Students celebrate A-Level results

Students were today celebrating positive A-Level results - with more than 100 students now preparing to go to university.

Mr Steve Pycroft, Head of Sixth Form, said: “We are so proud of our students. It’s been a very strange year, with coronavirus and lockdown meaning they didn’t get to sit their exams, but they have done a brilliant job.

“They have achieved some fantastic grades, and many of them will now be moving on to university to take the next step in fulfilling their career dreams.

“We wish every one of our students all the very best for the future.”

There were a number of standout individual performances.

Special mention goes to Yuvraj Bhagotra, who got a clean sweep of A*s in Maths, Further Maths and English Literature, and is now preparing to move on to Oxford University to study Maths, as well as Sofia Kler-Sangha, who achieved an A* in Chemistry, A* in Maths and A in Biology, and will be going on to study Medicine at Cambridge University. 

Daksh Sharma is now looking forward to pursuing a career in dentistry from Birmingham University, whilst Harjot Matharu will also be moving Birmingham University to study Medical Engineering. Emily Longman will be studying Philosophy and Psychology at Durham.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which cancelled all exams, grades were awarded following a rigorous moderation process involving teaching staff, heads of departments and members of the Senior Leadership Team. Centre Assessed grades were then sent to exam boards before being subject to an external moderation.

However, just a day before results were due to be emailed out, the Department for Education announced a last-minute ‘triple lock’, which means students could have whichever result is highest from their estimated grades or mock exams, which were taken in school before lockdown, or exams in the autumn.

Headteacher, Mr Graham Tate, said: “This year has already been the most difficult any of us has ever experienced, with all exams cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before the government announcement was made about changes to grading assessments.

“This means some grades that are being sent out to students today may be changed, if they choose to appeal based on results achieved in their mock exams. We are still awaiting all of the information from the government, so can understand if students feel some confusion.

“We will be working together with all of our students as the information regarding grading becomes clearer.

“Despite this late change and the current circumstances, our students have achieved really positive results, with some incredible individual performances.”

Students urged to send in results day celebration photos

GCSE and A-Level students are being asked to send in photographs and videos of their celebrations when results are emailed out.

A-Level results will go out on Thursday 13th August, with GCSE results being emailed out a week later on Thursday 20th August.

Annual in-school results day celebrations have been cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but students are being encouraged to share their lockdown celebrations by sending in photographs and videos for the school website and newspaper.

Mr D Treble, Head of Upper School, said: “Given that students will receive their results via email, this will limit opportunities for photographs and videos, the anticipation of opening envelopes and the atmosphere of receiving results in front of peers, parents and staff.

“In light of this, we are encouraging students to video or photograph the opening of their results live. Members of family or friends can be present for this and share in the experience of results.”

All exams were cancelled this year due to the pandemic, but Highfields followed a rigorous moderation process involving teaching staff, heads of departments and members of the Senior Leadership Team before submitting Centre Assessed grades to exam boards. These grades were then subject to an external moderation.

Careers Advisors will be available in school for three days after each set of results, whilst dates have now been agreed for students wishing to to resit exams to improve their grades.

A-Level resits will take place from October 5th-24, whilst GCSE resits will take place from November 2nd-20th.

Celebration photographs and videos can be emailed to resultsday@hswv.co.uk

School to reopen in September with extra safety measures

School will reopen its doors in September, with staggered lesson times and additional hygiene precautions announced to ensure the safety of all students and staff.

Students in Years 7 and 11 will return to school on Thursday 3rd September, with students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 11 to attend on Friday 4th September. All year groups will attend school from Monday 7th September.

Headteacher, Mr G Tate, said: “As we come to the end of one of the strangest terms in education that I have ever experienced, I am pleased to be able to share our plans for the opening of school in September. 

“Whilst we have continued to be impressed with the way that students, supported by their parents, have continued to make progress by working hard at home, we are so looking forward to being able to welcome all students back to school after the holidays. 

“I am sure that you are aware that the guidance for schools, published recently, is for all students to return to school, full-time in September and this is what we expect to be able to accommodate - albeit with some significant changes to ensure student and staff safety. 

“As you would expect, we have had to make many changes to the way that we organise the school to ensure that it is as safe as it possibly can be for both staff and students. There are several reasons why these changes have had to be made based on the most recent guidance. They are all intended to minimise contact between students as much as is possible to reduce the numbers of students on site at any one time, to reduce the amount of movement around the site, to reduce the number of students arriving to or leaving the site at any one time, and to allow us to restrict students to as small a group as possible whilst still being able to offer a broad and balanced curriculum.”

