Welcome From The Headteacher

Thank you for taking the time to browse our website. I hope that you find it informative and that it answers any questions you may have. My name is Brian Doherty and I feel truly privileged to lead such a wonderful school and to have the opportunity of ensuring that each child at Highters Heath Community School receives the best possible education in their formative years.

Our staff are dedicated, hardworking and experienced. We provide a safe, calm and caring atmosphere in school and foster a hardworking ethos based on an enjoyment of learning within a stable environment. We expect a great deal from our children and they do not disappoint us. We are pleased to offer a varied selection of enrichment and enhancement opportunities and possess excellent links with our diverse community – we are very proud of our reputation as a warm, welcoming, family school.

The Staff and Governors continually seek the views of parents, carers and visitors to our school. We recognise that parents play a huge role in the education of their children and as such, we welcome your support and co-operation in making your child’s time at Highters Heath enjoyable.

We encourage an “I can!” attitude in our children, and have an aspiration for all our children that through their school journey they will fulfil their academic potential and become successful lifelong learners. In addition, we endeavour that our children will possess high levels of both social and emotional intelligence so that they are well placed to succeed and thrive in the future, becoming active and productive members of our community.

Please call at any time to make an appointment to see either myself or my team – all members of staff will value discussing any aspect of your child’s education and general welfare.

 

Brian Doherty

Our Curriculum

Highters Heath: Where We All Say I Can!

Our School Strands:

Our curriculum is linked by 5 key strands (see strand definitions) that are woven into our lessons. These are:

• Academic Learning
• Awareness and Understanding of Ourselves and Others
• Our Place in the World, and The Impact We Have On It
• Expression and Communication
• Characteristics of an Effective Learner

Rationale:

At Highters Heath we follow the 2014 National Curriculum. As well as making best use of the National Curriculum, we have also added features that are vital to our pupils.

We are in the highest quintile for deprivation, and a high number of pupils are classified as being Pupil Premium. It is therefore of vital importance that we enable the children to have a variety of different experiences, that they may not otherwise get. These include: trips, visitors, meeting people with a variety of careers, completing jobs to contribute to our school community, understanding different faiths, the incorporation of British Values etc. This helps our pupils to have a variety of experiences/opportunities, which equip them to be educated citizens in later life.

In our community, many pupils enter the school system with lower than average communication and language abilities, and limited life experiences. It is therefore our responsibility to incorporate opportunities to increase our pupil’s vocabulary acquisition, and to enable them to develop opportunities to express themselves in different contexts.

Implementation

The Teaching Approaches At Highters Heath:

When teaching the curriculum, we use a variety of different approaches/resources, adapting to our individual pupils needs within that class and ensuring that our lessons remain inspiring and engaging. Some teaching approaches that we regularly use are:

We strongly believe that our pupils learn best through experiencing their learning. To this end, the provision of trips and visitors in clearly mapped out to reinforce and support the classroom teaching (see the HH Guarantee).

We use some schemes of work in some subjects however, these are not followed to the letter and are adapted according to the needs of the pupils in that class:

Curriculum Progression:

It is of vital importance that our curriculum allows our pupils to grow and develop their skills for every subject. In order to ensure that this happens effectively, each subject (including the individual units and skills) is mapped out and sequenced by the subject co-ordinator. This ensures that our pupils leave our school having gained essential skills in later life, in all key subjects, and that they can apply them in different contexts. The transitional support that our pupils receive, when changing from one stage of school life to another, ensures that our pupils can move on with confidence and self-assurance, taking their key skills, knowledge and understanding with them.

Our children will leave Highters Heath confident children, able to achieve and to develop key relationships effectively. They will have positive mental attitudes, allowing them to learn from mistakes, and to use them to work towards success. Our children have the right to achieve their potential, and we have the responsibility to enable them to.

Pastoral Care

Pastoral care is central to the well-being and development of the individual child. We recognise that a high quality of pastoral care forms the foundations for happy and confident children. For that reason, we aim to provide our pupils with the social and emotional support they need to enable them to reach their maximum potential.

