Menu

Latest News

Back to news listPreviousNext
Posted on: September 14th 2018

A Message from Gareth Nation

Welcome back everyone - I hope you all had a wonderful Summer Holiday.  

What a fantastic start to 2018 - 2019 we’ve had. Several members of staff, children and parents have commented on our wonderful school hall which was decorated over the Summer Holidays and has a new floor! In addition, we have a bright ‘new’ classroom - Totnes. Welcome to Mr Allington who has settled in wonderfully at Castle School and all the children who have joined us this year. We’re fortunate to have you all. It has been lovely to see the children return to school looking well presented and arriving punctually. We’ve set the standard for the year and others are noticing what a smashing group of children we have...

Last week, we had a visit from the Campaigns Manager of the communications team for the Prime Minister’s and Cabinet Office. I was thrilled that he commented on what  smart, polite, friendly and welcoming children we have at Castle School. I couldn’t agree more! I have to say, the staff and I have noticed an improved attitude and maturity in the school.  It shows the children are increasingly resilient, determined and willing to embrace every opportunity we give them.

There has been a noticeable increase in parents requesting term-time leave. May I remind everyone that these will likely be unauthorised, and you may well incur a penalty fine.

Finally, we have a revised governance structure across The Trust and we welcome enquiries from anyone who is interested in joining. Please come in to the school office for more details and/or an application form.  

 

Back to news listPreviousNext
School News

Categories

Archives

Also in the News

A Message from Mr Nation Posted on: 15/02/2019

A Message from Mr Nation

The first half of the Spring Term has flown by. Well done to our runners who took part in the Cross Country event last Wednesday and thank you to Mr Allington for going along and supporting our small but dedicated team. It would be lovely to see more children running at the next event. Mrs Knobbs and the team have been committed to setting up intra-school sporting events and last week we held tag rugby matches. See our Sports Journalists comments in this week's newsletter for further details. Thank you to those who came to school on Wednesday to meet Mrs Lancey. I’m excited about the next phase for Castle and look forward to utilising her skills and expertise to help lead our wonderful school. It was lovely to hear so many positive comments about how hard everyone is working at Castle School and the positive impact it is having. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the teachers, parents/carers and of course children for their hard work and dedication this half term. Everyone has worked relentlessly at Castle School and you all deserve a jolly good rest, ready to return and work hard once again for the second half of Spring. I wish you all a wonderful week.   Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
Netball KO Cup Competition Posted on: 15/02/2019

Netball KO Cup Competition

Our fantastic netball team went to Westfield Academy on Tuesday 12th Feb to play in a Netball Knock Out Competition. They came top of their group beating Ilchester Primary and drawing with St Michaels Academy. This meant they reached the Semi-finals and played a very close game against East Coker Primary. They played really well, but unfortunately lost 1-Nil. Their last game was against Milford Juniors for 3rd or 4th position, again this was a very close, hard game but they lost 2 - nil and came a brilliant 4th out of 16 schools. Some of the Yeovil schools are much bigger than Castle School. What an amazing effort. Well done!    Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
A Message from Mr Nation Posted on: 17/12/2018

