Highfields Newsletter Issue 30

Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Highfields School Newsletter Newsletter

2019-20

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Our newsletter aims to keep parents and carers up to date with key information during this time.

Our website (www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) will be regularly updated with news and information and we will continue to email out any news to parents/carers.

Thank you for your continued support.

A Marsh Headteacher

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter

Contents: Message from the headteacher ....................................................................4 Updates for Parents/Carers ..........................................................................5         

Free School Meals during the Coronavirus outbreak ................................................ 5 School Travel Insurance Claims – Update .............................................................. 5 Highfields Emergency Childcare............................................................................. 6 Decisionz E-magazine for year 11s ........................................................................ 6 Reminder: Virtual school musical permissions – Beauty and the Beast 2020 ............. 6 You said – we are listening – survey feedback and our response ............................ 7 Top tips on how to support your child with dyslexia and other SEND conditions … ... 8 10 top tips from the Highfields Cluster Family Support Team ................................ 12 Helping children and young people to manage anxiety ......................................... 12

Shout Outs!............................................................................................... 13 Highfields Virtual Learning Studio ............................................................... 16 School News ............................................................................................. 25   

Matlock athletic club 36 hour virtual relay ............................................................ 25 ‘We Are Highfields Fund’ 2020 still growing .......................................................... 25 Three GP Surgeries in North East Derbyshire thank Highfields School .................... 26

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Electronic forms for new year 7 admissions in September ..................................... 27 Year 7 PowerPoints ............................................................................................ 28 Year 7 student magazine .................................................................................... 28 Reminder: Cashless Catering electronic form return ............................................ 28 Year 6 transition days ......................................................................................... 28 September 2020 – Transport to school for year 6 parents/carers........................... 28

Parents/carers of current year 6 students ................................................... 27

Updates and Reminders for Students .......................................................... 29 Alternative activities to try during time at home........................................... 32      

75th Anniversary of VE Day ................................................................................. 32 Code breaking – Week five ................................................................................. 33 Speakers for Schools virtual talks ........................................................................ 34 Get Creative - Join the BBC Lockdown Orchestra for You Got The Love ................. 35 BBC Young Composer 2020 competition .............................................................. 35 Keeping Highfields reading: how to access free books .......................................... 36

Sports Update ........................................................................................... 37         

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Two new programmes for students ..................................................................... 37 Highfields School – Girls Active Awards entry ....................................................... 38 YST Girls Active Research ................................................................................... 39 Rural Derbyshire School Sports Partnership Activity Challenges – Week 5 .............. 40 Sports activity challenges: Week 3 - Netball ......................................................... 41 Physical Activity bingo ........................................................................................ 42 Boccia England: Rainbow Cup virtual competition ................................................ 42 Thornbridge Outdoors – free outdoor learning resources ...................................... 42 Rounders England – Aresson Design a Bat Competition 2020 ................................ 43 Online cricket courses during COVID-19 .............................................................. 43

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Learning at home ...................................................................................... 44      

Years 7-10 school timetable ................................................................................ 44 Year 11 work to help you into year 12 ................................................................. 45 Year 12 school timetable .................................................................................... 45 Y11 and Y13 – Suggestions for making best use of time ....................................... 46 Parents/carers can help ...................................................................................... 47 Resources for Highfields students learning from home .......................................... 49

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Help & Support information ................................................................................ 50 Free School Meals National Voucher Scheme........................................................ 50 ‘We Are Highfields Fund’ 2020............................................................................. 50 Highfields Emergency Childcare........................................................................... 50 Derbyshire County Council Advice on COVID-19 for Parents/Carers ....................... 51 Public Health England ......................................................................................... 51 Derbyshire County Council’s Community Response Unit ........................................ 52 COVID-19 Chesterfield Support Network .............................................................. 52 NSPCC Coronavirus link ...................................................................................... 52 CAMHS resource ................................................................................................ 52 Domestic abuse.................................................................................................. 52 Online Safety ..................................................................................................... 52 Online Prescription Delivery ................................................................................ 53 Food supplies ..................................................................................................... 53 The power of social distancing ............................................................................ 53

Parents/carers – support and advice ........................................................... 50

Careers, College & Apprenticeship News ..................................................... 54   

Resources .......................................................................................................... 54 Careers inspiration and advice from BBC Bitesize.................................................. 54 Online careers programme for 11-18 year olds ..................................................... 54

Useful contact numbers ............................................................................. 55 Support available ....................................................................................... 56     

Local support available for parents/carers ............................................................ 56 Helplines, Apps and Websites if you need help now .............................................. 58 Staying Safe Online ............................................................................................ 63 Share with Care ................................................................................................. 64 App Safety ......................................................................................................... 65

Highfields School Contact details ................................................................ 67 Key Staff for 2019-20 ................................................................................ 68 Highfields School Governing Board 2019-20 ................................................ 69

Disclaimer: Highfields School is not responsible for the quality of products or organisations publicised through articles or advertisements in the school newsletter.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Message from the headteacher I am aware that you are currently receiving a lot of information from school through emails, Show My Homework and assemblies. I wanted to bring some key information to your attention which I hope will answer some questions received from parents/carers. I will duplicate this information in a separate letter to parents/carers on Monday.

1. School calendar: We are trying to design the calendar for 2020-21, but we are fully aware that the government or Derbyshire local authority may override our arrangements. To help you organise your family time it is our plan that students will be returning from Tuesday 2 September 2020 (year groups will be confirmed nearer the time) and students will not be attending school on Friday 18 December 2020 (because staff will be starting term a day early). As soon as we understand the implications of national and local policy on planning we will update you.

2. Public examinations: We are working with lead agencies to produce centre assessed grades.

Staff are NOT allowed to discuss these with students or families. Please bear with us until plans for the release of results becomes clearer at a national level.

3. Internal assessments: We are trying to put in place arrangements before the end of term that focus students on their learning and provide information for teachers on what students have understood and what they may need further help with when we return to school. As always students and families’ mental health is at the forefront of our minds so we are working with teachers and our hope is to make this assessment process ‘light touch’ but still motivating and useful for students and teachers. We will update you as soon as we understand a little more about the timescale we are working within regarding any return to school.

4. Work experience: It is with great regret that we confirm that Y10 and Y12 work experience is cancelled for summer 2020. School leaders are discussing arrangements to mitigate the loss of work experience by providing some online content, but we know that work experience is a huge benefit to students and that its cancellation is very unfortunate indeed.

5. Return to school: There is no clear plan for a return to school yet. Derbyshire has convened a working group who will advise on how any government policy may be applied in our county.

Thank you to ALL parents and carers for your patience in understanding our limitations in making firm plans in these uncertain times.

On behalf of the staff team I would also like to thank parents/carers for the collaborative and thoughtful way in which they have partnered with classroom staff in promoting home-schooling for our children. We are enormously grateful for your support.

A Marsh Headteacher

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Updates for Parents/Carers Free School Meals during the Coronavirus outbreak If you are a family who have had to apply for Universal Credit for the first time to help you out during these difficult times, please remember to apply for Free School Meals and let us know if you are successful by forwarding your confirmation email to us so we can change your status and add you to the voucher/hamper schemes school is operating.

The COVID-19 pandemic is identifying new vulnerable families within Derbyshire. Many have seen their personal circumstances change dramatically, have lost income and may be finding it difficult to claim benefits and seek assistance.

Derbyshire County Council are concerned that there may be some families now be eligible for Free School Meals but unsure how to apply or who don’t know if they are entitled. It is important to remember that families who become eligible now will be protected and continue to receive free meals until March 2022 under a new ruling following the rollout of Universal Credit. Taking up this allowance can save a family budget over £400 for each child every year.

Schools also benefit, as students eligible for free schools meals attract Pupil Premium funding of around £1,000 per student. This funding is guaranteed for six years, whether or not the student continues to be eligible for free schools meals during that time.

If you feel you may be eligible for Free School Meals you can contact the friendly Free School Meals team in any of the following ways:  Email: checking@derbyshire.gov.uk  Telephone: 01629 536400 / 01629 535743  Families can also apply directly online at: https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools/your-child-at-school/meals/school-meals/freeschool-meals.aspx Access to free schools meals provides many benefits to eligible families during these difficult times, including reducing the financial burden of providing regular meals. Children receive the benefit of a consistent source of nutrition, improving concentration and the ability to learn, as well as encouraging them to eat a variety of foods and adopt healthy eating habits.

School Travel Insurance Claims – Update Derbyshire County Council’s insurers are currently experiencing a very high volume of calls and emails and have advised that delays of 21-28 days should be expected at this time.

We appreciate that parents/carers are waiting for refunds and that finances are very limited due to the current situation but we have been advised by DCC that there will be delays of up to one month due to the unprecedented situation. We can only apologise for this.

Please be assured that both school and DCC are doing our best to monitor the claims and chase for settlements as far as we are able. However, we are very much in the hands of the insurers at this time.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Highfields Emergency Childcare A reminder that school emergency childcare is a last resort for keyworkers. The government has defined keyworkers as teachers, teaching assistants supporting those with EHCPs, health workers, social care workers (both children’s services and adult services), carers such as foster carers, blue light services and those who provide vital logistical supplies such as delivery drivers and utilities engineers, children of shop owners who provide a vital link to ensuring the continuity of supplies for the local community and children of school staff. For a full list of keyworkers please click the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educationalprovision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision If your child is mature and capable of staying home alone, please consider this to reduce the spread of infection. High quality learning can take place remotely and we are offering basic supervision only in school. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson reminded families that they “should only send your child to school if you have to, because your work is critical to our Covid-19 response. If you are able to keep your child at home, you should.”

If you are a keyworker and need help with childcare during the week, please contact Mrs Leverton by Friday each week with specific details regarding the days and times of the following week that emergency childcare is required (lleverton@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk).

Thank you to all our families who have shown tremendous resilience and understanding throughout this time.

Decisionz E-magazine for year 11s The summer Decisionz e-magazine offering support to year 11 students can be accessed below: http://magazine.decisionz.co.uk/books/gpph/ Decisionz is a local careers and advice magazine. The summer issue contains useful articles including information on exam cancellations, a guide to higher education, filling in a job application and much more.

