Castlewood review of the First Term
The start to the Autumn Term was a challenging one, as you might imagine, but we were so pleased to have all our children back in September after the restrictions of the lockdown earlier in the year. It was great once again to have the school full of life and energy.
The children have impressed me with both their attitude to learning and their experiences and achievements across the school. The amazing resilience and flexibility of the children has ensured that they have embraced the new systems and routines established to keep the whole school community as safe as possible.
We welcomed a full complement of Reception to school in September; they settled in really well and have made a great start to their learning journey at Castlewood.
Despite our current situation, there have been lots of great events across the school.
We knew it was going to be very important in September to celebrate that the school was all back together for the first time since March so we studied “Here We Are” by Oliver Jeffers as our whole school text. It created a real sense of community amongst all the children and they produced stunning work which is displayed throughout the school.
Castlewood realise the importance of developing our pupils’ understanding and awareness of their uniqueness and the importance of inclusivity so used Be Who You Are Day & Black History Month to explore the diversity with our school and international community.
Using the text “Be Who You Are” by Todd Parr, the children created writing and art work based on their own individuality and inclusivity. Black History Month enabled us to extend their learning about diversity to our international community and the pupils learnt about the lives of key figures and important events in Black history.
We took part in Maths Week England for the second year and used a wealth of resources designed to celebrate Maths everywhere and engage children through code-breaking, creativity, card games, yohaku puzzles and challenges outside. It was a fun time for them to explore Mathematics in a variety of different ways and see how many times we use Maths in our everyday life without really realising it.
Using our Sports Premium money, we have been able to purchase two outside table tennis tables and they have added a new dimension to playtimes: maybe we can create a new British champion?
We have been amazed by the generosity of our parents and school community over the term. We decided to ask for our Harvest Donations to support our local Potters Pantry and we received so many kind donations which go to help our local families in Southwater.
Our brilliant PTA known as the Supporters of Castlewood School (SOCS) were unable to organise our normal Blackberry Fair in October but this was replaced by the equally impressive Big Blackberry Raffle. Our parents worked hard to source a wonderful range of prizes, sell tickets and distribute prizes and raised the totally amazing amount of £3581 which will go a long way towards our dream of an outdoor classroom!
Our final fundraising opportunity of this term was for Children in Need in November where we raised £402 by wearing our sports clothes to school, covering Pudsey in coins and the whole school taking part in the final twenty minutes of Joe Wicks 24-hour workout challenge.
As December beckoned to herald the end of 2020 we celebrated Christmas. We dressed our classroom doors, enjoyed a Christmas lunch with crackers and completed the Chestnut Tree House Hospice ‘Reindeer Run’ on our Daily Mile Track complete with antlers and red noses! SOCS again adapted creatively to the virus and enabled the whole school to watch a virtual panto providing every child with a commemorative mug and goody bag. It may have been different this year and we couldn’t do our normal whole school performance but with the magic of technology we have an amazing whole school rendition of Feliz Navidad compete with Makaton signing, and every class has performed and recorded their favourite Christmas song.
So despite the current situation, it has still been a busy term for us all at Castlewood. We hope that once the restrictions have eased and if you would like to see more, we will be able to welcome visitors; please make an appointment with Mrs Barnard, our School Secretary by phone on 01403 734822 or via e-mail, office@castlewoodprimary.co.uk
However, in the meantime, please look at our website where there is a virtual tour, a welcome message from our Head Boy and Girl and a new video of our new Reception children’s first term.