The Highclarian 2017-18

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The Highclarian

2017-18

Highclare School

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Highclare School l The Highclarian l 2017-18

Contents

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Headmaster’s welcome / A word from Chair of Governors

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Review by Head of Senior School

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Review by Head of Junior Schools

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Senior School Sports Review

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Junior School Sports Review

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Music and Drama

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Art and Technology

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Junior Art Competition 2018

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Science and Maths

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Sixth Form

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Humanities

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Iceland

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Junior School News

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Early Years at Highclare School

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Highclare Highlight: Ballet

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Highclare Behind the Scenes

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Competition News

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Charities and Fund Raising

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Highclare Highlight: Duke of Edinburgh

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Highclare Ski Trip 2018

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Exam Results

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Highclare Highlight: Maasai Tribe

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Welcome This is what motivates educationalists like myself and my colleagues on a day-to-day basis; and co- and extra-curricular activities are fantastic vehicles to make this happen. Opportunities for competition, collaboration, investigation and presentation are all offered. Sports, activities, performing arts, cuisine, arts and crafts and charity work are all featured, and much, much more. It really is impressive in its range and its depth.

You can see for yourself how much individual and team-based endeavour, achievement and success is embodied within this co- and extra-curricular activity. It is an almost endless opportunity for personal growth that exists to help propel our boys and girls along a trajectory of the development of the ‘whole person’, the fulfilment of potential and personal happiness.

Congratulations to everyone involved in a fantastic year. I have really become aware of the range and depth of the activity that has occurred in our desire to engage and challenge the boys and girls to be the best learners possible.

Even the briefest of glances through this magazine (or the Headmaster’s Termly Newsletters, published three times through the year) would confirm the amazing variety of co- and extra-curricular activity that has always been strong, but is rapidly becoming Highclare’s hallmark. Activity to complement the learning taking place through the curriculum, or to add enrichment to a person’s development, is a valuable and successful part of what Highclare School is all about ie. opportunities to learn important skills such as leadership, time management, teamwork, persistence and conflict resolution.

Trips (day and residential), visitors to School, clubs and societies, focussed assemblies and themed days are just some of the ways in which this rich seam of opportunity is mined. All have a role to complement the more traditional curriculum / classroom based teaching and learning that is inevitably the mainstay of our provision.

If you believe, like Albert Einstein, that ‘education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school’, then you will recognise the importance and validity of all the extra-curricular activity that takes place.

We attach so much significance to this activity because of a number of key reasons; firstly, it is based on the simple recognition that learning occurs in many places beyond the classroom. We aim to provide multiple opportunities for a boy or girl to find their niche, to strive in an activity in which they excel. In doing this they grow in selfconfidence and self-assurance, which, in turn, causes them to be able to self-set high expectations of success in other aspects of their life. I have referred to this ‘spark’ previously.

The second key reason is that a rich diet of activity encourages the boys and girls to identify with the School, which has a unifying effect beyond that which occurs in the classroom. People who enjoy doing these things are more likely to be happy which, in turn, means that they are more likely to give of their best.

Thirdly, we are broadly in the business of helping young learners to develop the ‘wings to fly’. To do this they need not only academic intelligence wings but also emotional and spiritual intelligence ones too. We want them to go out into the world and, through their actions, attitudes and beliefs, make it a better place.

Finally, I would like to finish by complimenting all the staff – teaching and non-teaching – who, time and time again, demonstrate their willingness and capacity to go the extra mile in providing the best education possible at Highclare School. They are a truly inspirational bunch.

I hope you enjoy reading this magazine.

Best wishes R Luker Headmaster

A word from the Chair of Governors The publication of our latest Highclarian magazine allows us to reflect on the academic year 2017 - 2018 and to see the vast range of opportunities and experiences which were available to our pupils at all ages during the year.

Our pupils’ motivation and enthusiasm is clearly evident in the way in which they embrace these opportunities and the support of parents, without doubt, encourages the children to make the most of everything that is available to them during their time at Highclare. Alongside this the hard work and commitment of our staff to their teaching and to providing extra-curricular activities enables our pupils to fulfil their potential in so many ways. I thank you all, pupils, parents and staff, for all that you do.

Our pupils’ results in the external examinations speak for themselves and it is a pleasure to be able to offer the Board’s congratulations not only to them but to all our pupils throughout the School who continue to achieve at the highest levels. Well done, everyone.

As a School, we know that we can never be complacent and we embrace change enthusiastically while recognising that tradition and established good practice provide strong foundations. 2018 already promises to be an exciting and busy year with the key focus being, as ever, the importance of providing the best possible educational experience for your children at all levels.

As the new school year begins, my Board colleagues and I look forward to seeing you at as many School events as possible. I know there will be many from which to choose!

May I, on behalf of the whole Board, wish you all a hugely successful and happy 2018 - 2019.

Louise Flowith Chair of Governors

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Senior School Review mobile phones and social media. Ms Spielman said during a recent speech at Wellington College Festival of Education, “I’m not the target audience, but nevertheless I am yet to be convinced of the educational benefits of all day access to Snapchat and the like and the place of mobile phones in the classroom seems to me dubious at best.” I totally agree with this view and believe that, unless we all start taking responsibility for our children’s exposure to social media, issues such as online bullying and addiction to games such as Fortnite will continue to influence their wellbeing and have a detrimental effect on their mental health.

During the year and due to the commitment of our excellent Heads of House, Mrs Dawson (York), Mrs Lightfoot (Tudor) and Mr Sneary (Lancaster) and to some very enthusiastic House Challenges, pupils have endeavoured to pursue as many House Points as possible. It was especially wonderful to witness them taking part in the end of term House Challenge with dance, song and baking competitions being of particular note!

I am delighted to report that the Senior School continues to go from strength to strength, which I believe is due to the dedication and enthusiasm of our remarkable staff, our determined and hardworking pupils and to the continued, invaluable support of all our wonderful parents.

I am also proud to confirm that our ‘Take Charge’ initiative has now become the mainstay of our School ethos and is referred to in every lesson and assembly. Our young people are familiar with its tenets and are able to use it as a focus for all that they seek to achieve both in School and in the wider community. I am always delighted to hear our pupils refer to ‘taking charge’ of their learning and referring to such things as ‘achieving more together’ and ‘aiming high’.

You will no doubt have been aware of the recent media attention given to the use of social media by our young people and the effects that over-reliance on the virtual world that it imbibes has had on the mental health and wellbeing of our children. I am proud to say that I took the decision in 2009 to ban mobile phones in school and introduced a system whereby pupils hand in their phones at morning registration and have them back at the end of the day. As you are no doubt aware, during the day, phones are kept in named pouches in secure lockers in form rooms and signed in and out. Obviously, we had a lot of complaints from pupils when this rule was first introduced, but they soon began to actually like being mobile free at school and some year 11 pupils even came to thank me!

Looking out of the window during this glorious summer and seeing our pupils skipping, playing table tennis and running about in the sunshine, made me realise that if they had their phones, probably none of these activities would be happening. When asked about this, pupils in a recent PHSCE lesson confirmed that if they did have access to their mobile phones they would probably all be playing games on them and catching up with Instagram and Snapchat whilst the beautiful gardens remained silent.

I was delighted to hear the Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock and Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Schools, speak out about the dangers of

Mindshop Excellence, which took place during the first week of the October half-term holiday at Shoosmiths – one of the largest and most prestigious nationwide firms of solicitors – saw our U5 and L6 students taking part in a very challenging but enjoyable week, culminating in an excellent and wellappreciated presentation to Partners, parents and teachers. My thanks are extended to Mr Jason Langford-Brown for bringing this wonderful initiative to the School. I know so many of our young people have benefited greatly from taking part over the years.

There were many great trips and extra-curricular experiences afforded to our pupils again this year including the ski trip to Austria. However, my own particular favourite has to be our half-term Geography trip to Iceland – the land of ‘ice and fire’ which was so meticulously planned by our wonderful Head of Geography, Mrs Cassells. Taking part in this was the highlight of my year and I know that our young people will never forget this wonderful and uplifting experience.

I consider it an honour and a privilege to be Head of the Senior School and am so proud of the achievements of our pupils, the dedication of our wonderful staff and the support of our fabulous parents.

Mrs A Moore Head of Highclare Senior School

Senior School Speech Night Highclare Senior School Speech Night, our annual opportunity to celebrate and recognise students for their outstanding achievements, was yet again a resounding success.

Prizes were presented to a number of pupils for excellence across all areas of the curriculum including academic achievement, music, sport and art.

Superb speeches and reports from various pupils, together with performances from Highclare's String Orchestra and Jazz Band ensured the night captivated and enthused pupils, parents and staff.

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Dr Luker's résumé of the school's achievements and successes once again highlighted the superb capabilities of Highclare pupils, principally the ability to achieve their highest potential along with academic and cross curriculum excellence.

Special thanks go to guest speaker Paul Faulkner, Chief Executive of Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, whose brilliant speech and references to our motto Facta Non Verba ( Deeds Not Words) was incredibly thought provoking.