The Derbyshire magazine will be issued in September, January and May to year 11 students and will provide local opportunities, careers advice and useful articles.

Reminder: Virtual school musical permissions – Beauty and the Beast 2020 If your son/daughter was scheduled to participate in the school musical of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and you have not yet responded to the permissions email, please do so to let us know if you are happy for your child can take part in the ‘virtual musical’.

Students with permissions have already received a notification via Show My Homework on Monday 4 May with full details of their involvement in the virtual show.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter You said – we are listening: Parent/carer and student survey feedback and our response We had 289 responses to the student survey and 382 parent responses, which was fantastic. These were overwhelmingly positive and included some very useful feedback to us on how we can further improve our response to COVID-19. This is a brief one page snapshot of headlines. Summaries that expand further on these themes are on their way.

Positives – what we are doing well: 

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Communicating well, building our sense of community and caring for our students: The daily assemblies have proved to be hugely popular and are widely agreed to be a very effective way of keeping everybody connected. The many other forms of communication we are using, including one to one communications with school staff are highly valued. The vast majority of students said they know that we care about their happiness, safety and learning Providing quality education remotely: Most parents and students told us that we are doing this very well, at least most of the time. You told us that we are usually setting the right amount of the right sort of work, and that this is helping learning to continue. Many of you told us that the weekly timetable has helped a lot.

We were grateful for the responses such as the one below, which summed up our feelings about the draw backs of ‘remote school’ compared to ‘real Highfields’, but which also reflected the views of many about our progress so far:

‘Nothing will ever be better than school but I think what you are providing in terms of learning support and keeping in touch is excellent’ What you told us we could do better (and what we are doing about this): 

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Around 1/4 of parents and 1/3 of students told us that could do better with getting the amount of work we set and the nature of this work right: We are listening. It is definitely a challenge getting it right for the huge diversity of students that make up Highfields.

We do have the expectation that students will be spending several hours a day learning but are clear that we do not want students working far beyond the time allocation for tasks.

More contact and feedback appreciated: We are listening. We know that you like to hear from us. This is really important to us so there has been lots more checking in with students from staff and students over the last few weeks.

More lessons using video conferencing e.g. Zoom or Teams: We agree that such lessons can be very powerful. All teachers have been given the go ahead to use such platforms, and are encouraged to use them safely if they feel they will support learning. We’ve had some successful lessons this week. Please help us by following safe use guidelines.

Understand that this is a tough time and is hitting lots of families hard: We know that this isn’t an easy time. Many families include key workers, and have other children at home.

Please get in touch with us if you need to let us know about challenges you are facing, or require our help. Please remember this extends to financial support through our We Are Highfields fund.

Thanks so much for your responses and suggestions. We’ll continue to work hard to make Highfields the best it can be at this time.

We are Highfields.

Peter Cole, Deputy Headteacher

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter More top tips on how to support your child with dyslexia and other SEND conditions …

How do I manage my own (and help my children’s) anxieties during the Covid19 crisis? - Part 2 This article is based on the work of Professor Amanda Kirby who is a GP, a professor of developmental disorders and CEO of ‘Do-IT’ Solutions, who support children and adults with SEND. Under normal circumstances, even with stress in our lives, our bodies can cope. We can rest, digest our food, lower our heart rate, we can breathe easily, our saliva secretes normally and our bladders work efficiently.

However, when we feel particularly stressed and anxious, or go into overdrive, we get the fight and flight response; and physical symptoms start to appear. Anxiety:  Inhibits saliva production  Accelerates our heartbeat leading to palpitations and feeling sweaty  Can affect our digestive system  Can lead to shallower breathing  Can produce adrenaline and noradrenaline which affects our bladder Feeling really anxious and nervy in the ‘fight and flight’ mode can last a long time.

Creating Calm STRUCTURE - is vital for good mental health.

Plan your days:

Morning routines might involve having breakfast together, watching Mr Marsh’s assembly together, morning study time

Afternoon routines – Set times for fun / exercise / play / reading / further study / some alone time Evening activities – Shared activities – watching TV / playing board games / playing cards / jigsaws / family karaoke / reading together

Pin your daily timetable up on your fridge door!

Be realistic - if you and your family are feeling tired, watch a film together (see Mr Warrington’s top picks) or relax and play cards. If you are stressed, your children will pick this up and mirror your emotions.

Tension in the home can have a negative effect on children. Try to reduce arguments by having regular family meetings and talking through any grumbles. Doing some ‘fun stuff’ each day and being a bit silly are also really good! Try these:  What can you do whilst hula hooping (Miss Ould’s idea)  Building a den  Singing ABBA songs

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Newsletter            

Create a family song and use things from around the house as instruments (the Eurythmics band,

if you remember them, made their first music with kitchen equipment!)

Be experimental with science in the kitchen (websites listed at the end of the article – James Dyson foundation has a good one as well as British Science Week) What can you create with cereal packets? (Blue Peter eat your heart out!)

Make a family joke book Learn how to plait or braid hair Draw together on an ipad or computer Potato printing Setting each other puzzles such as lateral thinking questions Building a straw bridge Taking funny photographs Tie dye an old T-shirt using food colouring Dance on the trampoline

Activities that are fun, focus you on the ‘here and now’ and connect you with your child/ren. The idea is that you are creating positive memories together.

Also, with social media, it can seem like every other family is making a real success of family life during the lockdown with pictures of perfect baking and news that their children are doing loads of work… …the reality is that we are all struggling at the moment.

How to DEAL with WORRIES… Create a worry box for the whole family:  Write your worries down (it’s a good way to see what is worrying  

your child)

Place them in the box The box takes the worries away or you could decide to use the box as a Time2Talk box where worries can be talked about and concerns can be addressed.

For younger children you can make a worry monster. The child writes down their worry and feeds it to the worry monster, which gobbles it up and it goes away.

So, think about YOUR child’s comfort triggers – music, dance, art, reading, building / making, sport etc., and use this a bit more if they are feeling uncertain.

Create a Project  Write your family history together by contacting elderly relatives and asking what was it like when they were young or at school  Sort out the family photographs  Build an anger volcano from lego, papier-mache, play doh – research the geography of volcanoes, the history of volcanoes, explore how the volcano rumbles, bubbles up and then can erupt.

Relate this to how they feel when they get angry. It gives children a way of expressing their frustrations but also gives them language around feeling out of control. You could then look at strategies of

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

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how they might recognise their angry feelings and then controlling them better before they erupt Create a helping hands tree from twigs. Draw round your hands and write on who you identify in your life that you can trust and talk to if you have anything on your mind that is worrying you. They could also become proactive and decorate their hand showing how they can help others during this challenging time Gardening – planting apple seeds in yoghurt pots for a windowsill

Exercise  There are loads of resources online and on TV for us all to join in with. But you can also set up your own circuit training if you are stuck inside:  10 wall presses  10 desk pushes  10 hand squeezes  10 second Superman poses!

Sleep There is real potential for worrying changes here, especially with teenagers as they can go to bed really late, sleep in and not get up until the middle of the day (see below).

Maintain a bedtime routine which could include:  A warm bath  Reading a story  Time for a chat  Some children like to be ‘tucked in’ or have a weighted blanket or duvet that adds pressure and can make children feel very secure If it’s hard to focus… sort something…  tidy the cupboards  clean the fridge  weed the garden  paint the fence… if you have organised / sorted something then you feel like you have achieved

something which refocuses you and reduces anxiety levels.

Let’s focus on Teenagers…

Difficulties Firstly we need to appreciate just how awful the current situation is, particularly for our teenagers and for many different reasons. The time between young adolescence and late adolescence is a time of emerging adulthood and identity formation.

You’re trying to sort out who you are, what you like, what you feel, what’s important to you and with puberty, there are body changes as well.

It is also a time, research tells us, that peer-to-peer interaction is more of an influencer than parents and with the lockdown, we’ve taken peer-to-peer interaction away from them.

At this stage, the prefrontal cortex at the front of your brain, which is to do with planning and organisation, changes extraordinarily between the ages of 11 to 19 and so at this stage teenagers are acting more like a toddler – acting without thinking – and are more likely to ‘blow up’ and have emotional dysregulation because of all these physical changes happening in the brain. They may not seem to be able to organise or prioritise effectively.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter How can we help our teenagers?     

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Respect their space and privacy – Create an area that is specifically theirs. If they share a room, try and put up a sheet so that the teenager can have their own space, however small, that is theirs.

Give them more leeway than you normally would – they may be feeling angry, annoyed, frustrated, fed up and perhaps very anxious, thinking about their future and they will take this out on YOU as there is nowhere else for it to go!

Leave the door open for conversation – again and again and again… they may well say over and over again that they have nothing to say or that they are ‘fine’, but there may be a time, one evening, when they make a comment and you are there for them.

Encourage them to eat with you – regular mealtimes or have regular times in the day when you start to reconnect with them Try to encourage them NOT to turn night into day – and if they are waking up in the night you can create a warm haven for them: o have a hot flask at their bedside o white sounds / music to help soothe o for very agitated teens, having access to an audio book that they can get involved in and then find they can drift back off to sleep Encourage them to make a documentary on their phone either about their current experiences of lockdown like a diary; or a CV video – what they like, what motivates them – this would be a project with a real value afterwards.

This suggestion came from a student - Create a self-soothe box

o o o o o o o o

Things they like to touch Memories of times / people that have made them happy Nice smells Music Calming technique cards Positive affirmation / quote cards Some activities https://youngminds.org.uk/blog/how-to-make-a-self-soothe-box/

Hope there are some ideas in this article that are low cost, no cost, need a few resources and fun!