As part of the changes, year groups will have different start and finishing times, whilst breaks and lunch times will be shorter and staggered.

Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will arrive at school from 08:25 for an 08:40 start, with a morning break from 10:10am-10:20am and lunch from 11:50-12:15. The school day for these students will finish at 13:45.

For full details of Autumn term arrangements for students in Year 7 click here, Year 8 click here and Year 9 click here.

Years 10 and 11 will arrive from 10:15 for a 10:30am start. Morning break will be from 12:10-12:15, lunch from 13:05-13:30, and afternoon break from 14:20-14:30. The school day will finish at 16.10.

For full details of Autumn term arrangements for students in Year 10 click here and Year 11 click here.

Sixth Form students will start their day at 8:50, with a 10-minute break from 10:20-10:30 and lunch from 13:55-14:20, with the day finishing at 16:00. For full details of Autumn term arrangements for students in Year 12 click here, and Year 13 click here.

Students must arrive during their allocated time slots and go straight to the room of their first lesson, and then leave school immediately after their last lesson.

A wide range of additional safety measures will also be implemented, including the requirement for each student to carry their own personal bottle of hand sanitiser. Soap in toilets will be checked and replenished throughout the day, whilst hand sanitiser stations will be in place at the entrance to the school and monitored to ensure that students use them as they enter and leave the building. 

The school will also provide a supply of tissues and dedicated disposal bins in each classroom, as well as Virucidal wipes to clean desks and chairs at the start of each lesson, whilst a strict daily cleaning routine will be in place in line with government guidelines.

Mr Tate added: “I appreciate that these changes to the timetable may well require families to make different arrangements in terms of childcare and travel plans, so I wanted to give you as much notice as possible to allow you to make provision for this. 

“Whilst recent months have shown us that things can change very quickly, I believe it is highly likely that these changes will be in place at least for the whole of the Autumn term. We will of course update you if there does need to be any amendments to this plan.”

Letters detailing all of the plans for the school’s September reopening have been emailed out to parents and carers, and are also available to view in the ‘letters and publications’ section of the school website here.

Joseph announced as school's latest musical production

Highfields has today announced its latest musical production - the school’s first ever socially distanced version of Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Talented young performers from Year 9 through to Sixth Form will take to the stage in the showcase, which will be live streamed to audiences from the Lyceum Theatre.

Rehearsals will kick off with a two-week summer school from August 3rd-14th, featuring 15 students.

Ms S Bishop, Head of Highfields’ Head of Extra Curricular Performance, who will be leading the summer school and directing the show, said she was looking forward to rehearsals kicking off, albeit with strict guidelines in place.

It will be her third time directing the much-loved musical at Highfields since she started teaching at the school in 1999.

She said: “We are delighted to announce our latest musical.

“The show must go on, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and so we are all looking forward to rehearsals getting under way during our summer school.

“This will be my third time directing the show at Highfields, albeit the first with strict social distancing measures in place. It will be a challenge, but we have an amazingly talented bunch of young performers and I am sure we will put together another amazing production.”

School musical productions are usually open to every student who wants to take part, but because of the strict restrictions on numbers this year, Ms Bishop emailed performers who appeared in the 2019 Addams Family production and worked on a ‘first come first served’ policy. Although summer school places are limited to 15 students, it is hoped more performers will be involved in the final production.

After months of rehearsals, the show will be live streamed from the Lyceum around Christmas.

Based on the ‘coat of many colours’ story of Joseph from the Bible’s Book, the show, by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, is one of the world’s best loved musicals.

Sporting talent honoured during live-streamed awards ceremony

Highfields celebrated sporting talent during lockdown with a live-streamed virtual awards ceremony. 

This year marked the 4th annual PE Legacy Awards, which are held to celebrate the efforts and achievements of the school’s sporty students over the past academic year. The virtual PE Legacy Awards took place from 7pm on Wednesday 15th July. 

A total of 208 students were nominated in a range of categories linked to the school’s curriculum, including Captain/Leadership & Coaching, Effort & Attitude, Most Improved and Elite. Awards will also be given out for Sports Person of the Year in each year group, as well as Dancer of the Year (for KS3 and KS4), KS5 Contribution Award and Sports Team of the Year, which was won by the Year 10 Boys’ football team.