It was a fantastic night and congratulations go to all involved.

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Junior School Review 2017- 2018 Another year has flown by at Highclare Junior School. Highclare St Paul’s and Highclare Woodfield continue to exude the ‘family feel’ that everyone experiences as they are welcomed into our community. They promote warmth, a fun and nurturing ethos, challenging academia but in a supportive and purposeful environment, where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities, where extra-curricular activities are as important as curriculum lessons and where each and every pupil feels valued.

We continue to promote in our actions the ongoing and all-round development of all the children in our care, ranging from Ladybirds to the end of J6, in a holistic and developmental environment. The children are incredible and they reward us with laughter, happiness and smiles every day.

Sport and music have continued to go from strength to strength and success in these areas is celebrated within this magazine.

We continue to put a huge emphasis on the personal development of each child and to support this every child from Pre-School to J6 has taken part in numerous performances this year from cross-site class assemblies to Christmas productions, the Carol Concert at St Michael’s Church, the newly introduced Music and Lamda Arts Recital Evenings and of course the Junior School productions. The Spring term Night at the Movies concert was out of this world as were all the performances at Prize Giving. The music from The Greatest Showman inspired all the children at this event and the J6 performance of The Greatest Show and the whole school singing This Is Me were breathtakingly awesome.

The self-confidence these opportunities create is easy to see. At Junior Prize Giving and on events such as Open Days, the children’s love of school and enthusiasm for everything is shown by the smiles on their faces. They are so proud to be part of the Highclare family and they happily share this with all they meet. Members of the public always comment on how politely the children speak on trips and visits and how exemplary their behaviour is. All of this reflects and enhances our aim for all pupils to achieve individual excellence throughout their educational journey at school.

House competitions have been a key focus this year with the school house system being extended right down to the Reception children. Their sense of teamwork and belonging to a given house, along with the edge of healthy competition, has meant that the house events have been embraced by all the children in a way that we have not seen before. It has been fantastic to watch the children from J6 support those much younger than themselves. We look forward to this developing further next year with many more exciting house events to come.

The teachers have continued to encourage, inspire and challenge our pupils in all areas of school life. This in turn has given them a deep rooted love of learning and an ever developing willingness to become resilient and independent learners, all highlighted by our ‘Take Charge’ mantra. We have no doubt that we have succeeded in offering our children the skills and opportunities to develop positive self-esteem and have encouraged them to aim for success and be determined to try their best to achieve the best that they could ever be. I look forward to the next academic year with a huge sense of pride and excitement.

Mrs P Bennett Head of Highclare Junior School

Junior Prize Giving Our annual Junior School Prize Giving was held on the 27th June at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall and was well attended by pupils, parents, governors and staff. It was a great celebration of the achievements of all our Junior School pupils this year and showcased some of their amazing dramatic and musical talents.

Hosted by our Head Boys and Head Girls, ably assisted by their deputies, a number of pupils performed a piece from their LAMDA practice and then each year group performed a musical piece.

The evening also saw the presentation of prizes and certificates to pupils in each year group. Our speakers for the evening were Dr R Luker, Headmaster, Mrs P Bennett, Head of Junior School and Mr Kevin Borg from SERAPH, a company specialising in Leadership Development.

The evening finished with the whole school performing their version of This Is Me from the film The Greatest Showman, to rapturous applause from some very proud parents.

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Senior School Sports Review Swimming

Cross Country Just one word needed to sum up the course this year - MUD! Well done to all of our runners who completed an extremely muddy course at Bedstone. Some athletes also had to contend with sleet and snow while they were running, so all were very pleased to finish and earn a well-deserved hot chocolate.

Special congratulations to Caitlin O'Connor and Daniel Hurst who both won their respective races to earn a gold medal. They both, along with Jack Newman, qualified to represent the Midlands at the National event at Princethorpe College on Saturday 3rd March, which unfortunately had to be postponed due to bad weather.

Pupils have once again produced some excellent individual and team performances whilst competing at both the Midlands and National ISA Swimming Galas. Following superb performances at the Midlands ISA Swimming Gala in November Alexandra Bartley, Harriet Gordon, Adin Kamangira and Jodie Andrews all qualified to represent the Midlands at the ISA National Swimming Gala at the Olympic Pool in London. These 4 swimmers collectively accrued 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals at this prestigious national event as well as assisting the senior Midlands team to overall victory! A special mention to Alexandra Bartley, Harriet Gordon and Adin Kamingira, our U5th pupils who, through hard work, dedication and discipline have now qualified for the National finals every year of their school career. Congratulations to all of our Senior swimmers who competed. You represented the school and yourselves with exemplary behaviour and attitude. We are very proud of your achievements.

Football This year our teams competed in the ESSFA League games and the U16 ISA Tournament, providing plenty of opportunity for our football teams to display fantastic skill and team spirit across all age categories. Congratulations to Nathan Paul and Billy Pickering for being selected to play in the U16 ISA Midlands Representative Squad. These boys were scouted and chosen for the squad whilst playing for Highclare in the U16 ISA Football Tournament.

Netball Across the Winter and Spring terms Highclare netball teams played some outstanding netball under tough conditions.

With fantastic success in the Sutton Schools League and ISA tournaments, the girls played some impressive netball and have improved their skills and teamwork with every game.

Athletics

Hockey

During the Summer term athletes from Highclare Senior School competed at the ISA Senior Championship at the Alexander Stadium. All athletes competed with resilience and all competitors gave their best, ensuring all teams finished in the top half of their age category. Caitlin O’Connor, Jack Newman and Sophie Smith were subsequently selected to represent the Midlands at the ISA Nationals, held at the Alexander Stadium in June 2018. Caitlin O’Connor ran to success gaining a Bronze medal in the 1500m. Sadly Jack and Sophie were unable to compete.

Over the winter months our U13 & U15 hockey teams displayed tremendous tenacity competing in local and national tournaments with excellent success. All players have grown in confidence and skill over the season, whilst really enjoying the experience. Special mention to the U15 boys and girls teams who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Sutton Schools hockey league. Many thanks to the girls and boys who volunteer their time every week to umpire matches.

Triathlon Highclare athletes travelled to Lucton School in June 2018 to compete in the ISA Midlands Triathlon. Still a relatively new venture for Highclare, all pupils competed with such enthusiasm and determination, showing fantastic ability in all 3 disciplines, resulting in excellent team and individual performances. Special mention to Jack Newman who came 3rd out of 20 competitors taking home a Bronze medal.

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Junior School Sports Review The 2017/2018 academic year has been one of great achievement on the sporting field for Highclare Junior Schools with sport continuing to play a vital role in the Schools' calendar. Throughout the year teams have participated in matches across our major sports of football, hockey, netball, cricket and rounders at local and national level. Our pupils have also competed in cross country meets, athletics tournaments, swimming galas, triathlons and Tri-Golf competitions, displaying both excellent individual and team sportsmanship. All the children have been committed to their sport and have produced some fantastic results.

Over the year we have taken part in 76 fixtures, with children as young as J2 having the opportunity to represent the school at a competitive level. These fixtures have ranged from internal school competitions to major ISA tournaments. The ISA competitions and venues are always of the highest standard and have enabled pupils to compete at international facilities such as the Alexander Stadium and the Olympic Pool in London.

Over the winter term is was wonderful to see our talented pupils compete so well with other children locally, regionally and nationally, particularly in the fields of hockey, football and swimming. Our football season came up against some very strong competition this year and players have shown fantastic determination and team spirit, alongside excellent combination play, ending the season with a triumphant performance at the ISA U11 Football tournament.

The success of swimming within the Junior school has been growing year on year, with 2017 being no exception. During the ISA Midlands Swimming Gala, involving 22 schools, Highclare finished 2nd overall for our girls team and 3rd overall for our boys team. The hard work by students in lessons and the dedication of our specialist swimming teachers is clear to see.

During this competition Daisey-May Price and Hugh Mason-Williams were chosen to represent Highclare School and the Midlands at the ISA National Swimming Gala at the Olympic Pool, London. Both pupils achieved fantastic success with Hugh taking home 2 gold medals and Daisey-May a silver. Congratulations!

During our Spring term Highclare pupils had further opportunity to display both individual and team excellence across the disciplines of netball, boys' hockey, tagrugby, cross-country and swimming. The cross country season started with some fantastic performances at the ISA regional Bedstone cross country meet with both Highclare girls U10 and Highclare boys under 10 being victorious in their age group - an impressive achievement on a testing course. Special mention must go to Tiffany Latham and Hugh Mason Williams who both achieved gold medals. After winning their events at Bedstone, Tiffany and Hugh were ready for the National Finals but this was unfortunately cancelled due to the weather. Highclare would have sent 6 children to this National cross country event.

team success Highclare had three 1st place finishers: Hugh Mason-Williams (U9), Tiffany Latham(U9) and William Stead (U11) with Eliott Baker Ratcliffe achieving second position, also in the U11 category.

A superb achievement!