Suggested websites for a variety of age groups: This Dog is Worried About Corona Virus: https://nursedottybooks.com/dave-the-dog-is-worried-about-coronavirus-2/

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Science tasks in the kitchen: https://www.jamesdysonfoundation.co.uk/resources/challenge-cards.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw3bzBRBhEiwAgnnLCkxiaADpmFPHjg-vGJRCpo-SgB-KHJFPbyDMKKzH8LSM8hrZKFCYBoCc3UQAvD_BwE Create a video on your phone and learn how to edit it together: https://www.educationalappstore.com/app/magisto-magical-video-editor Using cardboard boxes from cereal packets and see what you can invent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlC5bHOYbPc Create an orchestra from your kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUttqlyGPM4 Set up a science lab in your kitchen: https://www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/activitypacks/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoPTF2bOe6AIVmKztCh1I_QB5EAAYASAAEgJFlvD_BwE Cook with children: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/kids-cooking Set up a yoga class at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X655B4ISakg Ten-minute Shake Up activities for children: https://www.nhs.uk/10-minute-shake-up/shake-ups Look up the funniest jokes and make a family joke book: https://redtri.com/best-jokes-for-kids/ Next time… ‘How to prepare your child for success in life’ Mrs Finney SEND Teaching and Learning Coordinator & Specialist Teacher

10 top tips from the Highfields Cluster Family Support Team Highfields family support team wanted to provide some helpful tips to help families during this current lockdown. Information is available on the school website through the link below: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/HelpfulTipsForParentsAndCarersDuringLock down.pdf

Helping children and young people to manage anxiety If a child is displaying signs of anxiety how can you support them?

A practical guide to supporting pupils and students during periods of disruption from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families: https://www.annafreud.org/media/11465/helping-cyp-manage-anxiety-apr2020-v3.pdf

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Shout Outs!

Staff have been sending in messages to let school know about the good work students are producing while they are learning from home and we wanted to share these with you.

Geography Mrs Barker wanted to give a shout out to Alfie (9EB) for the lovely work on development indicators using a lesson from the Oak National Academy.

Mathematicians of the week Yet again the students of Highfields have been producing some incredible work. The maths department wants to celebrate the students that are consistently handing in excellent work, trying their best and doing themselves proud!

This week the following students have been impressing the maths department - well done and thank you for all your hard work. It is very much appreciated!

Year 7: Jacob (7KSW), Euan (7HC), Woody (7HC), Thomas (7MB), Zara (7KSW), Isabelle (7IR), Caleb (7JST), Sam (7JST), Chloe (7JST), Sadie (7CH), Keeley (7JST), Alfie (7MWE), Sergio (7IR), Grace (7CH), Georgina (7JST), Abi (7MWE), Kenzie (HC), Oliver (7IR) and Kiyan (7MB).

Year 8: Dylan (8GD), Luke (8ESW), Alex (8KW), Willem (8HB), Harry (8GD), Leighton (8HB), Lewis (8BL), Shannon (8LT), Sky (8BL), Harvey (8LT), Oliver (8CC), Nathan (8HB), Bailey (8GD), Evelyn (8GD), Isabelle (8GD), Emily (8GD), Josh (8GD), Kyra (8CC), Shannon (8LT), Andrew (8BL), David (8ESW) and Amber (8CC).

Year 9: Grace (9GH), James (9GH), Lucy (9GH), Dylan (9RR), Georgina (9AM), Eleanor (9AM), Zaid (9PD), Harvey (9PD), Ethan (9PD), Chloe (9EB), Ria (9GPR), Laurence (9GPR), Hannah (9RR) and Noah (9RR).

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Year 10: Holly (10RNS), Amy (10SA), Harvey (10AEB), Oliver (10KF), Polly (10KF), Georgia (10RNS), Dominic (10SA), Caitlin (10WS), Ellie (10WS), Freya (10AEB), Cailean (10AEB), Joe (10RNS), Tom (10KE), Emma (10AEB), Daniel (10KF), George (10WS), Jack (10WS), Holly (10WS), Charlotte (10KF) and Charlie (10RNS).

English Shout outs for year 9 English this week from Mrs Grainger and Mr Garth. The following are just some of the many students have worked incredibly hard this week on their GCSE poetry work and they produced some lovely descriptive writing last week.

Toby (9h1), Lydia (9h1), Megan (9h2), Millie (9h2), Ashton (9h3), Emily (9h4), Jack (9s1), Eva (9s1), Sam (9s2), Hannah (9s2), Corben (9s2), Max (9s3) and Lola (9s3).

We have so many year 9s working hard with their English work at the moment, too many to mention, so we just want to say a huge thank you to all for completing and submitting work.

This brillliant piece is from Rose in 9h2. She has created a storyboard for the Wilfred Owen poem 'Exposure'. This is all her own artwork!

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Art Ms Davies would like a shout out to Harry (7KSW) and Katie Louise (7JST) for the great effort and consistency in their art work - they are both trying really hard to develop their skills in this subject and consistently submitting it – well done!

Biology Mrs Stafford would like a shout out to her year 9 biologists, particularly those students who have been making a real effort to catch up on missed work this week and a big thank you to students who are sending comments on Show My Homework to let Mrs Stafford know if any help is needed – please continue to ask if you are not sure.

Well done to all Highfields students for the excellent commitment and dedication you are showing in all your subjects – keep up the good work and if you are struggling, remember you can always contact subject teachers or pastoral staff to ask for help.

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Highfields School

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Newsletter Highfields Virtual Learning Studio

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Newsletter

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter School News Matlock athletic club 36 hour virtual relay Sophie (9AM), Oliver (11RHM), Freya (8CC) and soon to be Highfields student Jacob (current year 6) at All Saints took part in a 36 hour virtual relay at the weekend to raise money for Ashgate Hospice.

The event was run by Matlock athletic club of which all four students are members. Sophie is junior girls club captain and Oliver is junior boys club captain.

The event started at 8.00am Saturday morning and finished at 8.00pm Sunday night. Over 70 members took part from junior through to veterans. Most runners had a 30 minute slot with some having a 60 minute slot. The event was continuous with the virtual baton being handed over at the end of each person slot and logged on Strava running app. Each runner ran in isolation near to where they live and had to run as far as possible in their 30 or 60 minute slot.

The Highfields students all ran 30 minute slots and ran between 4-5miles in their 30 minute slot.

Jacob started the event off Saturday at 8.00am and Sophie brought the baton home in the last leg at 8.00pm Sunday night. The event has been such a special thing for them to be part of and so far has raised over £6,000 in just over two weeks for Ashgate Hospice.

The link to the go fund me page is https://www.gofundme.com/f/mac-36-hour-virtual-relay

‘We Are Highfields Fund’ 2020

THANK YOU!

£4,000

Thank you to everyone who has, and still is, contributing to the ‘We Are Highfields’ fund - your generosity is amazing! Thanks to the donations received we are able to offer vital support to Highfields families during this outbreak – our total has now reached £5,136.53!

£3,000

Thank you to Finley for donating money from your 100km run!

£5,000

£2,000 £1,000

Be the best you can

The fund has been set up to support Highfields families affected by the Covid-19 outbreak to get food and connectivity. Anyone wishing to donate to this fund during this crisis can do so through their ParentPay account in the same way that payments for school trips are made.

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Three GP Surgeries in North East Derbyshire thank Highfields School The visors made by Miss Morris, Head of D&T at Highfields have been put to good use (see below) in a GP surgery in North East Derbyshire.

The visors were made at very short notice and are helping to protect those who come into contact with patients every day.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Parents/carers of current year 6 students Dear Year 6 Students and Parents/Carers Welcome to Highfields School! If you are reading this, then you must already be interested in our school and what we are doing.

"School" is very strange for all of us at the moment. We don't quite know how the coming weeks will work out, but we understand for students in year 6 it will be particularly odd - you haven't had chance to finish primary school properly after all your time there, then you might be wondering how you will get on with secondary school at Highfields.

All we wanted to say here is don't worry. We have certainly not forgotten you! Over the coming weeks, as we see what is happening across the country and the world we will be deciding how we can best help you smoothly make the move to being a Highfields student. We will think through all those issues and concerns you might have - what is the school like, how will I find my way around, how do I buy the uniform, what will happen with the buses?

We will keep updating everyone through the newsletter here, but really specific messages will come from Mrs Green. She is the 'Year Manager' for year 7 and your first point of contact. Mrs Green has already emailed some basic information to parents/carers of our year 6 students. So, if your family haven't received an email from Mrs Green, please email tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk with your name and primary school so she can add you to our communication list and you will receive all future updates.

Take care and stay well.

Mr Rodgers Associate Assistant Headteacher

Electronic forms for new year 7 admissions in September You will shortly receive an email from Mrs Green asking you to complete a further three electronic forms:   

Admissions form Parent agreement – peanut free site Home school agreement

Each form is short and designed to make it easy for you to complete. If you are struggling to access the electronic documents, please email Mrs Green and she can post copies out to compete and return.

Thank you in advance for your help in completing this information and we will soon be sending further information to you in order to help with the transition of your child to Highfields in readiness for September.

Year 7 students will start with us on Wednesday 2 September 2020.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Year 7 PowerPoints Some of our year 7 students have put together PowerPoints for students they know in primary schools moving up to Highfields in September and these are being emailed out separately. We hope year 6 students will find it useful to know they are going to have familiar faces from of year 8s who were at their primaries to help them when they join us in the new academic year.

Year 7 student magazine Our current year 7 students have been working hard and put together a magazine for year 6 students.

It has been compiled by them to give a little insight into what it is like at Highfields in advance of students starting with us in September – see link below: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/news/269.html

Reminder: Cashless Catering electronic form return Thank you to the families who have already returned the electronic cashless catering form. We only have a few outstanding so if you have not already done so, please ensure you return by the deadline of 8 May 2020. If you have not received the form please contact Mrs Green and she will forward a link to you (tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk)

Year 6 transition days As previously advised, please ensure you keep the existing dates of your child's proposed transition days free. If school has re-opened it is possible that these will go ahead as planned. If school has not fully re-opened we might be able to adjust these days in order to comply with social distancing guidance and will advise you of further instruction nearer the time, once government information is forthcoming.

September 2020 – Transport to school for year 6 parents/carers The link below is to the Derbyshire County Council website that aims to answer any questions you may have on school transport in September 2020: https://derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools/your-child-at-school/travel/school-transport.aspx The site provides information on the options available for travelling between school and home, including details on free bus travel, timetables and DCC plans and policies for school transport.

