Highfields to host Sixth Form Open Evening

Prospective students are being invited to an Open Evening to get a glimpse of what our Sixth Form has to offer.

It will take place from 5.30pm-8pm on November 20th.

Visitors will get the chance to speak to current Sixth Form students and tutors, whilst taking a tour of the facilities and learning more about the extensive range of A-Level and BTEC courses we offer.

Mr S Pycroft, Head of Sixth Form, said: “We are always delighted that so many of our students choose to stay on to study at our Sixth Form and we are hosting this Open Evening so that they and other students can get a feel of what we offer.

“Highfields Sixth Form has a reputation for providing high quality teaching and learning. Our ethos is about having high expectations within a supportive and friendly environment.

“We look forward to welcoming prospective students, along with their parents or carers, to our Open Evening so they can get a flavour of our Sixth Form and consider it as an option for their Post 16 education.”

The Open Evening is being held after Sixth Form students celebrated another fantastic set of A-Level results – with over half of them being top A*-B grades and more than 100 students securing their places at university.

Students achieved a 99% pass rate – 77% of them being A*-C grades and 51% A*-B grades. In particular, students achieved some very impressive Maths and Science results this year with 4 A*s in Chemistry and 3 A*s in Maths.

More than 500 visitors welcomed at Open Morning

Hundreds of prospective students and parents flocked to the school’s annual Open Morning to learn more about what Highfields has to offer - whilst helping to raise money for charity at the same time.

More than 500 visitors poured through the doors during the day to get a glimpse of the impressive facilities and take part in dozens of interactive workshops and activities showcasing what the school has to offer.

Hands-on scientific experiments, Guitar Hero music challenges, trampolining and gymnastics displays, maths challenges, dance and drama displays, pizza making demonstrations and language games were among the many activities lined up for the event. Visitors also got the chance to learn how to pack a rucksack as part of a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award display, experience Victory in Europe street parade celebrations, take part in an experiment designed by psychology students into what makes people more likeable and solve a ‘crime’ by trying their hands at finger printing and fibre analysis. A cake sale on the day raised more than £150 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Headteacher, Mr G Tate, said: “Our annual Open Morning gives us a wonderful opportunity to give prospective students and visitors a glimpse of what our school is all about and everything that makes it so special.

“As a school, we pride ourselves on providing youngsters with a high quality education, an engaging curriculum and a wide range of extra-curricular activities to enrich their learning experiences.

“We were delighted to welcome so many visitors on the day to be able to showcase everything we have to offer.

“I would also like to say a big thank you to the dozens of students who gave up their time on a Saturday to volunteer to help our visitors around school.”

The Open Morning was held after Highfields celebrated another fantastic set of GCSE results, with more than half of all students achieving the highest grades. Students raised the bar to attain higher grades than last year, with 76% of students achieving a standard pass (Grade 4 or above) in both English and Maths, and 56% of students attaining a strong pass (Grade 5 or above) in both English and Maths.

Talented singers in fine voice at festival

Talented students raised the roof when they took centre stage as part of the annual Wombourne Music Festival.

Members of Highfields Choir and the cast of the school’s upcoming production of Wizard of Oz were in fine voice when they performed as part of the festival.

Wombourne Music Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and saw talented musicians and students from a number of schools perform to live audiences at the village’s St Benedict Biscop Church.

Highfields students performed a number of musical favourites before joining together for a rousing finale of This Is Me, from The Greatest Showman.

Music teacher, Mrs S Jevon, said: “We received a warm welcome for our second appearance at Wombourne Music Festival. The students were in fine voice and thoroughly enjoyed being part of the festival’s anniversary celebrations.”

Rehearsals are currently well under way for the school’s production of Wizard of Oz, which features students from Years 7-9 and will be performed in November.

Highfields Choir meets every Monday lunchtime from 1.10pm in Room 105 and is open to all students and staff.

Golden students celebrate Duke of Edinburgh's success

Students are feeling on top of the world after successfully completing their final Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award expedition.

Four Sixth Form students - Feargus Flanagan, Jindveer Khangura, Jemma Payne and Tasha Bagri - travelled to the Lake District for the expedition, which saw them navigate their route over challenging mountain terrain and fend for themselves in the remote rural location.

Their journey through the Lake District mountains took them from Ambleside, Glenridding, Thirlmere and then finally through the Langdale Valley.

