Headmaster's Termly Newsletter Spring 2016

2016

SPRING ISSUE

The

Headmaster’s Termly Newsletter Welcome to the Spring Issue

Inside…

It was Andrew Carnegie, the great American industrialist / philanthropist, who died nearly 100 years ago, who once famously said that teamwork is ‘the ability to work together towards a common vision. It is the fuel that allows ordinary people to attain extra-ordinary results’.

All three were wonderfully entertaining productions presented by teams absolutely committed to success. Whether it be on the stage, behind the scenes or front of house, all involved have had their part to play in the team. I thoroughly enjoyed

At Highclare, we do encourage the children to learn through the teamwork that is required in many settings: classroom, sports fields, house activity to identify just a few. Never is Carnegie’s quote more apt than when describing what happens when people come together to stage a play or successful performance. There is a very acute sense of playing your part in order to avoid letting someone else down because, as anyone who has ever done it will tell you, there is hardly any room for error.

The experience gained in staging the productions via things like taking responsibility, attending to detail and through the use of initiative was very exciting for educationalists, such as myself, to see.

I am sure that parents felt the same. The children gained a real sense of achievement and success from their participation and I am delighted to see how all were able to TAKE CHARGE of their own learning.

watching each and every one.

Just recently I have had the pleasure of watching school performances at Highclare Woodfield (Troy Story), Highclare Senior School (Grease) and Highclare St Paul’s (Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies). In each case it was an absolute delight to be able to witness something greater than the sum of the individual parts.

• Senior & Sixth Form - pg 2 • British Values Week - pg 4 • Junior Round-up - pg 5 • Infants - pg 6 • Pre-School - pg 6 • Junior Sports Results - pg 7 & 8 • Senior Sports - pg 8, 9 & 10 • Charity & Community News pg 11

• S kiing in Austria - pg 12 Therefore, a big thank you to all those involved: boys, girls, members of staff and members of the local community.

Your teamwork added magnificently to the enrichment activity on offer at Highclare School.

As the Easter break approaches, I wish you all a happy, peaceful and relaxing holiday.

Dr Richard Luker, Headmaster

Grease

Troy Story

On 9th and 10th of March, the Senior school gym was transformed into Rydell High for two performances of the legendary smash-hit musical, Grease!

Pupils had been working very hard to learn lines, songs, choreography and, most importantly for the boys, how to wield a comb properly, and this hard work more than paid off. Marika Fraser-Ryan played Sandy and Samuel Donaghue took on the role of Danny, both with aplomb. The Senior pupils and staff were also delighted to welcome members of the Junior choir and Mrs Spare, who sang their hearts out as Rydell Junior High pupils. A huge thank you must go out to all pupils who took part, both on stage and behind the scenes, moving props and operating sound and lighting equipment. Likewise, many staff and parents gave up their time and expertise to help the show go like “greased lightning”, and we would like to take this opportunity to show our gratitude to you all. Highclare really was “born to hand jive”! Ms Stamoulis and Miss Sharman

On Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd March, the children at Woodfield Juniors put on an amazing performance of Troy Story, a very clever and amusing interpretation of the story of Helen of Troy and the wooden horse.

There were stunning performances from all the cast and the audience was enthralled from start to finish. The children obviously thoroughly enjoyed the experience and sang all the songs with enthusiasm and great energy.

There were several dances included throughout the performance and the highlight of the show was a Bollywood dance which, in the encore, was performed by the entire cast. It was a wonderful evening’s entertainment which has been one of the highlights of the spring term at Woodfield Juniors. Well done to everyone involved!

Turn to page 2 to see our report on Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies.

Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies, is a tale of tights, fights and footlights. As we go to press the children have just finished their first performance in front of their grandparents.

It was a fantastic show, the children having worked hard to learn their lines, lyrics and tricky dance moves. Dancing Dave, has wowed us all with his ‘jazz hands’ (and feet) and the beautiful Maid Marion and handsome Robin have left some hearts fluttering. Nursie has just, well, left us with some wind! It was an amazing performance by everyone in the Junior department at Highclare St Paul’s. We are really proud of you.

Senior & Sixth Form Youth Speaks

Theatre of Debate

In February a team comprising Shivan Pattni, Ellis Jackson and Samuel Donaghue from Highclare Seniors, gave a superb and confident speech to argue the case for “A-I, The Delete Key on Humanity” and this

The Theatre of Debate touring company came to Highclare Senior School and pupils from U4 to U5 watched a performance of the hard-hitting medical drama ‘People are Messy’. They then participated in a debate with the cast about some of the medical ethics issues raised in the play.

won them the first round of the Youth Speaks challenge organised locally by the Rotary Club of Wylde Green.