We look forward to meeting you and your child soon, but if you have any queries in the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Mrs Green in the first instance: tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk Year 7 team: Mr Rodgers – Associate Assistant Headteacher Mrs Hollinrake & Mrs Redhead – Joint Heads of Year 7 Mrs Green – Year Manager (Year 7)

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Updates and Reminders for Students School to home communication Students should be regularly checking their school email account as well as Show My Homework daily (Monday to Friday during the school term) for the latest updates and work to do at home.

Communication with teachers Please can all students/parents wanting support or advice on any pieces of homework set at this time use the messaging/comments option in SMHW. Teachers are aware that many of you will have questions for certain tasks and so are regularly checking SMHW for notifications. If you are unsure how to do this, please take a look at the web link below: https://help.teamsatchel.com/en/articles/2911863-leaving-comments-for-your-teachers Please only use teacher emails as a last resort, and certainly not until you have tried a message on SMHW to your teacher. Remember you must use your school email accounts to contact staff.

Usernames and passwords for school email accounts are the same as student log-ins to school computers. Staff are unable to respond to emails from students’ personal accounts.

Show My Homework online homework submission guidance Students should be submitting work through the SMHW platform. The link below is from SMHW and explains how to do this or you can follow the steps below: https://help.teamsatchel.com/en/articles/2912000-submitting-my-work-online

Shout Outs If anyone wants a 'shout out' for somebody who is doing something excellent please let us know by email wearehighfields@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk and we will try to feature in future assemblies.

Free Microsoft Office for Students Students at Highfields School can download Microsoft Office for free on up to 5 devices, for the duration of their time as a student at the school. Microsoft Office can be installed on compatible desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones. http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/office.html

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Year 11 Frequently Asked Questions: Sixth Form Entry Can I change my Sixth Form options?

Yes, but.. (a) during your sixth form interview it might be that we decided it would be good to do or not do a particular subject - in your best interests. So in terms of changes, just to think, check and talk to us if this was the case. (b) some classes do get full. Unfortunately there are limits beyond which make it difficult to teach, and so we may need to say no. And in fact, you probably don't want to be taught in a very large class either. (c) it is probably not advisable to change subjects just on the basis of the work being set now on SMHW. We say this at the beginning of Year 12 too. You might hear of something interesting being set in another subject, or find something you've been set a bit hard, or not what you expected. Some teachers also have more time than others in terms of what they are setting.

Broadly speaking your original decision is likely to have been your best one. (d) where you were uncertain about which subject to take, we have tried to put you into the classes you were interested in on SMHW, so you can see the type of work in each subject and this might help to make up your mind.

Do I need to do all the work in SMHW? Yes. Of course there may be some bits where a teacher has made clear that 'if you are interested you could have a look at....' - in which case that might be up to your interest. But the point of this work is to give you the best start possible, and we don't know what will happen during the rest of the year, so the work is important to do.

You only need to do work in the subjects you are going to do in Sixth Form. Not in any others. (We may have added you to a fourth or fifth subject in cases where you weren’t sure what subject you wanted to do at A Level. If you are sure you don’t want to do that subject, that’s fine – it would be helpful to let us know and we can take you off that course).

Is it too late to apply for Sixth Form?

No. Just email Mr Flett (mflett@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) and he will be able to call you to discuss options. The criteria are set out below (and are in the online prospectus).

Are the entry criteria for Sixth Form still the same?

Yes. The entry criteria for entry into sixth form remain the same, as they have done for previous years, which is an average of a Grade 4 across all subjects (with the additional requirements for maths, physics, chemistry and biology, as set out in the prospectus).

You will understand that, in advance of the results being officially published, we do not know who will get an average of a Grade 4 and who will not. In accordance with government regulations, teachers must not discuss grades with students.

As in previous years, we can advise whether it seems sensible to have a back up option, like a college course which might suit you. We believe that all those who wanted to, have had discussions around this, but if you do have queries, please email Mr Flett who will be able to call you.

Teachers and tutors will not be able to comment further on this.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Have I got a place in Sixth Form?

Provided you meet the entry requirements, then you get a place in sixth form. So it is not a case of ‘have an interview’ and then ‘wait to hear confirmation’. We have you down for the subjects that you are entered for in SMHW. Although remember that:  there are specific entry requirements to do maths, further maths, biology, chemistry and physics.  we may have entered you on SMHW for one or two extra subjects that you were interested in.

How do I make contact for options, changes, discussions Please feel free to email Mr Flett if you want to discuss changes to options for sixth form (and avoid overloading Mr Redhead’s inbox).

Advice from Colleges The colleges are still providing advice and accepting applications. For example at Chesterfield: “The student services team are managing the advice@chesterfield.ac.uk email so this would be the first point of contact. They are currently extremely busy so there may be a delay on the reply.”

Qualifications and Exams Update: Years 11 and 13 students We will keep families updated on any further Ofqual information published.

Exam results dates at present will take place as originally scheduled: Year 13 - 13 August 2020 Year 11 - 20 August 2020 Ofqual video – qualifications process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXuDOrtJY1Q&feature=youtu.be Ofqual letter for students about grading and qualifications this summer: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/ 878854/Letter_to_students_-_Summer_2020_grading.pdf

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Alternative activities to try during time at home 75th Anniversary of VE Day Tomorrow, Friday 8 May 2020, is the 75th Anniversary of Victory over Europe in World War Two. In normal circumstances there would have been a series of events planned around the country to commemorate this. Events are unable to take place now due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but if you would like some ideas of things to do or things to learn about on this day, please click on the links below: Learning resources from the Royal British Legion: https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/teachingremembrance Information about the day: https://www.veday75.org/ A programme of events that you could follow at home:

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Code breaking – Week five Miss Wallhead This week sees us celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE day. The maths department have seen this as an opportunity to tell you more about Bletchley Park (and the fabulous Alan Turing).

Bletchley Park is a very special place to the maths department and somewhere we are fortunate enough to be able to visit each year. Bletchley Park is a manor house with expansive grounds located just outside Milton Keynes. During WW2 these grounds were filled with huts, within these huts were people breaking enemy codes.

Anyone who worked at Bletchley Park had to sign the National Secrets Act and was not allowed to tell anyone what they had done during the war for many years after.

One of the most famous codes broken at Bletchley Park was the Enigma code. This code was cracked by a team of mathematicians who worked in Hut 8 (this team was led by Alan Turing). The Enigma code was used by German U-boats. German soldiers would type the message they wanted to send into the Enigma machine, the machine would encrypt it and then the encrypted message would be sent over the radio using Morse code.

One hut at Bletchley Park would listen to the intercepted messages and write them down. The nonsense looking messages would then be passed to another hut to be decoded. This may sound simple enough…

The Enigma machine looked like a typewriter, again this seems straight forward enough. The big problems were that the machine had space for 3 rotors and there were 5 to choose from. Each time a button was pressed on the Enigma machine the rotors would move and the code would change.

Compared to a Caesar shift cipher where you have 26 options to test, an Enigma machine has 158,962,555,217,826,360,000 different possibilities!

Even if you managed to check all of these (which would take years…) the settings were changed every 24 hours.

This meant the code breakers had to go back to the beginning every morning, when the first radio message had been sent. By the end of WW2, they were reading the majority of the messages sent using the Enigma code. The people at Bletchley Park played a massive part in our war effort and spent many years keeping their work a secret.

You can read about more codes and the people that worked there at https://bletchleypark.org.uk/

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Speakers for Schools virtual talks Speakers for Schools are presenting weekly VTalks. Their schedule is updated weekly and talks will be targeted to different age groups (see speakers below for May). To access the talks click the link: https://www.speakersforschools.org/inspiration/vtalks/upcoming-vtalks/ No logins are required and all attendees can stream the talks without downloading Microsoft Teams.

Links should be opened in a browser that is not Internet Explorer. Students can view by clicking WATCH TALK LIVE HERE and then clicking ‘Watch on web instead’ and sign in anonymously. The speakers will appear at the set times e.g. 10am and 2pm.

MONDAY 11 MAY:  10am – Session in partnership with GAIN  2pm – Joe Twyman, Co-founder and Director, Deltapoll TUESDAY 12 MAY  10am – Simon Mellor, Deputy Chief Executive, Arts & Culture  2pm – Josie Rourke, Film and Theatre Director Josie will share her own journey within the creative industries, in particular film and theatre and director roles. Focusing on the challenges she faces, the joy she feels from her career and what she'd like her younger self to know.

WEDNESDAY 13 MAY  10am – Lady Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President for EMEA, Facebook Lady Nicola Mendelsohn will be joining SFS to discuss how she got to work at Facebook and her top tips for career success for young people. 

2pm – Sereena Abbassi, Worldwide Head of Culture & Inclusion, M&C Saatchi Sereena's talk will focus on her journey of overcoming barriers and obstacles to get to where she is today. This talk will also share some helpful tips on how to get you name out there and build a career that you love.

THURSDAY 14 MAY  10am – Ed Couchman, General Manager, Snap Inc. This session will focus on Ed's own story, what advice he would share with his younger self and how social media / technology might change in the future.

FRIDAY 15 MAY  10am – Fawaz Bitar, Senior Vice President, HSE, BP MONDAY 18 MAY  10am – Aleida Rios, Group Head of Engineering, BP  2pm – Session in collaboration with Unifrog TUESDAY 19 MAY  10am – Robert Peston, Political Editor, ITV & Founder, Speakers for Schools  2pm – Kathrina Mannion, Director of Environmental Policy, BP WEDNESDAY 20 MAY  2pm – David Dein, Former Chairman of Arsenal and the Football Association FRIDAY 22 MAY  10am – Tom Dore, Head of Education, British E-Sports Association

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Get Creative - Join the BBC Lockdown Orchestra for You Got The Love As part of a ten-day creative challenge the BBC are asking the nation to dust off their instruments, warm up their vocal cords and join the newly formed BBC Lockdown Orchestra in a rendition of ‘You Got The Love’.

As part of Get Creative at Home the BCC are making sheet music available for rehearsals before filming and sending in your performance.

