Message from the head

This week has happened so fast that I am convinced that it is Tuesday even though my calendar clearly shows it’s Friday.

As usual I’ve been ‘sweeping’ all classrooms at least once a day to check that students are meeting staff expectations. The whole point of working in schools is to see learning in action and BY FAR the favourite part of my job is visiting lessons.

This week there was the usual wide range on offer. On lower site students in a small group literacy lesson were trying to use evidence (including the images below) to solve a crime.

Elsewhere in school I found A level English language students considering the impact of technology on language. It appeared from what the students were saying that they were more likely to use worded texts and their parents/carers more likely to use emojis. This was counter to my understanding, but one student said that her dad used emojis because he ‘thought it was cool… sometimes he sends me a thumbs up emoji and I have no idea what it refers to’, she added. I must admit that recently I have started to use emojis myself but have attracted criticism from my own children that I am using them inappropriately. I just like to be original so I will often send, for example, a clown/cowboy/melon emoji with no other explanation. It keeps them thinking.

And in a geography lesson the teacher was outlining what makes a good approach to learning and how that might be applied in that particular piece of work. Approach to learning is everything and generally marks out the difference between a student who is likely to achieve their potential and one who is not.

Anyway, the last point I wanted to make in this utterly forgettable newsletter bit is that your children are not only fabulous students but also wonderful human beings. We have still not been able to trace the Highfielders who inspired this email…

(Message from reception) “We've had a phone call from a local resident wanting to thank some of our students for coming to his aid. He had a fall in his garden yesterday and was unable to get up. He called out, and some passing Highfields students came to help him up and then stayed with him until they'd made sure he was OK. He was extremely grateful to them as he would not have been able to get up without assistance and was keen to make you aware of their actions. He gave them some money for their help, which he commented they were extremely reluctant to take, but he insisted. He said they were all very smart and polite, and whilst he didn't think to take their names he wondered if they could be thanked via assembly/newsletter, even if they can't be identified. I thanked him for letting us know and that we were very pleased to hear how helpful our students had been.”

We are Highfields.

Have a wonderful weekend.