This year the students had the unique opportunity to combine their expedition with a Wild Camp on the third day.

The students were able to camp near Sty Head Tarn and had to purify their own water as well as each carry a 70-litre rucksack containing their clothes, food and sleeping bags for the duration of the expedition.

Mr C Moody, who runs Highfields’ Duke of Edinburgh’s programme, said: “Huge congratulations to our four Sixth Form students for completing their final Gold Award assessed expedition.

“It is really hard work, with students having to navigate their route whilst carrying a heavy rucksack containing everything they need; but they worked as a team and did an incredible job.

“The Wild Camp on Day three is an experience they will remember and cherish for a lifetime.

“The school staff, as well as the Mountain Leader and External Assessor said it had been a most enjoyable expedition. As well as meeting all 20 conditions to pass the assessment, they also gained a considerable amount of experience and knowledge to take away with them to use for the rest of their lives.

“Well done to them all on such a fantastic achievement. It is well deserved.”

The successful students will be officially presented with their DofE Gold Awards at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace or St James’s Palace on a date to be announced.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s 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.

Students get experience in world of work

Students got a taste of the careers they are hoping to pursue when they leave Highfields as part of week-long work experience placements.

Year 11 students spent the first week of term on work experience with companies from a range of industries, including law, emergency services, health & beauty, hospitality, landscape gardening, radio and retail.

Mr A Jeavons, Highfields’ Careers and Business Links Manager, said: “Work experience provides students with a wonderful opportunity to get a taste of the careers they are interested in pursuing after school.

“For many of them, it has confirmed the career paths they want to take in the future, whilst others have decided that maybe they need to rethink the direction they take after school.

“We would like to say a big thank you to all of the businesses and organisations that allowed our students to complete their work experience with them. It is incredibly important that they get this introduction to work as they head into their last year of school.”

Arrangements for next year's work experience placements will start over the coming weeks.

Hundreds expected at Open Morning

Hundreds of prospective students and parents are set to attend the school's annual Open Morning this weekend, where they can get a glimpse of the facilities and take part in dozens of interactive workshops and activities showcasing what Highfields has to offer.

The Open Morning will take place from 10am to 12.30pm on Saturday 22nd September.

Hands-on scientific experiments, Guitar Hero music challenges, trampolining and gymnastics displays, maths challenges, dance and & drama displays, pizza making demonstrations and language games are among the many activities lined up for the event. Visitors can also learn how to pack a rucksack as part of a Duke of Edinburgh display, experience Victory in Europe street parade celebrations, take part in an experiment designed by psychology students into what makes people more likeable and solve a ‘crime’ by trying their hands at finger printing and fibre analysis. A cake sale will be held on the day to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Headteacher, Mr G Tate, will speak to parents in The Lyceum at 10.15am, 11.00am and 11.45am.

Mr Tate said: “At Highfields, we pride ourselves on providing youngsters with a high quality education, an engaging curriculum and a wide range of extra-curricular activities to enrich their learning experiences.

“Our Open Morning gives us a wonderful opportunity to give prospective students and visitors a glimpse of what our school is all about and everything that makes it so special.”

The Open Morning comes after Highfields celebrated another fantastic set of GCSE results, with more than half of all students achieving the highest grades. Students raised the bar to attain higher grades than last year, with 76% of students achieving a standard pass (Grade 4 or above) in both English and Maths, and 56% of students attaining a strong pass (Grade 5 or above) in both English and Maths.

Full a full programme of events, click on the image below:

Little Shop of Horrors to rock Highfields

Talented students are being encouraged to showcase their star quality by signing up to perform in rock musical Little Shop of Horrors, which has been officially confirmed as the school's 2019 major musical production.

Students from Years 10-13 are being given the chance to take part in the show, which will be staged over four nights to a live audience in 2019.

Auditions for those wishing to take on a principal role are set to be held soon, after students and staff returned from the summer break. 

Little Shop of Horrors is a musical comedy horror about a florist shop worker who discovers his Venus Flytrap can talk. It will be staged in the school’s Lyceum Theatre from February 27th to March 2nd 2019.

It is one of two big musical productions to be staged by Highfields during the 2018/19 academic year. The Wizard of Oz will be staged from November 7th - 9th and will feature students from Years 7 to 9.

