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Highfield Schools’

Newsletter ‘Growing together,

learning for life’

Newsletter 17 26 June 2020

‘Love School Life’

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends,

It has been lovely to welcome back some of our Reception children over the last couple of

weeks. The teachers have been so impressed with how quickly they have settled into the

new routines. Well done everyone!

Once again, you will see from the articles in this newsletter how busy everyone has been.

Today is the last day for the DT challenge. The creativity and originality of the entries reflect

just how much thought and planning the children have put into them. The judges are going

to have a very hard job choosing a winner next week. Also, well done to all of you who

have joined in with the modern language pebbles activity. I will certainly be looking out

more carefully to see if I can discover any when I am out walking next time.

We are consistently reminded just how thoughtful and kind the children at Highfield are and

this is clearly evident in this edition. The video from Hedgehog Class has given us all a boost

this week. It is also lovely to see how events that are happening during lockdown are

inspiring our children to express themselves through art and digital media. Whether inspired

by a personal event such as learning to ride a bike, national events like commemoration of

Windrush Day, Teachers’ Day or international, like Black Lives Matter, it is impressive that

children are continuing to engage with the world around them.

Finally, I want to confirm that you will shortly be receiving information about the new classes

for next year and the children will have the opportunity to meet their new teachers via

Google Classroom. Please also note that we will produce our next and final newsletter on

17th July which will include a round up for the year.

Best wishes,

Mrs Allison Morris

Headteacher

Our school value for this half term is Determination

“Achieve something you thought you couldn’t do.” “Believe that you can do it!”

“Work hard. Never give up”. The British Value is Individual Liberty

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Highfield at Home

Zinuo (Fox) has captured a special moment during

lockdown - learning to ride his bike without

stabilisers, with the help of his dad. He used oil

paints on a pebble and canvas to capture the

special moment.

Thank you for sharing your powerful poem with us Eden. What happened

to George Floyd has resonated with us all. As Eden says ‘let’s be the

solution’ - we all have a part to play in fighting racism, ignorance and hate.

Hedgehog Class have made a special video using the Bruno

Mars song, Count on Me. This is a real treat - the children

perform brilliantly. The choice of song is perfect, sharing the

values of friendship, kindness and support, which we see on

this page from our youngest children in reception through to

Kayla in year 5 and Eden in year 6; making us very proud.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we have. Thank you

Hedgehogs and a special thank you to Kasper’s uncle for

putting it together!

Kayla (Birch) created this acrostic poem to

celebrate Teachers Day. Thank you Kayla!

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Highfield Juniors Annual Sports Awards

On Thursday 25thJune, we held our 4th annual, but 1st virtual, Highfield

Sports Awards evening. This event is a celebration of sport across the year

at Highfield. The captains of various teams gave speeches reviewing the year,

with staff members awarding prizes for each sport, culminating in the Highfield

Sports Person of the Year award. Below is a list of the prize winners:

Well done to all our prize winners and to everyone who has represented the school in sporting

events this year. Mr Ayres, Sports Lead

Football Coaches Player (Boys) Tom Haynes

Football Players Player (Boys) Sam Trim

Football Coaches Player (Girls) Scarlett Boland

Football Players Player (Girls) Hanna Kowalewska

Netball Coaches Player Maya Gurenko

Netball Players Player William Knight

Athletics Zuri Chambers

Cross Country Charlie Hay

Swimming Christian Headley

Hockey Coaches Player Charlotte Geear/Katie Neil

Hockey Players Player Oliver Stone

Rugby Ewan Dobbs

External Lily Africa

SPOTY Nominee Henry Bentley

SPOTY Nominee Scarlett Boland

SPOTY Nominee Sam Trim

SPOTY Nominee Katie Neil

SPOTY Winner Ewan Dobbs

National Windrush Day

On Monday we observed National

Windrush Day celebrating the legacy of

Empire Windrush with all year groups

across the school. We would like to

share this fantastic poster created by

Zinuo in Fox Class and a very special

video from Fotini in Squirrel Class where

Fotini shares what she has learnt about

Windrush and her own family’s

connections. Brilliant work!

