2023 Sports Day

For the first time since 2019, Sports Day was once again a whole school event, providing a welcome opportunity for all of our pupils and their families to come together for this special occasion. As in prior years, pupils participated in a variety of athletic challenges based on their year group, including Shot Put, Nerf Ball Throw, Long Jump, High Jump, Discus and Javelin. Races were a highlight throughout the day—in particular the return of the Beach Race for Infants—and the final relay races for each year group were,  as in prior years an exciting test of speed and teamwork. After the games were over, families relaxed together over a picnic lunch, followed by shared puddings. Through our Sports programme, we want our pupils to experience and enjoy teamwork, to play hard, to play with respect and to carry themselves well.

Although Sports Day is a competitive event, we are always proud of the good sportsmanship shown by our pupils, as they support and cheer one another on for each competition. The results from Sports Day (shown below) have now been added to our ‘House Shield’ table, which includes all of the inter-house competitions played throughout the school year. Each house earns 25 points for winning a competition, 15 points for second place, 10 for third and 5 for fourth. The Blue team achieved victory as the overall champions (429 points), followed by Green (305), Yellow (296.5) and Red (234). The full table of House Shield results is shown below.

2023 Sports Day Results
Red Team Yellow Team Green Team Blue Team
Infants/
Juniors		 Fourth

Second

 First Third
Seniors Second

Fourth

 Third First

2022/23 House Shield
Activity Red Yellow Green Blue
Yr 9-11 Girls Water Polo 10 15 5 25
Yr 9-11 Boys Basketball 10 5 25 15
Yr 7/8 Basketball 10 15 5 25
Yr 7/8 Hockey 5 15 10 25
Yr 9-11 Hockey 15 10 5 25
Yr 3/4 Swimming Gala 5 15 10 25
Yr 5/6 Swimming Gala 10 15 5 25
Yr 9-11 Boys Water Polo 5 25 15 10
Y7/8 Table Tennis 15 7.5 7.5 25
Y7/8 Volleyball 15 7.5 7.5 25
Y7/8 Benchball (Dec) 16.5 16.5 5 16.5
Y7/8 Capture Flag (Dec) 15 25 7.5 7.5
Yr 9-11 Netball 10 15 5 25
Yr 9-11 Touch Rugby 5 10 25 15
Yr 5/6 Cross Country 5 10 15 25
Yr 3/4 Cross Country 5 15 25 10
Yr 9-11 Trampolining 10 15 25 5
Yr 9-11 Badminton 5 10 25 15
Yr 7/8 Netball 7.5 15 7.5 25
Yr 9-11 Table Tennis 15 10 25 5
Yr 9-11 Squash 20 5 10 20
Junior and Infant Sports Day 5 15 25 10
Senior Sports Day 15 5 10 25
TOTAL 234 296.5 305 429

Year 6: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

During the last week of June, our Year 6 pupils put their acting skills to the test in an excellent production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The pupils, who had immersed themselves in the play during rehearsals throughout the Summer Term, impressed the audience of family members with their polished, intelligent, and—above all—entertaining performance. Mrs Parkinson said it best: ‘You know the play inside out, and I feel honoured and humbled to see acting talents that I never knew existed. Of equal merit are those of you who have battled with your fears to climb onto the stage and speak our parts. You are all, in your unique ways, amazing.’ Many thanks to Mrs Amies for the beautiful floral set scenery, Miss Pearce-Higgins for the lighting, Mr Campbell for stage and lighting setup, Mrs Burden for rehearsal support, and Miss Moorhouse for musical recording and accompaniment.

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Our Year 6 pupils put their acting skills to the test in an excellent performance of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream 

Screen Discussion Evening & Screen Free Week

In the weeks leading up to this year’s Screen Free Week, a discussion evening for parents addressed the issue of screen use and how to strike the right balance between screen-based and real-world activities. Mr Fletcher wrote, ‘The initial focus of discussion was upon family values and culture. We all need to pan back and look at the big picture: What do we most want for our children? What do we really care about as a family? Pausing to reflect on these questions is crucial. It is too easy to go with the flow, or default to what works, rather than having the courage of our convictions and acting intentionally to create a family culture that reflects our higher aspirations for our children. This involves far more than setting boundaries. It involves inspiring our children with fun, life-affirming, real-world activities, and showing by our example what we think makes life most rich and full.’ 

This year’s Screen Free Week was held in mid-June and, as in prior years, those who participated committed to not making use of screens for leisure purposes. 75 families signed up to take part. In a survey to gather feedback from families who participated, we heard some common themes about the positive impacts to the family and what made the experience successful. Rediscovering time for other activities (reading, games, art, conversation, playing outside) was a frequently reported positive, and several respondents emphasised the importance of planning ahead to offer children alternative activities to look forward to.

What we heard

‘The children learned to potter and find things to amuse themselves.’

‘We were more together as a family – sharing more time and activities.’

‘Discussing as a family what we were doing and aiming for was really key.’

‘Proper preparation for the week [is important]—really have some alternatives in place’

‘Now the existing routines have been reintroduced, the kids seem to find the TV less interesting and have stopped (or not even started) watching at night, and played instead.’

HCA Summer Fete

There was a distinct spirit of festivity during this year’s HCA Summer Fete, an annual event that provides a welcome opportunity for the whole Heritage community to gather in a beautiful setting and enjoy fun and togetherness all while raising funds for the school. It was lovely to see children spending time together and with their families in the beautiful outdoor setting, enjoying the pony rides, sponge throwing, welly wanging, teddy bear tombola, face painting, candy floss, raffle, and so much more. Once again, the dog show was a highlight of the day, as families paraded their pets for a chance to win in categories like best dressed and waggiest tail. Despite a forecast of thunderstorms, the rain held out until the very end, at which point everyone headed out feeling very satisfied after a day full of fun. Thank you to each of the HCA committee members, parents, staff and other members of the Heritage community who contributed time, talents and other gifts to  make it a fantastic day and a successful event overall. Over £1,700 was raised, to go towards reflooring and staging improvements in Panton Hall.

Special Thanks

A big thank you to Tom and Cecilia Amies and family for so generously offering the use of their home and property, not only for the fete but also the Year 4 Camp the day before! And additional huge thanks to Vicki Grebe, who so wonderfully managed the planning for the fete, along with Cecilia Amies, Ellie Stoneley, and Irenee Daly.

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First School Camp for Year 4

The first camp experience for Heritage pupils comes in Year 4, when pupils head out from school on a Friday morning and spend time outdoors together through Saturday morning. During this year’s camp, the Year 4 pupils tried their hand at whittling and archery, played wide games, roasted marshmallows over a campfire for s’mores, and of course spent the night under canvas. Many thanks to the Amies family for hosting the event, Mrs Daly for cooking, Mr Pitcher for archery instruction, Mrs Pearce-Higgins for helping with all of the activities, and also to Mr Fletcher and Mrs Eldridge for planning and managing the event and camping overnight with the class!

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