10 minute read
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.
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"School" is very strange for all of us at the moment. We understand for students in year 6 it will be particularly odd and 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 this term we will be updating you on our plans on how we can best help you smoothly make the move to being a Highfields student. We have thought of 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, 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 been busy emailing information and electronic forms to parents/carers of our year 6 students. So, if your family haven't received an email from Mrs Green, please email her with your name and primary school so she can add you to our communication list and you will receive all future updates: tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk
Take care and stay well. Mr Rodgers Associate Assistant Headteacher
Year 7 students will start their Highfields journey on Wednesday 2 September 2020
Year 6 Transition Programme
We hope you are enjoying your transition programme to Highfields and are finding the information we are sending useful – please see overleaf for the full timetable of transition activities.
Week 4 transition: Year 7 booklet, map quiz and anagram challenge
This week we have sent out our Year 6 booklet for you to have a look through - we have also included a quiz for you to see how well you have read it! We have sent you a map of the school with an example timetable along with another quiz. Hopefully, this will help you learn your way around the school and familiarise yourself with the layout before September – remember you can revisit the Virtual Tour we issued previously to you to help.
Finally we have an Anagram Challenge for you to do. Please return if you get LOADS of words so you can win a reward for your form in September.
Answers to the quiz will be sent to your parents/carers today (26 June) - we hope you have fun and enjoy doing the activities.
The Y6 booklet is also available on our website: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/Y6Booklet2020.pdf
Derbyshire County Council School Dinners
Families have been emailed information regarding school dinners, including a current price list and items available to purchase (this is also displayed near the kitchen area for students to view while queuing), to give families an idea of the range of food available. Each week the latest menu is also included in the school newsletter.
A medical diet letter was also included in the communication. Please contact Mrs Green via email (tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) if you require the medical diet form to ensure that DCC are able to cater for your child's school dinner.
Year 7 Activity Day Induction Programme
We have issued information on our Year 7 Activity Day which is part of our Induction Programme and included a leaflet about this exciting day. There are two forms to be completed and returned.
The price includes a year group t-shirt to wear on the day. We would advise you pay for this as soon as our ParentPay information is sent to you (you should receive this by August). ParentPay gives you access to pay for trips and meals on line.
We are hopeful that this event will be able to go ahead. We walk there or walk back depending on the form group your child is in (we will let you have further information in September). Parents/carers either drop off or collect so there is no concern about social distancing. Lea Green have confirmed that they should be able to adapt the day to comply with this as well.
If your child has any special requirements as indicated on the form Special Diets 2020 please complete and return this to tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk
Thank you for your assistance with the completions of these forms. We will be sending more later in the week!
Year 6 families should have received an email with two attachments – ‘pyramid worries’ and an ‘all about me’ activity.
Thank you for your ‘All about Me’ documents. We have enjoyed reading them and getting to know you. We will share this information with your form tutor.
The top concerns from you all were getting lost/bullying and too much homework and we will ensure that we reassure you about these in September and pass on to our Theatre Company. We intend to give you a really good tour of the school in September so please do not worry about getting lost.
If you haven’t yet returned the ‘all about me’ information, please can you send this to Mrs Green so your form tutors can start to get to know you ready for meeting you in September.
Geography on a plate activity
Thank you to year 6s for your ‘geography on a plate’ activities. We featured the ones received so far in last week’s newsletter – well done to you all!
This activity was to replicate what year 6 students would have done if they had been visiting Highfields as usual for their ‘taster lesson’. Look out for the next activity in July.
Pastoral profiles
You will all be in receipt of the pastoral profiles we have emailed out. We hope this helps you start to remember names and put them to the faces of our year 7 team. We have sent out the ‘all about me’ documents for students to complete so we can find out all about you – we look forward to reading them and sharing with your form tutor.
Starkholmes virtual tour
Our transition programme started with a virtual tour of our lower school site at Starkholmes to help our soon to be new year 7 students familiarise themselves with Highfields.
More ‘site’ information will be sent throughout this term to help you get to know Highfields.
Friendship cards
We have received your friendship cards and have been working through them all to fit students in form groups. Each form has a mixture of gender and ability, and although it is very difficult for us, we do try to ensure that year 7 students will be in a form class with at least one of the people that they wrote on their card. If for some reason this cannot happen, we will get in touch with parents/carers.
If you have not had an email from Mrs Green confirming your friend, please contact her on tgreen@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk
Year 6 Transition timetable
We are aiming to work to the basic timeline below for our transition programme, although it may change we wanted to provide you with a sense as to what might be possible this term in an effort to begin to cover some of the key activities we would usually complete with students and families.
Red denotes “transition” activities for students. Underlined items require a return.
Week commencing:
1 June 2020 (sent out)
8 June 2020 15 June 2020 (sent out) 22 June 2020 (sent out) 26 June 2020 29 June 2020 From 1 July 2020
6 July 2020 13 July 2020
Information:
Virtual site tour sent out; bus information On-going – “friendship cards” (this helps determine form groups) Uniform information sent out (sent out)
“Subject” activities sent out and pastoral staff profiles
Pyramid “worries” activityand “All About Me”(information about the children) Map quiz / anagram activity “Y7 Booklet” activity Social media / consents / GDPR forms sent out “Hand”activity (information about the children) “Meet the tutor” –staff profiles, including key worker contact for relevant students Library / Accelerated reader activity “Subject” activities Pastoral staff pre-summer messages
From September, the transition programme will continue with some very focused ‘year 7’ time and activities will depend on what has been possible throughout the summer term.
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.
Highfields School Uniform – September 2020
You should be in receipt of details on Highfields school uniform previously emailed to you that included a letter, uniform code, FAQs, size guide and supplier information – see links below (this information is also available on the school website):
Uniform Code: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/UniformCode.pdf FAQs: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/UniformFAQs.pdf. Uniform supply list: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/UniformList.pdf Uniform size guide: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/UniformSizeGuide.pdf
Families can apply for financial support with school uniform for September 2020 by completing the downloadable application form on our website (see links below):
Pdf format: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/SchoolUniformApplicationGrant.pdf Word format: http://www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk/pdfs/InfoPDFs/SchoolUniformApplicationGrant.doc
This grant is considered on a case by case basis. Support will be paid in the form of a voucher which can be used either online with Kick Off Sport or in the shop. It can only be used to purchase Highfields School uniform. To be eligible you must be facing hardship through the changing circumstances brought about through Covid-19, receive Free School Meals or recommended by Highfields pastoral team. Completed forms should be returned to the finance office with any supporting documentation and will be checked for eligibility (finance@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk).
If, after reading the FAQs and details below, you have further queries, please email uniform@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk and we will aim to answer your question. Further details will be issued when available, including how to apply for financial support if your family is affected financially by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Highfields morning assemblies
Remember to look out for the emails we are sending with the link to Mr Marsh’s assembly on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. We hope they will make you feel a part of Highfields School, give you the opportunity to get to know some staff and found out what Highfields is like ready for when we meet you in September.
Year 7 PowerPoints and student magazine
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 there will be familiar faces of students who were previously at their primaries to help them when they join us in the new academic year.
Our current year 7 students have also 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
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.