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DT Challenge RAINBOW Transporters

Arthur (Oak) has put lots of work into

this super long transporter!

Emily (Hazel) has used light to

create a rainbow reflection

when her transporter moves!

Darcey (Oak) has made a funky

rainbow transporter for her troll!

Lola’s (Beech) beautiful rainbow

hot air balloon .

Holly (Plum) made a rainbow rocket

from colourful cubes!

Zoe (Birch) used her blueprint picture to

build a model of her rainbow rocket.

Luke (Elm) has stacked these

arches to create a rainbow rocket.

Issie (Elm) made a rainbow

transporter which lights up in the

dark!

Jasmine (Plum) has transformed a plastic

bottle into a fabulous rainbow peace

transporter.

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Bonjour!

The children of both Highfield Schools have

been busy this term spreading MFL words

through Language Stones; a good way to

combine their creativity with their knowledge

and love of languages.

Something very enjoyable to do, find some

stones, paint your stones and write on them. You

could do phrases from the languages you learn

at school but also any that you speak at home.

The best paint to use is acrylic paint, and then

write on the stone with a Sharpie pen. Once that

is done, the stone will need a protective layer. A

good way of doing this is to use clear nail varnish

or clear sealant.

Then, you need to hide them somewhere public.

Good places to hide the Language Stones are

parks, footpaths, bus stops, outside shops and

public buildings. Try not to make them too hard

to spot - you want people to find them! When

you find someone’s Language Stone, take a

photo and then hide it again!

We have been overwhelmed by the response

we have had so far, we have had some lovely

stones being found around the corner, in a

nearby park! The children enjoyed going on a

stones hunt!

Feel free to join in with the activity, spread some

linguistics!

A Bientot!

Madam Debov

Modern Foreign Language Pebbles

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Where in the world?

Ziva (Mouse) has an Aunty Naz who lives in Dubai.

Thomas (Ash) and James

(Squirrel) have grandparents

who live in New Zealand.

This world map shows the locations from which the school website has been

visited. All the countries shaded blue have visited our website! We asked you if

you have relatives who live in those countries and what their lives are like…

Kayla’s (Birch) dad lives in Nigeria.

Devina (Hedgehog) has

relatives in China, Australia,

Nepal and Scotland!

Hannah (Beech) and Alex (Otter)

have a cousin, Maja, who lives in a

village in Denmark and a second

cousin, Eric, who lives in Ghana.

Click on the countries to find out

more about their lives!

Rees (Rabbit) and Issie (Elm)

have grandparents who live

on a farm in New Zealand.

You can look at their project

all about life in New

Zealand by following the

link!

If you would like to share information

about your relatives who live

elsewhere in the world send them in

to the school office email addresses.

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Wellbeing

I attended an online course recently and one of things discussed was the 3 psychological phases of dealing with a crisis.

Very simply put, these are the stages:

Stage 1 : EMERGENCY : Shared clear goals and urgency make us feel energized, focused and productive

Stage 2 : REGRESSION : We realise that the future is uncertain, we lose sense of purpose, we get tired, irritable, withdrawn and

become less productive

Stage 3 : RECOVERY : We begin to re-orientate, we revise our goals, expectations and roles, we begin to focus on moving

beyond just ‘getting by’.

ALL OF THIS IS A NORMAL REACTION TO AN ABNORMAL SITUATION

I found this really helpful in understanding changing moods and a change in motivation levels.

Lots of us are still stuck in stage 2, both parents/carers and children.

I wanted to reassure some of you who may be experiencing difficulty that it is normal and ok but, if you are worried about your

child’s mental health, please contact me on 02084602597

Carol Rushmere

Family Worker

Your school uniform supplies Highfield Infants’

School logo uniform items.

Due to disruption caused by the pandemic

their normal business turn around has been

impacted.

Orders should be placed in July to help them

deliver the uniform for children returning to

school in September.

Please note lead times when ordering your

uniform.

www.yourschooluniform.com

Please note the separate suppliers of uniform for Highfield Infants and Junior Schools