Mrs F. Lindsay – Pastoral team leader/Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

​ Mr D.Purcell – Learning Mentor, Website Manager

​ Mrs H. Schauker - HLTA ​

Mrs H. Wright – Personal, Social, Health, Emotional and Economic Co-ordinator

Mentoring

Mentoring is an important part of our pastoral care. Our learning mentors work closely with children to overcome barriers to learning and develop social and emotional well-being. This may take the form of one-to-one sessions, small group work or targeted interventions. They also work closely with parents and carers, providing support when needed.

​ SPARKs ​
SPARKs (Social, Proactive, Assertive and Resilient Kids) is a 10-week programme for Year 2 pupils, aimed at raising children’s self-esteem and developing their social skills. Each week we focus on a particular skill such as: empathy; active listening; controlling behaviour and being assertive. The groups are of mixed ability, allowing children to learn from each other. The programme ends with a special celebration where children receive a certificate a SPARKs book to take home. ​

Friends for Life ​
Friends for Life is a programme which takes place with small groups of children, usually from Year 5. This programme aims to assist children in developing life skills. Small group work encourages peer learning and builds peer support networks. It promotes self-confidence in dealing with difficult or anxiety-provoking situations, builds emotional resilience and the ability to problem solve. ​

Transition ​
We understand the importance of preparing our Year 6 pupils for the end of Key Stage assessments (SATs) as we recognise that this can be an anxious time for many children. During the Spring term pupils can attend a homework club where they are supported in completing SATs-style questions. In addition to this they complete a ‘Building Resilience’ programme with the school’s Senior Learning Mentor. ​

To ensure a smooth transition, we liaise with the secondary schools which our pupils go on to attend. For some pupils, this involves activities such as additional visits and participation in a ‘Moving On’ programme.

Pupils are supported in the move to their new year groups in a variety of different ways. Particular focus is given to pupils moving to a new key stage.

Restorative Justice

At Highters Heath we use Restorative Justice to resolve issues where negative behaviour choices have caused harm or upset to another member of our school community. Through this practice we are able to foster an awareness of how others have been affected by inappropriate behaviour. This is done by actively engaging participants in a process which separates the deed from the doer and rejects the act not the actor, allowing participators to make amends for the harm caused.

Restorative Practices improve behaviour, attitudes and relationships, make pupils accountable for their actions and allow all participants in an incident to have a voice. ​

Restorative Justice is also about creating a sense of community and to that end all classes have a daily ‘check-in’. This is where pupils and staff are given the opportunity to voice excitement or concerns they may have, and the class community is able to respond appropriately. This may be as simple as a child not feeling well; to which their peers can offer nurture throughout the day. ​

School ‘norms’
​ Norms set the expectations for normal behaviour that pupils are expected to display in different areas of the school. These include:

Corridor norms
Dining hall norms
Classroom norms
These are decided upon with the pupils and are reviewed at the beginning of each year. ​
Courtesy and respect (CARROT) tokens ​

When pupils are courteous or respectful they may be given a CARROT token. These are given to develop these qualities in our pupils and encourage them to be polite and aware of how others are feeling. Classes collect these tokens and when they have earned 50, they receive a class reward of their choosing. ​

Behaviour management
For more information about how behaviour is managed at Highters Heath, please see our behaviour policy which can be found in the ‘Policies’ section of this website.

Results At Highters Heath

RESULTS AT HIGHTERS HEATH

Early Years Foundation Stage (end of the Reception year)
Our “Good Level of Development” in 2019 was 69.2%. The national average in 2019 was 72%.

Y1 Phonics Tests
73% of year 1 pupils passed the phonics screening test. The national average in 2019 was 82%.

