School Development Letter
Dear parent / carer,
As we reach the end of a busy first half term, I wanted to write to you all and update you all on goings on in school, both currently and for the future. We have lots happening to keep building on the successes of last year, including the Year 1 Phonics and Year 6 SATs results, and for improving our school for the good of our children and their families.
All Day Nursery
In addition to our morning or afternoon only places, we now offer all day places in our Nursery to support interested parents. Some families will be entitled to a full time Nursery place for free. If not entitled, we charge a small fee for those families who wish to ‘top up’ their hours. Please speak to the Office or Nursery staff if you are interested.
School Trips
We have already had some of our classes go out on school trips since September and we have lots more planned. We believe school trips are a crucial part of our children’s learning and hopefully provide them with exciting memories for the future. In the coming weeks Year 1 are going to Bolton Museum to learn about local history, Year 3 are going to Ambleside to learn about physical geographical features, including mountains, rivers and waterfalls and Years 5 and 6 are visiting Ordsall Hall to learn about the Tudors. In December, we are once again taking all of the children, from Reception to Year 6 to the local pantomime – a Christmas treat from the school. “Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!” I am also thrilled to let you know that we have once again been able to book the school journey, for children in Years 5 and 6, to Treginnis Farm on the Pembrokeshire coast. This will happen in June – details will be circulated soon.
Diverse Community and Inclusive School
At Castle Hill, we work hard to represent and always include children from all aspects of our diverse school community. Our school motto deliberately starts with the word ‘Belong’ and as our children always tell us, “everybody is welcome at Castle Hill; we are like one big family”. We feel it is of huge importance to teach our children to be accepting, understanding, tolerant and kind to each other in order to prepare them for life in a diverse world by embracing and celebrating everybody’s differences. We work hard to make our curriculum as inclusive as possible and reflect the community we work for. Our R.E. curriculum covers a range of world religions and teaches the children understanding and tolerance of people with different views and beliefs. An important part of this involves sometimes visiting different places of worship. Year 5 have already visited a cathedral this half term and Mrs McCulloch is currently working hard to arrange trips to a local Hindu Temple and Mosque for some of the other classes. October is Black History Month in the UK and we are currently in the middle of our Black History Month celebrations. It started with a brilliant assembly and performance of African drumming, which involved some of our children performing to the school. Every class then had an African dance workshop. As well as learning about historic traditions and culture, the children are also learning about significant black people, both current and historic, including Eva Parks, Martin Luther King and Barak Obama. June is Pride Month and we will be recognising this by teaching the children about significant members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as the different types of families and relationships that people may have. All of this will be delivered sensitively and age appropriate.
Parental Views and Involvement
We always welcome the views of our parents in school; your thoughts and feedback have been important in helping us improve our school. To continue with this process, I have created a short parent questionnaire and would really appreciate it if you could each spare 5 minutes to complete the short form attached. It only requires a tick ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each statement but you are also welcome to add any written comments on the back. The form is anonymous and responses will be treated confidentially. Thank you in advance of your help. (Copies of the questionnaire will also be available outside your children’s classroom at Thursday’s parents’ evening and a box to drop for your completed form will be outside the SLT office and main school office). I would also like to ask if there any of our parents or families who would like to come into school and talk to or show the children ‘things’ that are connected to their learning. For example, if any members of our Muslim families would like to come in and talk to the children about Islam, members of our Christian families or indeed any of the other major faiths, we would welcome you with open arms. Another example might be doing some craft activities, maybe linked to a hobby you might have, or some baking or cooking connected to your work. Perhaps you play a musical instrument and would like to play for the children and show them your instrument. We really want to include our families in the children’s learning so would welcome any of the above or other suggestions you may have. Thanks again in advance of your help. As always, thank you all for your ongoing support. We look forward to continuing to work with you on the ongoing development and improvement of our school, for the good of the children.
Andy Renwick Headteacher