We are a Rights Respecting School!

I am very proud to inform everyone that we have been awarded our Level 1 Rights Respecting Schools Award. This is wonderful news and recognises our hard work over the past three years. The award demonstrates the unwavering commitment that staff, pupils, governors and the community of The Castle School have for the rights of every child. This is just a start and we will continue to passionately ensure that every child in our school community continues to have the rights that they should expect and build on our influence outside of our school community to push for rights for all children.

Easter Chicks at The Castle

As part of our Science curriculum we have some hatching chick in school. At the time of writing their are 4 hatched and several eggs ready to go. You can watch a live-feed of the chicks by clicking the here

Once the chicks are ready they will go from the incubator into other cages and take visits to our classrooms so that pupils can learn more about them, feed them and look after them.

After two weeks the chicks are collected and rehomed.

Boccia Tournament

On Wednesday last week, Christine and I had the pleasure of accompanying Kyle, Gareth, Amy, Sam, Troy and Aiden to Berkshire School Games at Bisham Abbey to play Boccia. Sam and Aiden had only practised twice before and Troy just the once, but this by no means stopped the enthusiasm and excitement of representing ‘The Castle School’.

Boccia is a precision ball sport, related to bowls and pétanque, where the aim of the game is to get as many of your teams balls closest to the jack. There was 4 ends in each game.

We had two teams, secondary and primary and played several matches against different teams. Both teams played well and their sportsmanship was beyond compare, with them being the first to congratulate the other team or commend them for their skilful shots. We learnt some new rules that had us all flummoxed to start with, so when we got together as a team, we shared techniques. Both teams got through to the final 4 and played off for the bronze medal, primary house were successful and secondary house narrowly missed out. We then had to wait for our medals, and there was a lot of tension in the room, whether we had actually won the bronze. When the bronze medal was announced the cheers were deafening and the boys could not believe their luck.

I was honoured to take you all and thank you for being so amazing. Thank you too Christine for your expert chauffeuring skills, hope the ‘I spy’ was not too annoying?

Jo (Skipton Class Teacher)

The Castle School Catering Team do it again!

Our students did an amazing job again with their catering. This time, providing food and refreshments for a Christening.

Jan Vaughan, who is the organiser behind the catering team said "Well what can I say, I have never seen so many people work so hard,  and this was to help us achieve the amazing results for Saturday."



"Not only did our young people volunteer to cook and prepare for the Christening, during the day they also dressed each plate and the whole table, they also set up a refreshment area too."



"When the guests arrived our Hospitality team made sure that Atul [the baby's granddad] had all the support he needed, our team had a break and then returned to help clear away glasses, crockery and maintain a tidy buffet area. Our team used their own initiative to navigate and clear any excess, they also helped Atul's guests in a very professional manner. Some guests shook their hands and praised them directly, they were so proud!  Their dedication and commitment during this event was unmeasurable."



Some of the questions we were asked!



"How long have you all been doing this"

We had great pleasure informing them that this is the second time that we have catered within the community.

"Well you would think that you have been doing it for ages"



"Your food is so amazing "

"Please can I shake your hands"

"Do you do corporate catering

I would like to thank the following staff and students for their commitment and hard work preparing and delivering this catering event:

Thursday Staff, Lynn Star, Gill Foster, Briony Vaughan, Sharon Giles and Jan Vaughan

Thursday students, Danny, Tyrell, Oliver, Laura, Rodney, Bradley and Alisha

Fridays Staff, Briony Vaughan, Liz Magurn, Gill Foster and Jan Vaughan

Fridays students, Esmee, Bradley, Danny and Alisha


Saturdays Team Hannah Daniel, Briony Vaughan, Jan Vaughan, Bradley, Tyrell, Ricky and Christopher

Amazing Design and Technology

Colchester Class have been working on their design and technology at Kennet School this term. Here are the wonderful moving carousels that they have build. Well done guys!

World of Work to London!

On Thursday a group of students and staff were invited to House of Commons to celebrate the end of the When I Grow Up Project with the MP Iain Duncan Smith and The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities.



