Parents/Carers Update

Highfields School Newsletter Parents/Carers Update

Reminder: Year 11 mock exams

A reminder that year 11 mock exams start on Monday 21 November in the sports hall. Students have been issued with their exam timetable which is also available on the exam page of our website and below.

Date - Week B AM PM

Monday 21 November Start 8:50 a.m. Start 1:40 p.m. Physics History (Medicine) 1h 15m Combined Science 1h 15m Triple Science 1h 45m Tuesday 22 November Start 8:50 a.m. Start 1:40 p.m. English Language 1h 45m French (Reading) F/H German (Reading) 1h 00m Spanish (Reading) /1h 15m

Wednesday 23 November

Start 8:50 a.m. Start 1:20 p.m. BTEC Sport 1h 00m Creative iMedia 1h 15m Computing Paper 1 1h 00m Dance 1h 30m PE Paper 1 1h 15m Geography Comp. 1 1h 30m Thursday 24 November Start 8:50 a.m. Start 1:20 p.m. D&T 1h 45m PRS 1h 30m Food Prep & Nutrition 1h 45m Friday 25 November Start 8:50 a.m. Start 1:20 p.m. Maths Paper 1 1h 30m Film Studies 1h 30m (non-calculator) Music (1:40 pm in MU1) 1h 00m

Date - Week A AM PM

Monday 28 November Start 8:50 am Start 1:40 pm Biology History (American West) 55m Combined Science 1h 15m Triple Science 1h 45m Tuesday 29 November Start 8:50 am Start 1:20 p.m. Maths Paper 2 1h 30m French (Writing) F/H (calculator) German (Writing) 1h 15m Spanish (Writing) 1h 30m

Wednesday 30 November

Start 8:50 am Start 1:20 pm Drama 1h 45m Computing Paper 2 1h 00m BTEC Travel & Tourism 1h 15m Geography Comp 3 1h 30m Thursday 1 December Start 8:50 am Start 1:20 pm Business 1h 45m English Literature 1h 30m Friday 2 December Start 8:50 am Start 1:40 pm Chemistry PE Paper 2 1h 15m Combined Science 1h 15m Triple Science 1h 45m

Date - Week B AM / PM

Monday 5 December NO EXAMS - INSET DAY Tuesday 6 December Art and Photography - all day from 9:00am 11B Art in C4, 11B Photography in C5 Wednesday 7 December Art and Photography - all day from 9:00am 11C Art in C4 and 11A Photography in C5 Thursday 8 December Art and Photography - all day from 9:00am 11D Photography in C5

Year 13 parent consultation evening

The Y13 parent consultation evening will take place in person in the sixth form area on Tuesday 15 November 2022 between 4-7pm. Students should be arranging appointment times with their teachers as per communication from the sixth form team.

Year 13 mock exam timetable

Y13 exams will start from Monday 28 November in the sports hall. Students have been given copies of their timetable below.

Date - Week A AM PM

Monday 28 November Starts 8:50 am Starts 1pm Sports Studies - Unit 2 2hrs Film Studies 2hrs German - computer room 2hrs Core Maths 1hr 30 Maths 2hrs Tuesday 29 November Starts 8:50 am Starts 1pm Engineering 1hr 30 English Language - Paper 1 2hrs 50 Spanish - computer room 2hrs Drama 2hrs Geology 2hrs Further Maths 1hr 30

Wednesday 30 November

Starts 8:50 am Starts 1pm Biology 2hrs Chemistry 2hrs English Literature 2hrs 30 Thursday 01 December Starts 8:30 am Starts 1pm Business - computer room 3hrs Physics 1hr 30 Sociology 2hrs Friday 02 December Starts 8:50 am Starts 1pm Psychology 2hrs History - Britain 1hr 30 Computing - Paper 2 1hr 15 Geography - Component 3 2hrs 15 Philosophy - starts 12:30pm 3hrs

Date Week B AM PM

Monday 05 December INSET Day Tuesday 06 December Geology - lab - 9:05 start

Drama - starts 1:45pm 1hr History - 11:15 start 1hr Biology - 11:00 start 2hrs Geography - Component 2 - 11:15 start Computing - Paper 1 – 11:15 start 1hr 15

Wednesday 07 December Film Studies - 9:15 start 1hr Chemistry - starts 1pm 2hrs

Thursday 08 December Photography - All Day Maths - 8:45 start 2hrs Sports Studies - starts 1:40pm 1hr 30

Music - starts - 1pm 2hrs 30

Friday 09 December Art - All Day Sociology - 9:15 start 1hr Physics - 9:15 start 50 min

Sixth form open evening

What’s the point of school? I mean, really, what is the actual point? Sometimes it’s easy forget in the midst of league tables, health and safety, funding issues, Ofsted and other distractions. When you come down to, of course, the point of a school is to improve the world. Our aim at Highfields is to form students who go out and change the world. They might change the world on a local level, perhaps by becoming a carer, a social worker or by working in a local business. They might change the world on a national level by contributing to British industry, science or medicine. They may even change the world on an international level through their involvement in finding solutions for global problems around energy, conflict and economic imbalance. Our responsibly, then, is produce young people who are not only armed with the skills and knowledge to make a difference, but also with the moral wisdom to use their academic capital for the advancement of others. At Highfields the person who ensures that year 13s leave us ready to make this difference is our director of sixth form, Martin Flett. Martin continues a tradition at Highfields of sixth form leaders who themselves are intellectual models for students to be inspired by. He is a deep thinker and as such is able to constantly challenge students at a range of levels. In the classroom he leads a team delivering A levels and some BTECs to the highest possible level. Outside of the classroom he builds resilience and resourcefulness. He and his team go above and beyond to nurture Highfields sixth formers towards excellence. A couple of weekends ago when other school leaders were nursing their Saturday morning cup of tea, the sixth form team were throwing themselves with their students in the dark, cold waters of Rother Valley; an activity to promote a love of adventure, fortitude, fun. The result of this investment in our sixth formers is that firstly, they achieve extremely well. Pre-pandemic, our results showed value added which was consistently in the top 25% of schools nationally, and this summer they remained extremely strong with a value added score of +0.22. This ensured that students were able to head onto the next stage of their journey to university or apprenticeship. We are equally proud of our students who, for example, headed to Cambridge to study languages, or who scored 4 A*s and went off to study maths and physics, as we are of those who secured competitive apprenticeships, such as a student who secured a place at Fujitsu. Most importantly for us, our students leave us with an understanding of themselves, their strengths and areas for improvement and a confidence in themselves to make the world a better place.