Message from the headteacher

I wonder how things are going for you. Perhaps you are busy keyworkers, perhaps working flat out in a vital role as a care or shop assistant or in refuse collection or deliveries. I presume that, like me, you are wrestling with home-schooling. To be quite honest with you I am finding it really difficult. I have a pretty straight forward rule that recreational screen use is suspended each day until some decent school work and alternative activities have been completed. This seems reasonable to me but has resulted in the defection of the older one to his mum’s house where expectations are different. The younger one is compliant but currently without enthusiasm. I offer this level of honesty (I am mildly embarrassed to be struggling to this extent) because I want to identify with those of you, especially with shared care arrangements, where things are not yet going to plan. It is extremely encouraging to me that both this newsletter and the wearehighfields@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk email line suggest that many families are faring much better than I am. The work and activities that many of our students are undertaking are marvellous and inspiring.

I suppose my fear as an educator is that schools will remain closed or partially closed for many months to come. When our children eventually return to school I believe there will be a significant difference between those who have kept their learning ‘muscles’ exercised and are used to being busy and those who have become used to long, aimless days with few or no boundaries or expectations. This is nothing to panic about but, as a parent, I am trying as hard as I am to get my kids to follow some kind of routine and to keep their brains ticking over.

As I say, on the plus side, parents/carers and students’ contribution to our learning community has been fantastic. According to our records from Show My Homework, the vast majority of students are doing very well. It’s as if the many children who enjoyed school have accelerated even further in their learning since being away from it. If you are having success in home-schooling I urge you to use all means including social media to share ideas with your friends and contacts.

So the vast majority are doing OK…but Highfields is an inclusive school so I view nothing as a success unless ALL CHILDREN are achieving. For this reason I’m still kept awake in the small hours worrying about how a significant minority of children, whose learning was supported very significantly by the robust expectations of school, are now faring in its absence (my son included).

We have sent laptops to a number of homes but laptops, in themselves, do not a learner make. With all of this mind I have been meeting with school leaders all week to look at ways in which we can reach out to children who are disengaging and their families who, like me, may be needing school support to avoid this slipping further.

You probably won’t remember but I once wrote in this newsletter about my habit of venturing into the woods near Highfields each morning to speak to a huddle of learners who did not seem fully to engage with the school community. It’s the same students I am worried about. It’s just that they are much further into the woods. And I really miss them.

Anyway…the rest of this Newsletter is far less introspective and celebrates the marvellous work referred to above. I hope also it gives you the information, advice and ideas you need to look after your children well.

A Marsh Headteacher