Ms S Bishop, Highfields’ Head of Performance, said: “We are delighted to have secured the license to perform Little Shop of Horrors, which is a fantastic musical and one that I have personally wanted to stage at the school for a number of years.

“We are looking forward to getting into rehearsals shortly now that we have returned to school from the summer break. The show is open to all students from Years 10 to 13, not just for those who have previous experience of performing.

“We will be holding auditions for those wishing to take on principal roles in September but anyone who would like the chance to be involved in the chorus is welcome to just turn up at the first rehearsal when it is announced.

“Our annual musical productions have gained an excellent reputation for their quality and as a result now feature more than 100 students. Due to the huge number of students involved I felt that not all of them were given as much of the spotlight as they deserved, which is why we will be staging two musicals next year for the first time.

“A lot of hard work and effort goes into putting on our musical productions but they are always a spectacular success and I am looking forward to the challenge of staging two so more of our students can get the chance to perform on stage.”

Students celebrate outstanding GCSE results

Highfields is celebrating another set of outstanding GCSE results, with more than half of all students achieving the highest grades (Grade 7 or above).

Students raised the bar to attain higher grades than last year, with 77% of students achieving a standard pass (Grade 4 or above) in both English and Maths, a 5% increase on last year. In addition, just under 60% of students attained a strong pass (Grade 5 or above) in both English and Maths - an increase of 10%.

Twenty-five students achieved the highest Grade 9 rating, with both Sofia Kler-Sangha and Yuvraj Bhagotra attaining this in English Language, English Literature and Maths. Sofia achieved a total of eight Grade 9s and three Grade 8s, whilst Yuvraj achieved seven Grade 9s and three Grade 8s.

A further six exceptional students  -Emily Longman, Jassimran Tamber, Charlotte Hamilton-Clay, James Kennedy, Mrithula Raj Balaji and Maria Vazquez-Teles - achieved three or more GCSE Grade 9s, placing them all amongst the national elite.

Mrs N Clifton, Head of Upper School, said: “We are very proud of the effort and achievement of all students and staff. I would like to thank all parents for their hard work and continued support and wish our students all the very best of luck for the future after their well-deserved success."

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A-Level success for students

Sixth Form students are celebrating another fantastic set of A-Level results – with over half of them being top A*-B grades and more than 100 students securing their places at university. 

Students achieved a 99% pass rate – 77% of them being A*-C grades and 51% A*-B grades. 

Mr K Blower, Head of Sixth Form, said: “It has been another good year for A-level results. Overall, we had a 99% pass rate and there were some fantastic individual results.

"In particular, our students achieved some very impressive Maths and Science results this year. We achieved 4 A*s in Chemistry and 3 A*s in Maths, which is a fantastic achievement in some very demanding subjects.

"More than 100 students are now expected to move on to university after securing the grades they required, the vast majority of them securing their first-choice places.

“They have worked extremely hard and I wish them all the very best of luck as they go on to the next stage of their lives."

Among the students celebrating fantastic A-Level results are Bernice Johal and Kaylum McCann (pictured above). Former Head Girl Bernice achieved an A* in Maths, an A in Chemistry and a B in Biology. She is now going on to study Medicine at Aston University and was recently interviewed by the BBC about her success on the ‘Pathways to Medicine’ programme at Aston Uni.

Kaylum achieved an incredible three A*s in Maths, Further Maths and Physics and is now preparing to study Physics at the University of Manchester.

Spotlight on Oz at Summer School

Young performers showcased their talents on their quest to find the wonderful Wizard of Oz as part of a creative Summer School.

Dozens of youngsters gave up a week of their summer break to take part in the Wizard of Oz Summer School.

They perfected their vocal, acting and dancing talents during the week by recreating scenes from the classic musical, whilst arty students also got the chance to showcase their creative talents by making colourful props for the performances.

The Summer School was attended by students from Years 7-9, as well as a number of  students who are due to start at Highfields in September.

Ms S Bishop, Head of Performance, said: “Our Summer School is usually focused on Shakespeare, however we decided this year to have a Wizard of Oz theme as we are due to stage the musical later in the year.

“The students worked very hard during an intensive week of rehearsals and did a great job of bringing a number of scenes from the much-loved musical to life.

“We are now looking forward to getting started with rehearsals for the musical, which is open to all students from Years 7-9 and will be performed in November.”