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They went forward to the District competition in March competing against 8 other schools where they gained a very creditable 3rd place. Congratulations!

The Righteous Pups Charity of Australia L4 pupil Skye Langford-Brown delivered an interesting assembly in February, in the presence of the whole senior school, on the charity she and her family got involved with whilst on holiday in Australia over the Christmas period. The charity is called The Righteous Pups Charity of Australia and provides specially trained dogs to help children and their families deal with autism.

It was a thought-provoking afternoon for all.

The tour is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust and Oxford University Hospital.

Active Learning in Science Pupils in U4 have been learning about ‘The Eye’ in Biology lessons. They were all keen and enthusiastic to learn about the eye through active learning. Pupils dissected the eye using scalpels, tweezers and scissors.

Health and safety was also a focus in the lesson including handling equipment, hygiene concerns, setting up and clearing away. Pupils identified the different parts of the eye such as cornea, lens and sclera.

This helped them to understand the functions of the different parts of the eye and also aided them in understanding problems with the eye such as long and short sight. This gave them the further opportunity to reflect and then explore further work on eye diseases.

Mrs Langford-Brown was invited to the assembly and had lunch with Mrs Moore, Skye and her friends afterwards. Well done, Skye.

GCSE Science Live In February, L5 visited the Symphony Hall in Birmingham to see GCSE Science Live. They were able to hear famous scientists talk about their field of expertise.

Presentations were given by Professors Lord Robert Winston, Andrea Sella, Jim Al-Khalili, Alice Roberts and Dr Simon Singh. They talked about how the human race is naturally extremely infertile; how maths is found in the most unusual of sources such as the

TV cartoon The Simpsons; the financial benefits of pursuing a career in science; why and how zebras have stripes; black holes and the possibility of time travel and identifying evolution without fossils. It was an extremely enjoyable and enlightening day.

Maariya Suleman L5R

Artwork chosen to be published in a national guide GCSE and A Level artwork by Alisha Khanna (L6) and former 6th Form student Emma White has been selected to appear in a global publication. A total of 7 pages from their course sketchbooks have been chosen to appear in “100 High School Sketchbooks”, which is the first publication from “The Student Art Guide” (www.studentartguide.com). The book will be available in both hardcopy and electronic format and will contain outstanding sketchbook pages from high school Art Departments around the world. The book is intended to provide a valuable and inspiring learning resource that celebrates and promotes the achievement of students, teachers and schools in a range of specialist art areas.

Alisha’s and Emma’s work was chosen from a highly competitive field of over 500 entries and the quality of the work submitted was outstanding. We are delighted that their work will now go on to achieve wider recognition. The book is due for publication later this year.

Tutbury Castle L4 pupils took part in the annual History Department trip to Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire.

They were granted an audience with ‘Queen Elizabeth I’ who entertained them with stories of her life and upbringing as well as letting our pupils ask questions about life in Tudor times. She also allowed them to handle some impressive artefacts including a genuine Tudor sword used for executions.

The L4 students ended their trip by exploring the castle grounds, chasing each other down the castle’s impressive slopes and admiring the horses grazing by our coach!

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Sixth Form Post Mock London Trip On Thursday 25th February, Mr Parkinson, Mrs Moore and 20 students in the Sixth Form went on a fantastic and enjoyable trip to London.

The day started nice and early with a train journey from Birmingham to London. As soon as we arrived at London Euston, we proceeded to Embankment on the underground, as first on our list of things to do was a trip on the London Eye. There was not a very long queue to get onto the pod, so it wasn’t long before we were next in line; it was going to be our turn, and we all managed to fit into one capsule. The London Eye was a tremendous, exhilarating experience and during the ride it was possible to see the whole of London. At the very top, some of us felt a little scared, but the view was spectacular.

At one point during the ride, Mr Parkinson decided to take a group photo.

No one hesitated, and we all began to move into position. As everyone started to walk to one end of the pod, we felt a creek, which certainly didn’t give any confidence to those of us who suffered from a fear of heights!

Once we had disembarked from the London Eye, next on the agenda was lunch at Planet Hollywood. Many of us had developed a healthy appetite after such an early start, and the food there was delicious.

We didn’t have long to let our lunch settle, as we headed straight off to the Novello Theatre in Covent Garden, where we watched a marvellous performance of Mamma Mia. We were all singing, clapping and tapping our feet through the entire performance. At the end of the show, the entire sixth form stood up to join in with the dancing and singing, copying the dance moves of the professionals on stage. It was an uplifting and enjoyable performance that put a smile on all our faces.