Towards the end of our academic year Highclare’s success continued as we sent a selection of J4, J5 and J6 pupils to the ISA regional athletic competition at the Alexander Stadium. Special mention goes to first positions in J4 boys 600m, J5 boys 150m, J5 boys long jump and J5 boys relay team. After competing well at this regional event Joshua Jones and Hugh Mason-Williams continued their success at the ISA national competition where Hugh finished 3rd in the J4 boys 600m and Joshua 3rd in the J5 boys 150m. The ISA U11 boys tennis tournament provided us with much success. Well done to Cameron and Arjun who finished 1st and Edward and Yuvraj who finished 3rd, a fantastic year of tennis achievements in and outside of school.

The final ISA fixture was the ISA Triathalon meet.

Hugh came in 1st place and Finley Pike in 2nd.

Special mentions must also go to James Marrett who finished 4th, Willam Hoe who finished 5th, Tiffany Latham who finished 7th and Lily Dudley who finished 9th. Well done, everyone!

We understand that the continuing improvement of skills taught both on and off the pitch are for life and will help us on our journey to develop pupils into well-rounded individuals. It is fantastic to see our pupils ‘Take Charge’ of their sporting capabilities day in, day out, thriving when offered the opportunity to represent their school in a number of different disciplines. These sporting opportunities, combined with the nurturing teaching at Highclare Junior School, are crucial in fostering the inclusive yet competitive environment promoted at Highclare.

At the ISA Cross-country invitational event at Mayfield in March Highclare was successful in placing top 3 in all age categories, finishing 1st in the Under 9 girls and Under 11 boys, 2nd in the Under 9 boys and 3rd in the Under 11 girls. As well as our

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Music and Drama Review What a (k)night it was!

Oh, what a night indeed! Two nights in fact. The Highclare Woodfield Junior production this year was a fantastic success. The children excelled themselves throughout the performances and displayed their talents in a variety of different roles from music technicians and back stage handling of props to our singers, actors and musicians. The acting was magnificent and the signing from the J3 and J4s was super too. Children from across the juniors demonstrated tremendous confidence and talent to give a performance that had the audience laughing and cheering.

A huge credit goes to those children who were stand-ins due to illness and injury! A massive thank you needs to go to all the staff for supporting and encouraging the children to have the confidence to show off their talents.

Cinderella and Rockerfella J3-J6 children from Highclare St Paul’s put on a wonderful Junior School production of Cinderella and Rockerfella this term, a fantastic performance which was enjoyed by all.

Cinderella and Rockerfella is a pantomime with a twist and allowed all of the children to showcase their talents, from prop design and stage setting to impressive acting and singing. All of the children gave of their best, with some impressive solo singing in a show filled with humour and laughter. We are so thankful to the supportive staff who allow our pupils to shine and well done to all children involved - we are so proud of how you performed in all of the shows.

Hairspray Highclare Senior School’s production of Hairspray recently took an excited audience back in time to the Baltimore of 1962 through an evening of wonderful singing, dancing and acting. The cast have been working tirelessly to perfect their roles and their hard work was clear to see as the show was a fantastic success. A huge congratulations must go to all the students, parents and staff who have contributed so much to all aspects of the production. It was a tremendous success and we are all still tapping our toes to the wonderful show tunes!

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Young Voices 2018

perfecting songs, all in preparation for the 7pm performance for family and friends.

J5 and J6 pupils recently joined over 6000 children at the Genting Arena, Birmingham to take part in Young Voices 2018. It was a fantastic opportunity for pupils and staff to perform a diverse range of songs as one single choir at an international venue.

Listening to thousands of children, including our very own pupils, singing united with a full 7-piece live band in unison with an amazing light display made for one of the most magical and memorable musical experience imaginable.

Rehearsals started at 2pm with lead conductor David Lawrence and several guest artists putting pupils and staff through their paces, learning dance moves and

Highclare pupils behaved impeccably throughout the day and we are all still tapping our toes and breaking out into dance, especially to the pop medley!

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Arts Recital Evenings Throughout the year pupils from Highclare Junior school have the opportunity to take to the stage and perform an exciting programme of music and poetry to family and friends. These evenings are always hugely entertaining, and have given an opportunity to our young musicians and actors to showcase and celebrate the high quality of school music and LAMDA lessons taking place at school.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone who performed throughout the year at our Arts Recital Evenings. We were extremely impressed with the high standard of the performances across both music and LAMDA. It was lovely to hear performances that included so many different instruments, such as flute, euphonium, cornet, clarinet and guitar to name a few. The varied programme of music from baroque through to pop music meant there was something for everyone. LAMDA showcased drama and poetry at every evening, including drama composed by Highclare pupils. These performances always added a further dimension to already incredible evenings. A special mention to our young performers from Reception who performed alongside J1 and J2 pupils at a recital evening towards the end of the Summer term. These young performers were outstanding. You would never have known that for some it was their first ever performance. They were all full of such confidence and enthusiasm. A huge well done to everyone who took part.

LAMDA examination results are loud and clear!

The LAMDA examination results are in and Highclare School pupils have achieved phenomenal grades, attaining a 100% pass rate and seeing the highest rate of distinctions achieved for years.

34 Senior School pupils and 69 Junior School pupils from Highclare School took part in the recent LAMDA examinations, comprising of a wide range of performance based disciplines, including Group Acting, Solo Acting, Public Speaking, Mime and Verse and Prose Recital.

In all 100% of pupils passed, with 32% obtaining a Merit and 64% of pupils achieving a Distinction – this is a grade of 80% and above, outstanding results! A special mention goes to 5 of our L5th and U5th pupils, who further gained bronze medals in these examinations, a fantastic attainment which in addition to evidencing their individual excellence has accrued all-important UCAS points.

Lamda has proved an immensely popular extra-curricular activity at Highclare School, allowing pupils to grow in confidence, develop their individuality and nurture relationships with pupils across year groups. It is proven to positively impact a pupil's ability to participate in debates and enhances presentation skills within other subject areas, all of which has resulted in a massive uptake of the LAMDA course in recent times.

Mrs Ashley Hall BEM, Head of LAMDA said, “These are fantastic results and I am delighted. In Highclare Senior School alone we have seen an over 40% increase in pupils achieving a distinction grade and a 100% pass rate. In Junior School over 70% of pupils achieved a distinction, outstanding results for pupils of such a young age. I look forward to continue celebrating these results with the pupils."

Highclare School Arts Festival 2018 Parents from Highclare Junior and Senior schools were treated to Highclare’s very own Arts festival during the last week of the year. On a beautiful summer's evening, whilst enjoying refreshments in the rose garden, family and friends of the pupils performing enjoyed a prelude of musical entertainment including group and individual pieces. The evening then moved inside where the roof was raised with wonderful performances. It was a fantastic evening celebrating the musical successes of Highclare pupils.

GCSE Drama showcase U5 and L5 Drama students treated staff, family and friends to performances this term as part of their preparation for their GCSE performance examination. U5 students performed pieces from The Woman in Black and their Devising Drama plays, something that they scripted and devised themselves from a given stimulus. L5 also performed a short piece of GCSE mock coursework. All performances were fantastic and the evening was enjoyed by all.

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Art & Technology Highclare pupils ‘fly’ in the ISA Competition Pupils of all ages have received recognition for their artwork in the 2017 Midlands Independent Schools Art competition.

Art and Design Exhibitions celebrate GCSE and A Level Art Success U5 and U6 pupils in the Senior School celebrated the end of their examination courses with displays of their portfolios in June. Work from a total of 16 pupils was exhibited with projects featuring Photography, Fine Art, Textiles and Product Design on show.

This has been our most successful year to date, with winners in 6 categories and a total of 11 pupils gaining awards. Pupils in EYFS and KS1 scooped first, second and highly commended awards in both the 2D Individual Art and Drawing categories. Highclare artists also achieved 6 first place wins with 3 being awarded to pupils in the senior school.

The exhibitions showcased the range of creative opportunities available at examination level and highlighted the exceptional talents of our students in a myriad of media and disciplines. Subjects ranged from portraiture, travel and equine art to anatomy and the impact of social media.

William Dawson’s stunning photograph of an owl in flight achieved the top prize in the KS3/4 Photography category. This marks the third year running that Highclare School has achieved top place in this class.

Congratulations to all our talented students.

“ The students have all undertaken their own creative journey and their growth into self-assured artists and designers is clear. The pupils have worked from their strengths and each has developed a distinct and personal visual style. It has been a pleasure to have accompanied them on this journey and seen them mature into confident and competent individuals.”

Mrs V Hughes - Head of Art A number of the pupils are going on to follow Art and Design at a higher level.

We wish them every success in the future.

Design like an Egyptian Clay models were made in J3 as part of their project on sculpture. They had already been studying the Egyptians in History lessons and so were pleased to design and make their own canopic jars. These jars, made out of clay with lids shaped like animal heads, were used by the Ancient Egyptians to store the body parts of the mummified body - fascinating and gruesome at the same time.

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Junior Art Competition 2018

Highclare School hosted their 4th annual Junior Schools Art Competition during the Spring Term, the most successful yet, resulting in a gala viewing and presentation evening during the Summer Term.