A Message from Mr Nation

Christmas has arrived at Castle! We have post boxes located throughout the school for the children to post their Christmas cards for friends and staff. All classes have been busy rehearsing their performances and I’m particularly impressed with the children’s confidence when standing on stage in front of a live audience - what confident and competent children they are! Thank you to parents and carers for supporting the children learn their lines and lyrics. Staff have put in lots of additional time to ensure these performances go smoothly for the children - thank you! In addition, I would like to thank Mr Main for all the support he has given the school this term - he is a valued member of the Castle team. Finally, thank you FOCs for coming along and serving tea, coffee and mince pies. We look forward to the Year 5 and 6 performances next week. Last Friday, we welcomed a member of staff from Carymoor Recycling Centre to Castle School. He led an assembly to all children and then visited some of the classrooms where the children participated in a workshop based on recycling and caring for the environment. This was an important message for all the children and they were very energised to ensure we do all we can to help the environment. As always, our visitor had nothing but positive things to say about our super school. We have a busy final week of term before the Christmas break. Next Monday we will be holding a Christingle Service in the school hall for Year 5 and 6 and their parents. Thank you to those of you who have replied. If you haven’t yet done so, this is a lovely opportunity to spend some quality time with your loved one/s at school. I’d like to take this opportunity to notify you of a recent update to the school’s website. Under the ‘safeguarding’ tab, there is an ‘e-safety’ section. You’ll find several useful resources which provide guidance and information to help keep children safe online. Finally, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
A Message from Gareth Nation Posted on: 30/11/2018

A Message from Gareth Nation

Our Poppies and Peace exhibition was so popular and so impressive, that FOCS members and parents have very kindly moved it to the URC. I would like to thank all the children and their families for making such fabulous work, the teachers for taking the time and effort to display it so impressively and of course all those who are continuing to ensure it is displayed in the village. Thanks also to the URC for the use of the space. Well done to Dartmouth for a successful cake sale last week. It was lovely to see so many of you supporting. As you are aware, clubs have now stopped until the Spring Term. Can I remind everyone the importance of teaching the children about commitment. If your child/children sign up to a club, it is important they commit to it. Teachers give up their time to ensure the pupils access these extracurricular activities and it’s only worth doing if they have a sufficient number of children attend. Can you also please inform the teachers if your child is unable to attend a session for any reason, otherwise we have to chase to ensure they are home safe and sound. This week, the Ethos and Welfare Committee met at school to discuss the outcomes for pupils and to review the effectiveness and impact of various aspects of school life. We aim to meet three times each academic year (termly). It would be super to have more members on the panel. It is our school and your input is vital and valued. Please contact the office if you are interested in joining the team! On the final page of the newsletter, you’ll find a summary of your responses to the parent survey. It’s pleasing to see you all recognise Castle School continues to grow and improve. Finally, our attendance is also improving and I’m thrilled to say it is currently 96.3%.  Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
A Message from Gareth Nation Posted on: 16/11/2018

A Message from Gareth Nation

Welcome back. I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable half term break. Last Tuesday, the majority of children from Castle Primary School went to visit Bovington Tank Museum and it was a hugely successful trip. A big thank you to Mrs Downes for organising and to all staff for their assistance with the trip (especially those who attended voluntarily). The ‘education lead’ at the museum said the children were wonderful and we’re welcome back anytime! Well done children - I expected nothing less. It was a timely trip. Class Drogo had a quiet, peaceful and productive day at the school! On Friday, we gathered in the school hall to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom. The children have created some marvellous artwork based on Armistice and it served as an ideal center piece to our mini-service in school. I’d like to thank all those who attended the Remembrance Service at Ham Hill on Sunday. A special thank you to Lola, John, Amiyah and Zac for laying our wreath on behalf of Castle. It was lovely to see so many of you there. This week, most classes have visited the exhibition in the village and we’re proud that some photographs of the homework created by the children is on display. I was thrilled to see so many of you at you parents evening this week, these sessions are crucial to inform you about your child’s progress in school and how hard they are working. Thank you to all of you for your feedback via our survey. The parent feedback shows the school has made improvements in all areas and we’re endeavouring to further improve reporting on your child’s progress and ensuring consistency of homework. Finally, well done for everyone’s kind donations towards Children in Need.   Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
A Message from Gareth Nation Posted on: 26/10/2018

