Performers showcase talents at dance celebration

Performers showcased their talents during a dance extravaganza featuring more than 100 students from six Wolverhampton schools.

Highfields hosted the event, called ‘I Am Dance’, allowing students to share their work in front of a live audience.

Dance students from across the city took centre stage in the Lyceum Theatre, wowing with an eclectic mix of performances ranging from lyrical to upbeat jazz, street dance and Bollywood.

Organised by Highfields Dance teacher, Miss E Weblin, the event is the first of its kind for the school, but it is hoped it will now become an annual fixture on the calendar after proving such a success.

Miss Weblin said: “The event was all about celebrating the subject of Dance and honouring the commitment of students. It gave them the opportunity to share their work, which rarely gets performed to an audience.

“The students were really excited for their efforts to be seen and they put on a fantastic show. It was great to welcome students from other schools in Wolverhampton and we hope we can make this celebration of dance an annual event.”

Highfields bids fond farewell to Head of Upper School

Highfields will be bidding farewell to our longstanding and much respected Head of Upper School, Mrs N Clifton, as she takes up her new appointment as Headteacher of Kinver High School.

Mrs Clifton will be leaving to take the helm of the South Staffordshire school on December 1, after more than 7 years at Highfields.

A Spanish teacher, Mrs Clifton’s Highfields career started in 2012 when she joined as Assistant Headteacher with special responsibility as Head of Upper School. She was promoted to Deputy Headteacher in 2016 whilst maintaining her overall responsibility for Upper School.

In this role, she has been integral in raising the aspirations and achievements of thousands of GCSE students, helping Highfields to secure record-breaking exam results year on year. 

She has worked tirelessly to ensure all students achieve their potential; organising and running daily revision sessions, residential revision and team-building trips, as well as numerous rewards celebrations and social events to recognise the efforts and achievements of students. 

As a member of the Senior Leadership and Management Team, she has been influential in maintaining Highfields’ position as one of Wolverhampton’s top schools and its glowing feedback from Ofsted inspectors.

She said: “This really is a bittersweet moment for me. It has been an absolute pleasure to have spent the past 7 years as Head of Highfields Upper School and member of the school’s SLT.

“Our students have never failed to impress me, working tirelessly throughout the stressful exam process to fulfil their potential and do themselves, their families and the school proud.

“As a teacher, it is a privilege to play a part in helping to shape the future for students, and it has been an honour to have worked with so many talented, hard-working and enthusiastic young people at such an important stage in their lives.

“I would like to thank all of the staff, parents and students who have made my time at Highfields so positive and rewarding, and I am now looking forward to this exciting new chapter and challenge as Headteacher of Kinver High School.”

Headteacher, Mr G Tate, said: “On behalf of all of us here at Highfields, I would like to thank Mrs Clifton for her tireless work ensuring all of our students aim high and fulfil their potential.

“Her positive influence as Head of Upper School and valued member of the Senior Team are evident in Highfields’ record-breaking GCSE results. We wish her every success in this exciting new chapter of her career.”

The role of Head of Upper School will be taken on by Mr D Treble, currently Head of Upper School Maths, until the end of the academic year. He will be supported by Deputy Headteacher, Mr A Cheetham.

Mr Tate said: “We are delighted to appoint Mr Treble to the role of Head of Upper School. He has years of experience working with students towards their GCSEs and we are confident he will do a fantastic job.”

Creepy and kooky Addams Family musical is spectacular success

Talented stage stars of the future wowed audiences with spectacular performances of toe-tapping musical, The Addams Family.

Creepy, kooky, and altogether ooky, the show ran for four nights in the Lyceum Theatre and has been described as the school’s best musical showcase to date.

Students from Years 10-13 rehearsed for months to stage the production, which depicts a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre. 

Ms S Bishop, Highfields’ Head of Extra Curricular Performance, said: “It was an excellent show. I would go as far as saying it was our best yet. With pyrotechnics, smoke, a really funny and modern script, and a great score of original rock music, it was a show with it all.

“Our students put on some fantastic performances and overcame a couple of technical issues, including a power cut, with the ease of professionals. 

“This was the last Highfields production for our Year 13 students, many of whom have been appearing in our annual school musicals since they started in Year 7, and they put on another amazing show.

“Putting together our shows takes a lot of work over a number of weeks, with the performers and musicians staying after school until 8pm every Thursday as well as some Saturdays, and throughout holidays.

“They all worked so hard to ensure The Addams Family was a success, and it was fantastic to see that all their efforts were worth it.

“As always, it has been a pleasure to work with such a delightful, talented and hard-working group of young people. They should be incredibly proud.”