This year, the pupils were invited to create a piece of artwork inspired by their favourite artist within the silhouette of a masquerade mask. In all 725 entries were received from pupils covering a variety of Junior Schools across the region, including Highclare Junior School.

The pupils worked in a range of media such as ink, crayon, paint & collage and the artists pupils chose to emulate were diverse, with children drawing inspiration from a variety of sources

including school topics and family day trips.

Mrs Vanessa Hughes, Head of Art at Highclare Senior School, who acted as judge, said, “The quality of the entries this year was exceptional and highlighted the amount of talent we have amongst junior school pupils in this area. I was particularly impressed with the depth of the children’s imagination and their interest in historical and modern art.”

A special mention to Camille Burrows, Sian Sabharwal, Emma Chan, Joshua Jones and Jack Roper, winners from Highclare Junior School and congratulations to Harman Singh Ahluwalia, our overall winner from Mayfield Preparatory School.

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STEM

Maths Challenge Congratulations to all Highclare students who took part in this year’s Junior Mathematical Challenge. This is a nationally recognised challenge that receives over 260,000 entries of which the top 40% of students receive a certificate and only the top 6% can achieve a gold certificate.

Gold Certificates were awarded to Warren Koh (L4) and Humza Ali (U3) A Silver Certificate was awarded to Ayisha Iqbal (L4) Bronze Certificates were awarded to James Pearson (L4) and Holly Pankhurst (U3) Following the Junior Maths Challenge, Warren Koh and Humza Ali qualified for the next round of the competition, the Junior Kangaroo Challenge. Although both boys achieved a gold certificate in the Junior Challenge this threshold does not automatically qualify students for the next round of the challenge so it was a fantastic achievement.

Warren Koh (L4) Gold Humza Ali (U3) Gold Ayisha Iqbal (L4) Silver James Pearson (L4) Bronze Holly Pankhurst (U3) Bronze

GCSE National Space Centre Trip Triple Science Physics GCSE students attended the National Space Centre in Leicester looking to enhance their knowledge in preparation for their examinations. The students started the day by watching a show in the Planetarium all about the life and death of stars, along with proof of how we and everything we know started life as star dust! From here they moved on to a master class on orbits, red shift and the Big Bang, with the added bonus of some examination tips and a few great hands-on demonstrations. Following lunch the students had some free time to explore and found many exciting educational interactive displays, as well as a few that were just for fun. Finally we took the lift to the top of the rocket before heading back to school A great day was had by all and they came out with the knowledge they needed for their GCSE examination.

Bright Sparks at Thinktank J3 pupils recently spent an insightful day at Thinktank Birmingham science museum learning about light and exploring the 200 plus hands-on displays about science and technology.

Our young budding scientists were captivated during an interactive science lecture where pupils were invited to test different sources of light, play with shadows and see for themselves that light travels in a straight line and then change its direction using a lens.

Wrekin Challenge On Friday 27th April, eight pupils from J4 took part in the Wrekin College Maths Challenge. The children worked in pairs, using all their mathematical skills to solve a variety of maths tasks against the clock. Our J4 children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and all performed extremely well in the challenge. Highclare St Pauls' pupils, Dylan Engers and Avani Rooprai, came joint 1st out of over 50 teams. Well done everyone!

GCSE Science Live Highclare School GCSE Science pupils travelled to Birmingham Symphony Hall in February to attend exciting lectures by a group of prominent scientists.

Five great scientists, Prof Robert Winston, Dr Kate Lancaster, Prof Steve Jones, Prof Andrea Sella and Prof Lucie Green, all delivered inspiring talks on nuclear fusion, the sun, strange ice, genetics and human fertility.

The pupils behaviour was excellent and they all found the day useful for their upcoming GCSEs. It was very inspirational to see a range of modern day scientists talking about their passions and areas of expertise.

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Putting Maths Skills to the Test Congratulations to the J4 pupils who recently reached the final of the KES Borcherd Shield Maths competition. As well as taking part in a maths quiz that included a tough maths relay, they also put their mathematical strategies to the test followed by Dr Steckles demonstrating how he made amazing shapes with smoke.

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Sixth Form Mindshop Excellence: Shoosmiths

Sixth Form Enrichment Fortnight What a fantastic array of activities Highclare Sixth Formers have experienced during this years Sixth Form enrichment fortnight. It was a busy fortnight with a plethora of opportunities for pupils to develop their communication, life and leadership skills as well as thought provoking talks on topical subjects.

Daniel Hurst, L6, took part in this rewarding experience and here are some of his thoughts.

Over two weeks, the Sixth Form attended a series of enrichment sessions on a varied range of topics. Both years took part in different activities presented by guest speakers, ranging from the National Citizen Service, Aston and BCU universities on applying and choosing the right university, to sessions delivered on mindfulness and how to improve our self-esteem and confidence, to name just a few.

During October half term our very own leaders of the future had the opportunity to gain valuable work experience in the litigation department of one of the most prestigious law firms in the country, Shoosmiths, a nationwide, full service, award winning and highly ranked law firm.

Students, drawn from Year 11 and 12 cohorts, were engaged in a task to enhance collaboration and cohesiveness amongst Shoosmiths approx.

1000 employees. They were given the skills and the resources to devise, research and test a number of amendments to Shoosmiths' internal procedures and were given the responsibility to create and deliver a summative presentation attended by staff from not only Shoosmiths but also from Highclare School and Mindshop Excellence.

Predictably, the students were a credit to Highclare School and rose superbly to the challenge and, in doing so, gained an invaluable insight into what goes on within a business. As a School, we are delighted to be part of the Mindshop Excellence programme; a big thank you to them, all at Shoosmiths and to Mr Jason Langford-Brown for facilitating the experience.

This is an account from one of the participants: Our task was to propose ideas to the Shoosmiths' team about how they could improve collaboration within their firm and encourage their workers to work better as a team. We then had to present the ideas to the team and compile a report. This was by no means an easy task and took every single one of us out of our comfort zones, but nonetheless we came up with several ways in which the team could tackle the problem.

On the last day we had to present our ideas to several partners who worked at Shoosmiths. This was a nerve wracking experience but despite this the presentation went extremely well and the partners were really impressed with our findings and the ideas that we presented to them.

Overall, this was an extremely rewarding experience and I would recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to participate in the Mindshop Excellence scheme to do so.

L6 student

All the sessions enlightened us on specific topics, and many of us began contemplating whether to do things that we had never thought about before - from opportunities available if we take a gap year, to whether we should consider degree apprenticeships after A levels. We enjoyed a visit from the army, who set us various challenges and encouraged us to work as a team. Personally, I found the talk from Project Trust explaining the concept of a gap year interesting. Previously I had never considered taking a break from education, but now I understand the benefits involved with it far more. Overall, the past two weeks have been a success and I look forward to taking part in enrichment again next year.

EPQ Eight Highclare Sixth Form students have shown great resilience and a passion for learning this year through the successful completion of their AQA Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

The EPQ is a great opportunity for students to demonstrate their passion for a particular topic and an ability to work independently over a lengthy period of time. It is therefore a valuable resource for personal statements and interviews and, in its development of mature study skills, it provides an excellent preparation for study at undergraduate level.

The process of designing their personal extended project began in the Spring term of the Lower Sixth year, with students creating a research proposal based on a topic of personal interest. Once the research proposal is approved students are expected to independently devote 90 hours to its production, undertaking extensive research, completing a 5000 word report and delivering a presentation of their findings to staff and students.

This year Highclare Sixth Formers submitted projects covering a wonderfully diverse range of topics covering Science, Politics, History and Modern Culture, some notable titles being: beauty standards in East Asia; the reputation of Marie Antoinette; the ethics of the high-street fashion industry; the merits of drugtesting of employees; the institutional care of schizophrenia sufferers; the impact of increased wealth of premiership football clubs; the use of stem cells in glaucoma treatments; media reporting (and non-reporting) of missing children.

We cannot wait to see what topics next year's students decide to explore.

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Humanities J1 experience a Victorian childhood Earlier this term J1R enjoyed a fantastic trip to Weston Park. They learnt all about Victorian children and had the chance to play with a variety of Victorian toys, including a beautiful rocking horse. The children also experienced a traditional outdoor playtime with many different Victorian outdoor toys, such as hoops and hobby horses. Following this, all the children dressed up in Victorian costumes they looked very smart! Each child also made a traditional ‘cup and ball’ toy and had great fun trying to catch the ball in the cup.

Cranedale A level Geography Fieldwork 2018 Fieldwork forms an integral part of the A level Geography course and in our pupils' eyes it is one of the best and most memorable aspects of our course. This year’s L6 were delighted to take part in a residential course based at the specialist Cranedale field study centre in North Yorkshire.

We spent most of our time at the coast! This meant a day in Scarborough investigating lived experience of place and artistic representations, as well as a day at the spectacular Selwicks Bay, Flamborough Head where we investigated sediment size and learnt about the formation of the landforms. We completed the trip with a visit to the moors where a study of two adjacent drainage basins helped to bring our Water and Carbon topic to life.

