Robotics being put in the spotlight

Robotics is being thrust into the spotlight, with Highfields’ budding young engineers showcasing their programming skills to further develop the Design and Technology curriculum.

As part of their GCSE studies, selected students took part in the Design and Technology Association’s Introduction to Robotics.

Highfields was one of eight schools that attended a CPD session at Birmingham City University where they were introduced to the Crumble programming system and given cardboard buggies with programming activities to complete.

After working in teams with their buggies back at school, students were then selected to attend the Comino & IET - Robotics in School Showcase Event at Coventry University’s Faculty of Engineering, Environmental and Computing.

The event provided students with the opportunity to showcase the work they had carried out on their buggies and give feedback on how this technology can become part of the Key Stage 3 D&T curriculum. 

Design & Technology teacher, Mrs G George, said:  “As a result of the Introduction to Robotics,  further developments will be made to introduce this to Year 8 students in the Summer term.”

Palace date for golden Duke of Edinburgh's Award students

Three former Highfields students rubbed shoulders with royalty when they celebrated achieving the highest possible honour on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme at Buckingham Palace. 

Maiya Bahra, Alisha Patel and Josh Slomka-Moore travelled to London for the presentation in the gardens of the palace.

They were presented with their DofE Gold Awards in the presence of Sophie, Countess of Wessex, as part of the special ceremony.

The guest speaker on the day was entrepreneur, Holly Tucker MBE, the founder of notonthehighstreet.com.

Mr C Moody, who runs Highfields’ DofE programme and attended the star-studded ceremony, said: “Their presentation was held in the gardens of Buckingham Palace with over 1,000 young people from different areas of the country.

“The DofE programme has been a journey which has taken them from Year 10 all the way through to their first year at University. 

“All three have taken part in some incredible activities such as their assessed expedition in the Lake District and residential volunteering at the Talyllyn Railway in North Wales.

“When the presentation had finished they were allowed then to leave via the main gate at Buckingham Palace which they and their parents were overwhelmed by.

“To reach the Gold Award standard in the DofE programme is an incredible achievement and this was a wonderful celebration.

“It is a day that we will remember for the rest of our lives and fitting that our students were honoured in such incredible surroundings for their achievements on the programme.”

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme was launched in 1956 with the aim of inspiring, guiding and supporting young people in their self-development. The awards scheme challenges students and allows them to discover the world around them whilst providing them with invaluable skills and experiences to improve employment prospects.

Hundreds of Highfields students have taken part in the DofE programme since the school started running the scheme around 12 years ago. Those taking part have taken on a number of challenges including volunteering in the community and a residential trip which involves them only being allowed to know one other person and therefore building a team to complete a project with strangers.

Unbelievable day as Kammy visits Highfields

Students enjoyed an ‘unbelievable’ experience when Sky Sports pundit Chris Kamara visited Highfields as part of an action-packed PE challenge event.

The former footballer - famous for his ‘Unbelievable Jeff’ catchphrase as an analyst on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday show - visited the school as part of the event run by Medical Mavericks.

Medical Mavericks worked with around 100 PE students from Years 8 and 9 on a range of Sport Science-related activities including agility and reaction tests, as well as cycling and rowing challenges. They even got the chance to race alongside a virtual Usain Bolt on a test called The Accelerator. The Challenge the Champions workshop that students completed is the same as one seen on Sky Sports Gamechangers and saw them use state-of-the-art equipment to test themselves against the records set by the best sportspeople in the world.

Chris Kamara added to the experience by providing the voiceover for video footage captured on the day.

Dozens of students queued during their lunch break to meet the star and he happily  posed for photographs with his fans.

PE Teacher, Mr A Jeavons, said: “He was typical ‘Kammy' as you see on TV - really enthusiastic and lovely with the students by allowing them to take photos with him.

“It was a fantastic event all round, filled with fun, excitement and learning. Many thanks to the Medical Mavericks team and Chris Kamara for providing such an enjoyable event for our students.”

New Science resource helping students

Students are being given a helping hand with their Science studies thanks to the introduction of a new online revision and classroom tool at Highfields.

Doddle has been introduced to support the delivery of KS3 and GCSE Science.

It contains thousands of resources that are mapped to the latest specifications for all major exam boards so can be used by teachers to assess students' understanding of topics and enhance their lessons. It can also be used by students to revise and extend their own learning independently.

Science Teacher, Mr M Lee, said: “Doddle was introduced to Highfields students in April and its use is already through the roof. 

“Student feedback is hugely positive, and the potential it has to improve progress of learners in Science is excellent.”

Any students or parents with questions regarding Doddle can email mlee@hswv.co.uk.

Young journalists launch latest edition of The H

Highfields' Young Journalists have unveiled the latest edition of the school's newspaper, The H.

A team of budding reporters are putting their journalism skills to the test as part of the initiative, which aims to keep students, parents and staff informed of the school’s latest news and achievements.

The third edition of the newspaper has now been unveiled, and is packed with articles and features from around school as well as opinion columns on a range of global issues.

A team of Year 10 students make up a core editorial team responsible for sourcing and writing news stories from around school and putting them together into a professional-standard newspaper. The students work with a former News Editor to produce the newspaper and are already busy working on the next edition, which is due to be released ahead of the Summer holidays.

