Castle Hill Primary School
Autumn 2 Newsletter 2022
Mr Martin's CHRISTMAS Message
Dear Parents and Friends of Castle Hill,
Another memorable year is coming to an end at Castle Hill Primary. Huge thank you for the outstanding parent support and to the dedicated team, I am privileged to lead.
If we did anything wrong, sorry about that. With literally more than a thousand parents it is difficult to keep everybody happy all the time. Equally sometimes, just sometimes, parents get it wrong too and then unfortunately shout or are rude to staff as a result of a misunderstanding. So if we can all start another fresh page in 2023 the school can only go from strength to strength.
May I take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year we are very much looking forward to our next exciting chapter.
As tradition dictates I leave you with three excellent Christmas crackers, compliments of Josh B (Year 5 Greenbank).
1. What do the ducks do before Christmas dinner?
They pull the Christmas quakers.
2. Who is looking after Santa when he is ill?
The National Elf Service.
3. Who is Santa's favourite Elf?
Elfis.
Regards
The CHPS Team
Reminders
Is my child too ill for school?
New guidance has been produced in collaboration with the NHS and partners to help parents and carers decide whether to send their child to school or nursery if they are feeling unwell. Please click on this link for more information - https://what0-18.nhs.uk/parentscarers/worried-your-child-unwell/child-unwell-ok-go-nurseryschool
School Communications
Please can we ask that parents read all school emails, class dojos and letters that are sent out. We are finding it increasingly difficult to chase parents for replies, payments and required information after deadlines have passed. School letters (both class and campus specific), 'News' and 'Events' can also be found on the school web.
Our CHPS community is supporting CHPS with the School Hardship Fund
We do understand that within our school community families are struggling financially. We would like to make you aware that we have access to some funding for certain situations to help those in need. We use the mufti-day donations and other school events to keep our school hardship fund topped up. If you would like to talk privately to a member of our team, please email admin@chjs.net.
Lost Property
Please remember to label ALL of your child's school items, our lost property box is still overflowing! Come and collect any missing items. Items left uncollected cannot be stored indefinately and will eventually be donated or disposed of.
PE Kit
With the weather being changeable going into Autumn/Winter, please can we ask that the children have warmer PE kits as they will still be going outside. The children can wear navy or grey tracksuits. No football kits should be worn for PE. Uniform details are on our website.
Upcoming Events/DATES
Fri 16 Dec - Whole School Mufti Day Both Sites
Mon 19 Dec - Mon 2 Jan 2023 - Christmas Holidays
Tues 3 Jan 2023 - First Day of Spring Term
Tues 10 Jan - Year R Vision Screening
Tues 10 Jan - Year 5 Greek Workshop (RD)
Thurs 12 Jan - Year 5 Greek Workshop (GB)
Sun 15 Jan - Yr 3 Greenbank & Yr R Rooksdown Main Round Application Deadline
Fri 27 Jan - Year 3 Coffee Morning (GB)
Mon 6 Feb - Year 6 Height & Weight (GB)
Tues 7 Feb - Year 6 Height & Weight (RD)
Tues 7 Feb - Yr 1&2 Spring Performance Dress Rehearsal (whole school)
Tues 7 Feb - Year 6 SATs Talk (RD)
Wed 8 Feb - Yr 1&2 Spring Performance (9:30-10:30)
Wed 8 Feb - Yr 1&2 Spring Performance (13:30-14:30)
Thurs 9 Feb - Whole School Mufti-Day
Thurs 9 Feb - Fundraising Friends The Snowball Disco (GB)
Thurs 9 Feb - Year 6 SATs Talk (GB)
Fri 10 Feb - INSET DAY
Fri 24 Feb - Bag 2 School Collection (both sites)
Thurs 2 Mar - Glass Duck Workshop for Mothers Day (RD)
Fri 3 Mar - World Book Day (both sites)
Tues 7 Mar - Spring Parents Evening (both sites)
Tues 7 Mar - Year 4 Butser Farm Trip
Thurs 9 Mar - Spring Parents Evening (both sites)
Fri 17 Mar - Year 3 Coffee Morning (GB)
Fri 24 Mar - Year R Coffee Morning (RD)
Fri 31 Mar - Whole School Mufti-Day
To view all the CHPS calendar and term dates see the links below:
What has Been happening in School?
Bulb Planting
Thank you so much for the bulb donations towards our annual bulb planting event and to the parents/ guardians who were able to come in to support with planting the bulbs. The children had a great time, even in the wet weather! We look forward to watching the bulbs grow in the Springtime!
Odd Socks Day
The week of the 14th of November was Anti-bullying week. This year the theme was 'Reach Out'. The week started with Odd Socks day to demonstrate that it is okay to be different. Throughout the week, the children took part in different activities and discussions to understand how we can reach out to support our friends, but also to understand how to reach out to talk to somebody we trust if we need to.
Golden Broom
Congratulations to all the classes who have won the Golden Broom this half term. The site teams were very impressed on how much your classrooms had improved. Keep up the good work everyone!