Download the backing track and sheet music and film yourself playing You Got The Love. Then upload your video to the BBC Lockdown Orchestra by 11.59pm on Sunday 10 May 2020.

A selection will join those of the BBC Lockdown Orchestra to create a track which will premiere across BBC Television and Radio on Thursday 14 May. Full details are given below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/lpcpKcs0Glj7w7hKkJv0Kv/join-the-bbc-lockdownorchestra-for-you-got-the-love

BBC Young Composer 2020 competition The BBC Young Composer 2020 competition is open to students aged 12-18 of all technical abilities, backgrounds, and musical influences. The BBC are looking for: We're looking for:  Students who have talent and creative potential and would benefit from the opportunity to nurture their skills and showcase their talent.  Students who work across any genre, any instrument, and any method, including those who use different means of notation.  Students who are passionate about creating their own original music - bursting with creativity, originality, and potential.

Winners will participate in a tailored development programme working with a mentor composer on a project with the BBC Concert Orchestra which will be performed and broadcast in a special young composers concert at the BBC Proms in 2021.

We’ve extended the deadline for this year's competition to 5pm, Monday 20 July to enable as many students as possible to enter. In addition, we're pleased to launch our 30 Second Composition Challenge which we hope you will share with your students. We are challenging composers aged 12-18 to get creative at home and create a 30-second piece for a single instrument or voice.

Young composers can find resources on our website as well as an Uploader to submit their pieces.

We'll be selecting some of our favourites which musicians from the BBC Orchestras & Choirs will record, to showcase online and on BBC Radio 3's New Music Show.

You'll find all the information you need on the BBC Young Composer website below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4mY3MbSJ5G2LvSbzZPbc85G/bbc-young-composer2020

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Keeping Highfields reading: how to access free books It’s really important that students keep up with reading whilst school is closed. The recommended reading time is at least 20 minutes every day. We recognise that at the current time it may be difficult to find books to read. Books are still readily available to buy online from Amazon, Waterstones and other bookshops, but there are also a growing number of sources of free books. The situation is changing every day, with publishers starting to offer access to more and more books, so this advice will be regularly updated. At the current time, the best sources of free reading material are:

Kindle Unlimited If you are an Amazon Prime member you can sign up for two free months of KindleUnlimited. You will need to download the Kindle app on any device and then you’ll have unlimited access to books, magazines and audiobooks on the Kindle store. After the free trial period there’s a charge of £7.99 per month, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. Visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindledbs/hz/subscribe/ku?shoppingPortalEnabled=true for more information.

If you don’t want to sign up to KindleUnlimited you can still download some very inexpensive – or even free - titles from the Amazon Kindle store. Have a browse through the “Children’s” and “Teen & Young Adult” sections. There are some good offers. For instance, the first and second titles in the very popular “Cogheart” series are completely free at the moment. Free titles seem to be added daily, so it’s worth having a regular check of the website.

Audible Amazon Audible has made all its audiobooks available free of charge if you start a 30-day free trial subscription with them. Visit http://www.audible.co.uk

Derbyshire Libraries You can read thousands of e-books for free through Derbyshire Libraries. Even if you haven’t yet joined the library, you can join online and download e-books immediately.

If you are already a member go to https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/ebooks/ebooksemagazines-and-eaudiobooks.aspx and follow the instructions to start browsing through the books available.

If you aren’t yet a member of a Derbyshire library go to: https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/using-your-library/joining/joining-the-library.aspx and click on “Join the Library”. Fill in all your details and you’ll be given a temporary username and password that you can use until you get a membership card. So you’ll be able to start downloading books straight away.

Happy reading!

Updates to follow as and when other sources of reading material become available.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Sports Update Two new programmes for students Two new programmes are featured below for any Highfields student, not just students already completing Sports Leadership courses.

1. ‘I Can, I Am’ Resilience programme This programme has been created to support you through the current Covid-19 crisis. By working through the ‘I Can, I Am’ Resilience Programme students will be supported to learn and build five key personal skills:     

Communication Self-belief Team work Self-management Problem solving

The programme challenges students to build these skills through completing learning, demonstrating skills through activities and reflecting on how they have built these skills.

Students should be prepared to make a difference to their community when everyone is settling into the new future post Covid-19. As part of ‘I Can, I Am’ students will be asked to make a pledge of positive actions as a ‘Community Builder’ and carry these out so that they become a part of the solution for the new future.

Full details are available below: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/introduction-to-i-can-i-am-resilienceprogramme.pdf 2. Personal Skills programme The programme has an award for each year group and provides schools with accredited learning and certifications for students in years 7-11.

The programme consists of three separate awards:  Transition  Active Citizenship Award  Progression Award Full details are available below: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/PSPInfoSheet.pdf

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Highfields School enters Girls Active Awards Entry Highfields School is aiming for success in the Youth Sport Trust’s Girls Active Awards, recognising the growth and development of its girls involved in the national programme aimed at engaging girls in shaping their school sport and PE offer.

The Girls Active Awards are a celebration of the work girls are leading to get more girls active and enjoying PE and physical activity. Over 300 primary and secondary schools are involved in the Girls Active programme across the country.

Girls Active aims to get more girls active and enjoying PE and physical activity. Developed by children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust, delivered in partnership with Women in Sport and This Girl Can and funded through Sport England National Lottery.

Highfields has nominated four girls for awards based on their own journey and impact they’ve had on other girls’ experiences within the school. The awards, now in their third year, are part of the Girls Active programme, which school has been part of a number of years.

Girls Active engages girls in shaping the PE and physical activity on offer at their school, working to inspire and support other girls. Highfields has already seen some great developments since being part of the programme.

Mrs Allen commented:

“We are so delighted to have nominated four girls in the 2020 Girls Active Awards. The experience of the Girls Active programme so far has really been a positive experience to work with the girls to shape their own experience of school sport and physical activity at our school. We’ve seen some really creative sessions.

Ali Oliver, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said:

“The Girls Active Awards are an important part of the journey for the girls through the programme, they allow them to reflect on and celebrate their own personal experiences and the impact of their work.

Girls Active is as much about getting young people active as it is about harnessing young people’s talents and encouraging them to make a difference to others both in and through sport. Our research around barriers to girls participating in physical activity and sport tells us that one of the best ways to engage girls is through encouragement from their peers - and that is exactly what Girls Active is about.

To date, the Awards have offered winners some incredible sporting experiences and opportunities as prizes and we look forward to celebrating this years’ successful young women.”

The Girls Active Awards will announce the short list in the summer and the awards event will take place in London in October.

For more information visit www.girlsactive.youthsporttrust.org

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter YST Girls Active Research Mrs Allen discussed each of the following points with Youth Sport Trust regarding the engagement of Highfields girls participating in the Girls Active project in advance of their analysis of our projects.                  

Take a long-term approach to engaging girls Make girls’ engagement an explicit objective in PE plans Involve all PE staff in addressing the issues Put developing self-confidence at the heart of PE Support girls to identify and set personal goals Focus on mastery and personal improvement Make PE and sport relevant to girls’ lives Focus on girls being active for life not just for sport Make explicit the development of girls’ wider life skills Recognise the power of friends to drive progress Provide and promote the social aspects of PE and sport Enable girls to motivate their peers to take part Develop role models for the future Deploy girls as positive role models for other girls Promote diverse role models, not just elite sportswomen Empower girls to design and deliver PE and sport Allow girls to be creative and learn through discovery Develop and deploy girls in a variety of leadership roles

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Rural Derbyshire School Sports Partnership Activity Challenges: Week 5 Week day

Physical Activity

Physical Literacy

Monday

Teddy bear challenge (see link below) Choose just 5 of the challenges to complete As on the video, repeat each challenge x2 times.

Name these sports which are in french?  Natation  Coupes  Plongee  Ecraser

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Physical Numeracy

Creative

Practice your jumps Play your favorite song, 2 feet to 2 feet, 2 feet how many star jumps to 1 foot, 1 foot to 2 can you do whilst it feet, 1 foot to the plays? (Take a rest other foot, 1 foot to during the chorus)Dance same foot = hopping like no one is watching!

COUNT your total jumps Teddy bear challenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPptTaKMtA How long can you balance Can you learn the Laying down flat on Standing on one leg, on one leg? Too easy? Try names of your your back, how many can you catch pairs of it with your eyes closed! favourite 3 sports in times can you throw socks thrown to you?

Still too easy? With an spanish? and catch a ball or Keep your eyes on the adult present, balance on a rolled up pair of socks socks. tin of baked beans or in 1 minute? Calculate Change legs often. something similar. how many you could do in 5, 10 & 30mins On your back, arms How many books, Using paper make a Chose a sporting image stretched above your poems, nursery target with 4 circles on and try to recreate it head. Use your core rhymes and songs it. Allocate points for using toys, objects and (tummy muscles) roll onto can you find with the each circle. things in your home. your stomach, try and hold word “Jump” in?

Throw 5 pairs pf socks your legs and arms off the (I got 5!) See if you at the target & record floor. Repeat 10 times. can beat me! your total score. Now try to beat it!

Throw a soft ball or pair of Solve our sports Try out one of the Play a game of Sports rolled up socks into the air, anagrams: cross curricular Charades with a try and touch your head, member of your family.  Care Loss (1 word) challenges from the before catching the ball. video below.  Key choice (2 Throw higher to add words) shoulders, knees and toes.  I near quest (1 word) Cross curricular challenges https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYwcoNhgdK0&feature=emb_logo Triathlon, Swim/Cylce/Run. Spell your name in How many times can Rhythmic gymnastics On tummy, lift arms & legs exercise using the you pass a ball or soft Make a streamer with a up & waggle for 30 secs video below teddy around your ribbon, scarf or paper.

On your back, cycle your 30 secs on 30 secs waist in 1 minute?

Make a short sequence legs in the air for 30 secs. rest With your answer, of shapes in the air with Run for 30 secs on the divide it by 60 to work your ribbon. Try spot. Rest for 30 secs out how many passes jumping!

Repeat x5 times you did per second?

