Posted on: 19/05/2023Latest News
A Message from Mr Nation
Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful summer holiday. It’s lovely to see the children return to school looking so smart and full of energy. A warm welcome to new parents and children. As always, we have an ‘open door policy’ and our aim is to be a welcoming and friendly school. If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in contact with me or your class teacher via the school office.
Communication
This year, I will be writing a newsletter to parents / carers every fortnight and you’ll also receive a newsletter from classes every month. We will send home a list of key dates for the year next week, please refer to this so that you’re aware of what is happening and when. Every newsletter will have upcoming dates and in addition, Mr Penn will continue to do a fab job updating Facebook. Our aim is to give you as much notice as possible should any changes to events arise and we thank you in advance for your patience with this. Letters will be sent home in keeping with previous years with further details of school events when necessary. All correspondence can be found on our school website which is updated weekly.
Following the survey last year, I’m looking to improve the communication between home and
school. The above will address this area but we’ll also be having ‘parent drop-in’ sessions when you can come into school and look at your child’s work on the final Friday 2:45 pm - 3:15pm of each half term. Dates can be found on the School Calendar. In addition, we will be providing you with a Mid-Year Report Card in the Spring Term providing you with information about your child’s attainment.
Playground Equipment
As you may have seen, we have new playground equipment. Mrs Liddell work relentlessly last year to get the equipment installed over the holiday. Our outdoor classroom will be used at playtimes, lunchtimes and also for Forest School / outdoor learning. This will be a huge asset to the school and the children are already enjoying using this as a quiet area at break and lunchtime. The Clamber Stack is designed specifically for the older children. We have Risk Assessed the new equipment and, similar to the Trim Trail, children are not allowed on these pieces of equipment before and after school. This is for the safety of your child/children. Anyone seen using this equipment at the beginning / end of the school day will be asked to stop. There will be consequences for persistent offenders. I appreciate younger children are naturally curious but please support us in keeping your children safe by not allowing them to climb or play on the equipment.
Extended Care
Camelot Club is increasingly popular thanks to the wonderful work of Mrs Abbott and Miss Gosney. Please get in touch through the office if you wish to make use of this provision.
Clubs
Clubs are not intended to be a form of child care. Teachers volunteer their time to run extra-curricular activities for the children of Castle Primary School. Please only send your child/children to these clubs if they show an interest in taking part. Clubs will always be communicated after the first few days/week of each school year. As I’m sure you’ll appreciate, there is a lot of organisation and preparation by the team and this gives us time to put everything in place. At the end of each half term, you will receive a letter with the clubs for the subsequent half term.
Absences
Should your child be absent from school for any reason, please ensure you communicate this with the school office. Term time leave must be requested using the forms that can be found on the school website. Please refer to the Attendance Policy for guidance. Term Time Leave not only negatively impacts your child’s education but has a knock on effect to the teacher and the other children. Our expectation is that children attend school 100% of the time. Of course children are occasionally ill and there are valid reasons for them to be absent. Otherwise please ensure your child attends school regularly and is punctual. These are valuable life lessons for them to learn.
Our overall school attendance last year was 95%. This was below our target of 96%. Please support your child with their education by ensuring they attend school every day.
School Applications for 2020
If your child is due to start school in September 2020, the closing date for applications is the 15th January. The Admissions and Entitlements team will not be contacting parents individually as they have done in previous years. Please visit www.somerset.gov.uk/admissions for more information.
I’m looking forward to the year ahead and working with you all to build on the many strengths of Castle Primary School.
