Headteacher`s Newsletter July 2015

The Summer Fair
Headteacher’s Newsletter
July 2015
Dear parents,
The summer holidays are upon us once more and after such a
busy and successful year, I think everyone deserves a relaxing
break. As you can see below, it’s been a rather hectic last few
weeks...
Year 6 Show
On a glorious summer’s day, the playground was filled with
magic for the ‘Alice in Wonderful Summer Fair’. The Mad
Hatter’s Parade charmed the crowd, the ‘Soak the Teacher’
caused much hilarity and the barbecue satisfied many a belly.
Not only did everyone have an afternoon of fun, over £3000
was raised for the school. Special thanks must go to Ed and
Gabby who created the keyhole entrance and to our very own
Mad Hatter, Ali. Also a big thank you to all the parents, staff and
children who supported the final event of the year.
The PSA would like to thank everyone who has given their
precious time and hard work throughout the year for our
school. You are all greatly appreciated and we feel very proud
of our thriving and fun PSA.
Goodbye Lizzie
Everyone who came along to our Year 6 leavers’ show, ‘The
60s in 60 minutes’, was overwhelmed by such a professional,
polished and emotional performance. The quality of the singing
and dancing was exceptional, as the cast took its audience back
in time to swinging London, the battles between Mods and
Rockers and the Civil Rights Movement. There wasn’t a dry eye
in the house as The Temptations reunited for an inspired
rendition of ‘My Girl’, and the ensemble piece ‘She Got on the
Bus’ made the hairs on your neck stand up. This was Highgate
Primary at its absolute best and a reminder of what talented
children we have.
Year 6 may be ready for secondary school, but we’re certainly
not ready to say goodbye to Lizzie Bloom. Lizzie has been a
stalwart of the PSA since Molly started school in reception, and
has been its chair for an incredible six years. She has planned,
organised, attended and tidied up at every single PSA event
over this time, helping to raise an incredible £120,000 for our
children. Her contribution to school has quite simply been
incredible. Please join me in thanking Lizzie for all she has done.
Willows Farm
Test Results
Once again our children have amazed us with their
perseverance, hard work and very impressive results in each of
the national test. Almost 90% of our Year 1 children passed the
National Phonics Screener this year (the national average last
year was 76%). This is a fantastic achievement, especially
considering that several of our children were new to English
this year. Pupils in Year 2 also achieved very highly, performing
exceptionally well in the KS1 SATs for reading, writing and
maths. Our Year 6 results were also exceptional. Around 90%
of pupils achieved the level expected for the end of Year 6 and
nearly 60% achieved a level 5 in reading, writing and maths, the
level expected for the end of Year 8! I am hugely proud of all of
our children’s achievements and know that our Year 6s are
more than ready for secondary school.
To conclude their farming topic, Year 1 had a wonderful trip at
Willows Farm last week where they fed goats and cows from
their very own hands, stroked some guinea pigs and watched a
very funny dog and duck show. The children loved the tractor
ride and even learnt how to milk a cow. This was a memorable
day out in the countryside that the children will remember for a
long time to come.
Natural History Museum
Year 5 enjoyed a wonderful day out in the Suffolk countryside
with a morning getting to know the children in our partnership
school in the village of Stoke-by-Nayland. The classes then
explored the village including the magnificent St Mary’s Church,
had a picnic lunch on the school field and played the school at
football before heading off to Flatford Mill, in the heart of
Constable country. The children sketched the mill pond made
famous in Constables most famous landscape ‘The Haywain’ and
enjoyed a stroll down the river. This was an inspiring trip in
every respect.
Year 2 Sleepover
This term Year 3 and Year 4 have been on two separate trips
to the Natural History Museum. Year 3 were looking for
dinosaurs and were thrilled to meet the giant and terrifying
Tyrannosaurus Rex. Year 4 spent the day in the Earth zone
learning more about volcanoes and earthquakes - and even
experienced what a real earthquake tremor feels like. An
inspiring finale to two fascinating topics.
Frinton-on-Sea
After a false start and plenty of singing on the coach, all the
children from Year 2 made it to Frinton-on-Sea for a fun-filled
day at the beach. For some children this was their first time at
the seaside and it was lovely to see the look of excitement and
joy on their faces. After a picnic lunch on the beach, the
children took part in sandcastle building competitions and had a
paddle in the almost tropical North Sea. The sun continued to
shine on a memorable day out celebrating our Sun, Sea and
Sand topic, with everyone arriving back to school full of seaside
facts and stories.
Stoke-by-Nayland
Last Friday, after everyone else had gone home, children in Year
2 returned to school laden with backpacks, sleeping bags and
mats, to take part in the school’s first ever sleepover! The
children enjoyed a wonderful array of activities including a
treasure hunt, songs around a camp fire, roasting marshmallows
and watching a film. Mags even managed to rustle up a fine
dinner and breakfast for all the happy campers. It was a fantastic
event that created a real buzz of excitement that was still
present on Monday morning.
