17 December - The Castle School

Phone 01823 274073
Welcome to
The Castle School
email: [email protected]
Achieve Belong Participate
17 December 2014
THE CASTLE SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
AND CHOIR SPARKLED
Make Taunton Sparkle 23 November 2014
The Castle School Jazz Band and Choir took to the stage in the annual ‘Sparkle’ turning on the lights celebrations in the centre of town on Sunday 23 November singing and playing to thousands of spectators. What a
fantastic experience for all who took part. Thank you to the organisers who have invited us each year!
The Castle School Wellington Road Taunton TA1 5AU
The Castle School Wellington Road Taunton TA1 5AU
MUSIC
TEMPLE METHODIST CHURCH CAROL CONCERT
The evening started with a memorable rendition of ‘Deck the Halls’ by The Castle School Bass Quartet.
This was followed by ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ which was sung by the choirs and congregation, accompanied by The Castle School Jazz Band. The Wind Band played ‘Liberty Bells’ which led to the Senior Clarinet’s rendition of ‘Reindeer Ramble’. A reading then took place, which was a welcome break for the students, but in no time at all the jazz band were blasting out ‘Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer’. The SATB
choir who sang Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’. After a further reading the congregation and the choirs sang the first
verse of ‘Away in a Manger’ before two wonderful solos by Joseph Taylor and Joe Pike. The Junior Steel
Band then played ‘The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy’. The finale was performed by the String Group who
played their version of ‘White Christmas/Happy Holiday’.
The students were amazing as usual and deserve a massive thank you and well done.
2
MUSIC
TEMPLE METHODIST CHURCH CAROL CONCERT
3
INFORMATION
YEAR 11 PARENTS: MATHS REVISION
GUIDES AND WORKBOOKS
As we enter the Spring term, Year 11s will be using much of their registration time doing revision for the
GCSE exams. To help them prepare for Maths we would like all students to use the Edexcel Revision Guide
and accompanying Workbook. These are available from the Finance office for a total of £5 for both books.
We would request that your child buys these at the earliest opportunity and brings them to school for use in
form time. If your child is in receipt of free school meals, they may receive a free copy of these books.
JUTE BAGS FOR COOKERY
As you may remember, there was a notice in a previous newsletter informing parents that we are able to
source some very sturdy Jute bags for students to carry their ingredients to and from school. We have
now got 40 of these bags in school ready to sell directly to the students at a cost of £2.60. if you would
like to purchase a bag, please ask your child to see Mrs Walker.
4
HEART FELT THANKS
The Castle School and Taunton Women’s Aid would like to say thank you so much for this year extremely generous donations. We have received so many wonderful gifts, both adult's and children's.
It’s very humbling to know that so many people are so very generous. The gifts will be very welcome
this Christmas.
The hampers will be delivered to Taunton Women’s Aid on Wednesday 17 December.
Once again thank you very much.
Sue Marney
Amanda Knight
The Castle School
Taunton Women’s Aid
LANGFORD LAKES CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
Please support your local grower and reduce
your carbon footprint.
NORDMAN AND FRASER FIR
SIZE (FT)
SIZE (M)
PRICE
4-5ft
1.2-1.5m
£28.50
5-6ft
1.5-1.8m
£33.50
6-7ft
1.8-2.1m
£39.00
7-8ft
2.1-2.4m
£54.00
8-9ft
2.4-2.7m
£68.00
9-10ft
2.7-3.05m
£85.00
10-11ft
3.05-3.66m
£98.50
11-30ft
3.66-9.14m
Price upon request
NORWAY SPRUCE
SIZE (FT)
SIZE (M)
PRICE
4-5ft
1.2-1.5m
£15.00
5-6ft
1.5-1.8m
£22.50
6-7ft
1.8-2.1m
£27.50
7-8ft
2.1-2.4m
£32.50
Langford Lakes Christmas Tree Farm is a family run 40 acre farm near Langford Budville in
Somerset. They have been growing and selling
Christmas trees for over 20 years.
Father Christmas will be visiting on the first three
weekends in December between 10am-4pm, giving
away a free gift to all children.