To end this perfect trip, we even had time to go shopping around Covent Garden, and to no one’s surprise, everyone managed to buy something!

Finally, it was time to leave, and we all made our way to Euston for the journey back home. We all agreed that we had spent an unforgettable day in London, providing a welcome break after our mock examinations and all that revision!

Megan Bushell L6

British Values Week at Highclare Junior Schools The pupils at Highclare St Paul’s and Highclare Woodfield learned some new life skills as part of a week long celebration of British values. There were assemblies and tea parties on both sites which involved some parents and there was a House Poetry Competition at Highclare St Paul’s. Every child in the Juniors wrote a poem to show what British Values meant to them, the house and sports captains chose a winner from each year group to represent their house and these were passed on to Mrs Bennett to choose one winner from each class and then an overall winner.

All of the children enjoyed the visit from a police lady and a sniffer dog called Yasmin.

The children also looked at traditional British values in their subject lessons and studied some other cultures.

J5 and J6 enjoyed learning how to assess for danger, check airways and promote breathing in their first aid session with Ms Bolton. They all had a go at resuscitating Annie and were exhausted afterwards!

They followed this by learning how to stop someone from choking and finally they bandaged each other’s cuts.

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Pre-School parents were invited to attend the weekly Merit Assembly.

As part of British Values Week, the children were encouraged to wear red, white and blue. They all decorated a Union Jack flag which the children waved whilst singing the National Anthem. We had rehearsed singing this throughout the previous week.

Pre-School children were encouraged to respect their environment and have a sense of belonging, respecting the beliefs of others by noticing similarities and differences around them.

The Butterflies gained stickers every time they used their manners; please and thank you. In the Bees they received a star for listening beautifully on the carpet. They have all enjoyed using their manners and saying please and thank you.

Pre-School 2, (Bees) did an activity which helped to reinforce why it is so important to wash their hands properly, particularly before eating food.

Using an ultra-violet light box and a hand-wash gel, the children were encouraged to wash away the gel which was pretending to be ‘the germs’. The children were fascinated when the ‘germs’ glowed white and then disappeared when they were washed away. ‘It was like magic!’ commented Jayani.

Junior pupils have also learned how to clean and polish their shoes, sew on a button, make toast and save money.

Junior Round-up Little Big Interview with Andy Murray Well done to Edward Morrison, J3 pupil at Highclare Woodfield, who conducted a very confident interview with Andy Murray at the beginning of the Davis Cup in Birmingham.

It appeared on You Tube and other social media.

J3 Investigate Light The science topic this term, ‘Mirror, Mirror’, was all about light. The children in J3P enjoyed finding out about light and reflection through various practical activities. By shining a bright light onto different surfaces they learnt that most materials reflect light, but that some are much better reflectors than others.

The best reflectors were shiny, smooth surfaces, like polished wood, metal spoons, and of course, mirrors! They also experimented with mirrors to change the direction of light and made their own mirror mazes.

J5 History Trips

Fun with Fractions

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

J4P have been having lots of fun in Maths this term learning about fractions. They made their own 3D fraction dice to help them find pairs of equivalent fractions and by using wool and metre sticks, they found fractions of different lengths.

J5 at Highclare Woodfield travelled to Stratford to experience life in Tudor times. At the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust they enjoyed learning about all aspects of Tudor life as they took part in the ‘Rich Man, Poor Man’ workshop.

They were especially interested in the documents and treasures held in the secure vaults which include the only surviving letter to William Shakespeare and Shakespeare’s gold signet ring.

The children were excited to see the house where Shakespeare was born and lived and were fascinated to think that they were walking in the footsteps of not only Shakespeare, but other well-known visitors such as Charles Dickens, John Keats, Walter Scott and Thomas Hardy. A walk through the streets of Stratford took them past Nash’s House and on to Hall’s Croft and during the walk some amazing old black and white buildings could be seen. The children were amazed by how crooked and “wobbly” the buildings looked. The children thoroughly enjoyed their step back in time to Tudor life.

Sarehole Mill J5 at Highclare St Paul’s visited Sarehole Mill in Birmingham as part of their combined History and Design Technology studies. They enjoyed several fun-filled activities during the day including how to grind wheat and make bread.

The Roman Empire J4 at Highclare Woodfield completed fabulous independent research projects to conclude their History topic on The Roman Empire. The children decided themselves how they wanted to present their projects. They have created a beautiful and vibrant display in the Junior House.