Spell your name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYwcoNhgdK0&feature=emb_logo

Remember, adults need to stay active as well! Challenge your parents/carers to complete the challenges with you!

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Sports activity challenges: Week 3 - Netball The Rural Derbyshire School Sport Partnership have been working with Active Derbyshire on virtual challenges. As well as being great fun to complete, there are prizes to be won for individuals and schools who participate.

Competition entries should be sent directly to Active Derbyshire (not to school or Rural Derbyshire School Sports Partnership).

This week’s sport specific challenges can be accessed on the link below and focusses on netball. http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/DerbyshireSchoolGamesNetball.pdf The resource has simple descriptions and images of all the challenges, a brief history of the sport, some research tasks as well as literacy and numeracy; along with links to Governing Body of sport websites for additional information. There are 10 challenges to complete and a new challenge will be issued weekly focusing on a different sport.

Week 1 – Golf http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/DerbyshireSchoolGames.pdf Week 2 – Football http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/DerbyshireSchoolGamesFootball.pdf Youth Sport Trust and School Games have put together some activities to take part in – see links below: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/free-home-learning-resources-0 https://www.yourschoolgames.com/coronavirus-support/ngb-activities/

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Physical Activity bingo

Boccia England: Rainbow Cup virtual competition Boccia England have launched a new Rainbow Cup virtual competition (see below): http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/BocciaRainbowcup.pdf The competition is open for anyone to take part and if you have not got boccia equipment you can use any items you have for example, socks as boccia balls or other kind of ball you may have, toilet rolls or towels at targets, plastic box lids or chopping boards as a ramp. If you come up with a new ball, target or ramp, Boccia England will be happy to receive your idea.

Thornbridge Outdoors – free outdoor learning resources Please see below outdoor activities from Thornbridge Outdoors to enjoy over the next couple of days to keep active: https://mcusercontent.com/87cbda18cbf8ad1791496dc65/files/75475457-947044e6-9e47-6e516fb13527/Home_Version_Lockdown_Activities_1.02.pdf

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Rounders England: Aresson Design a Bat Competition 2020 Whilst we may not be able to play Rounders at the moment, our competition with Aresson this year is designed to be completed from home.

This year we would like students to design their dream Rounders bat and also create a poster showcasing a Rounders warm up or skills practise that can be done from home.

Each school that enters the competition is entered into a prize draw for a chance to win an Aresson Rounders Set. Each winner receives a bat painted with their design plus a Vision X Bat and Ball Pack.

Who is the competition open to?

Any primary school or secondary school in the UK. There are separate primary and secondary categories so a winner will be selected from each.

How do I apply?

Click the link to download the competition pack: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/AressonDesign-a-Bat-Competition-Information-Pack-2020-1.pdf The deadline for applications is Midnight 3 July.

Online cricket courses during COVID-19 The following information on online courses has been forwarded to us from Darley Dale Cricket Club.

Online Umpire Scoring Courses ECB Association of Cricket Officials has created a range of free online courses for aspiring umpires and scorers. The courses are a great way for people to use the current downtime to learn a new skill or brush up on their knowledge.

Basics of Umpiring – This course is aimed at umpires who simply want to learn the fundamental laws and basic field craft and those players who umpire 5 or 10 overs at the weekend. Book now https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/911c7453-1d2a-45d1-9ab36ccd86e666b8?utm_campaign=11511609_30042020_COVID19_Update_Clubs_Leagues&utm_medium=Email &utm_source=Email_AdHoc&email=&dm_i=1FT6,6UQEX,VQNB5L,RHJ7S,1

Umpire Stage One – This course is designed to give an overview of the basic Laws of the game as well as providing information on how to apply them and introduce the principles of field craft and match management. This course is an ideal introduction for new club umpires, a refresher for existing umpires and the first step for those who aspire to umpire at higher levels. Book now: https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/f34d46f4-afe5-4459-94d74ab66ab0235c?utm_campaign=11511609_30042020_COVID19_Update_Clubs_Leagues&utm_medium=Email &utm_source=Email_AdHoc&email=&dm_i=1FT6,6UQEX,VQNB5L,RHJ7S,1

Basics of Scoring – This course is designed to provide all the skills needed to start scoring. The course covers the basics of scoring a game of cricket such as scoring symbols, umpire signals, dismissals and gives a helpful overview of the laws of the game. Book now: https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/501245fd-e917-45e8-827ef14d10a1d0cb?utm_campaign=11511609_30042020_COVID19_Update_Clubs_Leagues&utm_medium=Email &utm_source=Email_AdHoc&email=&dm_i=1FT6,6UQEX,VQNB5L,RHJ7S,1

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Learning at home Thank you to all the parents/carers for all you are doing to support your child's learning at home. We really appreciate how new and different this is and how much you are juggling.

Student timetables for working from home Students should expect to complete the same amount of work / study for the same number of hours as they would in a normal week. Keeping a routine similar to a school day and homework is a good idea.

All work is being set on Show My Homework. It is set on a weekly timetable for each year group as shown below.

Years 7-10 school timetable Year 7 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

English, Geography and Art Maths, History and DT English, PRS and Music Maths, Drama and Computing Science, Dance and Language

Year 8 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Maths, History and DT English, Geography and Art Maths, Drama and Computing Science, Dance and Language English, PRS and Music

Year 9 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

English, PRS and Music (and Dance option) Maths, Drama, Computing and second language Chemistry, Biology and language Maths, History and DT English, Geography, Art and Physics

Year 10 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Option A (Friday period 1), English and Biology Option B (Wednesday period 4) and Maths Option C (Monday period 5), Physics and PRS Option D (Tuesday period 4) and English Maths and Chemistry

Y10 option subjects – students’ work will be set as per their school timetabled option block periods as defined above.

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Year 11 work to help you into year 12 Mr Flett has issued several ideas to get students started on work that will make a difference to performance at A Level. Many of these are curiosity based tasks, but all year 11 parents/carers and students should now be in receipt about year 11 into 12 bridging work for sixth form set through Show My Homework to help support transition to A Levels.

Year 12 school timetable Work is set by teachers and departments using Show My Homework.

Revision

Revision for exams was the key goal for most subjects when we left school. Hopefully you have also been able to keep up revision and are now ramping that up. We will email again about how the exams will take place, but we are still aiming to stick with the timetable issued before breaking up.

In other words, having exams in the week before and after half term.

Speaking with some students, it has been good to hear how different ideas of sticking to a routine have been helping - like keeping to your timetable; or having three sessions a day, with a decent break between each.

Online Courses If revision is going well and you want to be occasionally looking at other things, then here are a selection of short online courses you can do through the University of York. They are engaging ways of looking at subjects you are interested in now, or things you might want to study at university. It is great to put on your CV/personal statement that you have done one of them. They have always been designed as online courses, so are perfect to do from home. Some of them will even help with your A Level studies (of course you can do these courses after the year 12 exams if you are too busy now) – see link – York University: https://www.york.ac.uk/study/moocs/?utm_source=University%20of%20York&utm_medium=email &utm_campaign=11474649_April20%20Excellence%20Hub%20News%20Bulletin&dm_i=1BEN,6TX W9,RZCL6,RDHSM,1

Unifrog, Open Days, looking ahead Unifrog (our Higher Education and Apprenticeships platform) is still available and has increased its distance learning resources. Students can log into it, in the normal way, as they would at school.

In recent conversations with students, we were discussing university visits. As you'll imagine, the virtual tours are being beefed up. I took a virtual tour of Nottingham Trent University. It is a really strong university, and we always try to go there for the Open Day (along with a trip to Birmingham, Leeds or Manchester). On the virtual tour I checked out some of the departments I normally like going to, and also a tour of the accommodation, facilities and city. It was a good experience and quite quickly gave me the feel that I normally get when we go there. The link for it is below, although obviously you can go out and do the same with many different universities just now. https://virtualtour.ntu.ac.uk/ Please get in touch through the school email system if you need to speak with any member of the sixth form team rather than responding to the InTouch generic emailing system as this platform is not manned daily and it will take us longer to respond to you.

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter A few common themes Following conversations Mr Flett and Mrs Cruise have had catching up with students this week a few common things have cropped up below: Sleep It seems like some of you are having more problems with sleep than normal. I suppose that when some of the standard routines have been taken away, that’s not unexpected. But it seemed to be bothering a few people. Below is a link to a BBC article about sleep during this time (it is by a physiologist who is thinking about the current situation). It’s quite interesting even if you’re doing well with your sleep: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/52271086 Help If there is anything you are getting stuck with, then please do let your teachers know and they will be more than happy to help. But beyond that here are a couple of other ideas:  There are a good number of year 13s who have little to do at the moment, and have offered to help out anyone in year 12 if they can. We have most subjects covered – so if you’d be interested in having a chat, or being able to get in touch with them when you’re stuck on something, please let us know and we’ll try to sort you out with someone. It might do them good as well as you!  Many of you have groupchats about subjects, and you’ve been thinking about this anyway. In the first instance you are checking with others on the groupchat about how to do something. If you have solved something through doing that, then great. If not then perhaps collect a few issues on behalf of the group and one of you can email the teacher so they can help you on the bits you need most help with.

Revision In some subjects a problem that some people have is suddenly getting new sources of information – like a revision guide which introduces new material. Then you can get overwhelmed with new information and feel that there is too much to do. It would be sensible to check with your teacher first before using a revision guide or a website you’ve found.

Routine Year 13 students over the last few years have found that spending a whole day on one subject is likely to be inefficient. If you know you’ve got a limited amount of time before moving on to the next subject, you’re more likely to make more efficient use of your time. This will happen if you are doing three subjects in a day – say two hours per session.

Coursework The English department is putting out a plea to really make good use of this time for coursework. Collecting and analysing data in English Language and really pressing ahead, is crucial for making sure that time spent back in school can be focused on learning for the exams when we get back.

Y11 and Y13 – Suggestions for making best use of time The cancellation of summer exams has obviously had a huge impact on all our Y11 and 13 students.

