Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to welcome everyone back to The Castle School for the start of the new term. I hope that you all had a good Easter break and that your child is now refreshed and ready to engage in their learning over the next few weeks.

As you will know, Shannon retired from school at the end of last term after many years of amazing service. We are sad to see Shannon go, but we are very pleased that Will Harvey has now joined us as one of our new Assistant Headteachers. Will is based in Blue Bubble for now, but I am sure that you will see him around and will give him a warm welcome when you see him.

As we slowly move out of lockdown, like me, I am sure that you have enjoyed spending more time with friends and family outside or visiting the pub or other outdoor venue. It is wonderful to see some sort of normality returning slowly. However, we need to be mindful that there are still risks that we need to be careful of.

At school, we will continue in the same way as before. It is important to remember that, even though infection rates are reducing, there is still a real risk of transmission. As such, I attach the protocols below for you to read. Please do print these out and share the information with your child and family. We must all ensure that we continue to be a safe place for all of our pupils and staff.

As you will probably be aware, all our staff have now been offered the covid vaccine, which is fantastic news. A lot of staff have now had both jabs, but several are about to get them over the coming weeks. The time of the jabs is fixed and cannot be changed. Therefore, there may be occasions where some staff cannot be in school. In some exceptional circumstances, this may mean that we do not have enough staff to safely run a class. If this is the case, we may need to close a class for a day, but we will only do this if absolutely necessary. The key, as I am sure you will agree, is to get as many staff vaccinated as possible as this will mean our school will be even safer going forward.

Please note that we have a bank holiday during this term and school will be closed on Monday 3rd May 2021. The last day of term is Friday 28th May 2021.

Remember, more information about the school can be found at our website www.thecastleschoolnewbury.org.uk

For now, I wish you a wonderful term and look forward to seeing lots of exciting learning taking place.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jon Hewitt

Headteacher

The Castle School