In this issue: Topic Exploration Sessions in the Pre-Prep prove to be a great way to start the term! Book your tickets for Summer Fest on 4 June The weather has been perfect for trips in Years 4 and 7!
Holiday Provision for all children aged 3 and up will be provided by Foundation Sports from July 2025 and more!
Dear Parents,
In the life of a school, there are some weeks which you just want to ‘bottle up’ so that you can treasure them forever This has certainly been one of those weeks as there has been such a happy atmosphere around the school and I’ve been incredibly proud of the way the pupils have consistently demonstrated the Castle Court Way. Whilst the glorious sunshine has certainly helped us all to feel happy this week, I believe true happiness goes deeper than that. Indeed, happiness shouldn’t be something we just wait for, it is something we create and share. Happiness can often be found in the smallest, most ordinary moments - the kindness of a friend, the courage to try something new, the joy of teamwork and the comfort of community. In assembly today, it was wonderful to celebrate these special moments and reinforce the importance of appreciating the small, beautiful things in our daily lives, as these are what truly matter. This week has certainly reminded me how fortunate I am to be Head of this wonderful, happy school.
It was lovely to join our Pre-Prep parents this week for our topic exploration sessions. It was great to see how engaged and excited the children were to share their learning with their parents. I learnt lots too –did you know a T-Rex's tooth was the size of a banana?! Our children have also enjoyed trips out to Wimborne, the Dinosaur Museum and Lulworth Cove and our sailing sessions have restarted with our raci teams preparing for the IAPS sailing competition.
At Castle Court, we want to ensure that our pupils have the skills, knowledge and character necessary to be successful not just in their senior schools but also in their future life and career. To ensure that we continue to provide our pupils with outstanding futureseducation and tailored support, we have implemented Unifrog this year for pupils in Years 5-8. Unifrog isan award winning, online platform used by many local senior schools. Please do check your emails for further information.
In further news, I am delighted to announce that as one of our key strategic priorities, from July we will be working in partnership with Foundation Sports and Play to provide year-round holiday provision (including half-terms). This will be open to all children aged 3-13 who will be able to enjoy sports activities, dance, arts and crafts, all within our wonderful 50-acre estate. Please see the page further on in the newsletter for more details.
Finally, I have just received confirmation that, for the first time in the school’s history, two teams have qualified for the U10 relays at the IAPS National Swimming Finals in London. Huge congratulations go to:
JoshR,HugoS,LuanI,RalphV,AlexandraH,CordeliaD,DilettaKandEmilyC. Alsoqualifyingfortheindividualracesare:ArthurK,FredC,MollyTandJoshR.
What an impressive achievement by the Castle Court Swimming Team!
I hope the sunshine continues over the Bank Holiday weekend and I wish you and your famil h l weekend.
Best wishes,
Katie
Head’s Awards are given out every Friday morning in assembly to children nominated by their class teacher or form tutor; the reasons for these are many and varied, including outstanding effort, overcoming difficulty, or helping a friend in need A huge congratulations for their efforts goes to
RECB Grace
RECS Sebby
P1D Hugo
P1Z Eleanor
P2A Claudia
P2G Imogen
3D Frederick
3M Axrl
4D Max and Miri
4M Henry and Leon 5D George 5M Harry 6D Jack 6M Clara 7D Iris 7M Eloise 8D Fred 8M Isabella
Monday 05-May-25
Tuesday 06-May-25
No school today - Bank Holiday Monday
Year 8 Internal Assessments (Maths and English)
Years 4 and 7 PTEs and PTMs
14:15 Year 3 and 4 Cricket Matches vs Port Regis
Wednesday 07-May-25 14:15 Year 5-8 Cricket Matches vs Port Regis
Year 3 Trip to Ancient Technology Centre
08:35 Parent and Colleague Prayer Meeting in the Boardroom
Friday 09-May-25
12:00 Governors' Marketing Committee Meeting
14:05 Governors' Education Committee Meeting
The week beginning Monday 12 May is Activities Week for children in Years 3-8
Please keep an eye on your emails for medical forms, behaviour contracts and reminders around kit lists and what the children will be getting up to!
Monday 12-May-25 10:15 BugFest visit to Reception
Tuesday 13-May-25
Year 2 Trip to Hamworthy Beach 10:30 Year 5 to Bryanston Singing Day
Activities
Activitieshavegotofftoagreatstartthis termandweareexcitedthatwehavebeen abletointroducesomenewprovidersinto ouroffer.Therearestillspacesavailableon:
FreshAirClub-Tuesdayevenings
MiniHandball-thisisalsonowopentoYear 5andrunsonMondays
Pleaseemailactivities@castlecourt.comif youwouldliketobookyourchild(ren)onto eitherofthese!