Signed Football Shirt and Tickets to be Auctioned for Charity Three enterprising youngsters from J6 Highclare St Paul’s have approached well-known local football clubs to enlist their support with their charity enterprise project. Sam Harvey, Femi Olofinjana and Dilan Jundu have secured donations that have included signed footballs and shirts, which they intend to sell to raise money for the African Space Trust. The boys are particularly grateful to Walsall Football Club for their generosity in contributing a signed club shirt and four tickets to the Walsall v Southend game which will be held on April 16th.

3D Shape Building Maths in J6 is made even more fascinating when the pupils use fruit gums and cocktail sticks!

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Infants Maths in Reception is Fun The Reception children have enjoyed their maths lessons learning about money and learning to add up. They have used games and role play as part of their learning experience.

The Storyteller visits J1 Following a special Book Week assembly, the pupils from J1R pupils were able to enjoy a collection of stories with ‘Jake the Storyteller’.

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J1 Polar Explorers The children in J1 at Highclare St Paul’s investigated how layers of material trap air and keep Polar explorers warm in cold climates.

They also learned how the explorers have to travel light and use special dried food to supply them with energy.

Puppets

J2 Pizza Experience

Children in J2R have been studying puppets in Design and Technology.

They looked at different styles of puppets and designed and created their own which included finger puppets, stick puppets and string puppets. The children then designed their own felt hand puppet and learned how to sew a running stitch.

J2 enjoyed a great experience when they visited Pizza Express. They put on chefs hats and aprons before rolling their sleeves up to stretch the pizza dough. Exemplary behaviour. Well done!

Pre-School Learning through Nursery Rhymes This term Pre-School have been listening to traditional stories and Nursery rhymes. They have enjoyed assorted craft activities and through dressing-up and role play, the children were able to become their favourite characters. Every pupil in the Bees was able to retell the whole story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears by using a bank of resources.

The Humpty Dumpty rhyme provided many activities, such as trying to balance a hardboiled egg on different walls, making Humpty Dumpty from paper plates with concertina legs, sequencing the rhyme and drawing the character using TUX paint on the Interactive White Board. Humpty Dumpty Bingo was also a ‘cracking’ success!

Chinese New Year Pupils in Pre-School 2 celebrated the Chinese New Year by making a chinese dragon and learning about the Year of the Monkey.

Experiments in Pre-School Pre-School 2 children have been learning how ice melts.

Junior Sports Results January – March 2016 NETBALL ISA U11 Girls’ Junior Netball (Malvern St. James, February 2016) The following nine girls were chosen to compete in this tournament:- Aimee Reid, Mia Jarvis, Madelyne Kennedy, Lydia King, Hope Mackenzie, Ruth Roper, Jasmine Smallwood, Leah Smith-Williams and Layla Wahid-Ashraf.

The girls were a credit to the school. They were smart and well-presented and behaved impeccably both on and off court. They played a total of eight matches, winning five and losing three giving them a position of third in their section of nine teams and fifth out of eighteen overall.

Final results: Lost 1-2 v Crackley Hall, Lost 0-5 v Malvern St James, Won 2-1 v St Joseph’s, Won 3-0 v Dixie Grammar, Lost 1-4 v St Edward’s, Won 5-0 v Bowbrook, Won 5-1 v St Dominic’s, Won 4-1 v St Wystan’s This is the order in which the girls played their matches. The team showed steady improvement throughout the day and listened well to team chats between matches. The top two teams went through to the semi-final stage and so we narrowly missed going through. The girls enjoyed the day and felt that it was a most worthwhile experience.

U9 ISA Netball (Stafford, March 2016) This was the girls’ first competitive experience and Mrs Taylor was extremely pleased with how they played. The squad worked well together and achieved some encouraging results. Three of the games were very close and one extra goal would have moved us into 2nd or 3rd position. Overall we finished in 4th place in our group of 6. The future looks promising for this team.

Final results: Won 4-1 v St Wystan’s, Lost 1-2 v Old Vicarage, Drew 2-2 v Mylnhurst, Lost 0-9 v Heathfield, Drew 2-2 v Chase Grammar Squad: Jyoti Mangal, Olivia Harvey, Saihaj Bains, Liberty Mackenzie, Molly Taunton, Tasmia Mirza, Elizabeth Warfield, Franziska Hupfer, Isabella Haigh.

