Headteacher’s Newsletter December 2014

Dear Parents, Another year is approaching its end as we complete the Autumn Term at Highgate Primary School. As ever, December has been busy with a lovely blend of work and play as we turned our attention to Christmas.

Mary Poppins

Photo courtesy of Nigel Sutton

Congratulations to all the classes who took part in our Christmas production of Mary Poppins, which was the perfect way to round off a very productive term. The children performed with great enthusiasm and to a very high standard, entertaining a packed hall. Thank you to all the staff involved with the show, and especially to Hilla for producing and directing such an ambitious show.

Nursery and Reception at Jackson’s Lane

Reception and Nursery braved the cold weather and made the short walk to Jackson’s Lane for the annual Christmas theatre trip to see a special performance of 'Emily Brown and the Thing'

by Cressida Cowell - a book that they have been reading and enjoying together at school. The children watched enthralled as Emily and Stanley braved the dark and scary wood to find the Thing’s ‘cuddly’. With plenty of laughter, a few tears (from the Thing) and nail biting tension, it was certainly a trip to remember! Some of the lucky children even had their photo taken with the cast.

The Great Fire of London

Year 2’s Great Fire of London topic really came to life last week with a visit to the Museum of London. This included a whistle-stop tour of London’s iconic buildings, from St Paul’s Cathedral to The Shard, a session with a wonderful storyteller and a visit to the Great Plague and Fire sections of the museum. This is a fabulous topic that never fails to spark children’s interest and imagination.

Year 5 Trip to The Estorick Collection

As part of their topic 'What price is progress?', children in Year 5 visited the Estorick Collection in Barnsbury last week to study the work of the Italian ‘Futurist’ artists, who embraced industrial change at the start of the last century. The children took part in a very engaging and hands on workshop led by the art gallery staff. It was a fascinating insight into a different way of looking at the world and has inspired some wonderful art from our talented children.

Nursery and Reception Nativity

The last Thursday of term saw our youngest children enthral a select audience of family members with their wonderful Nativity. The cast journeyed by camel through the dusty desert, knocked on doors in Bethlehem and invited the audience to join them in ringing out the bells in celebration. This wasn’t quite the traditional nativity, but with a talking donkey and an array of tea towels, it was a festive treat for an appreciative audience.

Senior Choir At Wigmore Hall

The choir had a wonderful time performing at the world-renowned Wigmore Hall last week at the Haringey Choir Festival. The choir sang beautifully and enjoyed listening to a range of primary and secondary school choirs from all across the Borough. Thank you so much to all the parents who accompanied the choir, making it such a successful and inspiring trip.

Choir Festival

We were very proud to host our own choir festival, as we were joined by choirs from St Michael’s, Rhodes Avenue, Our Lady of Muswell Hill and Tetherdown. Catty Alberman, the head of singing at Haringey Music Hub, taught us exciting new songs and we each had an opportunity to perform. It was wonderful to get to know and listen to other local school choirs and the start of further musical collaborations within our family of schools.

Year 2 in the Dock

The Year 2 classrooms became the scene of the High Court last week, as Thomas Farynor and a range of characters from 1666

took the witness stand accused of starting the Great Fire. Acting as lawyers, children presented their prosecution statements to the judge. In a unanimous decision, Farynor was found guilty of gross negligence, accidently leaving the oven on in his bakery, with disastrous consequences.

Performance Dance Group Visit

Both Year 5 classes have now had three visits from professional producers, dancers and choreographers, to create a dance piece from start to finish. The project, called 'Questions and Answers', will be completed later in the year, with a performance by a professional dance company at ‘The Place’ in Euston.

Green Council

The school’s newly established Green Council has had a successful start to the year with two representatives from each class acting as green ambassadors. The group have already had several council meetings and discussed priorities for the year ahead. The priorities for next term are to calculate the school's carbon footprint and to raise the issue of climate change within the school and local community.

Debating Club

The Debating Club run by Ollie on a Tuesday lunchtime is going from strength to strength, attracting a large group of children from the junior classes. Topics debated have included the rights of animals, should everyone be paid the same wage for working and the merits of school uniforms. Earlier in the term, representatives from the debating club met with the Council Leader Claire Kober, as part of the school’s campaign for a pedestrian crossing at the dangerous intersection on North Hill.