KS1 SATs results 2019 ​

​ ​

KS2 SATs results 2019

2019 Results with Comparison to National Averages

Pupils achieving expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths – 67% (National average 65%) ​

Pupils achieving the higher standard in Reading, Writing and Maths - 10% (National average 10.5%)

​ Progress from KS1 to KS2: Reading -0.3, Writing -0.57, Maths -0.77

Average scaled scores: Reading - 105 (National average – 104) Maths – 105 (National average - 105)

Meet The Staff

Meet The Staff

Events

Wednesday 3rd November- Open Day for prospective reception parents

Tuesday 9th November- School photographer in school today

Wednesday 24th November- Year 4 visit to Old Rep theatre

Friday 26th November - Non Uniform Day/Bring a Bottle

Monday 29th November- World War 2 workshop for year 6

Friday 3rd December- Christmas Fair today

Week commencing Monday 13th December- Nativity performances for parents; details to follow

Thursday 16th December - Christmas Party (1:30pm - 3pm)

Friday 17th December- school closes at 1pm for Christmas Holidays

 

Wednesday 5th January 2022- School reopens to all pupils

School Uniform

Highters Heath School Uniform 

The overall aim of this policy is to promote each child’s right to express their gender  and personality in whichever way feels right for them. To support this aim, our  uniform policy is gender neutral. This means that whilst we expect all of our children  to wear school uniform, the rules for boys and girls are the same, and we do not  insist that they wear specific items of clothing. 

Item	Colour	Additional Details
Skirt	Grey or black
Trousers	Grey or black
School dress	Red check
Pinafore	Grey
Polo shirt	Red or white
Sweatshirt	Red
Cardigan	Red
Leggings	Grey or black	Worn under skirt or pinafore only.
Hijab	Grey or black or white	Plain fabric only, not patterned or sequined.
PE shorts	Black
PE top	White
PE Pumps	Black
Tights/socks	Grey, black or white
Shoes	Black	Black trainers are acceptable without colour  flashes or visible logos.
Hair	Plain accessories only	Hair that is longer than shoulder length should be  tied back, no shaved patterns or added colours.
Jewellery	Small stud earrings only,  wristwatch	This is for health & safety reasons. Children must  be able to remove these themselves, and will be  asked to do so for PE lessons.

Items with school logo are available at Clive Marks in Kings Heath, but it is much cheaper to  buy plain items which are perfectly acceptable. 

Please ensure that ALL items of clothing and uniform are clearly labelled with your  child’s name, as these are easier to identify, and we cannot be responsible for items that go  missing. 

Home School Links

Home-School Links

INSPIRE workshops
​ These workshops offer you the chance to work in school, with your child, on a range of subjects or skills. Ideas and information is provided to try out or continue at home. Check the events calendar for when your child’s class is having their next INSPIRE workshop (link to events calendar).

​ Other workshops ​
A range of other parent/child workshops are offered throughout the year such as Male Role Model, E-Safety, Puzzle Mornings, Phonics and Reading . Check the events calendar for the dates of other workshops. (link to events calendar) ​

Male Role Model Workshop ​
The Male Role Model workshop is a yearly event where children invite a male role model known to them such as dad, grandad, uncle, brother, family friend etc. They are given the opportunity to spend quality time together doing fun activities with different themes such as Space models that move and kites. ​

The Male Role Model workshop takes place in the spring term. There are 2 dates one for Reception and key stage one children and the other for Key Stage 2 children. ​

Assemblies
Through our assemblies we share with parents what has been taught in class and celebrate achievements. Parents are invited to class assemblies, end of term Gold Book and behaviour assemblies, prize givings and the annual Nativity. Check the events calendar for the dates of your child’s class assembly. (link to events calendar) ​

Parent Pop-in ​
On the first Thursday of every half term we open the doors at 8.45a.m and invite parents to “pop-in” to their child’s classroom to join in with an activity. This could be reading, a topic –linked task or related to a new skill they are learning in English or Maths. It is a chance to spend quality time with your child and to find out more about their current learning. ​

Homework ​
Homework is given out each week and can consist of a piece of Maths or English work or a topic related activity. Homework also includes reading at least twice a week, learning spellings and practising for Number Club. Most children can also access Mathletics at home. ​

Online help ​
Some useful websites for helping your child at home are: ​

www.booktrust.org.uk​

www.oxfordowl.co.uk​

www.topmarks.co.uk

www.roythezebra.com/

If you know of any other websites that you have found useful, please let us know.

Meet The Governors

Highters Heath Community School Governor List