The students took the lead on travel and managed to negotiate the Underground and direct us to our first stop at Trafalgar Square and then on to lunch. From there we walked to Parliament whilst taking in the sights and sounds of Central London (we even got to see Prince Harry drive past with his police escort!).



At the House of Commons we had a short talk before it was our turn to present on all we have done since the WIGU project ended and how we have moved our World of Work programme forwards. The students spoke confidently and passionately about their desire to gain paid employment. The other guests all spoke very highly of our fantastic students and the World of Work programme as a whole.



It was an incredible day and one that made me so proud to work in such a great school with such inspiring students!

World of Work comments and feedback

We had lots of wonderful feedback from our World of Work (WOW) event. Here are a few of them:

Amazing, inspirational hour of delicious food and stories. We want to go out and tell everyone about the wonderful work that happens in this building. Huge thank you to the students for the delicious lunch. X

Lovely event, food – WOW really good!! Well done to the cooks!! Thank you to Amber for being so much help at Boots, she’s amazing. (Boots)

Seeing how far some of the students have come is incredible.

What a powerful hour – seeing and hearing exactly what WOW achieves and means to employers and students, with no frills or fuss is inspiring. I want our organisation to be up there recognising a students hard work next year.( Lixi, The Watermill).  

Fantastic food, well done to all the students. Great presentation.

Fantastic, well done everyone you all work very hard!! Loved the sausage rolls!! Look forward to seeing you soon.

Fantastic, really enjoyed watching all that the students have achieved. And was just long enough for a visit before I have to go back to Growing2gether. (Sharon Chapman).

Amazing case studies and very inspiring both staff and students look forward to next year’s!

A fab event, like the WOW approach, inspirational, aspirations and inclusive. You have set me up for the weekend. (Lesley Reilly SENDIASS)

Well, what an event, they all did so well, you must feel very proud of all your students.

Great to get a better appreciation of activities and work done at the school. Thanks for a fantastic lunch. (David Crookhall - Station 4 Blue Watch, BFRS)

World of Work Celebration

On Friday we held our annual celebration event of our World of Work programme. This was a wonderful occasion which focussed on the successes of our students and the amazing support that our community partners have provided to our school.

We had 46 guests attending, which is higher than ever and shows that the word about how great our students are is spreading. Here are some pictures of the event:

Food for the event was catered for by our own students - and was incredible 

Richard Benyon MP, presenting a Certificate of Recognition to Boots of Northbrook Street 

Certificate of Recognition presented to Herongate Leisure, Hungerford 

Certificate of Recognition presented to Tesco Metro, Northbrook Street 

 Certificate of Recognition presented to Donnington Valley Hotel and Spa

All of the certificate holders together with some of our amazing students

A huge thanks to all the supported of our World of Work Programme. Here are the wonderful organisations that were represented at the event:

Newbury College

Herongate Leisure.

West Berks Council

Thames Valley Police

Waitrose

Newbury Weekly News

Tesco Metro

Newbury College

Little Quavers

Waitrose, Newbury

Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service

Ways into Work

Boots

Donnington Valley Hotel and Spa

Newbury College

West Berks Council

Community Furniture Project

Deanwood Golf Club

Tesco Extra

SENDIASS

The Watermill Theatre

Little Quavers

Tesco Extra

Thames Valley Enterprise

Mencap

Vodafone

Growing 2gether

Mencap

A big thank you also goes to the following guests who kindly attended in support:

Anthony Stanfeld - Police and Crime Commissioner

Councillor Julian Swift-Hook - Mayor of Newbury

Richard Benyon MP

World Book Day collaboration

On World Book Day Corfe and Tintagel Classes shared books together. Students from both classes read some of their favourite books including 'Dinosaurs love underpants' and 'The very hungry caterpillar'. It was lovely to see all the students working together and enjoying the books. Everyone, staff and pupils, loved the experience.

Wonderful World Book Day

On Thursday we celebrated the wonderful world of books. The costumes that were on show were truly amazing. Here are a sample of some of the best.