Cause For Celebration
Nursery Revel In Chinese New Year Celebrations





The week in Nursery got off to a wonderful start as the children learned all about Chinese New Year. The excited youngsters discovered that Chinese New Year is an important festival in the Chinese calendar, is sometimes called the Spring Festival, and that this year is the Year of the Rabbit. It’s very important for our young children to learn and understand about the different ways in which other people and other cultures celebrate significant events and the children looked at traditional clothes worn in China and listened to some Chinese music during circle time. They also watched closely while a teacher showed them some very exotic fruit and vegetables from China; with the children describing what they could see and what they might taste like. Naturally, food plays a big part in Chinese New Year celebrations and the children got to choose from a range of bright and colourful vegetables to put in their very own tasty stir fry, as well as sampling lovely prawn crackers at the snack table. The intrigued children also got to grips with Chinese writing skills and learned how to say ‘kung hei fat choy’ – or ‘happy new year’ – in Mandarin. And a Chinese New Year celebration wouldn’t be complete without a colourful dragon dance with dazzling streamers and Oriental music.
Kerry Chapman, Nursery Class Teacher
Adventurous Reception Get A Taste Of The Orient





Reception have had a wonderful taste of the Orient this week; marking Chinese New Year with a wealth of fun and inspiring activities with a Far East theme. The children began by collaborating with Nursery and rotating fun activities such as cooking, arts and crafts, dancing and calligraphy. They listened intently to the story of The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac and heard about all the animals that crossed the river; discovering that 2023 is the Year of the Water Rabbit. Inspired by this story, the children completed scribble drawings of rabbits and coloured them based on their feelings. Similarly, Reception talked about the significance of Chinese lanterns and the children carefully cut, stuck and crafted their own Chinese lanterns to take home. And across the shared area, the children tried on traditional Chinese dress, practised writing numbers in Chinese, and perfected the art of using chopsticks. Away from the Far Eastern celebrations, Reception continued their dinosaur adventures and made their own hot-air balloons from where they can spot the dinosaurs. Last but not least, the children practised their talk-for-writing text and took the opportunity to perform in groups to their friends. What a week for new experiences in Reception!
Hannah Feery, Reception Class Teacher
Phonic Sounds Hit The Right Notes For Year 1 Learners





Phonic sounds and how they can be used throughout their learning have been the order of the day for Year 1. The children have this week been working on reading, writing and saying phonic sounds which can then be transferred into other topics, such as PSHE and learning about the Great Fire of London. Having learned the various sounds, Year 1 took the opportunity to practice those sounds in both words and sentences. In PSHE, the children have been stretching their learning muscles by collaborating on a piece of work involving handprints on paper while the children kneaded dough and made bread as they continued their look into the Great Fire of London of 1966, which the children have learned started in a bakery on Pudding Lane.
Rebecca Lane, Year 1 Class Teacher
Year 2 Discover What Makes The World Go Round





Year 2 are revelling in the delights of handling real and pretend currency as they continue learning about the value of money – an essential, lifelong skill. At home, they have been looking at and discussing currency with their parents to become more familiar with actual coins and notes in our increasingly cash-free society. Thank you, mums and dads for all your efforts, they are very much appreciated! The children have been using models that they are already familiar with, such as the part-part-whole model, the bar model and number lines to help them visualise addition and subtraction calculations and support them as they develop and strengthen their fluency with money. Keeping the topic engaging, interactive and fun, the children have been playing, ‘Pop to the Shops,’ money matching and snap games, as well as using the full array of coins and notes to make different totals and make comparisons, using the correct mathematical vocabulary along the way. Developing their curiosity further, the children delighted as they dived enthusiastically into Mrs Jervis’ collection of coins and notes from yesteryear, which included an old penny from 1966, a £1 note from Jersey, and an assortment of other currency from around the globe, which ignited some fabulous discussion.
Shirley Jervis, Year 2 Class Teacher
Year 3 In Step For Classic Scottish Ceilidh





The undoubted highlight of Year 3’s busy week was a heart-warming demonstration of Scottish ceilidh dancing. Furthermore, we were delighted that lots of mums and dads could join the children to celebrate Burns Night; first to watch and then to join the children on the dancefloor. The children were fantastic, demonstrating reels and do-si-dos with confidence and style; calling on skills generally only seen on Strictly! But the best fun was had when the children invited parents and teachers to join in the last dance. Well done to Mrs Oecken for teaching Year 3 such wonderful steps and for their beautiful tartan adornments. In maths, the children are continuing their exploration of multiplication and division with the emphasis on linking the two. The children have got off to a really good start and are finding the product of numbers using expanded multiplication (with and without regrouping and exchanging). In addition, they are learning to divide two-digit numbers by one-digit numbers, with much discussion about the best strategy to use and what on earth to do with remainders!
Stephanie Turner, Year 3 Class Teacher
Creative Year 4 In The Mood For African DT Project