Free mince pies and drinks available, all donations
go to the Children’s Hospice. (Last year your kind
donations raised over £1800.)
The Castle School would like to convey their sincere
thanks to Reg and Ann Hendy for, once again, donating a fabulous Christmas tree for our reception
area.
If you are in school between now and the end of
term please pick up a Langford Lakes flyer and you
will receive £1.00 off the price of your tree.
6
The farm is owned and run by Reg and Ann
Hendy with the help of their two sons Shaun
and Nick. As growers they pride themselves
on offering a quality, fresh product at a very
competitive price.
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR STUDENTS
IN SCHOOL BEFORE
8am AND AFTER 5pm
The library is open from 8.00 am
for study and is supervised by a
member of staff. Please be aware
that if students arrive before this
time there is no formal supervision provided even though some
members of staff may be in
school. After school finishes at
3.30 pm, the library is open and
supervised until 5.00 pm. Again,
students will not be formally supervised after this time unless they
are on site, participating in an after
school club, event or fixture.
7
CONTROLLED ASSESSMENTS
YEAR 10
Week comm
15 December 2014
Week comm
5 January 2015
YEAR 11
Week comm
15 December 2014
Week comm
5 January 2014
Controlled Assessments
Coursework
Business Studies Controlled Assessment.
English Contemporary Drama Unit 3 Literature.
GCSE French/Spanish /German Writing CA Retake.
GCSE French/Spanish /German Speaking CA Retake.
Photography ‘Skills
Unit’ completion.
Research Task – Child Development.
Business Studies Controlled Assessment.
Computing.
Photography ‘Layers’
project.
Controlled Assessments
Child Development - Child Study.
Resistant Materials and Graphic Products GCSE
CAT.
GCSE Dance Unit 4(b) Group Choreography.
Year 11 History Controlled Assessment.
Drama Unit 2 Controlled Assessment Practical.
GCSE French/Spanish /German Writing CA Retake.
GCSE French/Spanish /German Speaking CA Retake.
Child Development - Child Study.
Resistant Materials and Graphic Products GCSE
CAT.
GCSE PE CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT AOP.
Year 11 History Controlled Assessment.
8
Coursework
Food – Core Subject
revision/learning
Photography ‘Self Directed Project’ Fine Art
‘Fusion’ deadline this
week.
INFORMATION
SHOW MY HOMEWORK
You will now be able to get details for all homework. This can be accessed through ‘Show
My Homework’, an online web-based school homework calendar and resource area for students and families. Simply follow the link on the school website to view all homework that
has been set, filters can then be applied for an individual student. Alternatively, log in details
have now been issued to all students and parents, by using these you can go straight into
view the homework that has been set for you as an individual.
This is a new initiative that we feel confident will help to support our students in becoming
independent learners. As always we would appreciate any suggestions for improvements,
your feedback after the first term and initial trial period would be welcome.
Mrs F Gormley
Deputy Headteacher
CALLING STUDENT ABSENCE LINE
If you need to call the student absence line please ensure that you leave your child's full
name, tutor group and the reason your child is absent. As these details are recorded on your
child’s records they have to be accurate.
PAYMENTS
Please don’t forget you can now make payments via the online payment system on the
school website, using your link code.
DROPPING STUDENTS AT SCHOOL
Somerset College and The Castle School would ask parents dropping off students in the
morning not to park in the disabled bays which are reserved for staff and visiting members of the public with disabled badges only. Thank you
GETTING TO SCHOOL ON TIME
Just a reminder to parents that all students should be in school by 8.40am and in tutor
rooms by 8.45am. Frequent lates will be picked up by the Attendance Officer.
9
INFORMATION
INSET DAYS FOR 2014/2015
Friday 13 March 2015
Friday 26 June 2015
Monday 20 July 2015
NAMING SCHOOL UNIFORM
Every term we have an enormous amount of lost property that is never claimed. It ranges
from pencil cases to very expensive coats and everything in between. Despite holding lost
property clearance days every 6 weeks we are always left with huge amounts that eventually
get donated to charity. Memory sticks are always being misplaced, some with GCSE projects on them and they never make it back to the owners as there is no way of telling who
they belong to.
