Ding Dong Merrily on Highfields

Talented students have been spreading festive cheer with a series of performances across the region.

A group of singers were in fine voice when they performed for shoppers at Co-op supermarket, in Penn, before entertaining residents at The Firs Care Home in Sedgley, and then patients and staff at Compton Care.

The festive ‘tour’ came after students showcased their singing and acting talents at an annual church carol service. St Bartholomew’s Church, in Penn, hosts the carol service for Highfields School students every Christmas.

Members of the school’s Drama Club performed A Christmas Carol while the choir sang Silent Night and Joyful Joyful, from Sister Act. In addition, the school’s Head Team read four Christmas Bible readings and led traditional Christmas carols, before the congregation enjoyed mince pies and hot drinks.

Ms S Bishop, Highfields’ Head of Extra Curricular Performing Arts, said: “Our students put on some brilliant performances and really spread Christmas cheer across the Midlands.”

Creative student designs Highfields' official Christmas Card

Students got artistic as part of a competition to create Highfields’ official Christmas card.

The content was open to students in Years 7 and 8, with this snow globe scene, created by Taranjot Sandhu from form 7G, coming out in first place. The Christmas card has now been sent out to partnering organisations in digital form.

Students were given the choice of either drawing, painting or submitting their designs digitally. Dozens of creative students submitted their colourful entries, before the winner was selected.

Ms J Parker, Head of Lower School, said: “We are always proud to add a personal touch to Highfields’ official Christmas cards by getting our students to design them.

“We run the competition annually for Year 7 and 8 students, and we were delighted to have received dozens of entries. They were a great standard and, although it was a close contest, Taranjot is a very worthy winner.”

Budding chefs showcase culinary talents in national contest

Year 11 Catering students showcased their culinary talents as part of the national Futurechef competition.

The contest, run by Springboard, is aimed at students aged between 12 and 16-years-old and has been running for 19 years with schools all over the country getting involved. It consists of four stages: school heats, local finals, regional finals and ultimately, the national final, which will be hosted by Westminster Kingsway college.

Food Technology teacher, Miss E Williams organised Highfields’ heat, which saw Chirag Verma and Charlie Baker named as winners after making standout dishes on a £5 budget.

The winning pair then went on to each create a two-course meal in the ‘local heat’ at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, being judged on a number of factors, including skills and techniques, creativity and presentation, nutritional balance, composition, taste and flavour.

Chirag came second, missing out on the top spot by just two marks, and Charlie came fourth.

Miss Williams said: Futurechef gives students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their culinary talents, competing against others who share their passion for food. Chirag and Charlie both worked really hard and I’m very proud of how well they performed.”

Chirag came second, missing out on the top spot by just two marks, and Charlie came fourth.

Miss Williams said: Futurechef gives students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their culinary talents, competing against others who share their passion for food. Chirag and Charlie both worked really hard and I’m very proud of how well they performed.”

Chirag came second, missing out on the top spot by just two marks, and Charlie came fourth.

Miss Williams said: Futurechef gives students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their culinary talents, competing against others who share their passion for food. Chirag and Charlie both worked really hard and I’m very proud of how well they performed.”

Chirag came second, missing out on the top spot by just two marks, and Charlie came fourth.

Miss Williams said: Futurechef gives students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their culinary talents, competing against others who share their passion for food. Chirag and Charlie both worked really hard and I’m very proud of how well they performed.”

Chirag came second, missing out on the top spot by just two marks, and Charlie came fourth.

Miss Williams said: Futurechef gives students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their culinary talents, competing against others who share their passion for food. Chirag and Charlie both worked really hard and I’m very proud of how well they performed.”

Chirag came second, missing out on the top spot by just two marks, and Charlie came fourth.

Miss Williams said: Futurechef gives students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their culinary talents, competing against others who share their passion for food. Chirag and Charlie both worked really hard and I’m very proud of how well they performed.”

Students cook up festive feast for veterans

Veterans were treated to a Christmas lunch cooked by Highfields students.

More than 35 veterans from the Army, Royal Air Force and Navy were joined by representatives of Age UK Wolverhampton and Rotary Club members for the three-course lunch.

Students prepared a butternut squash and sweet potato soup, full turkey dinner and trimmings, along with a Christmas pudding cheesecake under the supervision of Mitchell Burrows, Head Chef of the Mount Hotel in Wolverhampton.

The lunch was funded by Wolverhampton St George’s Rotary Club to give students the chance to gain practical experience in catering and hospitality.

Colin Hole, Chairman of Wolverhampton St George’s Rotary club, said: “It was superb. Considering none of the students have had experience of catering for a large number of people, I think they did a wonderful job.

“It’s quite a formidable task for an established restaurant, let alone students of this age, so it was excellent.”

The event formed part of the friendship scheme run by Age UK Wolverhampton and funded by Armed Forces charity, SSAFA, to ensure veterans are not left alone.

Jack Bhutta, one of the students involved, said: “There was a lot of work involved but it was great fun and we’ve developed a lot of skills.”

Food Technology teacher, Miss B Chima, said: “It was a huge undertaking and we have been planning the event for months, but it’s been great and we have enjoyed every minute of the process.

“It went really well. The students did a fantastic job, and it was really nice to be able to give something back to the veterans.”

One of those in attendance was Ken Nightingale, who spent 12 years in the South Staffordshire Regiment and a further 13 in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. He said: “The day was absolutely wonderful. The Wolverhampton Rotary Club are unbelievably kind and generous, and the things they do for us old comrades is brilliant.

