Highcliffe Primary School
Highcliffe Primary School is located in Leicestershire, in the village of Birstall. A pupil could attend all the way from nursery (The Acorn Playgroup) to year 6. The school uses a symbol of a daisy as its logo and the uniform consists of a dark green jumper with this logo on it.
It is a large school with one main field and four playgrounds spread over the grounds; it also has its own swimming pool. Two of the playgrounds are linked by the famous "Jacobs Ladder", a long spiral of concrete steps named after a former head teacher.
On the far side of the field there is an assault course-style climbing frame that stretches the width of the field; originally it was installed as a small balancing beam with chains to walk over, but over the years it has been added to. At one stage there was a rota in place because it was so popular that it would become over crowded.
The top left of the field was called Stingers Corner, if you could brave the stingers then you could get into the "den" made through the sticky weed. Along the Elmfield entrance there are two tree stumps which over the years have been home to several bees' nests; on one occasion the bees were disturbed and an entire swarm spread over the school, locking everyone inside.
At the teachers car park along the Elmfield entrance there was a nest of trees and bushes in an oval shape that was called Tigers den, but it has since been chopped down.
The small playground at the Greengate entrance was called "the Roughy", due to the rough surface. On this playground only tennis balls were allowed to be used at breaks.
During the school years from 1990 there was a "playwall" erected along the middle playground. This tall wall separated the playground from the school field and had activities painted on it such as cricket stumps and targets.
In both dinner halls there were raised platforms, these were used during Christmas Plays and performances. If a student mis-behaved or was naughty then you were made to "stand on the platform" for a time-out. This way everyone knew if you had misbehaved. In repeated cases you could be put on "report", where each break time you were given a mark out of 5 for behaviour, and reviewed at the end of the month.[citation needed]
At the end of the school term 1996–1997 a new main hall was developed and the building at the Greengate end was made bigger.
From 1990 the school headmaster was Mr Dwelly, and the caretaker was Mr Marsden (Mr Marsbar). Other children's favorites were Mrs McMurdoe, Mrs May, Mrs Hubbard and the support teacher Mrs Whitbread. Mr Malvanny will also be remembered by many, mainly thanks to his grizzly beard.[citation needed]
The school held egg decorating competitions at Easter time, a fancy dress Book Day, Children In Need events and many more celebrations.
In recent times, the school has had much modernisation work done to it and it is still well known as a friendly, family fun school.[citation needed]
Coordinates: 52°40′47″N 1°07′58″W / 52.6797°N 1.1327°W