The Past
The 1944 Butler Education Act separated primary education from secondary, with the result that the Junior School at Newark’s Lilley and Stone High School was to be phased out. The 1945 intake appeared to have no opportunity to start school in the town. Several concerned parents, including Mr Gordon Benoy, Mr Eric Steel, Mr Reginald Sheldrake and Mrs Ida McDonald pursued every avenue to find a solution without success until Mr Sheldrake offered the use of a single room, free of charge, above his Chemist’s shop in Appletongate.
21 children started at ‘Sheldrakes’ on 28th March 1945, each child bringing along his or her own chair to sit on, to be taught by Miss White who in a brave act of great faith had given up her established teaching post. Great good fortune enabled Gordon Benoy to purchase the Highfields house and parkland for £4,500 from the MoD just as the occupying Military Police were preparing to move out after the war.
By September 1948, Miss White had 113 children on roll and Miss Blatherwick had joined as school secretary in 1947 at a salary of £10 per term, rising the following year to £5 per month! From the outset, Highfields has had a rigid policy of non-profit making, and in late 1952 this policy was formalised by registration as a charity with the Charity Commissioners having amended the company’s Articles of Association.
Highfields’ third Headteacher, Keith Eggleston, died suddenly in service at the age of 45 in 1966 after eight years at the helm, a much-admired and respected figure. Such was the groundswell of sympathy that an appeal was launched and in very short order enough money raised to build the Eggleston Sports Hall, which was opened by his widow in June 1968.
The Infant Classroom block opened in 1971, shortly before a difficult period of very high inflation and national economic downturn, which heralded some awkward moments for the school. Experienced Governors retired, an unexpected change of Headteacher, a rapid rise in fees driven by inflation, and a lack of previous financial control all contributed to the sense of malaise. Equilibrium was restored towards the end of the decade, so that when the Finance Governor, Mr Ralph Stephenson, retired in 1981 he left the school in a position of relative prosperity and stability.
Gordon Benoy stepped down as Chairman of Governors in 1986, after some 40 years of devoted and prodigious service to Highfields since the very earliest days, shortly after the appointment of Paul Smith as the 6th Headteacher, a post he was to hold with distinction for almost 20 years before retiring in 2004.
1987 saw the expansion into nursery education. Dr Caroline Lawrenson was elected a member of the Board of Governors in December 1987 and her arrival heralded an extension of the School’s activities into nursery education – a matter which she pressed with some force and conviction. She was convinced of the need and the viability of the project and the new Nursery was built for the Summer Term 1989. The ‘temporary’ nursery accommodation housed in modular buildings adjacent to the old orchard is still in use, but it is the first priority of the ambitious development plan for it to be replaced by a purpose-built Foundation Unit contiguous with the Reception Classroom.
The Present and The Future
‘Modern methods, traditional values’ is more than a marketing slogan and academic achievement continues to shine, especially in the context of the non-selective admissions policy. Mr Wood left Highfields recently after 7 years’ service as Headteacher with the school in a strong academic position. For the seventh year in succession all the Form Six children have moved on to their first choice senior schools and there has been 100% pass rate at 11+ once again last year.
Mrs Claire Fraser is Highfields’ 8thHeadteacher and the first woman to hold the post since the first Head, Miss White. She has the full support of Governors to work towards the fulfillment of their ambitious and visionary Development Plan, phase one of which is the construction of the new Foundation Unit on land at the front of the school near the Headteacher’s study. This would enable the Nursery, Reception and Infant (Key Stage1) classes to be accommodated together in the same area of the site.
Phase two involves the removal of the existing Nursery building and replacing it with the construction of two new Junior classrooms. Not only will this allow the Junior classes in Key stage 2 (Form 3 to Form 6 inclusive) to be together rather than spread out throughout the school, but also all pupils will have the majority of their teaching on the ground floor.
The next phase is an ambitious plan to extend and modernise the Eggleston Sports Hall and equip it with new facilities so that out of school hours it may become an important supplementary income stream on a commercial basis.
The final phase is to extend and refurbish the kitchen and part of the rear of the old main house. All preliminaries have been completed and full planning permission was granted in September 2009. Prudently, the Governors decided to postpone the project because of the effects of the prevailing economic climate but they remain keen to begin the project as soon as is reasonable and practicable.
Mrs Fraser’s educational agenda for the medium term future addresses a number of important issues. The last Inspection highlighted an imbalance in the timetable which she will seek to change by improving provision for humanities, art, design-technology and music. An extended school day may provide extra time for learning without compromising current achievements, and a policy to review and refresh the extra-curricular activities available will be energetically implemented. The consequences will be greater opportunities for pupils, an improvement in standards and the sharing of best practice amongst the academic staff.