“The school has been fantastic. I’ve never been here before, but was very happily surprised by what I saw.”

The veterans were also treated to entertainment by members of the school choir.

Happy reading! Latest edition of The H is launched

Our Young Journalists have unveiled the latest edition of the school’s newspaper, The H - and it has been given a brand new look to best showcase all of the success stories, activities and achievements from Highfields over the past term.

The newspaper has been given a bright, fresh new look for the 2018/19 academic year, but is still packed with news and views from around school.

The editorial team is always on the lookout for other budding young journalists to be part of The H. If you are interested in joining, email vnash@hswv.co.uk or tbanks01@hswv.co.uk

Happy reading!

Christmas jumpers spread festive cheer across school

Highfields came alive with Christmas spirit when students and staff swapped their uniforms and suits for festive jumpers to help raise money for charity.

The school’s corridors and classrooms were brightened up with colourful jumpers featuring Rudolph, elves, Santa Claus and snowmen as Highfields came together to celebrate the festive season with a fundraising Christmas Jumper Day.

Each student and member of staff made a token donation to wear their Christmas jumpers to raise money for Save The Children.

The charity works to give children in the UK and across the world a healthy start in life, running world-class programmes to ensure they have a bright future.

Mrs N Clifton, Head of Upper School, said: “Everyone got well and truly into the Christmas spirit by wearing their festive jumpers. 

“We run the Chrismas Jumper Day every year and it always gets everyone into holiday mode. It was a great way to round off the term whilst raising money for such a worthwhile cause.”

Hola! Students perfect language skills on Spanish trip

Students perfected their foreign language skills during an educational trip to Spain.

The five-day trip to Cantabria gave Year 11 students working towards their GCSE the chance to put their language skills to the test in everyday situations whilst enjoying the sights and sounds of Spain, including the Guggenheim Museum.

The students visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to view modern and contemporary art and the Altamira Caves in Santillana del Mar where they saw prehistoric cave paintings as part of the trip.

Mrs Darby, Highfields’ Head of Modern Foreign Languages, said: “The purpose of the visit was to give students opportunities to speak Spanish in real situations and they were able to use their Spanish in restaurants, cafés, shops, the market and in the hotel.

“They undertook a town trail of Santander where they asked local Spanish people for directions in Spanish in order to make their way around the city.

“The students enjoyed typical Spanish food including tapas and chocolate with churros. They were a credit to the school throughout the visit and the owner of the hotel praised them highly for their excellent behaviour and competence in speaking Spanish. He was so impressed that he offered two students a job in his hotel next summer.”

Highfields turns orange for safeguarding campaign

Highfields threw its weight behind the annual safeguarding initiative, Orange Wolverhampton, which aims to end violence against women and girls.

Orange Wolverhampton forms part of a wider United Nations campaign.

The 16-day campaign, which ran from November 25th to December 10th, raises awareness of gender based violence, including domestic abuse, FGM, forced marriage,’honour based’ violence and sexual violence.

At the same time, the campaign highlights the help and support that is available to victims in Wolverhampton from local and national organisations such as The Haven, Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum, St George's Hub, Karma Nirvana and the City of Wolverhampton Council.

Members of the school’s Safeguarding Team wore orange t-shirts throughout the campaign, whilst members of staff wore orange ribbons to show their support.

Safeguarding Lead, Mrs A Bates, said: “The school believes the campaign is incredibly worthwhile and have conveyed this message to all staff and students.

“The Safeguarding Team have delivered assemblies to students about “Orange Wolverhampton” and Years 9, 10 and 11 have also explored the topics of domestic abuse, safe relationships and consent, honour based violence and forced marriage during registration time.

“Throughout the campaign all desktop screens at Highfields displayed the “Orange Wolves” poster and digital screens around school were orange. Posters were displayed via the digital screens with useful information and contacts for both students and staff. All staff members wore orange ribbons and this facilitated mature discussions regarding the campaign with students.”

To find out more about the Orange Wolverhampton campaign, which is championed and run by Wolverhampton Safeguarding Boards, the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership and Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum, please visit OrangeWolves.

Christmas cake creations to take centre stage in contest

Sweet-toothed students have been dusting up on their cake-making skills as part of an annual Christmas Bake-Off competition.

Highfields has given Year 9 students the chance of whisking up their own cake creations based on the theme of Christmas.

Weekly after-school cake-making and cake decorating classes have now kicked off ahead of the competition, which will also feature students from four other city schools.

The semi-final of the contest is due to be held on December 12th, with the final taking place on December 19th.

The cake creations will be judged with the help of a professional baker from The Nuthouse Bakery, in Brierley Hill, with a host of prizes up for grabs.

Food Technology teacher, Miss E Williams, said: “Students enjoy learning new skills and being creative.

“Each week they learn a new cake decorating technique and then they can show off what they have learnt by designing their own Christmas Cake for the Bake Off Competition.

“They get to make new friends and will be working alongside students of the same age from different schools.

“There is a lot of culinary talent in the school and we're really looking forward to another fantastic event.”

Fantasy film inspires budding movie directors

Young movie fans visited a city cinema for the launch of a national film festival.

Around 50 students travelled to Cineworld, in Bentley Bridge, to attend the opening of the Into Film Festival, an annual national celebration of film and education for 5 to 19-year-olds.

The group, all members of Highfields’ Film Club from Years 7-10, watched Ready Player One, a fantasy adventure by Steven Spielberg that features scenes filmed in Birmingham.

The aim of the trip was to inspire their critical thinking and film analysis. They will each now write a film review which will be submitted to Into Film’s website for the chance of winning a prize.