Year 4 Guitar Concert
Well done to all the Year 4 guitarists and violinists who last
week put on two truly impressive end of year concerts. The
classes showed just how much they have achieved over the
course of the year, learning their new instruments and
performing a range of pieces together. The Whole Class Music
Tuition Scheme, funded by PSA, is a wonderful opportunity for
our children to experience learning an instrument.
A visit to Parliament
To cap off a busy and successful year for the debating club, the
children enjoyed a special day inside the Houses of Parliament.
The children watched the Speaker’s Procession on the way to
chair Prime Minister’s Questions, before meeting Baroness
Hilary Armstrong of Hilltop and Catherine West MP in a
committee room in the Lords. Here the children debated the
subject of school uniform and spoke on the subject of what
they would do if they were Prime Minister. The politicians were
impressed with the quality of the speakers and definitely
spotted politicians of the future. A week later, our new MP in
Parliament, Catherine West, reciprocated with a visit to
Highgate Primary. After a tour of the school, Catherine visited
the green ambassadors to hear about their work on the Green
Council.
The Family Centre also joined in and held their own sports day
in the playground, making wonderful use of the new multi-use
games area. About 16 children took part in water bucket races,
jumping through hoops and bouncing on trampolines. There
were giggles aplenty and, as you can see, clearly many budding
sports stars of the future.
School of Rock
Panathalon
Last week Alex’s ‘School of Rock’ band gave a very impressive
performance of the rock classic ‘I hate to say I told you so’ by
The Hives, to a very appreciative and impressed school
audience. The band has been working hard every Tuesday
evening, learning all about rock music and experimenting with a
variety of instruments and songs. Well done to Alex and his
School of Rock.
Sports Days
Last week Becca Lewis, our SENCo, took a mixed age team to
represent Highgate Primary at the Primary Panathlon held at
the Vale School. There were ten schools there in total, and all
the children took part in a wide variety of throwing, jumping
and running games, all of which involved skill and accuracy. All
the team had a great time, and performed brilliantly, so much so
that they ended up proud silver medalists! Well done to
Dougie, Lucas, Miszela, Aron and Filip, who did themselves, and
the school, so proud.
Year 5 Football
Under beautiful blue skies, the school successfully held its
sports days at Highgate Woods, where the children impressed
all present with their running, jumping and throwing ability,
competitive spirit and wonderful sportsmanship. For the first
time, the Juniors’ event incorporated the more challenging
400m race where competitors certainly rose to the challenge.
The Nursery and Reception events were followed by family
picnics, where the children and their parents were able to
celebrate their successes in style. Thank you to Rob and Stuart
for organising all the events and to all the parents who cheered
from the sidelines.
Earlier in the term, boys and girls teams from Year 5 took part
in a borough-wide football tournament at St. Thomas More
Catholic School. The amount of effort the children put in on a
baking hot day was exceptional and the children learnt a lot
over the course of the competition. Initially, the matches were
hard as the other teams were more experienced than ours, but
the players never let their heads drop and were rewarded with
fine victories towards the end of the day. Special mention
should go to our top scorer, Roumy, who was the epitome of a
modern box-to-box midfielder.
Dragon Boat Festival
We are enormously proud of our imaginative and determined
children who have now raised over £1000 for the Nepal
Earthquake Appeal - truly fantastic achievement.
Cashless Office
Please remember the office is taking the positive step of going
cashless from the start of the Autumn Term. If you have not
already done so, please register on the website for easy and
safe online payments. If you have any questions at all, please do
not hesitate to email the office at [email protected] or call, or simply pop in. Lunch costs for
Autumn term are as follows:
Autumn 1
Autumn 2
Both terms
Year 4 have been learning about the Chinese Dragon Boat
Festival which is celebrated on the 5th Day of the 5th Lunar
Month, during which children wear 'perfume pouches' with
fragrant herbs inside to ward off insects and disease at this hot
time of year. Year 4's pouches were ready just in time for the
hottest July day since records began - and made the classrooms
smell very fragrant in the process!
Nepal Earthquake Appeal
7 weeks
6 weeks 4 days
13 weeks 4 days
84.00
81.60
165.40
Parent View
Many thanks to all the parents who have contributed to the
Ofsted website ‘Parentview’. The results have been analysed
and are attached to the newsletter. To add you views, please
visit Parent View at https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parentview-results/survey/result/1608/current
Google Calendar
We now have a Google Calendar on our website
www.highgateprimaryschool.co.uk which will keep you
informed about dates for next year. You can find it by clicking
on the ‘View School Calendar’ button on the Homepage.
Diary Dates
Please see the school website for term dates for the next
academic year which starts on Monday 7th September.
I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable summer.
With best wishes
Following the Nepal earthquake, children at Highgate Primary
have been exceptionally proactive raising money for the Nepal
Earthquake Appeal with many creative activities taking place
throughout the school. 5DN organised a fantastic playground
fair at which they sold home made cakes and lemonade, icelollies and toys to raise a brilliant £580. Year 2 completed a
sponsored silence for two whole hours (quite a challenge for
some) raising over £260, whilst Year 3 donned fabulous home
made chef's hats moving from classroom to classroom selling
their own cupcakes, raising over £250 - clearly very tasty cakes.
William
William Dean
Headteacher