Last day at Highfields for Year 11 Students

Highfields has bid a fond farewell to Year 11 with a special assembly which was held in school for students, giving the class of 2022 the chance to celebrate their school life as they prepare to move on to the next chapter.

As part of the celebrations, awards were handed out to honour special achievements or particular events, whilst old photographs and videos were shown documenting students’ time at Highfields.

After the assembly the students gathered in the restaurant to sign shirts and say their goodbyes.

Head of Upper School, Mr Treble, said: “It was lovely to have so many Year 11 students join us for our leavers celebration. 

“They have made such a positive contribution to the school community during their time at Highfields, and we are immensely proud of everything that they have achieved. 

“They have coped with the challenges of the last couple of years admirably and I am confident that further success awaits them in the future.”

Year 6 Students get taste of life at Highfields

Primary school students due to join Highfields in September have been given their first taste of life at the school, taking part in a range of team-building outdoor activities.

They were set several problem-solving challenges, including a spider web, blindfolded obstacle course and an orienteering activity. All the challenges are designed to develop new skills in preparation for moving to secondary school. It is also an opportunity for students to experience the school during a normal day alongside other students who are in lessons.

The Yr 6 transition sessions have taken place over the past week, giving all 280 students set to start in September the chance to get a feel for Highfields whilst meeting staff and fellow students from other primary schools. All students will then return to Highfields for two days in July for their full induction.

Mr C.Moody, Outdoor Activity Manager, said: “The transition sessions provide Year 6 pupils with an opportunity to take part in a number of fun, outdoor activities and challenges whilst meeting students from other schools who will be joining Highfields with them in September.”

Beverley Knight invites Hairspray Cast to West End!

The cast of 'Hairspray' were lucky enough to be invited by Highfields Alumna, Beverley Knight, to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End. The star paid for 50 staff and students to watch her in a matinee performance of the hit musical ‘The Drifters Girl’.

The show, which received a standing ovation from the audience, was absolutely fantastic with breathtaking choreography and uplifting songs, students said Beverley's stunning voice is even more powerful and moving live. 

Beverley said, ‘"I believe passionately that children must be able to see their aspirations to know they can achieve them. I had a little Q&A with the kids after the show, and it just lifted my soul to see the fire in the eyes of these young performers’

After the show, Beverley went down to speak to the students alongside two other cast members. They chatted, answered questions, and posed for photos as well as signing many autographs!

Ms Bishop, Head of Performance said, 'The show was fantastic and it was very generous of Beverley to invite our students to watch it.  The story of the Drifters is fascinating and has moments of real tragedy but lots of humour too.  We were all on our feet at the end and I know lots of the students have downloaded the which is brilliant!'

Climate Change Collaboration

Year 9 have been working on a collaboration project linking to climate change. They spent time researching their chosen topic by looking into activist such as Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough, people they felt engaged and inspired by in order to create a powerful dance piece. 

Students worked in small groups to portray different ideas such as the 4 elements, current ways to make a change and the impact on future generations.

Some students took inspiration from KQED Arts with the idea of creating an outside-indoor environment with the use of green confetti before taking the piece to be performed outside. They worked hard to create and modify the dance to suit the performance environment.

Storyboards were created to portray ideas on how each section of the choreography would piece together, building to the climax section where all dancers performed in unison.

Miss Weblin, Dance Teacher said, “All of the students worked very hard to make sure their timing was correct. They all chose a still pose to end the dance to show the impact climate change will have, which was very effective.”

Football success for Highfields

This year Highfields managed to get three teams into football cup finals. Year 8 Girls and Year 10 Boys played against St Chads and Year 7 Boys were up against Wolverhampton Grammar School.  

All three finals were hosted at Old Wulfrunians Football Club and were officiated by Highfields students, who did their Referee badge at Highfields through the Birmingham FA: Reuben Brickwood, Ieuan Owen, Jake Green, Jude Webb, Seb Darville, Lewis Smith, Jake Green, Jake Farley-Moss.

After a nail-biting Semi-final for the Year 8 girls’ team against Wolverhampton Grammar School winning 3-2, they went on to play a very strong St Chads team. Unfortunately, they had a team full of club players, therefore, the girls fell victim to a 10-0 defeat. Despite the loss, they all had a fantastic afternoon, and it was great experience.

The Year 7 boys had more success; they got to the final full of optimism after a tough but exciting few games.

Mr Brickwood, Head of PE said, “There was challenging competition to select the final squad and the 12 that were selected had shown great dedication to training all year and fought hard to beat league champions, St Chads, in the semi-final to set up the showdown against Wolverhampton Grammar.” 

The game ending 3-1 to Highfields, with a stellar, fighting performance from the Year 7 boys, who thoroughly deserved to lift the Corke Cup after a memorable first campaign. Officials awarded Freddie Box the player of the match but every one of the 12 played their part on the day. 

Finally, the Year 10 boys had similar success as not only were they recently crowned Division 1 Wolverhampton league winners, but they were up against Our Lady & St Chad's in their cup final.

The game concluded 3-2 to Highfields in a tense game which was led brilliantly by captain Jude Webb, ending the season as double winners!

Ex-students celebrate at Gold DofE Awards ceremony

Achieving your Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a big deal as it shows you have the skills, determination, and mentality to really succeed.  All young people who achieve a Gold Award are invited to a Gold Award celebration event at a Royal Palace, attended by a Member of The Royal Family.

Over the last couple of years, a number of Highfields students carried out their Gold award, which involves volunteering, learning a new skill, completing a physical activity and going on a residential. Not forgetting the challenging 3-night 4-day expedition. The students completed their award earlier on in the year, therefore, it was their turn to be awarded.