Pupils will be using skills gained on the course for their own individual projects and will discover, once examinations commence, that their knowledge and understanding has greatly improved due to their experiences.

A Highclare Prime Minister in the making All of J6 recently travelled to London to pay a visit to the Houses of Parliament. The children were able to visit the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They learnt all about the history of the building and how it is used today. The children were able to sit in the gallery while the House of Commons was in session. After the tour of the Houses of Parliament the children had a workshop to go through the process of creating a law. The children were fantastic at presenting their arguments for and against. All the children had a great day and some have dreams to come back in the future.

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J2 Step back in time J2 had a great day at Whittington Barracks Staffordshire Regiment Museum this year. They learnt what it was like for a soldier in World War One; what he wore, what artillery he used and what it was like to live and fight in the trenches. It was an incredible opportunity for the children to immerse themselves in history.

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Tower of London Sixth Form Trip in the Snow On one of the coldest days of the year the Upper Sixth History group set off for a visit to the Tower of London as part of their A level studies on the Wars of the Roses. Although it was cold they really enjoyed touring the tower and its battlements in the snow as everything looked even more impressive than usual. They were able see the sites where many of the events they have studied occurred as well as viewing the crown jewels.

We followed our tour of the tower with lunch in Oxford Street, a visit to Trafalgar Square, a peek at Downing Street and a visit to the Natural History Museum. We ended our day with some much needed hot chocolate and cake before returning home to Birmingham.

L4 and L5 Geographers go paddling One of the most enjoyable and memorable aspects of the Geography curriculum for pupils tends to be the fieldwork element. At Highclare Senior School we are fortunate to take all year groups out to experience fieldwork both through residential visits and a variety of day trips.

Our L4 Geographers experienced a fantastic day at the Wolseley Centre in Staffordshire, investigating and comparing a tributary and the main channel of the River Trent. Students devised hypotheses to test and then spent the day measuring aspects such as velocity, pebble angularity, pH, depth and wetted perimeter. Kick sampling was particularly enjoyable, with pupils able to collect macroinvertebrates from the river bed and identity them to assess the quality of the river water.

L5 Geographers are assessed on their fieldwork as part of their written GCSE examinations . They spent a day at Ash Brook, Carding Mill Valley in Shropshire comparing the stream at different sites in order to be able to see changes as distance from the source increases. They were able to put the classroom theory of Bradshaw’s model into practice and will be able to justify their methods and analyse their results well following this excellent day of fieldwork.

Highclare pupils uncover Lichfield The Geography and Religious Studies Department jointly organised a valuable field trip, visiting neighbouring Lichfield with our U3 pupils. The students spent time collecting data, carrying out surveys and learning key geographical fieldwork skills, as well as visiting Lichfield Cathedral as part of the Christianity topic explored in Religious Studies. Data collected during the trip was analysed once pupils returned to school and the general public of Lichfield were very complimentary on the pupils' impeccable behaviour.

Great Fire Of London at Highclare Junior School J2 have learnt about The Great Fire of London this term. With the Freshwater theatre company they experienced the London of 1666 as they recreated life in Pudding Lane, became the fire as it grew and spread and debated the rebuilding of the city. But they agreed that the best lesson of all was when they recreated Pudding Lane with their own houses and watched it burn down.To close their exciting history topic on The Great Fire of London they set fire to one house and watched how quickly the fire spread from one house to another. Soon all of their model houses had burnt down, just like the real fire.

“The houses burnt really quickly because it was windy.” Jessica Kellett “The fire spread fast because it was a dry day.” Ben Brooks “The houses were very close together so the fire spread quickly.” Sophie Crisp

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Iceland

The Geography Department's six day visit to Iceland in October 2017 was truly amazing and thoroughly enjoyed by the 44 pupils who took part.

The phrase ‘awe and wonder’ is often cited by those commenting on the spectacular landscapes of this country and we felt this even before we landed in Keflavik. As we gazed out at the coastline, and at the glaciers visible as we flew over the southern part of the country, we were eager to start exploring.

Our first day was spent ascertaining the landscape of the Reykjanes Peninsula. We clambered into volcanic craters, held lava bombs and witnessed spectacular hot springs. The famous Blue Lagoon was our next stop, where we indulged in style in the spa facilities of this pool created from water from the Svartsengi geothermal power plant.

Over the next few days we travelled from Reykjavik across South Iceland with a couple of nights at Dyrrholaey (the most southern tip of Iceland). Highlights included visits to Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss (two waterfalls – the latter of which we were able to walk behind) and a trip

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to Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon where we watched seals swimming amongst the icebergs.

Off-roading through 28 rivers in a monster truck through the Eyjafjalljokull and Thorsmork Valley was another unforgettable experience.

Exploring the Solheimajokull glacier equipped with hard hats, ice axes and crampons was remarkable too; this glacier flows from the active volcano, Katla, and we learnt much about the monitoring of this active volcano and the evacuation plans in place should it erupt in the future.

We ended our trip back in Reykjavik with a tour of the Golden Circle.

This included walking along the rift valley at Thingvellir, the boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates, a trip to the stunning Gullfoss double drop waterfalls and a walk to Stokkur and the site of Geysir, the geyser from which all geysers in the world are named.

It would be impossible to give a favourite place/experience for all pupils as it was all tremendous, a fantastic experience treasured by all.

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Junior School News J3 Harvest Assembly This Autumn term J3R and J3P showcased an outstanding class assembly of The Little Red Hen to celebrate the importance of harvest. Both classes worked extremely hard with cross-site rehearsals to learn the songs and their roles within the play. They sang with such conviction and performed the actions to the songs with great gusto. The parents thoroughly enjoyed watching all the children in their first junior assembly.

J4 Remembrance Assembly Remembrance Day was celebrated at Highclare Woodfield and Highclare St Paul’s with a wonderfully moving assembly, performed by J4R and J4P. The children sang a variety of songs, some uplifting and stirring, such as Pack up your troubles, and some incredibly poignant and emotional, such as Keep the home fires burning. All the songs were sung with passion and feeling, as were the poems and spoken words, including In Flanders Field. A two minute silence was impeccably observed and J4 performed the whole assembly with respect and maturity. We are incredibly proud of how children throughout the whole school have taken part in various commemoration tributes during November, this month of Remembrance.

J4 Beaudesert Trip Our annual survival day took place at Beaudesert Outdoor Activity Centre, Cannock Chase, on Wednesday 20th September.

The weather was perfect for a day of exhilarating activities and challenges and J3 and J4 were looking forward to a fantastic day.

After splitting into groups the children set off to their activities with great excitement. These included the zip wire, climbing wall, archery, traverse wall and the crate stacking.

The children all showed amazing resilience in overcoming their fear of such things as heights and climbing, and they took on all the challenges with great determination and courage.

By the end of the day, all of the children felt tired but very happy and proud of their achievements.

Esme Karakaya from J4R said, “The monkey trees were the best because I like climbing.” Jacob Lisseman, J4R said, “The zip wire was amazing, I felt like I was flying.”

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J5’s British Values Assembly In May, J5 from Highclare Woodfield and Highclare St Paul’s joined together for their assembly on the theme of British Values, which proved as educational as it was entertaining. They explored the five main areas, using sketches they had written themselves to demonstrate their meaning and performed the song True Colours with Makaton sign language. Following this they explored the life of famous Briton, William Shakespeare, ending with a condensed and amusing performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It was a memorable assembly of which the children can be proud.

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J6 Residential – Caythorpe Court The majority of J6 from Highclare Junior School spent an action packed week at Caythorpe Court PGL in Lincolnshire this term. It was a fantastic week.

The sun was shining, all the children challenged themselves and they did it all with a huge smile on their face. The experience was a wonderful opportunity for the children to show their resilience and ambition, pushing themselves on activities such as the climbing wall, the GIANT swing and abseiling.

They had the chance to learn new skills, have fun and connect with their friends. All the staff were proud of the children who came‌once they realised that getting up at 4am is not the best way to start an action packed day!

Life Skills Day

The Romans invade J4R

On 25th January Junior Schools immersed themselves into learning about Life Skills. With many different age appropriate activities including a visit from a paramedic and his ambulance, First Aid lessons, money handling, learning how to cross the road safely and staying safe in your home the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves whilst learning essential life skills. We thank all involved for their time and enthusiasm.

As part of their history topic, the pupils in J4R have been studying the Romans. As well as learning about Roman numerals and Rome they have produced some fantastic projects on different aspects of Roman life.

All of J4R have worked incredibly hard on their projects and our Roman display looks fantastic.

J5 & J6 Survival Day The children in J5 and J6 went to Woodlands Adventure Centre ready for a day of exciting activities. They all had a fantastic time and particularly enjoyed the rock climbing and zip wire. After rock climbing the children played a shark attack game with the instructor, which they thoroughly enjoyed. On the canoes they played a pirate game where they had to try and get away from the other boats which was great fun.

