Message from the headteacher

Highfields School Newsletter Message from the headteacher

How do you instil honour and integrity? You could start by asking the family of a Y11 who I dealt with on Monday morning. After the owl problem last Monday (see newsletter) I was hoping for a quiet start to the week but before the students were even off the bus, the fire alarm sounded and we were into a full evacuation of some 900 students and 50 staff at Lumsdale upper site (see image). The site team immediately started trying to isolate the cause of the alarm which we always presume is fire, but within seconds a student approached me personally and told me he had accidentally triggered the alarm. Now, it’s worth pointing out that the alarm panel was not covered by CCTV and he was not seen by many students so he could, if he’d wanted, have melted into the fray and never been caught. I thanked him for admitting to it and he enabled us to find the triggered call point quickly and reset the system. We got all the students back in and I was just considering grabbing a very quick cup of coffee when the message came over the radio that the student wanted to see me again. He found me and explained that he needed to tell me that what had happened wasn’t an accident. After he took me through the events in question I asked him why he had chosen to tell me the whole truth. He shrugged and simply said, ‘because it was the right thing to do’. If this is your lad then you and your family should be very proud. He made an error of judgement and then he went out of his way to make it right, even though he knew that this had potential consequences for him (he suggested he do a detention for causing inconvenience to others, in case you are wondering). I feel that politicians both nationally and internationally currently could learn from him.

In lessons this week I saw a science lesson featuring a thingy whose name I’ve forgotten (something to do with Dick Van Dyke) but it makes your hair stand on end: never fails to amuse me.

We are training very hard to improve further our behaviour management. If you want to try some of strategies out at home you could start with a bit of restorative enquiry. If your child behaves poorly try saying:  What happened? (rather than ‘what have you done now?’ or ‘why did you do that?’)  Who’s been affected and how? (It’s amazing how long the list can get)  What needs to happen for things to be OK? (say sorry, fix what they broke, make amends etc) The trick is to get them talking and have them learn to clear up their own messes. Or, like me with my kids, you can just bury your frustration deep down inside and passive-aggressively turn the WIFI off and on every ten minutes or so when they’re watching TikTok. Thanks to all those who consoled me over Romulus. He was lazy and selfish but I don’t half miss him. I just remembered – it’s called a Van de Graaff generator. ми шукаємо волонтерів для навчання англійської мови українських студентів. Ви можете допомогти?

Have restful half term if you can… A Marsh, Headteacher