29th November 2024
Our newsletter aims to keep parents and carers up to date with school news, activities and key information throughout the year.
If you have any feedback on or suggestions for the newsletter, please send your comments via email to newsletter@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk
Don’t forget to visit our website (www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) for more news and information.
Thank you for taking the time to read our news and for your support.
A Marsh Headteacher
Disclaimer: HighfieldsSchoolisnotresponsibleforthequalityofproductsororganisationspublicisedthrougharticlesor advertisementsintheschoolnewsletter.
Message from the Headteacher
I tend only to get involved with feedback from families who are either so pleased or so frustrated that they’ve INSISTED on dealing with me personally. For this reason it can be really helpful to complete surveys. We did this recently and, on this occasion, we’ve decided to share the outcomes. We don’t always do this because, depending on the time of year, the level of response is not always as high as it was this time when we received 941 responses. The summary is at the end of this newsletter and most of it is taken up with thanks for staff. I wanted to share these widely because one of my key aims is to keep our school filled with highly skilled and motivated staff. Recruiting to Matlock is not always easy and many staff commute from Sheffield, Stoke, Buxton, Nottingham and Derby. To undertake that commute you must be motivated in your work: your thanks help fuel that motivation.
I’m sorry if you missed the Art Fair on Tuesday night as it was an opportunity to pick up some bepoke Christmas gifts. I have a reputation for being easy prey for students selling things to raise money for charity (or the school) and, again on this occasion, they saw me coming. I was at the fair for only around 10 minutes but by the time I left they had sold me £50 worth of merchandise. Luckily, I was very happy with my haul which included four monogrammed ceramic Christmas bangles for the four kids who live under my roof, some pom-pom bunting for my fireplace, a pair of mini-Christmas hats and a small portrait of a miserable looking cat.
This last item is for the cat, Ralph, who I now find myself living with. Anyone desperate enough to have read these newsletters over time will know that I had two cats for a very long time. One of these, Romulus, was a very close companion of mine. I think it would be fair to say that Ralph and I are not close. Unlike Romulus he does not enjoy the same TV as me (action films from the 1980s) and insists on watching intense psychodramas with subtitles. I tried to watch Die Hard on Monday night and he completely ruined it by scratching the sofa every time I restarted the video. If it continues I am going to try to find some couples’ counselling for us. (I asked my daughter to send me a picture of Ralph for this article and this what she provided. He does not normally wear glasses.)
Some families are really against trips because they are expensive and therefore exclusive. Other families appreciate them because sending one child is much more affordable than taking the whole family. In any event I allow them because they form part of our offer as promised at open evenings. Last week drama students went to see Blood Brothers in Manchester. As fate would have it my daughter went with her school on the same day. Harriet knows quite a few drama students at Highfields and all of them agreed that the general state of behaviour of students in the theatre apart from Highfields and St Mary’s (Hattie’s school) was ‘appalling’.
Anyway, Highfielders who went on the London theatre trip this week had very well behaved audiences when they saw Mean Girls and Hadestown in the West End (image shows them looking around Covent Garden after the show). Thanks to the staff team who jumped through all of the administrative hoops required to make a trip like that possible these days!
Have a restful weekend if you can! We are Highfields.
Mr A Marsh
Reminders for the weeks ahead.. Week A
Monday 2nd December
• INSET DAY- School Closed
Tuesday 3rd December
• Mock Exams (all week- Timetable available on the school website)
• Y13 Parents Evening
Friday 6th December
• Year 12 Sports Leaders to Darley Dale Care home
Wednesday 11th December
• Christmas Dinner day
Friday 13th December
• Flu Immunisations
Reminder – Term Time Absence
In September 2013 the government introduced new regulations making it clear that Headteachers must not give approval for any leave of absence during term time, including holidays, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Any requests for term time leave should be made on a Leave of Absence Form available from the school website and handed in 2 school weeks before the first date of the requested absence whenever possible. You must have received written authorisation before your child can be absent from school.
Parent/carers may be issued with a penalty notice fine or prosecution should leave of 5 days or more be taken which is not authorised by the Headteacher, or where repeated incidents of leave in term time for less than 5 days occur or where the unauthorised absence contributes to wider poor attendance that meets the legal threshold. Absence deemed for the reason of unauthorised leave in term time will be marked in the register with the Attendance code G.
You may be issued with a Penalty Notice should leave be taken which is not authorised. If unpaid this could lead to prosecution under section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996.
Key dates & Calendar
2024-25 Academic Year
Term 2: 4 November 2024 to 20 December 2024 (Holiday 23 December – 3 January 2024)
Term 3: 6 January 2025 – 14 February 2025 (Holiday 17 February – 21 February)
Term 4: 24 February 2025 to 4 April 2025 (Holiday 7 April – 21 April)
Term 5: 22 April 2025 to 23 May 2025 (Holiday 26 May – 30 May)
Term 6: 2 June 2025 to 24 July 2025
School Xmas Dinner
Flu Immunisations
Christmas Concert
Certificate Evening 6th Form A level
Evening of Theatre
Spain Trip
Easter Concert & Juliet Trip
Y11 Prom
School Musical
Berlin Trip
INSET days (no students in school)
11th December
Friday 13th December
Tuesday 17th December
Thursday 19th December
Thursday 23rd January
Friday 14th February
Tuesday 1st April
Thursday 22nd May
Thursday
