Issue 8 by Highfields School

2nd May 2025

Our newsletter aims to keep parents and carers up to date with school news, activities and key information throughout the year.

Don’t forget to visit our website (www.highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk) for more news and information.

Thank you for taking the time to read our news and for your support.

A Marsh Headteacher

Disclaimer: HighfieldsSchoolisnotresponsibleforthequalityofproductsororganisationspublicisedthrougharticlesor advertisementsintheschoolnewsletter.

Message from the Headteacher

There are (I think) three forms of activity that transcend spoken language; in other words, you don’t have to communicate verbally to be able to do them together. The first is sport/games. Often, when I worked in London where children would often arrive from Bosnia or Somalia or Syria or a host of other places, their first connection with the school kids would be sport as they joined in a breaktime kickabout needing absolutely no spoken language to do so. The second activity is physical affection and stuff like that where, in theory at least, body language should be enough to get you through (assuming body language can establish consent). And then there is music.

As it happens, Pascha, who is a Ukrainian student, now speaks excellent English but when he arrived at the school he didn’t. Early in his time at Highfields his music class were learning to play the Blues. Pascha took to the Blues like a little Bluesy duck and in Tuesday’s music concert he performed in public for the first time. Like many teachers I get to work around 7am and so by 9pm at night I am flagging even without the emotional rollercoaster that Pascha and our other musicians put us through on evenings like this. By the end of the concert I was in such a state of heightened emotion that it was all I could do just to avoid running around in circles screaming, ‘we are Highfields’.

Pascha was only one of the highlights. I could list almost every musician who performer either solo or as part of an ensemble. Laura’s Massenet was gorgeous and the vocal ensemble’s close harmony A House is not a Home was just so beautifully precise and accurate but ALL of the musicians were marvellous. One of the many parental reviews read:

“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the concert last night. We’ve attended every concert since our daughter started at Highfields, and it’s absolutely wonderful to see how the children progress – the standard just gets higher and higher each time. The only downside is that I’m an absolute emotional wreck by the end of it! It was a truly special evening and a real credit to the school.”

Actually…now I think of it, maths is another activity which can transcend language barriers (some of our Ukrainian students also excel in this by the way). Come to that…I don’t suppose you have to share a language to fight and kill someone in a war. In fact, it probably helps if you don’t speak the same language and thus are able to objectify your opponent. That got dark very quickly. Apologies.

Anyway. On duty in the sunshine on Wednesday a Y11 female student kindly pointed out ‘sir, your nose is burning’. I thanked her and indicated that I would apply some sunscreen. She then added with mock concern, ‘are you sure you have enough?’ She smirked and left enough of an awkward silence to make clear that this comment was in reference to the size of my nose. Students can be so, so cruel.

Breaking news: I have, just this second, heard that our U14 girls football team, who played today in the final of the Derbyshire Schools Cup, very narrowly missed out on the trophy. We offer our congratulations to Ecclesbourne and our thanks to the Highfields team on winning every single game in the tournament apart from this one.

Have a wonderful weekend. Mr Marsh, Headteacher