All that extra time which was being spent on final exam preparation can be put to really good use. It is vital that you keep your brains active, and no learning is ever wasted. Lots of people have already shared some great ideas (see link to school website below): http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/StudentPDFs/Y11andY13learningsuggestions.pdf

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Keep your brain moving. Make the most of your time. Learn something new.

Parents/carers can help Please help us by: 

Making sure your child has access to their school email account from home. Ideally this will be on a home (or borrowed) desktop, laptop or tablet although we recognise that some students don’t have access to these and may only able to access email on their (or your) phone.



Making sure your child has somewhere quiet to work. In the event of an extended school closure we would ask that parents/carers try to ensure that conditions at home are conductive to allow 67 hours good quality work each day.

Guidance on work expectations and how to manage it 1. As you know work should be set for Y7-10 on the basis of a weekly timetable, with 3-4 subjects being covered on each day.

2. Work should be completed on the day that it is set. We have realised that by setting longer deadlines it can be hard for students to know what to do when, work can actually build up and become unmanageable. We want every student to be as clear as possible about the work they need to do each day and to be able to complete it neatly in one day. They should then be able to switch off knowing they’ve done a good day’s work. We are not setting homework now; it is included within the work set in each slot. Some subjects may be setting more extended project style work. Teachers have been asked to make sure work towards these is broken down into chunks and not set over a number of weeks, which can make it look like it is on-going in Show My Homework.

3. Students should be working each school day, but not working excessive hours. They should not be working much more than they would normally. Students in Y7-9 should be expecting to spend around 4.5 hours each day working, students in Y10 around 5 hours. In many cases this will mean about 90 minutes per subject on each day in Y7-9 and about 100 minutes for Y10.

Some subjects only have 1 lesson a week, for example PRS and Music. They will set work for up to 45 minutes.

4. Estimating exactly how much work different students are likely to do in the time set is really hard – everyone is different, and works at a different pace and with different approaches. While we can adapt to this easily in a school situation it is harder to do remotely.

Please keep this in mind and get in touch if you are finding that there is regularly too much work to manage.

5. Teaching staff will be mindful of all of the above when setting their work. We think that in some cases we may have over-estimated the amount of work that can be completed within certain time frames and are asking staff to think carefully about this. We are aware that it can take time to work through instructions, to access resources and to save work for example, and that family members who are trying to help may be very busy too. We also know that spending hours at a computer is not easy for many students, and not good for them either. They need to have breaks, ideally get some fresh air and exercise and to talk to others.

6. Everyone is starting to find routines that work for them. For many this will be to try to follow the hours of a normal school day, starting with assembly at 9.00am and completing school work over a number of hours until around 3.30pm. Then switching off. This may not be ideal for

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter all, or always be manageable but it is likely to provide a good model. Working late into the evening is not generally a good idea.

Once again we are so grateful to you for your support, understanding and flexibility. You are helping us to be the best ‘virtual Highfields’ we can be; we are learning every step of the way and can do a great job if we continuing working together.

Please keep us posted on the learning that your young people are doing using the email address wearehighfields@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk Mr Cole Deputy Headteacher

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Resources for Highfields students learning from home Show My Homework: Access to work set is through Show My Homework www.showmyhomework.co.uk/ (also accessible via the school website). Students can log on to Show My Homework using their school username and password. Please ensure your children check Show My Homework regularly as staff will be updating their subject areas.

School Website / VLE: Resources are available on the school website: www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk Students can access ‘all users’ from home from the Highfields School website:  Go to Highfields School homepage  Click on ‘portals’  Click on ‘student portal’  Enter school IT username (not email address) and password  Find ‘all users Starkholmes’ or ‘all users Lumsdale’ on the right hand side  Select the appropriate department/folder required.

If students have forgotten their password please email reset@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk specifying your user name and form to request a new password.

‘Always be doing’ Tasks: All students have been given ‘always be doing’ tasks to work through during any time spent at home.

Copies of the information can be downloaded from our website as follows for each key stage: Years 7-9 (key stage 3): http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/StudentPDFs/KS3ABD.pdf Year 10 (key stage 4): http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/ExamPDFs/KS4ABD.pdf

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Parents/carers – support and advice Help & Support information We are constantly updating the school website with the latest information and activities, including our ‘Help & Support’ page: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/support.html

Free School Meals National Voucher Scheme Children eligible for free school meals can benefit from a national voucher scheme allowing them to continue to access meals whilst they stay at home. Families of eligible free school meals students have been contacted by school to receive a weekly shopping voucher worth £15 to spend at supermarkets while schools are closed due to coronavirus.

If you have not received an email from school and are a family who is eligible for free school meals please contact the Finance department (finance@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk).

If you have received an email but not yet responded, please do so as soon as possible so the vouchers can be sent out to you.

The vouchers are sent as an e-code which can be redeemed as an e-voucher. The e-voucher can be downloaded to a smartphone or printed to use and can be spent on food at a range of shops including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, Waitrose and M&S. The Department for Education is working to get more shops to join the scheme as soon as possible.

FAQs are provided by the Department for Education and are available on the link below to the school website http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/ParentPDFs/DfE_FreeSchoolMeals_ParentCarerFAQs.pdf

‘We Are Highfields Fund’ 2020 Application forms for the We Are Highfields Fund can be requested from the finance office (finance@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) or by phone (01629 832325), your child’s year manager or website http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/WeAreHighfieldsApplication.docx.

This is a hardship grant and is considered on a case by case basis. This grant scheme will be paid out until funds are exhausted. To be eligible you must be a parent/carer of a students at Highfields School and have savings of less than £1,000 per person or £2,000 for a family or couple (including rolling bank balance).

Highfields Emergency Childcare If you require emergency childcare as a last resort for keyworkers, please contact Mrs Leverton

by Friday each week with specific details regarding the days and times of the following week that emergency childcare is required (lleverton@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk).

If your child is mature and capable of staying home alone, please consider this to reduce the spread of infection. High quality learning can take place remotely and we are offering basic supervision only in school. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson reminded families that they “should only send your child to school if you have to, because your work is critical to our Covid-19 response. If you are able to keep your child at home, you should.”

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Derbyshire County Council Advice on COVID-19 for Parents/Carers We appreciate some parents/carers and children may be worried about themselves, members of their family, or their friends becoming ill. There’s lots of advice about how to talk to your child about Coronavirus.

Below is a list of helpful resources: 

National Autistic Society – guidance and helpline for parents, young people and staff https://www.autism.org.uk/services/nas-schools/vanguard/news/2020/march/coronavirus(covid-19)-advice.aspx

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Mencap - Easy Read guide to coronavirus https://www.mencap.org.uk/advice-and-support/health/coronavirus

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Place2Be – Have a useful guide for helping parents answer questions from their children and to support family wellbeing https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blogs/2020/march/coronavirus-informationfor-children/

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Young Minds - Talking to your child about coronavirus and 10 tips from their Parents Helpline to support family wellbeing https://youngminds.org.uk/blog/talking-to-your-child-about-coronavirus/

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Carers UK - Guidance for carers https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/health/looking-after-your-health/coronavirus-covid-19

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Covibook is an interactive resource designed to support and reassure children aged 7 and under, designed to help children explain and draw the emotions that they might be experiencing during the pandemic https://www.mindheart.co/descargables

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Amaze - information pack for parents/carers https://amazesussex.org.uk/faqs-about-the-coronavirus-for-parent-carers-of-children-with-sendbrighton-hove/

Public Health England Public Health England have produced an easy read version of their advice on the coronavirus for places of education. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england You can download a copy from Easy Read Online. https://www.easy-read-online.co.uk/media/53192/advice-on-the-coronavirus-v1.pdf

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Derbyshire County Council’s Community Response Unit https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/council/news-events/news-updates/news/community-response-unitlaunched-to-help-those-in-need.aspx

COVID-19 ChesterďŹ eld Support Network http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/NewsPDFs/COVID19_Support_v3.pdf

NSPCC Coronavirus link The link below is from the NSPCC with some helpful advice on speaking to young people about the Coronavirus. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/childrens-mental-health/depression-anxiety-mentalhealth/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Talking%20to%20a%20child%20worried% 20about%20coronavirus%20%28COVID-19%29&utm_campaign=CASPAR-2019-03-30

CAMHS resource The CAMHS website contains resources and links to support young people and families with their mental health and emotional wellbeing. https://www.camhs-resources.co.uk/

Domestic abuse Boots are offering a safe space for domestic abuse victims https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52495434

Online Safety During the school closures our children will be spending more time online and we are aware that not all parents/carers may be as engaged as they usually are as they try to balance work deadlines with childcare. Screen time is inevitably going to win at some point for most families and it is more important than before that we remind parents/carers of the key role in helping to keep children safe.

The YouTube clip below is to remind parents/carers of the importance of engaging with their child/s online lives during this time. Additional clips will be released and cover issues such as parental controls (and how to set them), which apps have seen a surge in popularity since the pandemic and age specific information aimed at 0-5's, 6 - 11's and over 11's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhLWwQ4Ay5s Traci Good, Director of E Safety Training Ltd Safeguarding, Derbyshire County Council

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Online Prescription Delivery Pharmacy2U deliver prescriptions to homes for any families unable to get out to the local chemists. https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/

Food supplies Jigsaw Jigsaw food bank have crisis food parcels daily, as well as a 12 weekly delivery on Thursdays. Weekly food parcels will be delivered to families who are referred by a professional.

Food bank

There is a food bank based at 23 Firs Parade, Matlock that is very well stocked. If you need this assistance or know anyone that does and might not be aware of it, please pass this on.

John Palin https://johnpalinlocal.co.uk/ John Palin Wholesale is a large independent supplier and distributor of fresh fruit, vegetables, salad, bakery and dairy items.

The power of social distancing

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Careers, College & Apprenticeship News Careers Information Resources Careers information, apprenticeship vacancies and higher education information can be found on the webpage under Students-Work Experience and Careers. http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/careers.html

Careers inspiration and advice from BBC Bitesize Explore BBC Bitesize’s brand new collection of free, online careers resources offering a wealth of inspiration and advice for students.

This new resources offer a rich collection of case studies across a wide range of sectors, linking curriculum subjects and the world of work: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/careers

Online careers programme for 11-18 year olds START is an online careers programme designed to connect 11-18 year olds with their future career potential.