Head of PE, Mr C Brickwood, said: “We host the PE Legacy Awards annually to celebrate the sporting achievements of our students, and we did not want them to miss out this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This has been a strange term, but our students had already achieved so much in a range of sporting disciplines before lockdown, and it is important that we celebrate this, even if we could not host the ceremony as we normally would.

“We are overwhelmed with superb commitment, strong leadership and outstanding personal performances at Highfields, and we are proud to honour the individuals and teams who help the school maintain such a successful sports record.”

Mr Brickwood and Mrs J Brickwood hand delivered trophies to all 35 winners.

Mr Brickwood added: “It was great to hear that so many families watched and celebrated their child's success together. The feedback for the evening was overwhelmingly positive after the apprehension we had over the prospect of a live feed going wrong!”

Watch the video from the awards ceremony below:

Year 6 students get taste of Highfields during induction days

Students due to start in Year 7 in September were given a taste of Highfields during socially distanced induction days during lockdown.

Students experienced secondary school life, taking part in typical lessons, learning how to access the school’s IT network, enjoying outdoor orientation activities and touring the building.

Induction days took place over four years to ensure students maintained social distancing rules amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Miss J Parker, Head of Lower School, said: “At Highfields we believe that starting secondary school should be a time of great excitement and anticipation of all the opportunities that lie ahead. We also realise though that some students can feel nervous about this change it is really important that they spend time getting to know the building, the layout of the school and most importantly meet their peers and some members of staff.

“We were delighted to be able to invite Year 6 students into school for a one-day induction. Due to the size of the year group and to ensure effective social distancing, students were invited in by the primary school they attend, with the induction process split to take place over four days.

“Throughout the day students were separated into smaller groups where they moved between a range of activities. These groups mirrored the ‘Bubbles’ students are in at their primary school although they were expected to maintain two metre social distancing at all times. 

“Students experienced a typical lesson where they were set some transition work based on a reading book given to them on the day. They also took part in an IT lesson where they were set up on the school IT network, given their login details to access Office 365 and learned how to use the school email system. Students also took home a pack of enrichment activities to prepare them for a really effective start in September.”

Parents would usually have been invited into school for a presentation with Headteacher, Mr G Tate, Deputy Headteacher, Mr A Cheetham and Miss Parker, but a ‘virtual’ presentation video was created instead, which can be viewed here.

Highfields proves it's got talent with live-streamed contest

Students showcased their talents to impress a panel of judges as part of the school’s first ever Highfields Got Talent competition - with viewers at home given the chance to vote for their favourite act to take the crown.

Dozens of students submitted audition videos, showing off their skills including dancing, singing, magic and sports trick shots.

The entries were whittled down to eight acts who competed in a live-streamed final on Thursday, 9th July.

Our finalists were Owen Whittle, Anna Tabner, Frankie Holden, Abigail Regan and Paige Cordingley, Jake Farley-Moss, Alex Cooper, Lily Lowery, and Rebecca Street - with Alex being named the worthy winner.

Students performed their acts from home to a panel of three judges - Mr G Tate, Mrs J Brickwood and Mrs S Jevon - as well as two special guests, Mr P Rose and Ms J Parker, as Ant and Dec.

The event was live-streamed through our YouTube channel.

Ms S Bishop, Head of Extra-Curricular Performance, who presented the HGT final live from the Lyceum Theatre, said: “During this time of year, our students are normally preparing for a number of live performances, including the annual Summer Showcase.

“Lockdown put a stop to those events, but we still wanted to give our talented students the chance to showcase their performance skills amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We were delighted to host a live HGT competition to give them the chance to do just that. 

“Our fantastic finalists each performed their acts from home, to a panel of judges in the Lyceum. The live final was the first time the judges saw any of the acts.

“As the competition was live streamed, viewers also got the opportunity to vote for their favourite act on the night. We had over 200 people tune in to watch, and we all enjoyed a great evening of entertainment and had lots of fun. 

“Alex Cooper, from Year 7 was a worthy winner. Thank you all for your support and lovely comments.”

Budding engineers praised for innovation in national project

Budding engineers have been praised for their excellence in innovation, after completing a prestigious national design project during lockdown.

Two teams of Year 12 A-Level Physics students worked with industry experts to design and present an engineering project that could be of significant use to a local engineering company.

