Castle Stars in the NWN

There is a lovely article in the Newbury Weekly News this week celebrating our pupils amazing success at The Royal Albert Hall last week. Here is a copy of the article, but get the paper for a decent copy.

 

We also had a lovely letter from Richard Benyon, The MP for Newbury. Here it is below:

Paralympic Champion Visits Castle School

Castle School was all-a-buzz on Monday morning when 2 time Paralympic gold medallist Graham Edmunds visited us.

Graham Edmunds won gold medals for the 4x100m Freestyle relay at both the 2004 and 2008 Paralympic Games.

The morning involved a variety of activities including a team exercise where groups had to build bridges out of paper to support 100 copper coins, which led to some amazing teamwork and also to much hilarity. Then the pupils played boccia, curling (with special curling stones with wheels!), archery (with arrows that have suckers to stick to the board) and seated volleyball. The pupils absolutely loved it, especially when Graham showed them his gold medals. At the end they were really buzzing with excitement and at the fact that they had met a true Paralympic champion.

Days like this are so important to our pupils – they inspire and show that, with determination, spirit and belief anything is achievable. I am sure that this will lead to more participation in sports for our young people; something we believe passionately in at The Castle School.

Here is Graham instructing one of our students on how to use the bow and arrow.

Wow - Castle at the Albert Hall

On Tuesday this week (11th March 2014) 17 Castle School pupils and 9 staff (supported by many mums, dads and grandmas) travelled to London to perform in The Royal Albert Hall. What a fantastic day. We left very early from school and spent the morning rehearsing in The wonderful Albert Hall. Then we had a break for a few hours to have a look around London on coach and then grab a bite to eat before returning to perform the Carl Orff work Carmina Burana. We stood and performed with 1000 other young people from Berkshire secondary schools. It is an understatement to say it was amazing. Our pupils made us very very proud indeed. They sung their hearts out and showed everyone that we can do anything that we choose to do. Of course, we couldn't have done it without the support of the staff: Lisa Boorman, Dominie Burton, Ola White, Chris Mason, Sandra Young, Pearl James - and James Whybra for being our parent-liaison for the day; and parents for supporting and encouraging throughout the whole journey.

But there is one person who made the whole adventure possible with her energy, drive and determination is Ali Watkinson - our phenomenal music teacher. She made this a reality and ensured that all our pupils were able to perform alongside some of the best musicians and singers the county has to offer.

Well done to everyone. If you click this link you will find a Youtube video that was taken on the night and shows a selection of the songs so you can see how incredible it sounded. Share with friends and show what our kids are capable of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmXYOqrLYaY

Thank you again to everyone involved - this was a true team effort

Stars of CBeebies!

Exciting news - Two of our young pupils appeared on television yesterday on the show 'Something Special' with Justin Fletcher. Harry and Adam were seen on the show helping Justin to pick fruit and vegetables at Grays Farm in Wokingham. Something Special is a very popular programme and features Justin as Mr Tumble - a favourite amongst our young ones. Adam and Harry were very excited as the class watched them today. You can see the whole programme on iPlayer by clicking on this link - enjoy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03xphgj/Something_Special_Were_All_Friends_Fruit_and_Veg_Picking/

Welcome back to term 4

Welcome back to everyone. We are very much looking forward to an exciting term and the start of Spring (with hopefully a little less rain!). We have lots of things planned including:

6th March 2014 - World Book Day - There will be lots of events and interesting activities.

11th March 2014 - Albert Hall Performance - A small group of Castle School pupils and staff will be performing Carmina Burana on the stage at The Royal Albert Hall in London.

21st March 2014 - Parents Open day and Sports Relief - Morning at Main Site and Afternoon at Post-16. Lots of exciting things will be happening. Please come and join us. Letter will be going out shortly.

Week Beginning 31st March 2014 - Modern Foreign Languages Week - This week will have lots of exciting cross-curricular events for our students related to foreign languages.

The term ends on 4th April 2014.

Musical tea to end the half term

On Thursday this week our pupils who are learning to play tenor horn and cello performed for parents at a musical tea. This was a wonderful event that showcased the talent that we have at this school. Danny played a tenor horn solo at Grade 2 level which was most impressive. It is so lovely to be able to showcase what our pupils are able to do. Thank you to everyone who attended and also to Ali and our wonderful Maestro musicians.

Another wonderful donation

A huge thank you to all our supported who shop in Waitrose and gave their green coins to support The Castle School. On Monday I attended Waitrose with four of our pupils to receive a cheque for £500. This is amazing and is one of the largest cheques that Waitrose gave out. Thank you also to the wonderful staff at Waitrose who not only donated this wonderful gift, but also support many of our students on work experience placements. It is a great partnership and something to be celebrated. The cheque presentation is in today's Newbury Weekly News on page 13.