Parents/Carers update

Changes to the school day

From Monday 7 June there will be some alterations to the school day. The start and finish times remain unchanged, but we have taken the decision to move the form times back to the start of the school day.

Start Finish Start Finish Start Finish

Form Time 08:45 09:05 Period 3 11:10 12:00 Period 5 13:40 14:30

Period 1 09:05 09:55 Period 4 12:00 12:50 Period 6 14:30 15:20

Period 2 09:55 10:45 Lunch 12:50 13:40 Break 10:45 11:10 Tutorial Y11-13 15:20 15:30 Students will need to go to their form rooms every morning or to their socially distanced assemblies.

Form rooms and assembly days

Form Room Assembly

7BC Room 9 Monday 7RP Room 10 Monday 7RHE HMob Tuesday 7OM MUS Tuesday 7LT Room 8 Tuesday 7PH T1 Monday 7SB Room 11 Monday

Form Room Assembly

9CAH M6 Thursday 9SLH S2 Thursday 9JFG E4 Thursday 9IL H4 Thursday 9AB H3 Friday 9IR C1 Friday 9RYA S3 Friday

Form Room Assembly 12MAB L3 Wednesday 12RKB M3 Wednesday 12DM M4 Wednesday 12MFA S5 Wednesday

As a result of these changes break and lunch timings have changed and there will be a rota to keep students separated.

Form Room Assembly

8DC Room 12 Wednesday 8TC T2 Wednesday 8LH Room 6 Wednesday 8JOA Lab 3 Wednesday 8BB Room 2 Thursday 8JHA Room 7 Thursday 8KSW Room 5 Thursday

Form Room Assembly

10EB H7 Monday 10MJB H2 Tuesday 10KMR MU1 Monday 10MO C2 Tuesday 10RR S9 Tuesday 10JG H9 Monday 10GPR L1 Tuesday

Changes to Zones at Lumsdale

From Monday 7 June year groups at Lumsdale will be moving areas – year 9 will move to the art colonnade and external area and year 10 will move to the coffee bar, Wheeldon hall and external area. Sixth form remain unaffected.

Y10 & Y12 internal exam reminder

Year 10 mock exams will run from Monday 21 June until Wednesday 30 June and year 12 mock exams will run from Tuesday 29 June until Friday 9 July.

All internal exams will take place in the sports hall and students have been given detailed information regarding these mock exams, along with a copy of their exam timetable (also available on the school website via the link below).

Year 10:

https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Y10MockTimetable.pdf

Year 12:

https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Y12MockTimetable.pdf

Y11 & Y13 evidence bases for Teacher Assessed Grades – Summer 2021

This summer Y11 and Y13 students will be awarded a Teacher Assessed Grade in their exam subjects. All subjects have indicated the evidence they will use this year and this information is given in emails recently issued to parents/carers, alternatively you can access the information from our website on the link below:

GCSE https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GCSETAGStudentEvidenceBase.pdf

A Level https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ALevelTAGStudentEvidenceBase.pdf

If you would like further information, please visit our dedicated Teacher Assessed Grades page on the school website https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/our-school/teacher-assessed-grades/

COVID-19 testing over May half-term

As lockdown eases, the DfE are advising students and staff to continue to take a rapid COVID-19 test twice a week (including over May half-term) even if you do not have symptoms, to help prevent the spread of the virus, particularly as new strains appear.

The result of a rapid test could be positive, negative or even void. But whatever it is, it should be reported straight away, every time. School should be informed of any confirmed positive Covid-19 cases during half term in order to ensure we can notify any close contacts during the holiday period.

If a student tests positive for Covid-19 (having developed symptoms within 48 hours of being in school), please leave a message on the emergency mobile (07542 200390) set up during this period. This is for reporting of positive Covid-19 cases only. Messages will be checked twice each day at 9am and again at 1pm.

Our surveys said …

Thanks to all parents, carers and students who responded to our recent survey. We had a pretty good level of response with 113 students and 239 parents / carers completing. Staff were also given the opportunity to complete a very similar survey.

All groups were asked to say how far they agreed with a short series of statements covering areas such as our management of this unusual year, how well students are learning and catching up, and the quality of care and support in school. Everyone was also asked what they thought Highfields does best and for their top priorities for next year's Improvement Plan. We call this plan our ‘Big 3’ as it focuses on three core areas of school life that we most want to change. The important thing is that your responses are not just there to tick some box; they are there to inform our core business and top priorities going forward.

Parents and carers were very positive about how this academic year and been managed, and about how the return to school since early March has gone. Over 85% of parents and carers agreed that the past few months have gone very well for their child. Students themselves were a bit less certain on this, with around ¼ being ‘neutral’, and a few certainly flagging that this has been a tough period of readjustment.

‘Catching up’ with lost learning has been in the media headlines all year. Staff, parents and carers show a high level of confidence that this is happening – with 75% of parents and carers saying that they feel their child is learning a lot to make up any lost ground. A majority of students agreed, but we need to be very mindful of just under 20% who responded that they didn’t agree that they were learning a lot or catching up well. A lot of students told us that they see getting back to normal and plugging any gaps in learning as a top priority for us next year. We are certainly listening to this.

75% of parents and carers agreed that Highfields cares for their child and has the appropriate support in place, while 80% were positive about the quality of teaching and learning. These aspects are crucial to our core work, and need to be the best they can to ensure students continue to catch up next year.

There was a lot of agreement about what Highfields does best. Communication, community, care, safety, happiness were key themes highlighted by students, staff parents and carers alike. Some people also noted our ambition and quality of teaching.

Views on what we should focus on within the Big 3 improvement plan were much more varied, but can be unified under the theme of ‘building back’ and ‘returning to school life as normal’. We are very excited about doing this. Our Big 3 plan will be unveiled in more detail in the coming weeks and will include a relatively small number of exciting, impactful projects which focus on the things parents. carers, students and staff want to see. There will be plenty of support for the high quality subject teaching that will helps students to become experts across the curriculum, new approaches to building positive, respectful relationships and securing harmonious behaviour along with a drive to make our school a warm, inviting and purposeful place to learn and work.

Thanks for playing your part in it.

Mr Cole Deputy Head

Letter from Director of Public Health

Love to Ride – June is bike month

Bike month takes place throughout June to celebrate cycling. It is a chance to ride your bike and encourage your friends and family to join in.

Cycling is good for our physical and mental health and keeps us connected with the world around us. With summer arriving is it a good time to enjoy the benefits of cycling as the weather is at its best (hopefully) and the days are getting longer.

If you want to get involved in bike month visit the Love to Ride website below. https://www.lovetoride.net/uk

Everyone can join in, even those who have never been on a bike for years. Individuals only have to ride for 10 minutes anyway at any time to take part in the prize draw. Log your rides and enter into the draw for prizes while keeping healthy and well.