The presentation took place in the gardens of Buckingham Palace and students were a part of a group of approximately 50 Gold Award holders. The ex-highfields students who attended were Hannah Griffiths, Jessica Drew, Sanar Nisar, Amreeta Kaur-Gill, Amarpreet Singh, Jindveer Khangura, Vishal Patel and Emily Walker.

Mr Moody, DofE Manager, said “This was a very special reward for all their efforts over their DofE journey that had been delayed because of the pandemic. They should all be very proud of their commitment and effort in their personal development whilst completing their award and I’m personally very privileged to have led them through their award and wish them all the best in the future.”

Music Tech club proves popular with students

Music tech club provides a space for students at Highfields to explore music creation and sound design outside of the daily curriculum. Students are encouraged to work independently to learn and master skills in audio production including sound selection, arrangement, composition, audio editing and mixing.

The group in the club use industry standard software to learn how to remix, score films, sequence music and manipulate audio. Through this they develop an awareness of pitch, timing and synchronisation whilst exploring their creativity and imagination. 

Mr Wolverson, Music Techer and Tech club leader said, “Creating music with computers is no small feat; there are many different skills and disciplines that need to be developed - a music producer must be able to multitask and switch between different roles within the production environment.”

Students spent the first term in the club getting familiar with the software by following tutorials and completing short tasks to build up their skill sets. By the spring term students were ready for their first project and were given the task of remixing the White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army'. The only guideline was to include Jack White's original studio vocal take and to ensure that any other sounds chosen were 'in key' [correct pitches] and 'in time' [sequenced accurately]. The rest was totally up to them! 

Click here to take a listen to the final audio remixes.

Readathon launched

After a 14-year absence, the Read for Good Readathon was back at Highfields this April as the English department ran the fundraising campaign with year 7 students

Launched to coincide with the Easter break, ample time for students to fill with reading, the Readathon is a sponsored read, where students set themselves a reading goal and are sponsored by friends and family to reach it. The money raised is used by the charity to buy books for children in hospitals. 

According to the Read For Good website "Our service supports seriously ill children’s disrupted learning and gives them and their families precious distraction and comfort at a time when it’s needed the most."

School librarian Miss Hallam said, "I'm incredibly pleased with how the Readathon went. The uptake in students using the library at the launch of the campaign was fantastic, I'm surprised there were any books left by Easter!.

This year students raised a brilliant £141.10 with their sponsorships.

Miss Hallam continued, “All the student who were involved should be very proud of the money they raised for such a good cause, and they've set a good target to try and beat next year." 

You can read more about the Read for Good campaign at https://readforgood.org/our-impact/

‘The Highnotes’ impress at choir competition

The 30 strong Highfields School Choir, ‘The Highnotes’ went to St Bart’s Church for a City-Wide Choir Competition.

The students went armed with their repertoire of songs, dazzling in their hot pink t-shirts, only to find they were the only entrants! The other schools had all pulled out for various reasons, so the afternoon was spent workshopping music. The songs the choir worked on included ‘In Our Service’, written for Her Majesty, The Queen’s jubilee, ‘I Give You a New Commandment’, a Sister Act medley and their own arrangement of ‘Uptown Girl’ conducted by Mr Evans. 

Paul Carr, Church organist treated students to an insight into St Bart’s Church organ which is over 150 years old. Paul, alongside Julia Bishop, Evening Choir Leader at St Bart’s, ran the vocal workshops. They made the afternoon relaxed and enjoyable for everyone involved.

During the evening, Parents and Carers went to watch and listen to the performances the Choir had prepared. The audience were all extremely impressed with the vocals and how confident they were in performance. 

Mrs Jevon, Highfields’ Musical Director, who went to support the students, said,  ‘What a lovely evening, Uptown Girl was a triumph, and everyone who took part should be really proud!’. 

Ms Bishop, Head of Performance, said, ‘Mr Evans has given the school choir a new lease of life, rebranding them as the Highnotes and winning tonight, albeit by default, is just the beginning’.

Highfields to become a UCL Centre for Holocaust Education

The History Department at Highfields will be working alongside University College London as participants in the Beacon School for Holocaust Education programme, which begins in July for a duration of 12 months.

 The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education selects a small number of schools to work with each year, supporting the development of exemplary Holocaust education within schools and the local community.  Competition for places on the programme is strong, but Miss Tappenden, Head of History, received confirmation this week that the school’s application has been successful.

 Miss Tappenden said, “This is an incredible opportunity for students at Highfields and the wider school community.  We are always reviewing our curriculum offering to ensure students get the high-quality history education that they deserve.  Understanding the Holocaust is an integral part of our Key Stage 3 curriculum. We have already invested a lot of time into our current scheme of work but look forward to reviewing this again in light of the added expertise that working alongside UCL will bring”.

 The programme will also challenge the school to consider how Holocaust education can be further embedded into the wider school curriculum. Miss Tappenden continued, “Holocaust education already plays an important role in the wider school curriculum.  It is a significant part of our assembly programme and other departments including English and RE already incorporate elements of the topic into their curriculums.  This programme will provide an excellent opportunity to work alongside other staff within school to consider how we can support each other in delivering effective and appropriate Holocaust education”.

Becoming a Beacon school will also put Highfields at the forefront of Holocaust education within the city, providing an excellent opportunity for staff from other secondary schools in Wolverhampton to work with Highfields to develop their own curriculums.  The History department already has an excellent programme of Holocaust education which includes a biannual trip to Krakow in Poland, visiting Auschwitz and other significant sites in the area.