Parents/carers of current year 6 students

Welcome to Highfields School!

Thank you for reading this and taking an interest in our school and what we are doing.

We have thought about 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 aim to answer these during this half term for you.

Activity work and information forms must be returned by the deadline date to allow us to process the information to support your child. Thank you for completion of the four forms so far, we appreciate you doing this. There are three more to be sent out during the next half term so we would be grateful if you can continue to complete them promptly.

We have sent out our virtual tour of the school to Year 6 students that the current Year 7s found really helpful as it enabled them to learn more about our school site. You should also have received the pastoral profiles of people who will be important to you.

We will keep updating everyone through the school website, but really specific messages will come from Mrs Green, Year Manager for Y7 in September. Mrs Green will be your first point of contact and she will send emails through our Weduc communication system.

If your family haven't received an email from Mrs Green, please email with your name and primary school so she can add you to our communication list (tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk).

September 2021 – Transport to school

The link below is to the Derbyshire County Council website that aims to answer any questions you may have on school transport in September 2021: 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.

Updated programme of events for year 6 students starting in September 2021

Year 6 parents/carers should all now be receiving information and activities for your child to complete, that will best help them make a smooth transition to Highfields School. Please make sure that you have download the Weduc app so that you receive all communications.

We will keep updating you on key information, but below are a few pieces of information and activities that you will expect to see before the start of term in September. Activity work and information forms must be returned by the deadline date to allow us to process the information to support your child.

You should now be in receipt of our virtual tour information that we hope you found useful. We have also sent out a transition activity this week (geography of a plate) which is an example of a lesson at Highfields School, along with emailing you our pastoral profiles of Head of Year, Year Manager and Team Leader of Learning Support.

Date Received Document For Student or Parent Deadline date

March ✓ Download Weducapp to receive all communication Parent Deadline 12/3 April ✓ Cashless catering form Parent Deadline 30/4 April ✓ Student magazine Student May ✓ Admission form/Allergy letter/Home school agreement Parent Deadline 15/5 June ✓ Uniform information Parent and student

June ✓ Starkholmes virtual tour Student

June ✓ Bus information Parent and student

June ✓ Pastoral Profiles Parent and student

June ✓ Geography on a plate Student

June ✓ Pyramid ‘worries’ activity Student June Social medial/blanket consent/GDPR forms Parent June Hand Activity June Form Room and Timetable Information Student Student

Deadline 30/6

Deadline 6/7 Deadline 2/7

3 July NOW MOVED TO SATURDAY 3 JULY DUE TO LATEST COVID ADVICE AND RESTRICTIONS BEING MAINTAINED

Visit to school for tour and to meet Year Manager and Head of Year - time slots allocated to ensure COVID regulations are adhered to

3 July Information Booklet

July Library/Accelerated Reader activity August ParentPay information to pay for locker, and load school dinner money account Parent

Student with one parent

Parent and student Student

Deadline 19/7

From September, the transition programme will continue with some very focused ‘year 7’ time and activities. The first day of school is a dedicated to year 7 students only - this is Wednesday 1 September. Students will have the full day to learn about school routines, have an additional tour with their timetable, meet their form tutor and do activities together as a form in order to get to know each other. This day is key for all students to ensure that every student begins their Highfields journey as smoothly as possible.

We will keep in touch to make sure students have the best possible transition experience in this climate. Our priority remains that students feel part of our community and to allay as many worries as possible whilst beginning to outline our expectations. In this way, together we will be able to ensure that every student begins their Highfields journey as smoothly as possible.

Year 6 information issued this week

We hope you enjoyed the geography activity last week and thank you to those who sent their work in to us. It was lovely to see all of your hard work.

This week parents/cares should have received the pyramid game activity to help students learn about Highfields, a message from Mr Marsh, our Headteacher and information from DCC on school meals.

Year 6 into 7 transition date change

Unfortunately, due to the changes in the government roadmap, we are unable to go ahead with the proposed sponsored walk for our current year 7 and year 8 students on Friday 2 July and all students will have a normal school day on this day. This means we are unable to host year 6 students at their planned visit to us on Friday 2 July as our students are now in school.

The Y6 into Y7 transition visit will take place on Saturday 3 July instead. We look forward to seeing you on 3 July - the timings of the day remain unchanged and full details of the day have been reissued to all year 6 parents/carers.

The session you have been invited to will give you the opportunity to meet key people in school in person so your child knows who we are and who to look for in September. The session will include an assembly from Miss Hughes (Head of Year) explaining her expectations and a few activities for your child to do so that they have a look around school and collect some information for you that will be useful. Children will receive a map of the school building and they will be shown their form room for September. We would advise you to view the virtual tour again prior to the visit.

Again, we apologise for any inconvenience the date change may have caused.

Information issued for year 7 admissions in September

Thank you to the parents/carers of year 6 students who have returned the recent electronic forms issued by Mrs Green.

A reminder of the forms/information previously issued:

• Admissions forms – this is one of the most important documents for us as we need to ensure we have all the relevant contact details of each student. Please can you ensure you have

completed this form.

• Parent/carer agreement - peanut free site – we have a student in school with a severe peanut allergy and strict avoidance of peanut products is the only way to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction. We are asking your assistance in providing the student with a safe learning environment and require you to complete this form. We have a small number of parents/carers who

have not completed this form. We will be emailing you separately about this shortly and would appreciate if you could respond to ensure the safety of this student.

• Home school agreement – we ask students, parents/carers and the school to work in partnership and would like you to sign to confirm your agreement to working together in the best interests of your children. This form has now closed on Weduc so if you did not sign and still wish

to do so, please contact Mrs Green.

• Cashless catering – please complete the consent for your child’s finger to be scanned. Please note the finger scan is only to enable your child to be recognised at the till point to purchase food and is not used for any other purpose. If students do not have consent for the scan they will need to input a six digit code to the pin machine at the till point. This form has now closed on Weduc

so if you have not signed and still wish to, please contact Mrs Green otherwise a code will be issued to your child in September.

• Highfields School uniform – this week we have emailed our school uniform details to you. This included uniform code, size guide and supplier information – see link to the information on the school website: https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/our-school/uniform/

• Virtual tour - our transition programme is now running and our starting point is a virtual tour of the Starkholmes site for year 6 students and there will be more ‘site’ information sent out during this term.

• School buses - we have sent out information about buses and a timetable for you all to look at so you can prepare.

• Y6 welcome magazine - our current year 7 students collated information in PHSE lessons on how to welcome year 6 students to Highfields. Our students produced a magazine in their form classes and we have taken relevant sections from them all to pass to your child. Please access via this link: https://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/parents/year-six-information/year-6-magazine/

We hope this will give your child a little insight into what it is like at Highfields, from a current year 7 perspective, in advance with them starting with us in September.

If you have any queries regarding joining Highfields in September 2021 or have not received information, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Green (tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk).

The year team look forward to meeting you.