FOOTBALL ISFA U11 Boys’ 7 a side (Repton School, February 2016) We were drawn in a very tough group and started the tournament against West House, who we had already played 3 times this school year. After going 1-0 behind early in the game, we fought back to earn a credible 1-1 draw against a very good opponent. Our next game was against Lichfield Cathedral School. This turned out to be our best game of the tournament. We got caught on the break twice to find ourselves 0-2 down at half time, only to come back in the second half and win 3-2 in a thrilling game! Fatigue was starting to set in, as the players had given it their all and we lost the last 3 group games against Wellingborough, Ratcliffe College and Kings Hawford. The boys never gave up and battled till the very end.

We finished joint 4th in our group. Well done to all the boys involved!

Squad: Toby Robinson, Harry Stephens, Subhaan Mirza, Samuel Harvey, Noah Southgate, Aamer Dilshad, Joseph Wright, Cyrus Rostami, Scott Gibson, Femi Olofinjana.

CROSS COUNTRY Invitational Cross Country U9s at Grace Dieu Manor School (Leicestershire, February 2016) Highclare School attended this very prestigious and well-organised event for the very first time on 4th February 2016. It was an excellent opportunity to give the younger children in the school the chance to compete against other independent schools in such a splendid setting. 11 schools competed in the boys’ race and 10 in the girls’ race with a maximum of 5 runners per school.

The course was a mixture of farmland and playing fields with plenty of hills.

All the runners did fantastically well to compete in this event which was 1.2 miles long. It is very encouraging to see our young pupils take part in such events and understand the value of fitness as so much is made these days of young people being inactive. The boys came 11th overall with Cameron Dhami the highest placed runner finishing an impressive 8th. The girls secured a fantastic 4th place position overall and Olivia Harvey finished highest in 7th place. Very well done to all our runners.

Running Team: Cameron Dhami, Ben Wilkinson, Yanis Sessegnon, William Brinkley, Jamie Davis, Olivia Harvey, Liberty Mackenzie, Isabella Haigh, Saihaj Bains, Molly Taunton.

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ISA Cross Country Year 5 and 6 (U11s) Bedstone College (Shropshire, February 2016) Bedstone Cross Country always lives long in the memory of those who run it as it is a very demanding course which requires grit, determination, stamina and luck. To complete the course is a great achievement.

Our highest finisher in the girls’ race was Daisy McGrath who came 12th, just two places off qualifying for the National and our highest placed by the boys’ team was Harry Stephens who came 25th.

Running Team: Harry Stephens, Toby Robinson, Samuel Harvey, Noah Southgate, Sulayman Saneh, Rohit Jakhu, Joseph Wright, Sebastian Hoffman, Daisy McGrath, Hope Mackenzie, Ruby Newman, Charlotte Hunter, Jasmine Smallwood, Lydia King, Alice Griffiths, Alice Mason-Williams

RUGBY ISA U9s Boys Tag Rugby (March 2016) Highclare can be proud of their U9 boys who kept on improving as the tournament progressed. They played some expansive attacking rugby and worked hard to close down the opposition. Highclare scored some excellent tries and Yanis Sessegnon ran out clear highest try scorer for the team with his powerful direct and purposeful running. We got through the group stage by improving our performances and ran Heathfield School very close in the plate semi-final losing 6-5. It was a great game which could easily have ended in victory for Highclare.

Squad: Eri Adebo, William Brinkley, Jamie Davis, Cameron Dhami, Isaac Lugg, Mandeep Sagoo, Oliver-Storm Sargeant, Yanis Sessegnon, Benjamin Wilkinson, James Wright.

CROSS COUNTRY U11s and U9s Invitational Cross Country Event (Mayfield Prep School, Walsall. March 2016) This was a ‘perfect’ Cross Country day in terms of weather and terrain. The weather was bitterly cold with a glimmer of sunshine which was followed by sleet, snow and rain. The ground was soggy and challenging but ideal to run on. The children were absolutely fantastic in how they approached the event and Mrs Singh and I were very proud of them all on the day. We spoke at the very beginning about giving 100% and doing your very best and I certainly feel that they did that on what was a tough day.

Seven schools entered the invitational Cross Country event at Mayfield. Highclare U9 Girls won the overall shield coming first in the team competition meaning all the runners were placed high up in the field to give them a very low score indeed. The U11 Girls came second in their category and the U11 Boys third. It was a great team effort by everyone.

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Highclare also enjoyed success on an individual basis with Olivia Harvey coming first and winning the U9 Girls race and Cameron Dhami repeating that feat coming first and winning the U9 Boys race too. Daisy McGrath came 5th in a closely contested race in the Girls U11 race and Harry Stephens 5th in the U11s Boys race.