This term in DT, Year 4 are busy making African walking sticks in line with their current theme. The children began by creating mood boards in the ICT suite to assist their design brief for their sticks, using African influences. Once their mood boards are complete, Year 4 will produce four different designs that could be used to decorate their sticks. They will be able to use a variety of stencils and drawing aids to assist them, with focus on symmetry, pattern and colour. After completing their final design, they will be using sustainable wood from the school grounds which they will strip and prepare for painting and decorating using two new tools, the spokeshave and the surform.
Jane Smith, Year 4 DT Teacher
Year 5 Benefit From The Changing Face Of Tackling ‘Vocab’





Vocabulary. As language teachers, we find ourselves talking a lot about this word. During the years I’ve worked at Highfield and Brookham, we have developed and adapted the way ‘vocab’ is taught and how pupils are encouraged to learn it. Without vocabulary pupils would struggle to communicate, but to teach all the vocabulary in a foreign language is impossible. The answer is a balance between teaching core words alongside the linguistic tools needed to look up additional ones. This term in Spanish, Year 5 will learn how to talk about where they live, their town, their house, and how to understand and give directions. The children used a variety of techniques to learn their first set of core words; listen and repeat, multiple choice practice, comprehension, and games such as ‘Heads Down, Thumbs Up’ or running around the classroom to find the right location. Once confident with a small group of key words, it’s wonderful to see how pupils will then start to put these into a context, using prior knowledge and filling gaps to communicate in broader terms the messages they want to convey.
Jo Longshaw, Head of Modern Foreign Languages
Year 6 Have Geography Studies All Mapped Out





This term, Year 6 are participating in the Great British Cycle Race. The children are following the fictional character ‘Ralph Wheels’ as he tours the UK. Through this tour, Year 6 are studying the geography of Great Britain, looking at different cities, upland areas, and rivers. This week, the children were practising mapwork skills which included using map keys and reading and using four and six-figure grid references. The children are building on skills learned in Year 5; they would certainly have no problems navigating their way using an Ordnance Survey map.
Melanie Barnett, Year 6 Geography Teacher
Dramatic Year 7 Dig Deeper Into The Tempest





This term, Year 7 are busy exploring one of Shakespeare’s final plays, The Tempest. Alongside rehearsals for the Shakespeare Schools Festival performance at G-Live in Guildford in March, the whole year group are learning about the characters, themes and storyline in their bi-weekly drama lessons. This week, they were investigating the similarities between the stock characters in fairytales (such as Prospero ‘the magician’ and Ariel ‘the servant’), with some groups creating some really imaginative scenes where characters were thrown into the 21st Century and hearing about ‘the tempest’ on their BBC weather app! They then went on to look in more detail at the characters of Prospero and Caliban and contemplate the ideas around colonisation, and they created two scenes which ultimately would sway an audience’s opinion. One would encourage us to feel sorry for Caliban and the other would encourage us to believe that Prospero was doing the right thing with his power. All very much food for thought in our current climate. We are only four weeks of rehearsals away from the performance at G-Live but I have been so impressed by this year group’s creativity and understanding of this fantastic story. We have an exciting few weeks ahead!
Sarah Baird, Head of Drama
Mixed Fortunes As Year 8 Take To The Netball Courts





The Highfield U13B girls played to the best of their ability and battled to the bitter end on the netball court, but it was visitors Westbourne House who took the win. On the run up to the game, the girls were given specific roles and trained in their respective positions and it was great to see them work together and gain an understanding as a team. Captain Rose O and vice-captain Carmen R motivated the team to good effect after a difficult first quarter; the team gaining in confidence as the match wore despite losing 16-7.
Joe Tebbutt, U13B Girls’ Netball Coach
Highfield’s U13C netball team have been working extremely hard all week, practising a range of attacking and defensive drills. They have had the opportunity to cover all netball positions during training which has given them the opportunity to rotate roles during matches without hindering their performance. And that approach paid handsome dividends on Wednesday as Highfield eased to a 6-2 win against Westbourne House. Betty T and Suzie K netted all six goals between them but this was very much a team effort against a solid Westbourne side as the girls got the new year off to a perfect start.
Isabella Wan Adnan, U13C Girls’ Netball Coach