Year8Parents’Evening
Thiswillbeheldon Tuesday20Mayfrom 445pmto7pm.Year8 parents,pleasedoexpect anemailinduecoursewith furtherdetails
Candles forUkraine
MrsRuleandherCraftClub aregoingtomakecandlesfor Ukraine,asmanyfamiliesdo nothaveelectricity.Ifyou haveanyused,cleanpulltins (egfrombakedbeansor sweetcorn)pleasedo encourageyourchildtobring themin.Thankyouforyour support.
Mini Handball nominated Hugo as their Handball Hero! Well done, Hugo!
CParent/StaffricketMatches
CIfyouwouldliketojointheCastle ourtCrustaceansCricketTeam,Dtoplayaseriesofmatchesvs umpton,Wimborne,BryanstonBandpossiblylandfordSchool , tpleasecomplete heformHERE .
May
Half-Term
Ticks
As we are spending more time outside, please do checkyour childfor ticks when they come home, or consider using an insect repellantbefore school
ThisrunsfromMonday 26MaytoFriday30 May.Allchildrenare duebackinschoolon Monday2June.
We are delighted to announce that Foundation Sports and Play will be managing our holiday provision from July 2025
They are a highly experienced company who currently offer before and after school provision, as well as holiday provision, in a number of schools across the local area
Their provision will run from Monday21stJulyuntilFriday29thAugust andwillbeopentoallchildrenaged3-13
The activities on offer will be varied: a mixture of sport (from multisports to swimming), dance art and crafts making full use of our lovely 50 acre estate. The children will be based at two locations in the school, with the older ones in the Jubilee block and the younger children in the Badgers/Badger Cub area
You will be able to book for ad-hoc days, or full time; whatever works best for your family.
Foundation Sports and Play will then run further provision eachhalfterm,plusduringtheChristmasandEaster holidays. They are able to offer wraparoundcarefrom8.00am,andifyouwouldlikeit,ahotlunch.
IfyouwouldliketoregisteryourinterestinthesummercoursethenpleaseuseTHISLINK.
We hope that this exciting opportunity will prove to be a great help to you as you plan your child care for the summer months.
On Monday of this week, Mr Dunsford (our Assistant Head, Pastoral) led a meeting for parents focusing on the importance of partnership with parents, information on the rewards and sanctions given as part of our behaviour management system (Trackit Lights) and details of the Castle Court Way, the core values that we are asking our pupils to live by each day as Castellans.
The PowerPoint delivered at that meeting can be found HERE
The TrackIt Explanation Table referred to in the PowerPoint can be found HERE
Thank you to those parents who were able to attend. If any parent would like any clarification on any matter related to the behaviour management system, please do contact Mr Dunsford on pdunsford@castlecourtcom
This poster is now displayed in every classroom across the school in Year 2 and upwards.
Please note that for our Nursery, Reception and Year 1 children, the poster is slightly different: the language used has been altered so that it is more easily embedded in to their every day vocabulary.
Reception started their Dinosaur topic this week and are fast becoming little experts!
They loved having their parents in the classroom on Tuesday morning for a dinosaur paper craft session.
The children used their knowledge and imaginations to create some super artwork, which is now proudly on display in the classrooms. Well done everyone!
Year 1 were very excited to have their parents in school on Thursday morning this week to celebrate their new topic of Birds. The children and parents were busy using sticks to make nests, making a bird mobile to hang at home, and looking through books to choose a bird to and paint
Thank you to all parents who were able to come: we loved having you there!
Year 2 invited their parents into the classroom on Wednesday morning for their Topic Exploration Session! This term, they will be diving into Oceans and Seas around the world and investigating everything about these awesome places.
Thank you to all the parents who were able to join us - the children really did love having you there
It was once again great to hear all the lovely music that was being played within the individual music lessons and to rehearse with the children in the ensembles during break and lunch times I am very grateful to those children who show real commitment in their music-making and give up some of their precious breaks on sunny summer’s days to rehearse for concerts etc. - it is greatly appreciated.