Everyone showed great courage, determination and endeavour to give of their very best.

Invitational Cross Country at Hallfield School (Edgbaston, March 2016) Highclare took part in this excellent cross country event for the first time on Saturday 12th March. It comprised races for U9 boys and girls who ran a distance of 1.42 km and U11 boys and girls whose distance was 2.55 km. The course was on grass and a little on concrete with a few mini hills to test the competitors. The weather and course were perfect with the ground being firm and boggy in places and the weather sunny and crisp. The highest place finishers in each race was: Daisy McGrath (U11 girls) Toby Robinson (U11 boys) Olivia Harvey (U9 girls) and Cameron Dhami (U9 boys). There were a total of eight competing teams making this a very competitive race indeed. I would like to express my thanks to all those who represented the school and to those who were able to come and support on the day.

Squad of : Olivia Harvey, Saihaj Bains, Franzisca Hupfer, Isabella Haigh, Liberty Mackenzie. Cameron Dhami, Ben Wilkinson, William Brinkley, Eri Adebo. Daisy McGrath, Charlotte Hunter, Ruby Newman, Hope Mackenzie. Toby Robinson, Sam Harvey, Noah Southgate, Harry Stephens.

U9 Boys: Cameron Dhami, Ben Wilkinson, Yanis Sessegnon, William Brinkley, Eri Adebo U9 Girls: Olivia Harvey, Saihaj Bains, Isabella Haigh, Franzisca Hupfer, Liberty Mackenzie U11 Boys: Harry Stephens, Toby Robinson, Sam Harvey, Noah Southgate, Karam Johal U11 Girls: Daisy McGrath, Ruby Newman, Charlotte Hunter, Alice Griffiths, Hope Mackenzie

Senior Sports Results January – March 2016 SWIMMING ISA National Swimming Gala

RUGBY U13 ISA Rugby Tournament

(London, January 2016)

(Lucton, March 2016)

A massive congratulations to our 3 swimmers who attended the ISA National Finals at the Olympic Pool in London on Saturday 23rd January.

All 3 swimmers won a medal in their events and represented the Midlands with pride.

The boys played 4 fixtures and once again the standard of rugby at

Individual Successes Alexandra Bartley – 2 Gold Medals (200m Individual Medley, 200m Freestyle Relay) Harriet Gordon – 1 Silver Medal (200m Medley Relay) Adin Kamangira – 1 Bronze Medal (200m Freestyle Relay)

Degun, Sean Phagura, Edward Williams,

Team Results Girls (Year 7 – Year 13) 1st Midlands 161 points

Boys (Year 7 – Year 13) 2nd Midlands 124 points

the tournament was very high by all 8 teams involved. The Highclare boys displayed some great rugby and dominated most of their matches early on, the second half of games found the full size pitches a challenge and this tested their fitness.

Final result: 8th Place U13 Rugby Squad: Harry Mills, Jeevan Piers Robinson, Suleman Iqbal, Ethan Thorpe-Brown, Jack Newman, James Griffiths.

U13 Rugby v St Georges School (friendly) The game started with a great tempo and both teams pushed to score an early try. St Georges took the lead with a well worked try but failed

This is a fitting reward for all the hard work the pupils put into their swimming training sessions. They are a real asset and credit to the school!

to convert. Highclare defended well although some very strong runs from St Georges were hard to stop. The game finished 48-21 to St Georges.

FOOTBALL U16 Futsal Tournament

NETBALL U13 ISA Netball Tournament

(Birmingham Futsal Arena, March 16)

(Malvern St James, February 2016)

The boys were drawn in a league of 3 teams with each team playing each other twice, the top teams from each league would then go onto to represent Birmingham at the National Finals. Highclare scored 12 goals and only lost 1 of their 4 games and were unlucky to finish second in their group.

Final results: Won 4 - 2 v Kings Heath, Lost 0 - 1 v Aston Manor, Won 6 - 1 v Kings Heath, Drew 2 - 2 v Aston Manor U16 Team: Kurtis Clarke, Taleb Givans, Allistair Mukwende, Vishal Khosla, Daniel Hurst, Sami Hoq, Thomas West, Hassan Osman, Cameron Gregory.

U15 Girls v Bishop Walsh (friendly) The first half of the game was fairly tight with both teams winning their battles in midfield and breaking free on the wing to put dangerous crosses into the box. The Highclare back three defended strongly, dealing with the fast pace of the Bishop Walsh wingers and the quick feet of their centre forward.

The second half saw Bishop Walsh up the tempo and despite the girls’ best efforts, they capitalised on their chances and some fine finishes left the final score 10-0 to Bishop Walsh.

