Castle Hill Primary School

Mr Martin's Message

Dear Parents and Friends of Castle Hill Primary School 

Firstly, a huge thank you for all your support with our Grow a £1 initiative. I am delighted to tell you that the total amount raised (for both schools) was a whopping £6,657. We are discussing the best way to use these funds with our student senate. The school itself will be doubling the amount raised by friends and family. We hope to enhance both grounds with outdoor classrooms and trim trails. Huge thanks, as this shows a classic example of Castle Hill's effort and teamwork.

On a separate note, and again another example of teamwork, we want to say a huge well done to the Year 6 students and their parents for their hard work and support over SATs week. No matter the results, your child is worth more than a score, as each and every one of your children is unique. We think they're great!

Have a lovely half-term.

From Mr Martin and the CHPS team

• Global Day - As part of our upcoming Global Day on Friday, June 6th, we will be focusing on promoting biodiversity within our school grounds. This initiative offers a wonderful opportunity for students to explore the importance of protecting and supporting local ecosystems.

One of the hands-on activities will involve some of the students reusing recycled materials to create birdhouses and bug hotels. To support this project, we would be very grateful if you could help us collect the following items:

• Clean, washed-out plastic milk bottles

• Empty toilet roll tubes

• Egg boxes

• Seedling planters

• Straws

• Small plant pots

• Any other suitable natural or recycled materials that could be used to create habitats for insects and small birds

Please send any of these items into school before June 6th. Thank you for your continued support and

contributions. We’re looking forward to an inspiring and impactful day of learning and action!

• Guitar & Ukulele lessons - Adrian will offer music lessons for Years 3 to 6 from September 2025 at Greenbank and Rooksdown. They will be held on-site during the school day. To register interest in a lesson place for your child, please send an email to adrianmaycock@gmail.com or for more information visit Music lessons

What has Been happening in School?

David Wilson Homes Volunteers

Attendance

Attendance Updates

Thank you for working with us to improve attendance at Castle Hill Primary this year. Our overall attendance is 95% (nationally, 94%). Our persistent absences (those pupils below 90%, equivalent to missing half a day a week) are down to 10% (versus 16% nationally). 

Our pupils with good attendance are making good progress throughout the school, and we look forward to seeing them attend every day in the new term. Thank you again for sending your pupils regularly to school so that we can teach and develop them to be better learners and citizens of the future.

Our target for this year is 96% or over; last year’s attendance was 95.23%. 

Our current percentage is 94.9%.

The classes with the best attendance this half term are:

Rooksdown

KS1 – Year 1 Miss Gill  = 96%

KS2 – Year 4 Mrs Barker/Miss Moses = 96.48%

Greenbank

Year 6 Miss Mould = 97.5%

Here is a useful link to the NHS website, which might help you decide if your child is too ill for school - 

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Sports Reports & Team Photos

Greenbank Girls Football

Rooksdown KS1 Football Festival

Rooksdown Netball

Last week, the Year 6 team played a friendly against Park View Primary School. We showed amazing teamwork and a fantastic attitude towards the other team, and we represented Castle Hill fantastically. As it was a friendly, we were not keeping score, but there were some amazing goals from both teams! Miss Bagshaw is so proud of the team, and we cannot wait for our next game!

Staff vs Pupils Netball Match

Before Easter, the Year 6s took on the Rooksdown staff! We played three matches back to back. The children played amazing netball, and the teachers could not believe how well they played. The teachers won overall, but we will return in Summer 2 for a rematch!

Holiday Camps / Clubs

MAGNA - May Holiday Camp

SCL Rooksdown - May Holiday Camp with Discount Code

Theatretrain Basingstoke

Theatretrain is running a Summer Musical Theatre course and a three-day Acting course over the Summer holidays. See the posters below for more information.

In other News.....

Fundraising Friends NEWS!

eSafety

As our primary school children increasingly engage with the digital world, it's vital that we, as a school community, stay informed about the latest e-safety trends. One significant trend is the growing exposure of younger children to social media platforms, often despite age restrictions. Many children under 13 use platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp, sometimes by providing fake ages, which can expose them to content and interactions beyond their maturity level. This also means they miss important safety features automatically given to older users. We are also seeing a rise in online scams targeting primary-aged children, with teachers reporting an increase in such incidents. The advent of AI tools, including generative AI and deepfakes, adds another layer of complexity, making it harder to detect threats and increasing the potential for exposure to harmful or inappropriate content.