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Early Years at Highclare School Pre-School Grow Their Own Reception R and Pre-School 2 pupils helped Mr Priest harvest the fruit and vegetables which had been grown in our allotment. Bhavan and Zachary helped Mrs Priest locate the longest beans in the allotment. Then, Isabella, James, Zachary, Georgia and Abbas looked for the courgettes. They found a few which were taken to the kitchen so they could be prepared for the salad bar, ready for lunch.

Pre-School 1 Minibeasts Music workshop Pre-School 1 recently took part in a minibeast themed music workshop led by Miss Broder, our specialist music teacher. They began the workshop as explorers searching for minibeasts, finding many different insects from spiders, woodlice and beetles to slugs, butterflies and bees. The children demonstrated their wonderful voices by singing a variety of songs such as Incey Wincey Spider and In My garden and they finished dancing away to Boogie Bugs. They enjoyed deciding which insects move fast and which ones moved slowly. The children then showcased their amazing clave playing skills and enjoyed playing fast and slow to various music. The Flight of the Bumble Bee was a firm favourite.

Thank you to all who were involved. This was a lovely morning of music making.

Pre-School Graduation 2018 Pre-School graduation is a fantastic opportunity for parents and staff to celebrate our PreSchool pupils' achievements and to look forward to their next steps in their learning journey. Dr Luker presented their graduation scrolls individually during the wonderful ceremony and family photographs were taken in the gardens.

The songs performed included Getting Reception Ready, 2,4,6,8, Now it’s time to graduate, dance, music and percussion. The morning concluded with a song listing the skills they had learnt and two little words with actions, ‘Thank you’. It was a wonderful morning enjoyed by all and we look forward to welcoming our Pre-Schoolers into reception in September ready to impress with their amazing knowledge!

Fun at the Zoo Reception have enjoyed a beautiful sunny day at Twycross Zoo. They started with an interactive session at the discovery centre where children were encouraged to experience different textures, colours and patterns in the amazing world of animals. Reception pupils then enjoyed the animals, getting up close to lemurs in the Lemur Walk, and they had the opportunity to feed some beautifully coloured birds. Along with a picnic in the sunshine everyone had an amazing day.

Food tasting in Spanish Children in Pre-School and Reception have been enjoying interactive lessons with our specialist Modern Foreign Language teacher Senorita Kenny. Pre-School tasted various fruits during their Spanish lessons this term where the children had to express whether they liked or disliked each fruit before tasting them. Reception have been learning colours through fun songs and games, including Twister! It was a very popular lesson!

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Reception Fly High at RAF Cosford

Perfect Pizzas

Highclare Reception R wrapped up warm and braved the cold weather to experience their current topic of ‘Transport’ first hand at the RAF Cosford Museum. Highclare School trips are not only a fantastic opportunity to learn more about different topics in a fun environment but are always a wonderful resource intended to enhance further learning opportunities within the classroom.

J2 had a great morning learning how to make pizza at Pizza Express, Sutton Coldfield. Pupils had to wear a chef’s hat and were able to add their favourite toppings to their pizza. The best part was being able to take their pizzas home to share with their family.

Highclare Reception pupils wanted to convey their favourite parts of the trip and they have done so through a writing opportunity with their teacher once back in their classroom.

I think you’ll agree it sounded like a thoroughly enjoyable day! Firstly, we were able to see the enormous planes and learn about what makes planes fly and what they look like inside and out. They are enormous!! We had the privilege to sit in a fighter jet and pretend to be pilots. We moved the pedals and controls and made parts of the plane move!! As part of our topic, we learnt what happens when you go on holiday. We had made a passport at school so we were able to board the plane. We also had our passports and luggage checked and went through a security scanner. Some of us dressed as the pilot and some as air stewards and stewardesses handing out food to the passengers.

It was a very fun trip and we can’t wait to carry on our topic back at school.

J1 Mother’s Day Assembly J1R and J1P worked together to produce a fantastic Mother’s Day Assembly, which they performed at both Highclare St Paul’s and Highclare Woodfield. The children spoke confidently and sang beautifully – there was not a dry eye in the house!

Chinese New Year To celebrate Chinese New Year, Reception Class were visited by three Chinese guests. The children learnt why the Chinese New Year is celebrated and about some of the traditions. The children tasted Chinese dumplings, used chopsticks, dressed up in traditional clothes, sang the New Year song in Chinese with musical accompaniment on a Chinese guitar called a p’i-p’a. The children also tried to dance a dragon dance. After a lovely afternoon the children took home goodie bags which included fortune cookies. At lunchtime the whole school enjoyed a Chinese themed meal prepared by our catering team.

Pre-School Theatre Treat at Birmingham Town Hall On Friday 12th January 2018, Pre-School 2 pupils from Highclare St Paul’s and Highclare Woodfield travelled to Birmingham Town Hall to see a live performance of Stick Man by Julia Donaldson. After a healthy snack, we settled into our allocated seats. The view was perfect.

Three actors entered and retold the Stick Man story with music and rhyme. The performance was entertaining and at one point the actors ran around the audience as the characters chased Stick Man. We even tried to catch the huge beach ball which floated into the audience.

Back at school we made our own stick men and grouped small sticks into bundles to help us with our counting.

We loved the performance so much, we decided to perform our own version for our parents.

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Highclare Highlight: Ballet Ballet lessons are offered to all children at Highclare Junior School, an opportunity to develop a fresh skill within the school day. This is an optional lunchtime lesson which offers the children the opportunity to explore ballet with a specialised teacher.

Miss Judith, our ballet teacher, is Royal Academy of Dance Registered and runs her own ballet school delivering lessons based on the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. Miss Judith has a B.Phil (Ed) and PGCE and has worked with young people for over twenty years. She believes that every young person should have the opportunity to shine and express themselves through ballet.

It is well known that taking part in arts subjects, such as ballet, from a young age can help children to improve both their academic and social skills. The beauty of ballet is that it teaches pupils so much more than how to dance and perform on stage; commitment, determination, creativity, communication and problem solving are a few of the life skills that can be attributed to learning this discipline.

The children have the chance to perform to parents in a yearly assembly to showcase their new skills learnt within the school day. These include posture, alignment, co-ordination, working with partners and in groups, imagination and story telling, musicality and performance.

More recently Miss Judith ran a ballet workshop to celebrate Father's Day. The workshop enabled boys of all ages across Highclare School to be accompanied by some of the significant men in their lives (fathers, uncles, family friends and male teachers) with the opportunity to experience what a male ballet dancer's training includes. It was seen as really important to tackle an unconscious gender bias, break down barriers and stereotypes for boys in ballet and develop positive role models. Miss Judith’s sons performed a dance which was choreographed by Iain Mackay to promote the Royal Academy’s ‘ProjectB’ scheme to encourage more boys into ballet. The workshop included the lads, dads and teachers learning some of the choreography from this routine.

Some of the boys comments included: “That wasn’t ballet.” (They expected to be flying around the room to fairy music.) “It was much harder than we thought.” “We really enjoyed it.”

It is envisaged that this will become an annual event.

If you would like more details about the ballet lessons offered at Highclare please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

Ballet assemblies at Highclare Junior School provide children from Reception through to J3 with an opportunity to showcase their wonderful dancing. Through the demonstration of the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus that they have been learning our budding ballerinas delighted the audience.

Children in Reception and J1 showcased exercises and dances from the Primary syllabus and the children in J3 demonstrated exercises and dances from Grade 1, allowing the audience of parents, grandparents, peer groups and teachers to see how the syllabus progresses.

All the children have enjoyed learning about posture, line, co-ordination, spacial awareness and mime.

Memorising the exercises, rhythms and musical timings along with working with partners and in groups allowed their overall performance and presentation skills to shine through during an enjoyable assembly.

Congratulations to all of our budding ballerinas!

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Behind the Scenes ‘Heroes for Heroes’

Catering

During national Volunteer Week in June our very own facilities manager welcomed a surprise visitor to School, Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Boycott, who thanked him for his service to the West Midlands Police Service.

Congratulations on your achievement.

2017-2018 has been another fantastic year for our catering team Wilson Vale.

As well as delivering delicious seasonal, fresh food made on site daily by skilled chefs, Highclare School has enjoyed BBQs, picnics and regular feature lunches, consistently ensuring the very best meal time experience for pupils.

First up, a special thanks to Special Sergeant Dave Underwood. Dave has over 12 years’ service as a volunteer police officer.

Our values are consistent throughout; we never compromise on our commitment to fresh produce. Our chefs take great pride in making everything on-site from fresh ingredients, from freshly-baked ciabatta to home made granola and slowroasted joints of meat. We draw our inspiration and ideas from different cultures, good restaurants, innovative retailers and, of course, from each other.

Highclare staff run the extra mile for charity During the summer Term both Mrs Kenny and Mrs Soen and team completed tough runs for great charities - well done!

School Bus Service Highclare is proud to operate a daily bus service to assist parents to and from Highclare School. Routes cover a wide range of surrounding areas and pupils are personally known by their regular driver who ensures their safety and well being during each journey. Pupils from age 6 years upwards are accepted on the bus scheme. New routes are always under consideration and the transport manager is happy to talk to parents about specific pick up points. Please contact the school office for further information and route details.