The national scheme is run by the Engineering Development Trust, the largest provider of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) enrichment activities for UK students.

One team looked into radiation shielding methods, under the supervision of Wolverhampton-based ANSALDO Nuclear, whilst the other group developed a reservoir overflow alongside professionals from Mott Macdonald Bentley, based in Shifnal.

Both teams held weekly meetings with their engineers after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays, before travelling to Loughborough University early in the year for a two-day residential, which allowed them to start work on the building and prototype testing of their projects.

Physics Teacher, Mr A Britton, said: “The weekly meetings with company engineers continued until this year’s unfortunate Covid-19 lockdown. The meetings focused on the completion of the prototypes, producing a 40 page engineering report and also a 15-minute power point presentation. 

“After forging cross-curricular links with the EDT a few years ago, the teams completed their models using the school workshops.

“Usually in early May the teams display their models at a National Celebration and Assessment Day, where over 300 students set up stands to display their projects and make presentations assessed by a panel of judges comprising of business directors and engineers.

“Due to the circumstances this year, the teams collaborated online to successfully complete their reports under lockdown.

“The Highfields teams have now received written feedback on their reports in which the assessors commented on the excellent planning during the early stages and the professional quality of the well organised reports.”

All of the students involved have now successfully qualified for the EES Gold Industrial Cadets Awards and Gold CREST Award, which is Britain's largest national award scheme for project work in the STEM subjects.

£5k investment secured to support students' uni aspirations

Highfields has successfully secured an investment of almost £5,000 to support students’ university aspirations.

The Aspire to HE scheme is a partnership led by the University of Wolverhampton with local schools and colleges who are committed to improving access to Higher Education.

The fund was available to certain schools to encourage students to pursue their dreams of moving on to Higher Education, despite the Covid-19 lockdown.

The school has successfully applied for a year’s subscription to Unifrog, a comprehensive careers platform for all year groups. Thanks to this investment, worth £2,400, students from Years 10-12 will work on set tasks throughout the summer to move them closer towards their Higher Education goals. Unifrog will be launched to all students in the new academic year.

A further £500 has been secured on Careers in the Curriculum resources from Success for Schools, which allows teachers to incorporate careers education into their lessons.

Additionally, £2,150 has been secured for the purchase of Science and English revision guides. Codes are being emailed to all Year 10 students to be used over the summer and throughout the year to help plug gaps in knowledge and skills caused by the school closure.

Mr P Rose, Assistant Headteacher and Careers Leader, said: “We are delighted to have successfully secured this money to support our students’ Higher Education dreams.

“Students have coped admirably under the strangest of circumstances this term, but school closures have, of course, impacted on the many Careers events we would normally stage around this time of year. We want to do everything we can to provide additional support to ensure they can still reach their aspirations and Higher Education goals going forward, despite this disruption.”

Students' stunning artwork captures lockdown emotions

Talented students have captured feelings of isolation during lockdown by creating stunning artwork during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Year 11 Art students have been working on a transition task on the theme of isolation, which they will continue to develop when they return to classrooms later this year.

Some used the medium of photography to portray their feelings and emotions, whilst others used watercolours and sketches to create abstract works, including Bea Greame’s boats, which represent the concept of being alone and floating aimlessly. 

One of the students, Jack Dean, said: “My goal with the isolation art was to present a unique viewpoint into the ways we see isolation. 

“Many of the pieces were to do with complete isolation, such as the head with the prison bars, which presents being trapped within your own mind, and a skull in the ocean, which shows decay within an isolated space. 

“However, other pieces were to show how we cope, that being with the headphones, and how we tend to block out our surroundings with music when we are focusing on a task alone. 

“The purpose of these pieces was to make you think about how you see isolation, and to consider the ways in which you deal with it, or try to stay isolated as little as you can, talking to others and enjoying the company of friends and family.”

Rachael Flavell said: “I decided to link land and seascapes to emotions possibly felt during lockdown as people become more isolated. I focused on anger looking at just the nose and mouth area of the face using pencil and comparing it to a stormy sea, done using acrylic paint and coloured pencils.”

Art teacher, Ms P Thomson, said: “The responses were varied and interesting, provoking some very poignant images based on personal experiences of lockdown.  

“The students are hoping to further develop their work when they return in Year 12 as they continue studies in A-Level Art.”