The programme is broken down into sections on ‘world of work’ with a job search according to subject, skill or interest; ‘what to study’ about pathways and qualifications; ‘where to learn’ which views all colleges, universities, sixth forms, training providers and UTC; and ‘employability’ which has sections on work experience, work preparation including CV writing, covering letters and interview preparation.

There is also the facility for students to upload their personal statement and CV, so they can start to build their own careers profile.

Students can access the programme at home via the website (startprofile.com) with the student code they have been issued with – contact Mrs Turner for further details.

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Useful contact numbers Benefit enquires Citizens Advice Line (CAB)—0300 456 8390

Food bank Jigsaw Food Bank—01629 584783

Mental health Derwent Rural Counselling—0800 047 6861 Talking Mental Health—0300 123 0542 Trent PTS (Mental Health Support)—01332 265659 Papyrus UK Helpline (Suicide) - 0800 068 41 41 First Steps (Eating Disorders)—01332 367571 Young Carers—01773 833833

Domestic abuse National Domestic Abuse Helpline—0808 2000 247 Crossroads Derbyshire (Domestic Abuse)—01457 856675 The Elm Foundation (Domestic Abuse)—01246 540464

Other Police—101/999 Non-Emergency Health Advice—111

School Nurse Service Health Visitor and School Nurse SPA Hub – telephone: 01246 515100 Website: www.derbyshireschoolnurses.org.uk General Covid-19 info and community health services info website: www.dchs.nhs.uk

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Local support available for parents/carers

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Newsletter

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Newsletter Helplines, Apps and Websites if you need help now

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Highfields School

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Newsletter Staying Safe Online

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Newsletter Share with Care

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Highfields School

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Newsletter App Safety

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter

GOV.UK Department for Education: Handwashing advice The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.

The latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found here:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

Department for Education coronavirus helpline The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents/carers and young people can contact this helpline as follows: Phone: 0800 046 8687 Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday), 10am to 4pm (Saturday to Sunday) Please note, the helpline is experiencing high volumes of calls.

Where to find the latest information Updates on COVID-19: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Derbyshire County Council latest advice and guidance: www.derbyshire.gov.uk/coronavirus

Public Health England for the East Midlands: PHE East Midlands response centre Tel: 0344 225 4524 followed by Option 0 to get through to East Midlands Health Protection Team, then press option 1, then ask for the Coronavirus Response Centre.

Open from 8am to 8pm.

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Highfields School Contact details Communication with school Lower school site (Starkholmes) - to contact year managers for years 7 or 8 please email as follows: Mrs Green -Year Manager (year 7) tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mrs Weightman-Edge - Year Manager (year 8) Hweightman-edge@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Upper school site (Lumsdale) - to contact year managers for years 9-13 please email as follows: Miss Esposito - Year Manager (year 9) aesposito@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mr Tidmarsh - Year Manager (year 11) dtidmarsh@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mr Allsobrook -Year Manager (year 10) callsobrook@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Sixth form mflett@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk ecruise@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Website:

www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

General email:

info@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Admissions:

admissions@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Chair of Governors:

chair@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

SENCO:

mhodkin@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Newsletter feedback:

newsletter@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Careers information:

careers@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Your contact details

Please ensure you notify us of any changes of address, telephone and email details to ensure our records are up to date in case of emergency.

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Key Staff for 2019-20 Headteacher: Mr A Marsh

Deputy Headteacher: Mr P R Cole

Assistant Headteachers: Mr D O’Reilly Mrs C Rifkin Mr M Hodkin

Associate Assistant Headteachers: Mr K Rodgers - Years 7 and 8 (based at Starkholmes) Miss N Gresswell - Years 9, 10 & 11 (based at Lumsdale) Mrs C Morgan – Curriculum and timetabling

Heads of Year:

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Sixth form

Mrs A Hollinrake / Mrs L Redhead Miss L Hamrouge Mrs A Ruston Miss J Hughes Mr J Redhead Mr M Flett

Year Managers: Year Year Year Year Year

7 8 9 10 11

Mrs Green Mrs Weightman-Edge Miss Esposito Mr Allsobrook Mr Tidmarsh

If you wish to report student absences, please contact the relevant pastoral staff to your son/daughter’s year group as indicated above.

Department Contacts: Art – Mrs K Fairbank Business – Mr I Lovatt Computing – Mrs J Hadfield D&T – Miss A Morris Drama & Dance – Miss E Bonsall English – Mr R Key Film Studies – Mr C Warrington Geography – Mrs M Barker History – Mrs J Clifford Maths – Miss S Wallhead

Be the best you can

Modern Foreign Languages – Mrs M Bowen Music – Mr K Rowley PE – Mr C Shirtcliffe Psychology – Miss H Ould PRS – Mr R Platts / Mrs S Blakesley PSHE/L2L – Mrs Turner SENCO – Mr M Hodkin Science – Mrs C Morgan Sociology – Mrs A Serjeant

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Highfields School Governing Board 2019-20 Highfields School is fortunate in the kinds of people who have volunteered to become governors, each bringing a variety of skills and experience to support the school.

The composition of the governing board for 2019-20 is split as follows. Each governor serves a term of office of four years.

Name Miss Angeline Ellson Mr Paul Steeples Mr Rob Atkinson Miss Lizzy Dence Mr Dennis Holmes Mr Andrew Marsh Mr David Matthews Mr Nick Newberry Mrs Antonia O'Donoghue Miss Jodie Rogers Mr Tim Smith

Governor Type Chair of Governors Parent Vice Chair of Governors Co-opted Co-opted Staff Parent Headteacher Parent Parent Co-opted Co-opted Co-opted

Link Governor Area Leadership and strategy

Inclusion (SEND, behaviour, attendance) Finance, resources and personnel Safeguarding, H&S, well-being Standards: Curriculum (intent, implementation, impact)

We currently have co-opted and LA governor vacancies on our Governing Board (see link below) – if you are interested in becoming a governor please contact Angeline Ellson, Chair of Governors (aellson@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) to find out further information.

Governor vacancy information: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/VacancyPDFs/GovernorRecruitment2020.pdf http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/VacancyPDFs/GovernorRecruitment.pps Full details of Highfields Governing Board can be accessed on the school website: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/governors.html

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter Governor Vacancies - Highfields School Governing Board Are you passionate about future generations?

Do you want to make a difference to young people?

Would you like to develop your own skills?

Do you have some time to give to our community?

Have you ever thought about becoming a school governor?

Highfields School is currently seeking new individuals to join our Governing Board as a co-opted or local authority member.

A co-opted governor is appointed by the Governing Board if they match the skill set required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

Local authority governors are nominated by Derbyshire County Council and appointed by the Governing Board. The local authority can nominate any eligible person as a local authority governor.

Anyone interested in applying for the post of LA governor would be required to submit an application form for nomination by Derbyshire County Council.

To      

be a school governor you need: An interest in the performance of the school A desire to contribute to and represent the community An open and enquiring mind The ability to look at issues objectively The confidence to ask questions and join in debate A willingness to listen and make informed judgements

A Governing Board provides strategic leadership and accountability to the school. It has three main functions:  Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction  Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its students and the performance management of staff  Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

There is training and support for the role including access to external governor training.

As a governor you will be able to:  Use your own experience of education and life beyond school to inform conversations  Develop and utilise your skills in a board-level environment  Make a valuable contribution to education and your community  Support and challenge the school so that it improves for students and staff  Bring your unique experiences, perspectives and insights to decision-making in the interests of the school community The skills the Governing Board are particularly looking for are in finance, HR, health & safety, property & estate management or curriculum development.

If you are interested or would like to learn more please click this link Governor vacancies, please get in touch with Angeline Ellson (Chair of Governors) at chair@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Be the best you can

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Highfields School

Issue 30: 7 May 2020

Newsletter 2019-20 academic year Term dates:  3 September 2019 - 25 October 2019  4 November 2019- 20 December 2019  6 January 2020 - 14 February 2020  24 February 2020 - 3 April 2020  20 April 2020 - 22 May 2020  1 June 2020 - 21 July 2020

Bank holidays:  25 and 26 December 2019  1 January 2020  10 April 2020 (Good Friday)  13 April 2020 (Easter Monday)  Friday 8 May 2020*  25 May 2020 (spring bank holiday)  31 August 2020 (summer bank holiday)

INSET days (no students in school):  Tuesday 3 September 2019  Friday 6 December 2019  Friday 3 July 2020  Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 July 2020

* Change to May Bank Holliday: Next year's early May bank holiday has been moved back by four days for the whole of the UK to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day. May Day was scheduled to be held on Monday 4 May but will be put back to Friday 8 May for 2020 only.

In line with government guidelines Highfields School closed from 3.30pm on Friday 20 March 2020 to all students apart from those of keyworkers requiring emergency childcare in response to the outbreak of Covid-19.

2020-21 academic year Term dates:  1 September 2020** to 23 October 2020  2 November 2020 to 17 December 2020**  4 January 2021 to 12 February 2021  22 February 2021 to 1 April 2021  19 April 2021 to 28 May 2021  7 June 2021 to 22 July 2021

INSET days (no students in school): 1 September 2020

Remaining dates to be confirmed

** From 2015 schools have been able to consider variations to term dates provided they meet the statutory requirements. With this in mind we have taken the decision to return to school one day earlier for the start of the new academic year (Tuesday 1 September 2020) and finish the autumn term one day earlier (Thursday 17 December 2020). This is to ensure a smooth start to the academic year rather than students starting back with a staggered start on Thursday or Friday.

The start of the 2020-21 academic year is as follows:  Tuesday 1 September 2020 - Staff will return to school on Tuesday that will be designated as an INSET day (no students in school).  Wednesday 2 September 2020 – students in years 7 and 9 only return to school  Thursday 3 September 2020 – all students return to school

ParentView Survey We would like to remind you that you have the opportunity to give your views of school through the Ofsted Parent View survey below. https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/ The survey is designed by Ofsted and is used by Inspectors when making decisions about which schools to inspect and when.

Be the best you can

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