As a reminder, music timetables can always be found on EduLink – Links section –Music Timetable page. From there, search for the music teachers’ name – click on their timetable – find the letter next to your son/daughter’s name – find this letter in the yellow highlighted column and read across for the time of the lesson All timetables are posted on a Friday, ready for the following week, and are removed when lessons have taken place
A gentle reminder to all parents (except Year 8) that half a term's notice is required for pupils wanting to stop music lessons Music lesson charges for September 2025 will be £21100 per term or £125.80 per term if shared. This is the same for LAMDA and private dance lessons.
An email has gone out to parents of Years 5-8 today to outline the new platform that we are using to enhance our futures education provision: Unifrog.
The key features of this platform include:
Adaptive tests/quizzes that help to build a picture of each child’s strengths, areas for development and interests
Career and subject exploration
Webinars and interactive short courses
Self-reflection and Pupil Portfolio building tools (this is especially useful for us as tool to be able to record what pupils are achieving in their CAVE sessions and wider school community)
During our CAVE sessions this year, children have been logging in using the link on their personal RM Unify Launch pad. Please do have a look at this with them when you can, and if you have any questions at all, do please be in touch with Mrs Hoey
Making the most of this week’s fantastic weather, both Year 4 and Year 7 ventured off site this week to enhance their Geography skills.
Year 7 picked a wonderful day to head to the beach at Lulworth, collecting data for their fieldwork
Meanwhile, Year 4 headed to Wimborne, where they were learning how the town has changed.
You may remember that as part of British Science Week back in March, the children had the opportunity to create a poster on the theme of “Change and Adapt” Mrs Gallop was able to select five entries for the competition to represent the school, which we have shared with you here.
Well done and thank you to all those who took part!
Mrs Glenn and her sugar crafters learnt the art of Russian flower piping last Friday, and used this technique to decorate some cupcakes. They also made bees and butterflies for a beautiful final flourish.
This week’s Artist of the Week is Leo in Year 4
Leo has a keen interest in History, in particular the Kings of England, leading him to produce these stunning images in Art club on Friday.
Well done, Leo!
It was good to get our Castle Court Sailing Team back out on the water on Thursday afternoon this week They train every Thursday during CAVE timefingers crossed for some great results later this summer!
Last Thursday, we were delighted to host our annual Inter-House Cross Country Event for all children in Years 3-8. Our official photographer, Miss T, managed to capture some awsome photos, some of which are on this page and others of which we are able to share with you HERE.
Badger Cubs
Class Teachers / Form Tutors
Mrs Genge | Mrs Tomblin
Badgers Mrs Bartlett | Mrs Wilson
Reception Mrs Brewer | Mrs Speer
Year 1
Mrs Dobson | Mrs Zachariades
Year 2 Mr Antell | Mrs Glenn
Year 3
Mrs Baugniet | Mr Bambrey
Year 4 Dr Lippiatt/Mrs Deards | Mr Laidler
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Yourfirstpointofcontact foranydaytoday questionsandenquiries relatedtoyourchild(ren)is theirtutororclass teacher.
Mr Mills/Mrs Vivian | Mrs Miller/Miss Sinclair-Smith
Mrs Rule/Mrs Major | Mr Fermor-Dunman/Mrs Hoey
Mr Jordan/Mrs Harmer | Mrs Lea/Mr Cheadle
Mr Phillips/Ms Thompson | Mrs Gallop/Mr Smith
Section Leaders
Nursery Miss Hixson
Pre-Prep Mr Antell
Years 3&4 Mr Laidler
Years 5&6 Mrs Munns
Years 7&8 Ms Thompson
Heads of Department
English Ms Thompson
Maths Mrs Miller
Science Mrs Gallop
History Mrs Rule
Geography Mrs Hoey
CAVE Mrs Hoey
Music Mr Smith
Art Miss Sinclair-Smith
DT Mr Phillips
Sport Mr Fermor-Dunman
Leadership Team
Mr Dunsford Assistant Head (Pastoral)
Mr Edmond Assistant Head (Operations)
Mrs Hoey Head of CAVE
Mrs Munns Director of Teaching & Learning
Mr Norris Bursar
Mrs Robson Admissions & Marketing
SENDCo
Mrs Harmer
Absences:
Please report absences to the School office on office@castlecourt.com or by telephone to 01202 694438.
MrsJohnson:
To make an appoointment to see Mrs Johnson, please contact her PA, Hannah, on hmsec@castlecourtcom or use the telephone number above.
To end this week’s Newsletter, we thought we’d share with you some adorable ducklings who came to visit!
A huge thank you to Juliette, Miri and Lainey’s Mum, who brought them in to share with children across the school.