U16 Girls v North Birmingham Academy

(friendly)

The girls were unlucky to concede two goals from deflections but pushed forwards putting pressure on the NBA goal keeper, and scoring from the resulting goal mouth scramble. Despite the girls’ efforts NBA showed a relentless attacking formation which saw the final score 10-1 win to NBA. Girls Squad: Sommer-Mae Shaw, Jamie Richards, Niamh Pemberton, Megan Ealing, Abigail Davis, Urooj Ayyub, Cameron Day, Katie Power, Caitlin O’Connor, Charlotte O’Neill, Kate Stephens, Beaulah Johnson.

A cold day in a beautiful setting with the Malvern Hills as a backdrop.

After a round robin tournament where we played 8 other schools, we finished 5th overall.

Final results: Won 5 - 3 v Dixie Grammar, Lost 2 - 8 v Stafford Grammar Lost 5 - 9 v St Edwards, Lost 5 - 14 v Heathfield, Drew 7 - 7 v Dodderhill, Lost 0 - 6 v Malvern St James, Lost 1 - 2 v Our Lady’s Convent, Won 17 - 0 v Tettenhall College U14 Team: Rebekah Olatundun, Georgia Platt, Katie Power, Alexandra Bartley, Niamh Pemberton, Caitlin O’Connor, Beaulah Johnson, Kate Stephens.

Netball v Chase Grammar Highclare, February 2015) Our teams played extremely well against the Chase Grammar opposition on home territory. The final scores were very convincing and our teams dominated throughout.

Year 7 won 22 - 0 Year 8 won 17 - 4

Year7/8 Sutton Schools Sports Hall League (Fairfax/Plantsbrook, February 16) In this friendly indoor league, we played 3 matches over 2 weeks, losing 2 and winning 1.

Final results: Lost 7 – 10 v Fairfax, Lost 4 – 16 v Arthur Terry, Won 8 – 6 v Plantsbrook.

Year 7/8 Team: Beaulah Johnson, Tiffany Rowland-Lovatt, Kate Stephens, Ainara Zubialde Alonso, Jessica Davis, Scarlett Dunne, Lizzie Pulley, Amani Palmer-Peters, Kia Weekes.

HOCKEY U13 Sutton Schools Hockey League (Wyndley, February/March 2016) Both the girls and boys teams have enjoyed their weekly competitive matches and have grown in confidence and skill over the weeks. A big thank you to the Year 9 and 10 girls who have given up their time each week to umpire. The final matches were played in the league to determine the overall results.

Girls Results Lost 0 - 3 v Fairfax 8

Boys Results Lost 0 - 2 v Fairfax Won 2 - 0 v Holte

Final Positions Girls 3rd out of 7 teams

Boys 2nd out of 3 teams

All pupils were delighted when presented with their respective medals by hockey legend Jane Sixsmith. Congratulations also to the 4 girls who have completed their Umpiring course.

Girls Squad: Beaulah Johnson, Tiffany RowlandLovatt, Kate Stephens, Ainara Zubialde Alonso, Jocelyn Thomas, Jessica Davis, Scarlett Dunne, Safa Khan, Ree’al Downie-Holder, Lizzie Pulley, Leva Modzeliauskaite.

Boys Squad: Jeevan Degan, Suleman Iqbal, Jorsh Johal, Sean Phagura, Haydar Baig, James Gibson, Piers Robinson, Abdul Awan, William Dawson, Toby Walton, James Griffiths, Charlie Savage, Mohammed Baseer.

Umpires: Caitlin O’Connor, Marika Fraser-Ryan, Megan Ealing, Abigail Davis.

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CROSS COUNTRY ISA Midlands Cross Country

ISA National Cross-Country Finals

(Bedstone College, February 2016)

(Princethorpe College, February 2016)

Our senior school cross country runners travelled to Bedstone College in Shropshire for the annual Midlands ISA event. We all walked the tough and very muddy course in our wellies to prepare for the races later in the day. A special congratulations to those who won medals and those who finished in the top ten.

On Saturday 27th February, 6 senior Highclare pupils represented the Midlands at the National ISA cross country event held at Princethorpe College. 7 regions were present with their top 10 regional finishers, meaning there were 60 - 70 runners per race.

They all now qualify to represent the Midlands at the ISA National Cross Country Championships in February at Princethorpe College.

U14 Girls (2400m) 22nd Jocelyn Thomas, 39th Sophie Smith, 56th Skye Langford-Brown, 76th Kia Weekes, 77th Ainara Zubialde Alonso, 95th Kate Stephens.

