About Highfield
 Highfield is a happy school, the happiest I have worked in. The children bubble with enthusiasm for all that goes on while showing a courtesy, respect and concern for one another that is genuinely heart-warming. Why is Highfield such a happy and successful school? There are, I believe, three simple reasons. The first is a highly committed and caring staff who genuinely enjoy working with and caring for children in a beautiful rural setting, giving rise to the happy and purposeful atmosphere, identified by all who visit us and reflected in the exuberance, confidence and happiness of our children. Secondly, a fine academic tradition, reinforced by a broad and stimulating curriculum and first rate teaching, confirmed by a distinguished record of Scholarship success, with our pupils entering their Senior Schools of first choice, self-confident, self-reliant and well prepared. Thirdly, and above all, because being at Highfield is great fun as there is always so much going on and so much to do, whatever a child's interests. This may all sound too good to be true, but what I am delighted and proud of is that it is precisely these qualities that are richly praised by our parents, children and visitors to the school, whether they are prospective parents or members of inspection teams. The most recent Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) Inspection took place in January 2007, the Inspectors found much to praise and all at Highfield were delighted with their findings. What was particularly satisfying was their celebration of improvement and development at the School since we were last inspected in May 2001, not to mention the description of our pastoral care as 'outstanding'. You can read the Report by clicking on the link in the Content column to the left of this article. At Highfield we understand and celebrate the fact that great education does not begin and end in the classroom. We are richly blessed with superb facilities. Our beautiful grounds, some 175 acres of woodlands and fields, offer both the perfect backdrop for adventure and play and provide outstanding sports provision, enhanced by the addition of a new indoor Swimming Pool and refurbished Sports Hall. We are rightly proud of our excellent sporting reputation, achieved through strong coaching at all levels and a commitment to 'Sport for All' which provides the opportunity for all our children to discover and develop their sporting skills. Equally impressive is the school's reputation in the creative arts. Music thrives, with almost all our pupils engaged in learning at least one instrument, or singing in one of our choirs. A magnificent Music School opened in May 2006 inspires our musicians to even greater heights and I am confident that our Informal and Formal Concerts will become even greater highlights of the school year. The exuberance and quality of Art at Highfield, created in our purpose built Art Department, has won many accolades and our fine record of Art Scholarships is testament to this, winning twelve major awards in the past four years. Drama is also strong at all levels in the school and productions, both small and large scale staged in our theatre, regularly involve many of the children. As one would expect in a school with a large proportion of boarding children, we aim to provide as broad a range of activities in ‘free time' and at weekends as we can. The opportunities for exploration, camp building and other outward-bound activities in our extensive woodlands are amongst the most popular. We tell everybody that 'Boarding is Fun' at Highfield. A reflection of how well we succeed in this objective is the number of children who choose to stay in and take advantage of all we have on offer at weekends, rather than going home. It was delightful to receive such a glowing impartial endorsement of our Boarding provision from the Ofsted Boarding Inspection Team who visited for two days in February 2008, describing it as 'Outstanding'. That Highfield is such a happy school is due in no small part to the quality of our pastoral care. The happiness and well being of every child is at the core of daily life, whether they are day children or boarders, juniors new to the school, or seniors about to leave us. The strong Christian ethos of the school, reinforced by regular worship in our beautiful Chapel, helps to strengthen the message of kindness, tolerance and forgiveness that is at the heart of the values we wish all our children to embrace. However, for many of our children, their bodily nourishment is as important to them as the nourishing of their spiritual needs, so great food is very important to us as well. Happily, we have excellent kitchens and wonderful cooks. All our food is prepared and cooked on site and enjoys an excellent reputation. Our match teas are particularly popular, not least with the parents! As with any school, it is difficult to enjoy a real sense of Highfield's magic simply by reading a prospectus or visiting a website, the only sure way is for you to visit us and experience it for yourselves. I very much hope that what you find on this website excites and intrigues you enough to make you want to arrange a visit. I look forward to welcoming you to Highfield in the future. Phillip Evitt |