Newspaper Club

The Newspaper Club journalists had a chance to become food critics as they tasted and reviewed the menu from the new pop-up kitchen, based at the family-friendly Duke’s Head in Highgate Village. On arrival, the junior journalists were welcomed by owners and Highgate Dads - Martin and Tarik. Within minutes, a huge platter of crinkle cut chips arrived to enthusiastic cheers, and were demolished in seconds. ‘Crispy on the outside and fluffy as marshmallows on the inside’ was the verdict. Onto the main dishes, the pulled pork, spicy beef and bean nachos were all enjoyed and rated extremely favourably. With compliments paid to the chefs, the journalists returned home, happy, full and inspired to write up their reviews. Many thanks to Nigel Sutton for the wonderful photo above and for giving the promising journalists some top photography tips. Read all about it in the next edition of ‘The Hi and Pri’!

Year 5 Festival of Football

A few weeks ago it was Year 5’s turn to venture out, to compete in a football tournament on the astro-turf pitches at Highgate School. Our two teams went into action against teams from St Joseph’s, St, Michael’s and Highgate School, with the aim of playing attractive football with a Corinthian spirit. Not only did they do this, the children also managed to score some

spectacular goals, win a few games and lift the FA Cup! This was a great experience for the children and lots of fun too. Thank to all the parents who came along and supported.

Cross Country

The Cross Country Club at Highgate Primary is thriving, with 35 children regularly training in the open spaces in and around Highgate and Hampstead. After very impressive finishes in this season’s races, both Monte and Isaac from Year 6 were selected to run for Haringey in the Middlesex Championships. A very big well done to Isaac who reached level 18 of the arduous ‘bleep test’ – a remarkable achievement.

Christmas Fair

A special thank you to everyone who joined us for the Christmas Craft Fair on Saturday. The school looked splendidly festive and the magnificent Christmas tree, kindly donated by The Woodman, filled the hall with sparkle and the smell of Christmas.

The children enjoyed a lovely afternoon, spoilt for choice with crafts which this year included glitter pine-cone Santas and clove orange pomanders. The afternoon was complete with a visit from the real Father Christmas, ably supported by his fabulous team of Year 6 elves. Not only was the afternoon bursting with merriment, an incredible £4000 was raised. Once again, a big thank you to Claire and Lizzy and all the PSA volunteers who created a very special day enjoyed by our community.

Book Fair

Special thanks go to Joanna for organising the school’s book fair. As well as raising the profile of reading, your purchases have provided the school with over £1000 worth of books, which will arrive in our class libraries in the New Year.

Langford Chase Christmas Display

If you happen to be walking down the Archway Road over the next few weeks, do stop and have a look at the wonderful Christmas window at Langford Chase. Beautifully designed and drawn by children in Year 2, this festive display is truly turning heads!

Lucie’s moving on

Today is Lucie’s last day at school. Lucie has been with us for five years and we will all miss her very much. Not only has she been an outstanding Reception and Nursery teacher, she also introduced and implemented the much-loved Forest Schools programme to Highgate Primary. We wish Lucie all the very best for the future.

PSA News

Thank you for all your support this year. The PSA’s events are essential for fundraising at Highgate Primary. Despite the wettest Fireworks Night on record, we made an amazing £2,760 in November. With music such a great part of Fireworks Night, this month the PSA will pay for a new amplifier for the school and subsidise the Year 3 ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ trip so that every child can experience the thrill of a West End Show. The PSA also helped to pay for costumes for Mary Poppins – well worth all the pennies and hard work.

Important dates for the diary

Monday 5th January Staff Training Day School Closed

Tuesday 6th January First day of Spring Term

w/c Monday 16th February Half Term Week

Friday 27th March Last day of Spring Term

Have a great Christmas and I look forward to seeing the children back, rested and ready to go, in January. With best wishes

William William Dean Headteacher

Photo courtesy of Nigel Sutton