The team are keen for students, staff and Parents/Carers to put forward story suggestions for the next issue by emailing theheditorial@hswv.co.uk

To view a digital version of the third edition of The H, click the image below:

Highfields to host city-wide Film Festival

Highfields is to host a film festival celebrating the talents of budding film directors, news anchors, producers and performers from across the City.

The Young Wolf Film Festival will be staged from July 2nd to 6th and feature a packed programme of events involving dozens of students from schools and Sixth Forms across Wolverhampton.

The festival will kick off with a trip to the Electric Cinema, the UK’s oldest working cinema, before students attend the glittering DIGI Awards at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre, where Highfields students have won accolades over the past two years for their movie-making efforts.

A day of interactive workshops is then being organised for selected students from Highfields and participating schools which will allow them to work with professional sound designers, make-up artists and special effects experts to create mini movies in school.

On July 5th, Highfields will host the Young Wolf Film Awards, celebrating the talents of the City’s young filmmakers over the past year, before a festival finale of dance and cinema, including an open-air screening of Grease, on July 6th. 

The festival is being launched following the success of the school’s Film Club, which has been running for over seven years and has seen students’ films entered into competitions. Film Studies has also been taught at A Level for several years and was introduced to Year 9 this year. Next year sees the GCSE course begin across Key Stage 4.

Film Studies teacher, Mr D Cooper, said: “We have some incredibly talented students at Highfields who are very enthusiastic about the various elements of the film-making process.

“We have run a Film Club for over seven years at Highfields and the last few years have had a real focus on film making, with students making films which have been entered into competitions and showcased to members of public at the recent Shakespearience Festival in Wolverhampton City Centre.

"Similarly the students in both Year 9 and Sixth Form in Film Studies have been producing some high quality work, so the Young Wolf Film Festival will be an excellent platform for us to celebrate their creativity.”

PE Legacy Awards will honour sporty students

An awards evening is to be staged honouring the efforts and achievements of Highfields’ sporty students.

Highfields will host its second PE Legacy Awards on July 12th following the huge success of last year’s inaugural event. The event will celebrate the wealth of sporting talent at Highfields in a range of categories, including Sports Person of the Year, Sports Team of the Year and Elite Performer.

This year the categories are being extended to honour a wider variety of students, including the addition of an award for Dancer of the Year (for KS3 and KS4) and a Year 11 GCSE PE Contribution Award.

Members of staff behind the ceremony are determined to build on the success of last year’s Legacy Awards by inviting along two speakers, who are yet to be announced, whilst sports leaders will present the accolades in front of family and friends.

Invited guests will also be entertained with performances from members of Highfields' Barefoot Dance Group, GCSE Dance students and members of the school’s Gymnastics team.

Head of PE, Mr C Brickwood, said: “We are overwhelmed with the superb commitment, strong leadership and outstanding personal performances and are delighted to be staging our second PE Legacy Awards to celebrate students’ achievements, efforts and commitment to sport. 

“Last year’s event was a fitting celebration of our students’ achievements in sports and this promises to be another fantastic evening.”

Highfields dancers entertain the audience at last year's inaugural PE Legacy Awards

'Couch to 5k' fitness drive launched

A new fitness drive has been launched by Highfields PE department, and students and staff are being urged to sign up.

The ‘Couch to 5k’ club meets on Thursdays from 3.30pm to 4.30pm and see participants running or walking loops around the Hamble. Sessions will take place every week until the summer break.

PE Teacher, Ms L Stevenson, said: “People of all abilities are welcome to take part. 

“As we will be doing loops of The Hamble, everyone can go at their own pace.

“The aim is that we will all build up to 5k over the coming weeks. There are so many benefits to running and we look forward to seeing lots of people getting involved.”

Students get to grips with the great outdoors

Year 8 students have been getting to grips with the great outdoors with the launch of a new activity initiative.

Groups of students travelled to Wales for an action-packed two-day stay, which gave them chance to work in teams to take on a number of challenges.

They spent the first day canoeing on Lake Vyrnwy, before scrambling over Moel-y-Golfa, near to Highfields’ Llandrinio Outdoor Education Centre. They completed the course by taking part in team-building activities.

The aim of the activity scheme is to provide students with new experiences and skills to support them throughout their school life. It also prepares students wanting to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s programme in Year 10 for the challenges they will face.

Mr C Moody, who organised the trips, said: “Our students absolutely loved taking part.

“It is a challenging environment and therefore provides the perfect setting for students to learn how to work in a team, gain social skills and make friends.”

Space Centre trip is out of this world

Students enjoyed an out-of-this-world experience when they visited The National Space Centre.

Around 100 students from Year 7 were encouraged to reach for the stars when they visited the popular tourist attraction in Leicester as part of their science studies.

The striking £52 million National Space Centre was opened in 2001 and is run as an educational charity to offer science workshops for schools. It features six interactive galleries, the UK’s largest planetarium, and an iconic 42m-high rocket tower to bring space flight, astronomy and cosmology to life for visitors.

Students got the chance to explore the many exhibits on show and watched a film in the Centre's Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium to learn what it takes to be an astronaut, including the changes in the human body during take off, the intense training involved and the dangers of being in space.

Science Teacher, Mr M Lee, who organised the trip, added: “We also attended a talk called “It IS rocket science” which engaged the students in all aspects of how rockets work, linking nicely to the topic they are currently studying in their Year 7 Science lessons.

“The National Space Centre is a wonderful venue that really brings science to life and our students had a great time looking around the many interesting galleries and exhibitions to learn more about space.”