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Competition News Creative Writing Competition On Thursday 30th November we invited the lucky winners of our annual Junior School Creative Writing Competition to a reception at school to celebrate and receive their certificates and prizes. The task, set by our English department, was to continue an opening of an Enid Blyton story. The entries showcased the talents from a variety of schools and Mrs Dawson and Mrs Downes enjoyed reading them. The winners are listed below Surya

Prasanna

6

Mayfield Preparatory School

Winner

Zahra

Rashid

6

Mayfield Preparatory School

2nd Prize

Harman

Ahluwalia

5

Mayfield Preparatory School

3rd Prize

Fatimah

Humad

5

Ark Tindel Primary School

Highly Commended

Junaid

Ahmed

6

Mayfield Preparatory School

Highly Commended

Anya

Baijal

6

Mayfield Preparatory School

Highly Commended

Theo

Bollinger

6

Mayfield Preparatory School

Highly Commended

Siya

Gupta

5

Mayfield Preparatory School

Highly Commended

Ammara Abideen

6

Westminster Primary School

Highly Commended

Yunus

6

Westminster Primary School

Highly Commended

Ahmed

J5 Pupil breaks tennis tournament record during his first international event This term Edward Morrison (J5) took part in his first international tennis tournament in France. Following a summer of tennis competitions representing Warwickshire along with just 4 other boys, Edward and his family travelled to the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, France.

During the tournament Edward played a number of games, competing against representatives from all over the word, including boys from Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Sweden and France.

Edward played extremely well – he even managed to break the tournament record of the highest rally during a set point. The rally reached 211 shots and Ed won the point to take the first set.

He really was a little superstar. We are so excited to see where Edward’s talent will take him in the future!

Highclare pupils feature in prime time BBC drama We are tremendously proud of Highclare pupils Yuvraaj (J2) and Prabhleen Bhogal (J4) who appeared in the BBC drama The Boy with the Topknot this term. The children had a fantastic time filming and were honoured to be involved with such a popular drama.

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House Bake Off 2018

Headmaster’s Golf Challenge 2018

In June Mrs Cobbold launched Highclare’s annual House Bake Off competition with an assembly demonstration of making and shaping bread rolls, this year’s technical challenge.

Six eager competitors - 2 from each house - took part and produced some brilliant bread shapes and flavours. The competition was judged by Dr Luker and Mrs Moore who enjoyed tasting all the bread to aid their decision making. It was a very close call and the final results were as follows:

Now in its third year, the Headmaster’s Golf Challenge returned to Walmley Golf Club this June and proved once again to be an extremely enjoyable evening of competitive golf and socialising.

House points – Joint first – Lancaster and York.

Thanks must go to Gerry Delaney and Brad Hurst for their wonderful organisation and our sponsors for their kind donation and sponsorship of the event. Of course, a big thank you goes to Walmley Golf Club for their kind hospitality.

Third place – Tudor.

The sun held out for an evening of glorious weather as 5 teams played a game of Texas scramble across 9 holes. It was a very close competition with the St Andrews team taking victory. The team comprised Steve Cartmell, Keith Hopkinson, Damian O’Sullivan and Steve Hughes.

Individually: First prize was awarded to Pranav Ramesh, second prize to Isabel Masaun, third prize to Kate Stephens.

Sarah Howe, Jack Newman and Ibraheem Hussein were all highly commended.

Senior School House Comp

The house system is very important at Highclare School with our three houses, Lancaster, Tudor and York holding regular competitions, both sporting and more academic. Our House Challenge Day, held in July, was a huge success. All pupils took part with choices of competition in Enterprise, Food, Dance, Journalism, ICT and Art. The theme for the day was the World Cup and so all competitions were related to this. In ICT, for example, the pupils used Scratch to create a penalty shoot out game and in Dance the pupils performed a dance suitable for the opening ceremony. A penalty shoot out was held too with pupils all competing in football, netball and hockey. An afternoon of live music and dance performances was a fantastic finale to a superb day. The overall winners were York but scores were very close!

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Charities & Fund Raising Junior School Enterprise Day 2018 J6 pupils worked hard again this year on the lead up to and during Young Enterprise day, with some lovely ideas on how to raise funds for our chosen charities.

Taking charge of their own stalls J6 pupils thought up innovative activities and games to raise money including Scalextric competitions, archery and table tennis games, Nerf gun fun, chocolate fountains, silent auctions and cross bar challenges. Alongside afternoon tea for parents and a non-uniform day for all pupils the total raised was a fantastic £1474.92. Fabulous work!

African Space Trust Cheque Presentation On the 20th November the African Space Trust were welcomed into our charity themed assembly and received a fantastic amount of £2,794.81p towards building a hospital and doctors' accommodation in Africa. This was the final amount given to complete two years of fundraising by Highclare School through cake sales, non-uniform days, carol singing, Burns night, quiz nights for parents, young enterprise J6 classes, sponsored pancake races and a Great Midlands Fun Run. Highclare School has raised an immense total of £13,883. The trustees of the charity have informed Highclare that the villagers in Itete can now complete their building and have a future with a doctor in residence and an incredible medical facility, which is amazing. Everyone involved, staff, pupils, parents and families should be incredibly proud of their achievements.

Children go Spotty over Pudsey Children In Need day at Highclare Junior School was a huge success and a very enjoyable day for everyone. The main event was a cake sale, run by J6, alongside competitions to guess the teddy’s name and the number of sweets in the jar. Everyone wore something spotty and entered into the spirit of the day. Thank you to everyone who donated cakes for the sale, helping to raise over £1000 for Children In Need.

Uniform to Africa Pupils from Highclare Junior School have been busy this term packing up items of old school uniform which is to be donated to children in Malawi.

Through a personal contact, arrangements were made for the items of uniform that are no longer required by the children to be transported to Chapanama Primary School, in Mchinji , where they can be put to good use.

“This is an exciting and worthwhile project which, whilst helping those children in Malawi, also gives our pupils an experience of how children in other parts of the world are coping with their lives,” said Mrs Bennett, Head of Highclare Junior School.

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Highclare Choirs bring festive cheer to Gracechurch Shopping Centre Highclare Junior and Senior choirs and ensembles entertained shoppers at the Gracechurch Shopping Centre this December with a morning of uplifting and festive Carols. A prelude to the Christmas Concert and Carol Services, the children sang beautifully and with such enthusiasm it was a delight to behold. A big thank you to everyone who donated. The children raised over £270 for our current charities, Buddy Bags UK and Acorns Hospice.

Harvest Assembly & Erdington Foodbank Thank you to all the parents who donated food during our Harvest Assembly celebrations. As usual you have been hugely generous and we have been able to support an essential local charity with your donations.

A selection of J6 children had a thought provoking trip to the Erdington Foodbank to deliver our donations, the experience definitely making all involved realise how lucky they are.

Community Carol Singing Highclare Junior choir supported the local community this December through their beautiful carol singing. An evening of mince pies, mulled wine and raffle tickets meant that the local community was not only entertained with festive cheer but a further £168.24 was raised for Buddy Bags UK and Acorns Hospice.

Assembly inspires Charity Walk Highclare Senior School pupil Redmond Kerr did not rest on his laurels this Summer and took the opportunity to achieve a fantastic feat, running solo coast to coast in aid of the charity Acorn Recovery Projects. Following the Hadrian Wall route, Redmond ran 84 miles from Bowness to Newcastle taking 5 days to complete his journey.

The inspiration for the task came from a school assembly delivered by Miss Watson (Head of History) which focused on ordinary people achieving the extraordinary.

Deciding his strength was with running, Redmond planned his route on land and raised nearly £2000 for charity. We are very proud of him!

Bears made with love for Buddy bags charity Pupils in U3 and L4 have started a knitting club at Senior School with Mrs Cassell. The bears which the pupils are making will be donated to one of our chosen school charities, Buddy Bags. This charity provides a bag containing pyjamas, a book and a bear to children of all ages who are taken into emergency care, and so have none of their own possessions with them. We hope that our bears, made with love, will help to provide comfort to these children.

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The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Duke of Edinburgh award The Duke of Edinburgh award (DofE) is a popular pursuit of many Highclare pupils. Founded by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956, it was recognised that it would give young people a sense of achievement and purpose, putting words into action through a variety of endeavours.

The DofE offers pupils the chance to do something completely new and improve on things they are already doing. As well as building confidence and resilience, it also provides the opportunity to create amazing memories with friends through expeditions. Pupils must also take part in various activities which encourage them to help others, keep fit and learn or develop a skill.

Every journey is personal and unique to each pupil and nurtured by Highclare staff.

