Headteacher’s Newsletter

Easter 2016

Traditionally it is the spring term that sees a leap in children’s

progress and that would appear to be the case this year as the

children have really excelled throughout this busy but brief

term, having a lot of fun in the process. As you will see in this

newsletter, we have made the most of every moment and

enjoyed many uplifting and enriching experiences. I hope you

will enjoy reading all about it.

One World Evening

The much anticipated One World Evening took place on Friday

11th March and once again was a huge success. A big thank you

to the talented musicians from our school community, who

gave their time to entertain us; to all the volunteers who helped

in many ways; to the children for their traditional costumes and

a big thank you to everyone who brought such delicious and

inspiring food for us all to share. This great celebration of our

diverse school community raised over £1000.

Rainbow Day

Many thanks to all the children for getting into the spirit of

Rainbow Day once again this year. It was a fun event with the

hall a sea of bright colours and smiling faces. Well done, we

raised an amazing £2005.75 from sponsorship money - what an

achievement. Thank you to everyone who kindly sponsored the

children.

Nathanial 5km Run

Many congratulations to Nathanial in 1JC for running a 5km

race recently in Hyde Park in just 39 minutes. What a

wonderful achievement; a real inspiration to get all of us

running, adults and children alike. Thank you very much to

Nathanial for raising £305 for our Outside Stage.

Mandarin

Over the last few weeks, every class at Highgate Primary has

celebrated the Year of the Monkey with a special activity,

including making Chinese lanterns, Chinese dragons, monkey

faces and traditional Chinese New Year cards. On Wednesday

2nd March, Highgate Primary was treated to a wonderful

Chinese New Year Roadshow, generously provided by experts

from the Confucius Institute, London Southbank University.

Their

performers entertained the children and staff with exciting and

beautiful displays of Chinese music, dance and martial arts. This

year the Gong Fu routines and a stunning umbrella dance were

particular hits with the audience, as well as a performance from

Reese in 2LG who delighted us with a song in Mandarin as part

of the celebrations.

William and Pan Laoshi go to China

Last week Pan Laoshi and I enjoyed the most wonderful week in

China as guests of the Confucius Institute. In sub-zero

temperatures, we spent the first few days in the city of Harbin

in the north east of China, where we had the opportunity to

visit schools and experience the Chinese education system. It

was fascinating to compare and contrast the Chinese class-

rooms with ours. What we experienced will certainly influence

the way we approach teaching and learning at Highgate Primary.

The second part of the week was spent in Beijing where we had

the opportunity to visit some of the wonders of the world

including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer

Palace. The scale and beauty of what we saw, along with the

different sounds, smells and tastes, made this a trip to savour.

To read more, my China blog is on the school website at:

http://www.highgateprimaryschool.co.uk/classes/mandarin/willia

m-goes-to-china

Art Workshop with Ruth Corney

Over the last few weeks we have been lucky to have the artist

Ruth Corney at Highgate Primary. Ruth worked with the

children from Nursery to Year 6 to create two pieces of art,

which will be displayed around the school. Taking inspiration

from artists Hundertwasser and Schwitters, the children used

many different techniques including painting, drawing, sticking,

and collage to produce of work of art that encompasses the

creativity and inspiration children experience at school. Thank

you so much to Ruth and artist Ali Crowther for inspiring so

much enthusiasm and creativity.

Year 3 to the British Museum

Year 3 paid a second visit to the British Museum, this time to

visit the African gallery. This fantastic collection of exhibits

really inspired the children, with highlights being the collection

of African masks and a peace chair made out of

decommissioned metal guns. They were also lucky to be visited

by Jodie Collins, who set up a charity called Beyond Ourselves.

This charity has worked in Zambia setting up schools and

providing an education to children.

Year 5 to Highgate Cemetery

As part of their topic 'The Ghosts of Highgate Past', children in

Year 5 enjoyed a fascinating morning at Highgate Cemetery.

They loved listening to stories about the famous figures buried

in the East part of the cemetery, including the philosopher Karl

Marx, the artist Patrick Caulfield and the writer Douglas Adams.

Lunch in the park, followed by a study of Highgate High Street

all contributed to making this a rather special trip, if a little

spooky at times.

Year 1 to Highgate Village

As part of their topic Amazing Architects, Year 1 explored the

varied architecture of North Hill. For homework the children

had each researched a different building, which they talked

about as they walked past. They continued up to Highpoint

where the children produced some fascinating observational

drawings of the building from within the gardens.

Reception at Kentish Town City Farm

Reception children were bubbling with excitement when they

visited Kentish Town City Farm recently. This wonderful

community farm certainly lived up to all their expectations.