Week 7th November:
Year 6 Mrs Thomas/Miss Cocker (GB) & Year 5 Miss Bellars (RD)
Week 14th November:
Year 3 Miss Scarles (GB) & Year 1 Miss Gill (RD)
Week 21st November:
Year 3 Miss Edwards (GB) & Year 4 Miss Barrett (RD)
Week 28th November:
Year 6 Miss Mould (GB) & Year R Ladybirds (RD)
Week 5th December:
Year 4 Miss Bibby (GB)
JRSO Road Safety Audit (Rooksdown)
In November Mrs Silcox and Miss Gordon and our Junior Road Safety Officers - Sam P, Molly P, Hamish H & Freddie P completed an audit of how safe the roads are around the school in Rooksdown.
They did a great job of assessing the surrounding area and took their jobs very seriously.
We look forward to welcoming a School Crossing Patrol on Park Prewett Road soon...
Netball Match Report
The children absolutely smashed their first Netball game against Kings Furlong with a score of 11 - 1. The Player of the Match went to Jessica M for outstanding shooting and Ismet D for his great defending and sportsmanship towards the other team which they thanked him for.
Pictured: Kayla, Lana, Isabel, Maksymilian, Jazmeen, Sonny, Ismet & Jessica
Tag Rugby Match Report
The Castle Hill Tag Rugby team visited St Bede's for their second set of fixtures. The girls and boys played superbly winning one and drawing the other two matches.
Well done to the team: Mylo, Maddie, Olivia, Finley, Callum, Harrison, Connor, Jessica, Lana and Timi.
Year 1 Fire of London
Our Year 1 topic is themed around The Great Fire of London. For homework the children made houses out of cardboard from the time of 1666. We invited Basingstoke Firefighters (including our CHPS Governor Mr Watson), to help us demonstrate how the fire spread so quickly between each house as they were so close together. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The Mayor's Christmas Card Competition
Earlier this month the Mayor of Basingstoke and Dean, chose CHPS to take part in his annual Christmas Card competition. The children were excited to get involved in designing the cards.
The Mayor and the Mayoress visited us to announce the winning card, which will be included within the Mayor's Christmas Carol programme. We are thrilled to announce the winner is Holly W - Year 5 Greenbank Campus. They were impressed with all the entries but a few other designs came very close runners up. So well done Hugo B - Year 2, Uma F - Year 4 and Molly P - Year 6 from our Rooksdown Campus whose designs were also recognised.
Well done to all the children who took the time to take part and congratulations again to the winner, Holly!
Greenbank Fundraising Friends Christmas Market
Festive Treats
Homemade Bar
Plenty of Visitors
Children's Crafting
The Fundraising Friends team at Greenbank set out an amazing Christmas Market for all the community to enjoy. Thank you to all the stall holders, visitors, donators, staff, and volunteers who made the evening such a success and in the process raised an incredible £1,190!!
Taylor's Diabetes Talk
Taylor F in Year 4 (Rooksdown) presented on Diabetes to the whole school using a PowerPoint presentation during Monday's assembly which was World Diabetes Day.
Scarlet W (Year 5) stood up next to him for a bit of added support as they both wanted to educate and raise awareness about diabetes. It was very informative and also very brave.
Year 3/4 Christmas Performances
And that's a wrap.....
Well done to everyone involved in the amazing Year 3 & 4 Christmas performances of Stable Boy! We hope you enjoyed it as much as the children loved performing it for you.
Rooksdown Fundraising Friends
Our annual Christmas Fair was a great success with a lovely festive feel. It was great to see all the smiling faces and excited families. Thank you to everyone who stayed to support. A huge thank you to our Fundraising Friends for putting on another wonderful event, we could not do these events without you!
Thank you to everyone who attended the Christmas Market or bought a calendar we are so appreciative of your continued support. We are pleased to share the news that we raised £603.72 at the Xmas Market and £789.76 from the calendars!
Year R Christmas Nativity
Well done to the children in Year R for their lovely Christmas Nativity.
On Wednesday morning, the children performed their show 'A King is Born'. They sang beautifully with big strong voices and we were delighted by some lovely acting too. Many thanks to all the staff for all their hard work and to the parents for supporting the children with their lines and costumes.
Christmas Lunch Fun!
Important Links
EasyFundraising - turning your daily shopping into everyday magic!
MAR-8717-Rebrand-How-it-works-video.mp4easyfundraising partners with over 7,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. It won't cost you any extra. The cost is covered by the brand. Watch the quick video above to see how it works!
We are really trying to increase the number of supporters here, with over 1000 parents and over 100 staff, we are aiming to hit 500 supporters by the end of the school year. This is really straightforward and costs you nothing, but gives essential donations straight to the school. We use these donations to keep our hardship fund topped up in order to support those in the CHPS community who need it most.
In total, we have raised £2,178.62 (£46 being raised this month) with 172 supporters (only 1 extra)! We still have a long way to go to hit our target....so please join up and start supporting CHPS. It's so easy to do, costs you nothing extra, and provides the school which much-needed funds. Thank you.
