Message from the Headteacher
Have you ever run over an owl? I haven’t. But I nearly did on Tuesday evening. I came around the corner and he was feasting in the middle of the road on something which somebody had run over earlier. He looked up in horror at the last moment and flew out of the way, missing my car by inches. I have always had a phobia about being looked at by an owl so the idea that this one almost ended up on my windscreen really is the stuff of nightmares.
In non-owl related matters, we have been working hard to formulate our improvement plans for next year. The staff team and I have made quite a few improvements since I joined in 2018 (exam results up, attendance up, student numbers up, behaviour improved, Ofsted completed successfully, finances under control and renovation programmes in place) and, for some, there would be a temptation to relax and take it easy for a while. Highfields staff, however, are driven and just want to keep on improving things for our wonderful students.
The image shows just one of the improvement projects which we are currently planning for the summer break: the complete refurbishment of the food tech room at upper site (see image). In response to surveys we will also be making around £40,000 worth of improvements in ICT (which doesn’t buy much these days by the way) and £60,000 improving student and staff toilet facilities. Other improvement projects will focus on teaching strategies designed on bringing out the very best in our students.
An additional project next year will look at our communications and social media strategy. I think this newsletter has run its course and so we want to replace it with something a bit livelier and more dynamic. At the time of writing we are considering restructuring our website to make it more useful for upcoming news and events and replacing the newsletter with a Podcast. Longstanding parents may remember YouTube lockdown ‘assemblies’ but these Podcasts would be a little more serious in tone and hopefully give stakeholders a bit of an insight into how school looks and feels for its students. Anyway- discussions are ongoing and I will keep you updated.
Have a nice weekend. We are Highfields.
A Marsh, Headteacher