They met all sorts of farm animals, ground some corn from

which to make bread, fed the chickens, stroked some goats and

gained a wealth of knowledge about farm animals in the process.

Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely down on the city farm.

The Egg Project

It’s been a fascinating few weeks at Highgate Primary thanks to

our living egg project. To celebrate National Science Week, the

whole school learnt about the life-cycle of a chicken from

mating to observing the eggs hatch. The children learnt about

the stages of the embryo, the care required to look after the

chicks in their brooder box and how to handle the chicks as

they grew. The whole school has adored having the chicks as

our house guests and they have inspired many creative,

informative Eggtastic projects from the children. We are sure

they will be very happy in their new homes. Thank you to the

Ogden Trust for funding this fascinating project from Living

Eggs.

Year 4 Class Assemblies Year 4 entertained the school with two memorable assemblies

about Ancient Greece. 4BJD recounted the epic tale of Jason

and the Golden Fleece as he set sale in the Argo, fought off

every challenge that came his way on his quest to remove the

fleece from a golden dragon. ‘The Myth’ by 4JS was a highly

entertaining and enlightening Ancient Greek talent show.

Sustainability Week 2016

The Green Council have been very busy this term working on

plans for this year’s Sustainability Week which is set for June.

Following on from last year’s very successful week of events

including writing to the Prime Minister and planting trees in the

allotment, the Council is looking to have an even bigger impact

this time around. Please do get in contact with any member of

the Green Council, or Ollie, if you have any project ideas. We

are always looking out for visitors to join us on our quest to

make the school and local community a greener and more

sustainable place.

Football News Highgate Primary has had a busy few weeks in football. We

invited Eden Primary School to take part in a mixed football

competition for Year 4s. Two teams from each school played a

four game tournament, with Highgate coming out on top

overall. This was followed by a tournament at Muswell Hill

Primary, which involved Eden, Highgate and Muswell Hill. Huge

credit to the new Highgate team players for both walking to the

tournament and then playing in high winds, hail stones and

freezing conditions. Unfortunately we had to settle for second

place in this tournament, however the results didn't affect the

mood and spirits of the team.

Cross Country On a cold and sunny evening in early in March, 14 of our Year 5

and 6 children took part in the Cross Country Championships

at White Hart Lane. It was a tough race; a long route with an

eye watering hill start, followed by 1.25 miles of swamp. Well

done to Tobin in 5DN who came 8th overall and Nell in 5DN

who finished first of all our girls. Many congratulations to every

one of our runners who all finished in the top half of the field.

Hats off to August who ran the cold, wet course with no shoes,

having lost them in the mud, and Tobin who made it with only

one shoe.

Haringey has the best team in the UK with several young

England international standard athletes training with the squad.

Please note that children can go to free Cross Country and

track and field training every Tuesday evening at the Haringey

track, taught by expert coaches. Please speak to Dan if you

would like more details.

Hockey

Highgate primary entered the Haringey inter-schools hockey

tournament at Fortismere school, with 18 schools across the

borough competing. Highgate Primary finished 6th in the

tournament after three impressive wins, narrowly missing out

on a semi final place. Excellent performances from everyone,

particularly Milo in 6NL, Migena in 6NL and Marley in 5DN.

Family Centre Blasting off to space with their junk model rockets and clay

aliens, followed by a week inspired by that colourful elephant

Elmer, the Family Centre children have had a super busy few

weeks. They love watching for signs of Spring in the allotment,

especially seeing all the frogs swimming in the pond and the

group made these beautiful daffodils. Our Family Centre

children will certainly be ready for starting school when the

time comes!

Summer Fair The next big school event will be the Summer Fair on the

afternoon of Saturday 2nd July, when the theme will be Toy

Story!

Important dates for your diary The summer term promises to be busy, so please make sure

you have these important dates firmly in your diaries:

Tuesday 12th April Summer Term starts

Friday 22nd April

9.30 am

3SM Assembly

Wednesday 27th April

North London Music

Festival

Friday 29th April

9.30 am

3OP Assembly

Year 6 Cake Sale

Monday 2nd May

Bank Holiday

Friday 6th May

9.30 am

1EJ Assembly

w/c 9th May SATs week

Friday 13th May 1JC Assembly

Friday 20th May REH Assembly

Nursery Cake Sale

Friday 27th May

RKI Assembly

w/c 30th May

Half Term

Monday 6th June Back to school

I hope you all have a really well deserved Easter holiday.

With best wishes

William William Dean

Headteacher