The items that are named always get back to the students either by sending for them to
collect their property or by taking it to them.
Please would you ensure that all items that come into school with your child are marked
with their name so that we can return them.
STUDENT ILLNESS
Please inform Mrs Horsley, our Welfare Officer, of any medical problems your child may
be suffering from. This is crucial information because if she is aware of this she can administer the correct medical care immediately.
GIRLS’ PE KIT
With the clocks changing and winter approaching it is really important that your children have
the appropriate kit for PE. With such a diverse curriculum, and very limited indoor space, the
students will be outside for most of their PE lessons. At the moment many girls are turning
up with just a white polo shirt, skort, socks and shoes, this is fine for the summer months but
for winter months extra layers are required. Can we suggest that girls wear a pair of black leggings under their skort, or a pair of plain black tracksuit bottoms to keep their legs
warm. Alongside their white PE top they can wear a white underarmer long sleeve top and
there are also school fleeces available which will keep their torsos warm.
9
ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL AND EXCUSE LETTERS
Good attendance at school is an essential component of educational success. We,
therefore, stress that students should be absent from school only in unavoidable
situations.
Parents have the responsibility to ensure attendance at school. Unless there is a
major health concern, attendance will rarely drop below 92%.
We ask for the co-operation of all parents in helping the school to monitor attendance closely by following these procedures.
Parents must contact the school on each day of absence by 9.30, this is the time
that registers close. This must be done one of the following ways:
Telephoning 01823 274073, pressing ‘1’ and leaving a detailed message on
the answering service in relation to the nature of the absence. ‘Unwell’, ‘off
sick’ or ‘feeling unwell’ will not suffice. If the reasons given are not appropriate, the absence will be considered as unauthorised and the parent contacted.
Emailing
[email protected]
Fax
01823 274080
Parents should also send a letter in with the student when they return giving the
reason for absence and the dates of absence. This will help us to very quickly
identify any truancy in which case we will always inform parents as soon as possible.
For continuing or frequent absences, the school may require proof that medical
advice has been sought, e.g. prescription, appointment card or compliment slip.
Once the school has obtained a letter of confirmation, the school will authorise
the absence if the reasons given are considered appropriate e.g. illness, unavoidable
medical appointment etc. If the reasons given are not appropriate the absence will
be considered as unauthorised and the parent contacted.
10
Wishing you a
Very Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year
from
The Castle School
11
DATES FOR YOUR
DIARY
AUTUMN TERM 2014/2015
.
Tuesday 16 December …………………………….….….School Christmas Dinner
Wednesday 17 December…………………………..……..Christmas Concert 7pm
Friday 19 December..…....BREAK UP FOR CHRISTMAS - Students Dismissed
at 2pm
Phone: 01823 274073
Fax: 01823 274080
E-mail:
[email protected]
SPRING TERM 2014/2015
Monday 5 January…………………………………………....SCHOOL RETURNS
Tuesday 13 January…………………………….……..Curriculum Enrichment Day
Wednesday 14 January…………………………….….Curriculum Enrichment Day
Wednesday 14 January……………………………..Year 11 Study Evening 6.30pm
Wednesday 14 January………………...Bridgwater College Open Evening 6.30pm
Thursday 15 January…………………………………………...Year 9 Report Home
Thursday 15 January……………………………………………...Year 11 IAs Home
Wednesday 21 January……………………………………..Year 9 Options Evening
We’re on the web
www.castleschool.co.uk
Follow us @
Twitter.com/thecastleschool
THE CASTLE
SCHOOL
Wednesday 21 January…………...Somerset College Open Evening (5.30-8.00pm)
Thursday 22 January………………………...Year 11 GCSE Trip to see War Horse
Saturday 24 January………...Cannington College Open Morning (10am-12.30pm)
Wednesday 28 January………………..…………………..Year 11 Parents’ Evening
Wednesday 28 January……....Somerset College Taster Workshop Open Evening
(4.30-7.30pm)
Headteacher
Mrs S Watson
Deputy Headteachers
Mrs L Clark MA
Mrs F Gormley B Ed
The Castle School Wellington Road Taunton TA1 5AU