Noticeboard

On Thursday 14th March, our Year 4 Netball Team played in a competition against other local schools.  The children played brilliantly, demonstrated great team work and consequently were unbeaten in all of their matches.  After a nail-biting shoot out and then sudden death, Castle Hill came out on top.  We are the champions!!

In June, some of our children from Years 5 and 6 went to Treginnis Farm, on the Pembrokeshire coast in South Wales.  Whilst they were there, they worked on the farm, looking after the animals and gardening with the farmers.  They had a wonderful week.

We are booked to return to Treginnis Farm in April 2024 - details will be sent home to the Year 5 and 6 children in September.

The term dates for next academic year have been added to the Parents' section of the website.

Come and visit our school on Tuesday 15th November between 3:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.  It's an opportunity to find out more about us, especially if you are thinking of choosing a school for September 2023.

 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

Tuesday 13^th September 2022

Dear parent / carer

Following the upsetting news about the passing of Her Royal Highness The Queen and the consequent announcement about her state funeral, I am writing to inform you that school will be closed on Monday 19^th September as it is a national bank holiday.

Since her death, we have provided opportunities in classes and assemblies for the children to talk about these sad yet historic events through discussions and, where appropriate, watching child friendly news broadcasts such as Newsround.

Yours sincerely

Andy Renwick

Headteacher

Tuesday 6^th September 2022

RE: Parent Phonic Workshops for Year 1 and 2

Dear Parent / Carer,

Welcome back to all our families. It has been lovely to see our children settle back into school life so positively. 

Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.  As you are aware, we start by teaching phonics to children in Reception and this continues into year 1 and for some children year 2.  In the summer term of Year 1, the government asks us to do a phonics check of all the Year 1 children to give us information about their phonic knowledge and progress.

In order to provide you with information about how we teach phonics and how you can support your child at home, we are offering a ‘Phonic workshop’ for the parents/carers.

We are inviting you to one of the following workshops at school:

Tuesday 13^th September at 9:00 AM or Tuesday 13^th September at 2:45 PM

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you.

Kind regards,

Lucy Ebdon

Deputy Headteacher