Message from the headteacher

I feel very lucky to get so much positive feedback from members of the Highfields community. Obviously, I also deal with negative feedback and, considering I have around 1,306 students and 158 staff, a surprisingly small number of complaints. But, by and large, people are very fair and can often see that I am trying hard to make Highfields a school where students feel happy, included and able to learn. I was having a difficult morning recently (all to do with building work…don’t ask) when my PA appeared at my office door brandishing what appeared to be a clutch of forms to complete. I winced in anticipation but, in fact, the forms were gratitude feedback slips completed by students. And GUESS WHAT? I GOT FIVE!

More often than not (and quite rightly in my opinion) the headteacher is not singled out for praise in these kind of exercises because a) they don’t teach very much and b) they just seem to make up rules and generally spoil everyone’s fun. Not so this time! The comments were totally inspiring with my favourite being, “you always calm me down and you’re nice to talk to”.

I can’t tell you how happy this feedback made me. I even told my kids about it over tea. My son (Y12) actually stopped eating and paused as if he might react in some way (false alarm but it was very close). And my daughter (Y8) said, ‘well done, dad’ although I’m not totally sure she was actually paying attention.

Anyway, I’m still on cloud nine. I found the students and thanked them. They looked a little weirded out by my thanks which were bordering on over reaction as far as they were concerned.

It’s amazing the positive effect we can have on other humans, isn’t it?

Meanwhile in school we did our Get In Stay In (GISI) drill. This is when we practise our response in the event that a threat emerges on site. It went really went well with the school becoming silent and apparently deserted as hundreds of students and staff secrete themselves behind locked doors.

I padded around the empty corridors, tried doors and peered into darkened classrooms. It was so quiet that I started to get a little weirded out and so did not find it funny when a fellow senior team member sprang out from behind a door and whispered, “boo”. I was so absorbed in my own thoughts that this mild intrusion completely threw me I jumped about three feet into the air and then had to cling to a door for support. Not my most ‘headteacherly’ moment.

As always I managed to wander into a range of fascinating lessons this week. Amongst my favourites was a geography lesson where the teacher was going absolutely out of her way to be crystal clear on what she was looking for using these success criteria. It’s so important with young people to be clear about expectations as I once learned when I asked my son to take some fish out of the freezer for dinner and he defrosted 14 fillets of salmon for 3 of us. You live and learn.

Я дуже уважно стежу за новинами і обережно радію новинам у Херсоні. Я дуже сподіваюся, що ви та ваші родини добре.

Have a wonderful, wintry weekend.

A Marsh, Headteacher