A Message from Gareth Nation

The end of the first half of the autumn term has been as busy, exciting and successful as the start. Last week, I welcomed Mrs A Jefferey to Castle School (Early Years and Primary Adviser from Support Services for Education). We had a tour of the school and discussed life at Castle. As ever, I was proud to show our wonderful school to someone who’d never visited us before! We had an enjoyable Harvest Festival with an amazing turnout of family and friends to support the children on stage. It was a pleasure to welcome Rev Annie Gurner - I hope you enjoyed the pizza! Well done to all involved. Another successful event this week was our Open Day. We had a record number of people in one visit and they made some lovely comments about Castle School. I would like to say a special ‘thank you’ to Orchards Estate Agents in Stoke Sub Hamdon for all their support, time and effort in helping promote various aspects and events at Castle School - you’ve really helped us out and it is greatly appreciated! Please read our Sporting News section. The Sports Journalists have been busy reporting on the intra-school competitions, cross country (well done to all our runners - you were fab) and our netball team.  Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
A Message from Gareth Nation Posted on: 12/10/2018

A Message from Gareth Nation

As ever, a lot has happened since our last newsletter! We have had a languages afternoon, during which the children moved to different classes and learnt either German, Spanish, Italian or French. The children then presented what they’d learnt in assembly at the end of the day. It’s amazing how quickly they pick up new words and phrases! Thank you to all the teachers and staff for assisting with this lovely opportunity for the children. Reverend Peter Thomas came into school this week and gave an assembly about the Lord’s Prayer. Thank you on behalf of Castle School. He is one of several visitors to the school over the past two weeks and I am constantly delighted to hear visitors making such lovely remarks about our school and your children. Words such as ‘calm, focused, polite, well-mannered and resilient’ children seem to be common place here at Castle. We also welcomed the team for Open the Book assembly this week - thanks to you all for your time. Finally, we had a fireman come to the school and gave a safety talk to the children in Year 2 and Year 5. Well done to our Cross Country runners on Wednesday. I hear you represented our school wonderfully. Unfortunately, we only had 4 children take part so not enough for a ‘team’ and therefore we won’t score on the leaderboards. Let’s aim for at least 15 children at the next event. Most of you will have noticed that Mrs Szarmach has been selling pumpkins and vegetable packs at the end of the day. Thank you Mrs Szarmach and the children for your efforts in growing and selling these items. Our winning class this week for attendance is Totnes. They received an extra playtime today. The class with the highest attendance for this half term will be able to wear non school uniform for a day. You will be notified who the winning class is soon.  Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
A Message from Gareth Nation Posted on: 28/09/2018

A Message from Gareth Nation

The school year is in full swing! I’m thrilled to say that our attendance figures are currently above our end of year target - lets keep it that way! Thanks to all of you for ensuring your child/children arrive at school on time. Well done to Drogo class who have the highest attendance in school - they received an extra playtime today. The winning class at the end of half term will receive a non school uniform day. This year, Castle School is aiming to achieve its Games Mark award and raise the profile of sport. So far, YTFC have given an assembly to encourage children to take part in the after school football club - if you’re child/children are interested, come to the office for an application form. Classes are starting the Daily Mile, we’ve registered for Bikeability (later in the year) and our netball team have played their first 3 matches (see our Sport Journalist Report). Well done to Castle School Netball Team and Mrs Oliver for training the players to win their first matches of the season! Cross country events are fast approaching (see separate letter). Please encourage your child/children to take part in these fun and important events. The swimming pool is still in use; we will notify you when we stop using the pool due to the cold weather. Last week, we had a number of teachers and heads of school come to Castle for some maths training. Once again, we were complimented for our polite, hardworking children and for a lovely school environment. Also, year 2 and year 5 had a fire safety talk from the fire brigade. Thank you to those who came in and gave the assembly and to the children for being so well behaved. I’m delighted that during the summer holidays, we had over 40 children sign up to the Summer Reading Challenge. Well done to all those children and thank you parents for supporting them to engage with this important activity. Thank you to Mrs Downes for organising. Next year, our target is for at least half of the school to engage with the Summer Reading Challenge.  Categories: 1 CategorySchool News
Back to Top