Duke of Edinburgh Award at Highclare 2017 Walking boots broken in and backpacks bursting, both our Bronze and Silver groups departed Highclare on Friday 15th September, determined and prepared to take on the glorious but tough terrain of North Wales. The next few days would see them complete the final section of their respective Duke of Edinburgh Awards. It was the culmination of months of commitment to physical activity, skill learning and volunteering. Armed with route cards, maps and the knowledge gained from the practice expeditions, they were now ready to navigate their way to success. The Bronzes had the glorious setting of Anglesey for their hike, following the coastal path around the northern part of the island. The Silvers were up in the foothills of Snowdon, negotiating trickier terrain and a more complicated course.

Though the Bronzes set off under a heavy grey sky, their mood was buoyant.

After a pep talk from assessors Stu and Matt, they made steady progress all day, with the rain, thankfully, never fully materialising. There were a few runins with scary cows and overzealous farm dogs, but all survived to make it into camp in good time for a well deserved rest. The following day dawned fine and bright, providing the backdrop for a clear home run. With only a few sore shoulders and blistered feet, the groups finally arrived at the buses in the early afternoon, tired but triumphant. It was lovely to witness the team work and friendship bonds which had developed within the groups.

Congratulations to all of our participants on an excellent weekend and a tremendous conclusion to their award challenges. They tackled all their tasks with tenacity and acted throughout as excellent ambassadors for our school.

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Duke of Edinburgh 2018 On Friday 15th June 2018, our biggest group of DofE students yet set off for North Wales. The bus was packed with rucksacks, overnight bags and 41 excited pupils. We arrived just in time for dinner at Arete Outdoor Education Centre. It was a busy evening of route planning, kit checks and settling in.

On Saturday the Silvers were dropped near Conwy to begin their 3-day hike.

They set off in good spirits and most importantly clement weather! Meanwhile the Bronzes were experiencing the joys of gorge walking. Kitted out in wetsuits and shorts, they headed to Afon Ddu where they clambered over rocks, jumped into pools and generally battled the torrents of water washing down on them. All came back exhilarated and exhausted.

In the evening whilst the Bronzes made the last preparations to their maps and kit at Arete, the Silvers were heading into their first ‘camp site’. Tired after a day of hiking, they set up tents near Aber Falls at a wild camp, where their water source was a fresh mountain stream and there were no other facilities. A novel experience for all!

It was the Bronzes' turn on Sunday to set out from Llanrwst in the direction of Capel Curig. They had a successful day and coped well with carrying their rucksacks, navigating and hiking. They had a rather rainy campsite but managed to pitch tents and cook their dinners efficiently. In contrast, the Silvers by now had reached the outskirts of Bethesda and had a lovely sunny campsite overlooked by a huge pile of Welsh slate.

By 12 o’clock on Monday all the groups had made it to Ogwen Cottage ready for their debriefing and a rest before the coach arrived to take us all home. Lots of experience was gained and everyone did really well. They are now all raring to go for the October qualifying expedition, where they can put into practice all the lessons learned from this trip.

All pupils were excellently behaved, listened to instruction well and were a credit to the school. Well done to all!

A big thank you to our accompanying teachers for giving up their time and keeping spirits up during the expeditions. Thanks also to all the staff back at Highclare who were involved in the vital preparations for the trip, whether helping with route planning, training, transport, medical, communications or accounts. We couldn’t have done it without you all.

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Highclare pupils experience Maasai tribe culture Pupils from Highclare Junior School and Highclare Senior School were treated to wonderful performances by an Osiligi Maasai Warrior tribe this term. Pupils enjoyed learning about the Maasai tribe’s way of life and culture through colourful musical performances and demonstrations. This unique experience captivated the pupils through its energetic songs and audience participation, and concluded with an opportunity to ask questions. The pupils had many!

“An absolutely delightful time was had by all during the visit of the Osiligi Maasai to Highclare Senior School.

They treated us all to some really interesting facts about their culture and traditions and their singing, chanting, jumping, whistling and dancing was enchanting.

However, it was the warmth and happiness of the group that really impressed us most. We were all left feeling privileged to have had such a powerful insight into the traditions and culture of the Osiligi Maasai warriors and I am sure that the experience will live in our memories for a very long time,” said Mrs Moore, Head of Highclare Senior School.

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External Examination Results Summer 2018

Congratulations to all Highclare pupils who received their GCSE and A Level results during the Summer of 2018. Through hard work and determination we are delighted to announce some excellent results and personal achievements.

Our Sixth Form students celebrated brilliant results. The overall pass rate achieved was 100% with 16% of all passes at A* and A and 38% of all passes at A*, A and B. Pupils achieved these results alongside taking part in a full co- and extra-curricular timetable, in keeping with the Highclare ethos of educating the whole person.

Students added to their celebrations after confirming their entries to a variety of universities including York, Loughborough, Chester, Aston, Plymouth and Birmingham City University to study subjects including History, Psychology, Geography, Optometry and Business.

Dr Luker, Headmaster, commented, “These are excellent results for all our students and we are delighted with their individual achievements.

During their time in Highclare Sixth form they have not only achieved their academic potential but have enhanced their personal skills, equipping them for their future in their chosen profession. This is a culmination of a lot of hard work and commitment from all concerned and they deserve their celebrations.”

Further celebrations occurred on GCSE results day when students at

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Highclare School achieved a 100% pass rate in their GCSEs, with 91% of grades being A* to C (or equivalent).

Among the star pupils were Sam Donaghue and Abbie Phelps, who both achieved 100% A* or A grades, Laith Baldwin who gained 82% A* and A grades and Betty Ansell who gained 80% A* and A grades.

Headmaster Dr Richard Luker said, “Once again this year we are delighted with the results at GCSE, which continue to show the high standard of personal achievement gained by all our students.

“This is in no small way a testament to the hard work and effort our pupils have shown over their time with us.

“I would also like to thank the teaching staff who have shown their dedication and given the pupils every encouragement along their journey."

Having completed their GCSE examinations, pupils will continue their educational journey, with many pupils taking advantage of the wide range of courses available and the tutor led approach to studying at Highclare Sixth Form.

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Highclare School Open Days 2018/2019 Autumn 2018 th

Tuesday 25 Saturday 29

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September

Saturday 13

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October

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Thursday 18

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Saturday 10

Highclare Senior School Open Evening 4.30 pm to 7.00 pm Highclare Woodfield Open Day 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Highclare St Paul’s Open Day 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Highclare Senior School Sixth Form Open Evening 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm Highclare Senior School Open Day 10.00 am to 12.30 pm

September

October November

Spring & Summer 2019 th

Saturday 9 Tuesday 19

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March

Saturday 30

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March

Saturday 11

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May

Tuesday 4

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Highclare Senior School Open Day 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Highclare Woodfield School -In-Action 9.30 am to 11.30 am Highclare St Paul’s Open Day 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Highclare Woodfield Open Day 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Highclare St Paul’s School -In-Action 9.30 am to 11.30 am Highclare Senior School School -In-Action 9.30 am to 11.30 am

March

June

Tuesday 18 th June & Thursday 20 th June

2018/2019 Assessment Examinations Friday 5 th October 2018 Thursday 22 Tuesday 8

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J6 Internal Scholarship & Taster Day

November 2018

January 2019

Friday 15 th March 2019

11+ External Entrance Day & Scholarship auditions Sixth Form Scholarship 2nd 11+ Entrance & Taster Day

admissions@highclareschool.co.uk

www.highclareschool.co.uk

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Highclare School We witnessed some spectacular skiing from the experienced ski group, their amazing skiing abilities really allowing pupils to explore the mountain range, have fun skiing in the forest and put their skills to the test on the competitive day 5 race day!

Highclare Ski Trip 2018

It was a pleasure to see the beginner skiers making such fantastic progress so quickly and by day 3 they had left the nursery slopes to discover the beautiful Austrian mountain ranges. Despite aching muscles they were able to confidently ski red runs by the end of the week.

Twenty-five very excited Highclare pupils and four equally excited members of staff recently spent February half-term living by the school motto ‘Actions Speak Louder than Words’ whilst mastering the beautiful slopes of Flachau, Austria during Highclare’s annual ski trip.

Even on the most tiring of days Highclare pupils and staff kept busy of an evening, experiencing Austrian curling on the rink in Radstadt, a trip to the nearby Therme Amade baths with outdoor sub-zero swimming, flumes and even a laser disco in the pool and rides on the 1,100m Luck-Flitzer alpine roller coaster.

Pupils and staff settled into the resort quickly and skis and boots were fitted on arrival to ensure all abilities were ready to hit the slopes with no delay. With six days of ski lessons and après-ski activities planned pupils and staff really were on the precipice of a fantastic experience.

The trip proved to be hugely enjoyable and we would like to thank the Highclare pupils for their excellent sportsmanship and behaviour. It was an incredible week, developing new skills, experiencing different cultures and truly making actions speak louder than words.

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Highclare Woodfield 245 Birmingham Road Sutton Coldfield B72 1EA Tel: 0121 355 0194

Highclare Senior School 10 Sutton Road Erdington B23 6QL Tel 0121 373 7400 Fax 0121 373 7445

Highclare St Paul’s 88 Lichfield Road Sutton Coldfield B74 2SY Tel: 0121 355 8205

www.highclareschool.co.uk - enquiries@highclareschool.co.uk

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