective draw which [while I am still terrible at it] was pretty fun. The last 50 minutes were also amazing because we had to create 10 inventions with a time limit for 2 minutes on each one and I really enjoyed this because I got my imagination to run wild. Thanks for the amazing lesson Nottingham Trent University and I can’t wait have a lesson like that again in the future.” (Finley, Year 7)
“In the lesson we were told about the careers you can get if you follow D&T throughout the rest of your education. They both teach at Nottingham-Trent University and taught us how to design and draw products with simply basic and multi-perspective sketches. Overall, the lesson was very exciting, and it was fun to learn about who D&T impacts your daily life.” (Isaac, Year 7)
After visiting our Starkholmes site, Mr Wooley (a Highfields School alumnus) and Mr Malcolm took over a Year 12 engineering lesson, leaving everyone involved re-energised about their chosen subject. Our 6th form business students then joined for a Q&A session in which our guests were quizzed on their insights into product design for commercial partners.
Josh Wooley attended Highfields School from year 7 to 13 (2001-2008). With his A-level in engineering, he went to Sheffield Hallam University to study Product Design.
After graduating, he worked in furniture design for a local company. After 10 years in this role, he completed his Masters in Product Design and has been lecturing at the University of Nottingham Trent ever since.
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/architecture-design-built-environment/josh-woolley
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/architecture-design-built-environment/richard-malcolm
D
& T Visit
Sports Leaders
Tuesday 12th March
Young Ambassador assemblies took place at Winster and Churchtown primary schools led by year 12s Callum, Sam and Alex in Year 10. Fantastic role models for the school. The young pupils in both schools were fully engaged in the assembly.
Thursday 14th March
Wednesday 13th March
Highfields hosted the SSP Primary Netball finals. Highfields Sports Leaders umpired. Well done to Thea and Harriette (Year 8 and 9).
KS 1 Multi skills event took place at Lumsdale for the day. Schools taking part were South Darley, St Josephs, Wessington, Lea, Elton, Winster, Castle View, Tansley, Darley Churchtown, and Darley Dale primary. We had 175 KS 1 pupils with us during the day. The pupils took part in athletic activities, gymnastics, target throwing, sitting volleyball, colour racing, ball dribble, throw and catch, tennis, skipping and balancing.
The Highfields sports leaders played a huge role in delivering the activities. They were outstanding and we had many compliments from the staff about the day and the sports leaders.
Chesterfield FC Community Trust are delighted to announce bookings for Camp Inspire are open!
Camp Inspire is a Health & Wellbeing holiday camp for children/ young people ages 4 to 16 years old who would benefit from structured holiday activities in Derbyshire and the local area. Sessions are free for families who claim benefit related free school meals. Free places are also available to children/ young people in vulnerable groups and with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). To book on:
1. Go to the ‘It’s About Me’ website (https://itsaboutmederbyshire.co.uk)
2. Click ‘BOOK NOW’ in the top right corner
3. Click ‘Provider’ and select ‘Chesterfield FC Community Trust’ then search
4. You will be able to select Primary or Secondary aged Camp.
5. You will be redirected to a new page. Click ‘Get Directions’ for help on location and ‘Book Now’ to book your place.
6. Select the days you wish to book on then ‘Add To Booking Cart’
7. Follow the remainder of the steps accordingly to complete the referral form.
Buxton and Leek College have a wonderful SEND event happening at the end of April in Leek and very early May in Buxton. As you'll see from the posters, they have a huge range of people coming to speak to students. The event is also open to parents, and you and your students can book a slot to come and speak to all our visitors.
Sparks Film School will be running an Easter Camp at the Lime Tree Conference Centre 2-4 April 2024, 10.00am to 4.00pm each day. The cost is £199.
https://sparksarts.co.uk/about-us/film-school-locations/sparks-film-school-derbyshire-north/
FREE Bike marking & Tool marking event that will be held in Hall Leys Park, Matlock on Saturday 30th March 202410.00am-12.00pm.
They will also be there offering any crime prevention advice, to answer any questions people may have, for people to raise any concerns that they may have with them, and just to give members of the public an opportunity to come and meet members of their Local Safer Neighbourhood Team. They can also sign people up to Derbyshire Alert, so that they are also able to keep up-to-date with what the current crimes are in their community and to share positive action taken by us back to our community.
They will also have a marked Police vehicle and a variety of bits for young people who also want to engage with us. They can also have their photo taken in the Police vehicle should they want to.
Key dates & Calendar
A Marsh Headteacher