The Highfield School

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The Highfield School is a co-educational secondary school located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The Highfield School teaches students aged 11-18 from Year 7 through to Year 13. The school is part of the Letchworth Sixth Form Consortium with Fearnhill School. It received a good with outstanding features OFSTED grade.Highfield runs a vertical tutoring system, meaning that students are put into registration groups with a tutor who is specialised in dealing with Years 7-8 and students in Years 9, 10 and 11 are put with other specific tutors. The system encourages the mixing of year groups and is popular with new Year 7 students.HousesStudents are allocated to tutor groups which form houses. There are four houses: Babbage, Curie, Armstrong and Einstein. These were previously known as Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex before they were changed in 2008.Throughout the year there are inter-house competitions including various small tournaments that are held in timetabled P.E lessons, dance competitions and a sports day (at the end of the school year).ScienceHighfield School specialises in Science, and there are many Science and Maths events including a Science Festival. Students at the Highfield alongside Fearnhill School and many local primaries take part in Science-related events including a celebration evening. The school also works closely to develop science and maths in their partner primary schools throughout the year.New buildingIn January 2017 the school moved into a new purpose-built £15 million building beside the old one, the latter being consequently demolished. The new building was fully financed by the Education Funding Agency. Originally North Hertfordshire District Council turned down the application on the grounds that the development would have a detrimental effect on neighbouring residential areas "due to its size and proximity to nearby buildings." They also raised concerns regarding the quality of the design. However, the planning inspector dismissed these claims stating that the building would not have an adverse effect on the locale.