U14 Boys (2400m) 9th Jack Newman, 34th Jeevan Degun, 65th Joe de Waele, 71st Ben Bonner, 85th James Gibson, 87th Luke Dowling, 90th Jorsh Johal, 92nd Toby Walton, 94th James Griffiths.

U16 Girls (3700m) 2nd Caitlin O’Connor, 7th Harriet Gordon, 15th Alexandra Bartley, 33rd Daisy Quirke, DNF Georgia Platt.

U16 Boys (4800m) 3rd Daniel Hurst, 12th Lawrie Cox, 15th Marcus Ray, 34th Timothy Beesley, 44th Zach Andrews, 52nd Joseph Pemberton, 62nd Omid Mobed, 63rd Billy Pickering.

The standard of the event was very high with electronic timing successfully used again. Well done to all Highclare runners!

Year 7/8 Boys (2850m) Jack Newman 44th

12.24 mins

Year 9/10 Girls (2850m) Caitlin O’Connor 13th Harriet Gordon 36th

12.19 mins 13.56 mins

Year 9/10 Boys (4000m) Daniel Hurst 26th

16.15 mins

Year 11/12/13 Girls (3550m) Verity O’Shea 2nd Grace Stirland 4th

15.07 mins 15.54 mins

U18 Girls (3700m) 1st Verity O’Shea, 2nd Grace Stirland.

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U18 Boys (4800m) 32nd Hassan Osman.

SPORTS HALL ATHLETICS Year 7/8 Sutton Schools Sports Hall Athletics (Arthur Terry, January 2016) Year 7 Girls Team: - 2nd out of 7 teams Sophie Smith, Kia Weekes, Sadie Carroll, Paula Alonso, Amani Palmer-Peters, Ree’al Downie-Holder.

Year 8 Girls Team: - 4th out of 8 teams Jocelyn Thomas, Kate Stephens, Ainara Zubialde Alonso, Beaulah Johnson, Destiny Roberts.

Year 7 Boys Team: - 7th out of 8 teams Jack Newman, James Griffiths, Ethan Thorpe-Brown, Ben Bonner, Toby Walton, Andrew Evans, Junior Sessegnon.

Year 8 Boys Team: - 7th out of 7 teams Jorsh Johal, Jeevan Degun, James Gibson, Suleman Iqbal, Piers Robinson, Harry Mills.

Year 7/8 Sutton Schools Sports Hall League (Fairfax/Plantsbrook, February 2016) In this friendly indoor league, we played 3 matches over 2 weeks, losing 2 and winning 1.

Lost 7 – 10 v Fairfax Lost 4 – 16 v Arthur Terry Won 8 – 6 v Plantsbrook Year 7/8 Team: Beaulah Johnson, Tiffany Rowland-Lovatt, Kate Stephens, Ainara Zubialde Alonso, Jessica Davis, Scarlett Dunne, Lizzie Pulley, Amani Palmer-Peters, Kia Weekes.

CROSS COUNTRY Gallery of Cross Country Runners

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Charity and Community News Annual Pancake Races

IT Schools Africa

The children at Highclare St Paul’s and Highclare Woodfield enjoyed their sponsored pancake races in February.

We have been informed that some of the computer equipment that Highclare School donated to IT Schools Africa was sent to Chileshe Chepela Secondary School, Kasama, Zambia.

The children have worked hard raising money for our chosen charity African Space Trust by collecting their sponsorship money and have so far raised ÂŁ691.

The winners from each class received an Easter egg as their prize.

The school has really benefited from the equipment; giving more children an education in IT and equipping them with the essential IT skills they need to go on to further education and to access better paid jobs.

Follow this charity on: www.itschoolsafrica.org

Easter Raffle All three sites are holding an Easter raffle with lovely chocolate hampers and Easter egg prizes.

Skiing in Austria During half term, a group of Highclare senior pupils and staff travelled to Austria to enjoy the skiing. They stayed in the bustling village of Wagrain at the heart of the Sportwelt Amadé, a huge interlinked skiing area with over 800 km of pistes.

The 6 day ski course included 4 hours of instruction per day. Lift passes and ski hire were also included and everyone received an official ski school certificate at the end of the week. The pupils were divided into ski groups according to their experience and ability. Everyone made very good progress. There were evening activities, such as swimming at the popular Wasserwelt, open-air curling and a torch-lit walk.

If you would like to sponsor the Headmaster’s Termly Newsletter call 0121 373 7400 or visit www.highclareschool.co.uk