To navigate these challenges, open communication at home is paramount. Regularly discussing online activities with your children, understanding what apps and games they are using, and who they are interacting with online is crucial. Parental controls, available through internet providers, mobile operators, devices, and online services, can be effective tools for filtering content, managing screen time, and monitoring activity. However, it's important to remember that these controls are not foolproof and should be used in conjunction with ongoing conversations about safe online behaviour. Encouraging children to speak up if they encounter anything that makes them uncomfortable or worried online is the most powerful tool we have to keep them safe.

Trips & Workshops

We have been planning exciting trips and workshops across all year groups this academic year. These trips are intended to complement and reinforce learning on key curriculum topics. We are aware of the financial challenges that everyone is currently facing, so to help with budgeting, we have set an annual maximum figure of £40 per child, and where possible, lower than this. 

Trip amounts are calculated assuming every child participates and contributes to ensuring we have raised sufficient funds. Please remember that the school reserves the right to cancel or postpone the trip or workshop if there are insufficient voluntary contributions. 

We hope that this is helpful to you in your financial planning. We are looking forward to some exciting experiences. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. 

Mill Cottage Farm visit to Rooksdown

The Year R children were over the moon when farm animals visited them on the 23rd of April. They were able to see, smell (!), brush, and stroke and learn all about rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, pigs, brand new fluffy chicks, and even a donkey! Mrs Arnold is our very own Dr Doolittle, as while talking to the ducks, it laid an egg! 

We also had chickens and a turkey visit, but were advised to just look to avoid getting pecked! What a perfect way to launch into their farm learning journey.

Year R trip to Wellington Country Park

The Year R children had an excellent first school trip to Wellington Country Park. We were extremely happy with their manners. They listened, joined in, and really developed their teamwork as they worked in groups and discovered new facts about bugs, animals, and trains. 

Our activity was bug hunting. The children looked under logs, carefully removed any creepy crawlies, and put them into a safe container. We then used magnifying glasses to take a closer look. One class found a dung beetle, which apparently is quite a rare find!

We strolled around the farm, seeing many familiar animals and some that most had never seen before. Some children used fishing rods to feed the guinea pigs pieces of vegetables. We loved listening to the facts they had learnt about animals when the farm visited the school.

We also went to the pirate ship playground and took the train for a loop. The screams as we went through the tunnels were VERY loud!

At the end of the trip, both classes met at the adventure playground and enjoyed playing together. There were some big slides, and it was lovely to see the children challenge themselves with the varying equipment.

We would like to send a big thank you to all of our volunteers, including students and parents. Without your help, these trips would not be possible. 

Year 1 Winchester Science Trip

Our Year 1 students had an exciting and educational adventure at the Winchester Science Museum this term! The trip was filled with hands-on experiences, from exploring interactive exhibits to discovering the wonders of space in the planetarium. 

The children were full of curiosity and enthusiasm as they learned about light, sound, and forces through fun, engaging activities. It was a fantastic opportunity to bring their classroom learning to life and inspire a love of science and history. A big thank you to all the staff and parent volunteers who helped make the day such a success! 🚀🌌👨‍🚀🛰

Year 4 Dance Workshops

Year 4 had a fantastic time during their dance workshop with Mrs King! The children loved learning steps from the Samba and hip hop, and dancing along to Uptown Funk. They worked brilliantly to create, practise, and perform their own routines, adding creative elements and even solos throughout. Every child brought great energy to the day and showed excellent manners. Well done, Year 4! 

Year 5 SeaCity Museum Trip

"We went to the Sea City Museum in Southampton a few weeks ago. It was lovely and we learnt so much! We got put into different groups and saw different parts of the museum. As we went round, we tried on costumes, held artefacts and looked at pictures. After our guided tour, we had lunch and explored the rest of the museum in our groups. We could try shovelling coal and steering the ship - it was great fun!"

By Kieran, Lucas and Milly (Greenbank)

Our School