Support for Children & Families
The Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) provides healthy food and enriching activities to children and young people, with free places available for those who receive free school meals. It’s available during the summer, Easter and Christmas school holidays, with the next HAF programme running this Christmas.
School holidays can be a particularly difficult time for some families. This free holiday club programme helps children to enjoy active and healthy school holidays, where they can experience new activities, meet friends and eat healthy meals. For more information visit: https://www.castlehillprimary.net/news/2022-11-22-families-invited-to-sign-up-to-holiday-activities-and-food-schemes-over-christmas
The Childcare Choices campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding of the support available from the government with the costs of childcare. To ensure you're not missing out visit: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ where you can easily find the right offers of childcare support for you.
Help for Households. You can find more information about the broader support available to help with the cost of living on the website - Help for Households
Community Events
We are lucky to be located in two districts of Basingstoke with a busy and vibrant community spirit with lots of events and clubs to explore! Please explore the handouts below and contact the school if you have an event you wish to advertise here in the future!
#OpenYourDoor to Fostering
Every 12 hours another Hampshire child comes into care in need of a foster carer.
CHPS is supporting Fostering Hampshire Children in their mission to find caring, compassionate and nurturing people within our community to start their journey to becoming skilled and engaged foster carers for Hampshire’s most vulnerable children.
Please visit the Fostering Hampshire Children website and download an information pack to discover more about becoming a foster carer or call the team on 01489 587052 for a chat today.
Christmas Appeal Hampers
We are so touched by the generosity of everyone who donated to our Christmas hampers. We would like to wish all our families a very happy Christmas! From Mrs. Mundee and Mrs. Shephard.
Free Online Courses for Parents - Spring Term 2023
To find out more and to book with Learning in Libraries, please visit: https://shop.hants.gov.uk/collections/learning-in-libraries
In other News.....
A CHPS parent, Flight Lieutenant Bartlett, kindly came to our Greenbank campus on Remembrance Day to ring the bell for the 2 min silence.
Photo: Flight Lieutenant Bartlett, Mr Martin, Logan S and Frankie H (Year 3).
As you may have read in our last newsletter, Zara K (Year 5 Greenbank) was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2019 and had a bone marrow transplant earlier this year.
Shooter FC held a Family Fun Day to help raise funds for Zara's family and The Anthony Nolan Trust and are thrilled to announce that they raised a humongous £2,820! They would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who came out and supported the fundraiser. They are overwhelmed with how amazing the event was. Thank you to everyone involved.
Congratualtions to Phoebe K (Year 6 GB) who qualified to represent the South East area at the IDTA UK finals at Blackpool in November. After competing in many rounds of heats, Phoebe and her partner Taya secured 2nd place in their Rock n Roll pairs.
Mason C (Year 4 RD) has been selected for an Elite Ice Hockey team, and is being train by team GB coaches. Well done Mason!
Prakati G (Year 4 RD) participated and won 3rd place in the Junior Category Cake International competition in Birmingham. The theme was Magic and she chose to a Unicorn Tooth Fairy. Brilliant achievement Prakati.
Katie M (Year 4 RD) reached the South West Aerial Championships finals recently.
She came 3rd in overall Aerial aged 8 & under, and she was 1st in Aerial Silks for aged 8 & under.
She performed her Encanto inspired routine and loved every minute.
Ellie M (Year 6 RD) was awarded a Distinction in her Modern Dance Grade 2 exam. All her hard work has paid off!
James T (Year 4 RD) is one of the British English voices in the latest StoryBots Netflix series: Answer Time.
This photo is of James with one of the characters he dubbed. How exciting!
Chloe E (Year R Hedgehog) has been ice skating since November 2021 and won her first competition in May.
Mr Moira was a guest of honour at a recent Cardiff Devils Ice-Hockey match. He played with the Devils for 10 years and proudly has his number 19 retired and hanging from the rafters.
Thank you to Bidfood Wholesale Food Services Suppliers for the thoughtful donation of fruit and vegetable boxes. These were given to both schools and have been delivered to various Castle Hill families.
A big thank you to Ellishia Stewart (mum of Shane R in Year 6 RD) for organising this for us!
This Term's Messages
Trips & Workshops
We have been planning some exciting trips and workshops across all year groups this academic year. These trips are planned to complement and reinforce learning on key curriculum topics. We are aware of the financial challenges that everyone is facing at the moment and so to help with budgeting have set an annual maximum figure of £40 per child, and where possible lower than this.
Trip amounts are calculated assuming that every child takes part and makes a contribution to ensure we have raised sufficient funds. Please note, that should there be insufficient voluntary contributions the school reserves the right to cancel or postpone the trip or workshop.
We hope that this is helpful for your financial planning. We are looking forward to some exciting experiences. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.
Year 3 Church Visit
The children in Year 3 loved their trip to the local Church. They really enjoyed looking around and exploring why a Church is a special place for a Christian.
Our School
If you haven't seen it yet, watch our Promotional Video now!