Following the success of Addams Family, rehearsals are already in full swing for Highfields’ next musical, feel-good family favourite Beauty And The Beast, which will be staged by students from Years 7-9 from February 26th-28th 2020. Rehearsals are now taking place every Thursday from 3.30pm.

We were delighted that our production of The Addams Family made headlines in the Express & Star (below).

Hundreds of pounds raised for Children In Need

Students and staff wore fancy dress and battled it out in Tug of War competitions as part of Highfields’ ‘spotacular’ efforts to raise hundreds of pounds for Children in Need.

More than 200 fundraisers gathered in the Sports Hall to take part in the Tug of War challenges, whilst they snapped up samosas in a charity food sale. Students also donated £1 to the charity to wear official Children in Need merchandise or spotty t-shirts and ties. The event has raised more than £600.

Ms J Parker, Head of Lower School who organised the fundraising activities, said: “We wanted to do something fun that would get lots of our students and staff involved to raise hundreds of pounds for the Children in Need campaign.

“It was great to see so many people taking part, having a brilliant time and raising so much money for this worthy cause. Thank you to everyone who got involved.”

Highfields throws its weight behind the Children in Need campaign every year and has staged a Mannequin Challenge and danceathon in the past. 

Children in Need is the BBC’s charity which works to change the lives of disabled children and young people in the UK. It has raised more than £972 million since it was launched in 1980.

Highfields to host dance extravaganza

Highfields will stage a dance extravaganza featuring more than 100 students from six city schools.

The event, called ‘I Am Dance’, will give students the chance to showcase their talents and share their work in front of a live audience.

The celebration of dance will be staged in the Lyceum on Wednesday, November 20th and feature an eclectic mix of performances ranging from lyrical to upbeat jazz, street dance and Bollywood.

Organised by Highfields Dance teacher, Miss E Weblin, the event is the first of its kind for the school, but it is hoped it will become an annual fixture on the calendar.

Miss Weblin said: “We want to celebrate the subject and the commitment of students. It will also give students the opportunity to share their work, which otherwise doesn’t always get performed to an audience.

“They are really excited for their efforts to be seen, as they work so hard and it’s a shame that sometimes it is only seen in lessons."

Highfields maintains position among Wolverhampton's top schools

Highfields has maintained its position among Wolverhampton’s top schools for both attainment and student progress in provisional league tables published last week, based on 2019 exam results.

The provisional tables have been released following another record-breaking set of GCSE results for the school, which saw 80% of students achieving a standard pass (Grade 4 or above) in both English and Maths. A total of 51% of students achieved at least one 9-7 grade, with 31% of students attaining three or more 9-7 grades.

This year’s attainment has been particularly strong with 55.4% of Highfields students achieving a strong pass (Grade 5 or above) in both English and Maths - second only to Wolverhampton Girls’ High School.

Attainment 8 and Progress 8 - which mark students’ progress and achievements over eight GCSE subjects - are among the headline measures now used to calculate official school league table positions.

Highfields achieved an Attainment 8 score of 52.1 out of 80, putting it in third position of the city’s schools in this category, whilst our Progress 8 score of 0.38 is well above the national average and among the city’s top five schools. 

Progress 8 looks at the advances a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school, comparing students’ results with the achievements of other youngsters with the same prior attainment.

Headteacher, Mr Graham Tate, said: “We are delighted that the provisional league tables, based on our 2019 exam results, show such a strong picture in terms of performance. 

“As always, it is testament to the hard work of our students and staff over many years, especially the tough months leading up to exams. Congratulations to them all for this achievement.”

Illusionist showcases the magic of career success

A critically-acclaimed magician who has been hand selected to perform with world-famous Dynamo treated Sixth Form students to mind-blowing tricks to inspire them to follow their career dreams.

Birmingham-based iNFiNiTi visited the school to perform in front of Year 12 students as part of Highfields’ revamped and expanded Sixth Form extra-curricular programme.

As part of the new programme, students are treated to weekly visits from a range of organisations and professionals, including Guide Dogs and British Sign Language experts, to expand their skills and knowledge, and showcase the many career options available to them.

More than 100 students attended iNFiNiTi’s performance, where they were wowed with stunning tricks. The magician also spoke to them about his journey, which saw him first finding magic during a trip to New York around 12 years ago before building a successful career with a huge list of high-profile clients, including Birmingham City Football Club, The RAF,  Coca Cola, Hotel Chocolat, Royal Mail, Nestle, Heineken and Just Eat.

Mr N Maxfield, Assistant Head of Sixth Form, said: “We were delighted to welcome the extremely talented iNFiNiTi back in to school to inspire our students.

“They were stunned with his tricks, before he spoke to them about pursuing their passions without putting all of their eggs in one basket.

“The story of his career has really motivated them and raised their aspirations. It was a thoroughly enjoyable session that benefited everyone that attended. I would like to say a huge thank you to him for coming in to school and being such an inspiration for our students.”

Award-winning author inspires budding writers

Budding young writers nurtured their love of literature when they took part in a workshop with celebrated children’s author, Christopher Edge.

The award-winning author, behind titles such as The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, The Jamie Drake Equation and The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, was welcomed in to Highfields to host the interactive workshop with Year 7 students in the school’s Lyceum Theatre.

Ms N Hannon, Assistant Head of English, said: “The workshop was a lively and well attended event which provided our students with an opportunity to learn about how the whole writing process can begin.

“Christopher Edge’s novels are a combination of science and fiction and students learnt first hand about how the concepts of time, space and travel can become the inspiration for different stories.”

Students were also given the opportunity to purchase copies of his brand new novels and get them signed.

Before hosting the workshop, the author held a celebratory lunch with the winners of the Highfields Summer Reading Challenge. The challenge ran throughout the summer holidays and involved students reading a range of different books from various categories before completing an electronic journal.

Highfields leading way in careers education for city's young people

Highfields is delighted to have been selected as a lead school in Wolverhampton for a new Government-funded consortium which aims to transform careers education for young people in the Black Country.

The Black Country Careers Hub is made up of more than 50 schools and colleges which work together with Enterprise Advisor Networks, universities, training providers, employers and professionals to improve careers education.

It is the second hub of its kind to be created in the Black Country. The first, launched in September 2018, has seen a significant increase in the number and variety of stakeholders that schools are now engaging with and is seen as an example of good practice in Careers Education nationally. 

The new hub, being delivered by the Careers & Enterprise Company, was officially launched at GTG Training in Wolverhampton on September 17th. Highfields has become a lead school in recognition of its outstanding work to prepare students for life after school.

The school was selected for the important role as details were announced of our next Careers Fair, which will take place on January 30th 2020 and feature representatives from dozens of employers, colleges, universities and training providers.

Mr P Rose, Highfields’ Head of Middle School and Careers Leader, said: “As a lead school, Highfields will support the Careers Hub Manager for the Black Country Consortium to facilitate monthly Careers Hub meetings.  

“We will be working together to identify and jointly deliver the agenda. The meetings will focus on the Gatsby Benchmarks and will include workshops and sharing of good practice across all of the hub schools in Wolverhampton.”

Highfields is committed to preparing its students for life after school and runs annual careers fairs and work experience placements for students, as well as organising regular trips, visits and professional talks to inspire them for the future.

Last year, the school was awarded the national Quality in Careers Standard in recognition of its ongoing commitment to Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance (CEIAG).

The Standard is awarded under licence by Prospects to schools and education providers who can demonstrate the importance they place on careers and how they support students to make decisions about their life after school. 

The Black Country first became one of 20 Careers Hubs launched around England in 2018 to transform careers education. They form a central part of the Government’s Careers Strategy, which aims to prepare young people for the world of work.

The Black Country Hubs have access to support and funding to help its member schools and colleges meet the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of excellent careers education for students, including stable careers programmes, encounters with employers and employers, workplace experience and personal guidance.

Stage set for The Addams Family musical

The stage is set for Highfields’ latest stage spectacular, The Addams Family - with a few tickets still remaining through our brand new online Box Office.

The school’s Lyceum has been transformed ready for curtain-up on the popular musical, which will run from November 5th-8th and feature students from Years 10-13.

Talented students have been rehearsing for months for the production, which depicts a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre. 

They treated students and staff to a sneak peek of some of the show’s numbers with assembly performances and flash mobs ahead of half term, before giving up some of their holiday to perfect the production.

Ms S Bishop, Highfields’ Head of Extra Curricular Performance, said: “We are so excited for show time! Our students have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the production and we are looking forward to putting on another fantastic show.

“Our flash mobs in school have gone down a storm, as have our assembly performances, which is a great sign and a real boost for our fantastic cast.

“Putting together our shows takes a lot of work over a number of weeks, with the performers and musicians staying after school until 8pm every Thursday as well as some Saturdays, and throughout holidays.

“But the process is always such great fun and a wonderful experience for our students. 

“They have all worked incredibly hard to ensure The Addams Family is a success, and we can’t wait to welcome audiences to come along to celebrate their hard work and talent.”

Tickets for the opening night, which starts at 7pm and includes a spectacular fireworks display, cost £10. Tickets for the remaining shows, which start at 7.30pm, cost £8 for adults and £6 concessions.

They are available from our brand new online Box Office by clicking here.

Another production, feel-good family favourite Beauty And The Beast, will be staged by students from Years 7-9 from February 26th-28th 2020.