Castle MattersSummer 2016

Year 11 Prom

The traditional prom was held under disappointingly cloudy skies but the evening was a marvellous end to the school careers of our students. In turn, they turned out in a stunning fashion display worthy of the finest Hollywood red carpet event.

Students arrived in an amazing variety of vehicles ranging from sports cars and stretch limos to a Prom Bus and a motorcycle trike.

Craig Manavale was chosen as Prom King with Cody Hall as Queen. Brandon Oakley was elected as the Boy Most Likely to Go Bald Before the Age of Thirty and Claire Listhrop received the award for the Student Most Likely to become Prime Minister.

The evening itself ran smoothly thanks to the efforts of the Prom Organising Committee and Mrs Roberts, Chair of the CHSA.

Park Hall Hotel in Wolverhampton was the venue for the final school function for this year’s Year 11 leavers last week.

Last Day - First Day

This term will finish at 12.30 pm on Thursday, July 21.

This will be a non-uniform day in aid of charity at a cost of £1 per student.

Food will be available in the Dining Hall until 12.45.

Next term will begin on Tuesday, September 6.

Year 7 students should report to the Main hall at 9.00

All other students should report to Form Rooms at 10.00

Art to Priory Primary School

School uniformAs a school, we believe that our uniform should be worn properly. We believe that this encourages our students to take pride in themselves and their school. Looking smart also helps them to think smart too.

Full details of the uniform are on the school website, as are details of our PE kit. This was introduced for Year 7 students in September and it is now expected that students in other year groups will adopt this new kit when their existing kit needs to be replaced.

The rules around school footwear have not changed. School shoes should be plain, formal, black leather ones with no coloured markings on them. Please do not be persuaded to buy trainer-style footwear simply because shoe shops advertise such styles as suitable for school. Trainers, canvas pumps or any other informal shoes are not permitted under any circumstances. If you are in any doubt, please contact school to seek further advice.

As a rule of thumb, anything your child will choose to wear out of school is probably not suitable to wear in school!

Kyle and Jake with their entries

Attendance As we stand, there has been no change to the legislation regarding Leave of Absence in term time.

Can we remind you that no leave of absence will be authorised, unless you can evidence that the leave is required as a result of an exceptional circumstance.

Over 58% of our students have achieved more than 96% school attendance this year, placing themselves in the top percentage nationally. WAY TO GO!!!

This year’s best performing forms :

7BM 8AW 9AJO 10PB 11LC

This year our students achieving 100% attendance for the year have been entered into a draw where there are iPod shuffles, iPods and bikes up for grabs. Good luck and remember to make sure you are part of next year’s 100% group, as there will be more fabulous prizes available for the best attenders in 2016/17.

Work Experience

Year 10 students took part in their Work Experience placements last week. The programme was a great success

with many of the employers commenting most favourably on the attitude and work ethic of our students.

A piece of artwork commissioned by Priory Primary School was delivered to them last week.

The tableau, depicting scenes from popular children’s stories, was created by a dedicated team of Castle staff and students. It will be displayed in the foyer of the school.

From the

Head’s Desk

It is really hard to believe that we are at the end of another school year!

So much has gone on since last September it is a testament to the resilience of the children and the determination of staff that the year has passed so successfully.

Sine the start of the Autumn term we have introduced a new assessment system, we have undergone a full Ofsted inspection, we’ve welcomed a new cohort of Y6 students for the induction days and we’ve prepared our Y11 students for the terminal exams which finished last month. All of these undertakings have happened while the normal day-to-day business of the school has taken place; it’s a miracle that we’ve managed to fit it all in!

We started the year celebrating the successes of our leavers and now we have come full circle and look forward to Results Day next month when we can congratulate our current Year 11 students on their achievements. They did themselves proud last week at their Prom where they celebrated the end of their time at Castle with a marvellous evening conducted in a positive spirit.

Our Year 6 Induction Days were a great success and we look forward to welcoming a fresh group of students to the School after the holidays. They certainly impressed us with their enthusiasm and I look forward to seeing more of that encouraging attitude in September.

Sadly, the end of this year sees us saying our goodbyes to a number of staff members and I would like to thank them all for their hard work. Mrs Barker is moving on to fresh challenges elsewhere. Mr Stevens and Mr Chaudhry have spent time filling vacant posts in English and Science. Both Mrs Price and Ms Teuwen are leaving the Science department and Mr Pickett is leaving DT; all three of them are moving to new schools.

Ms Thomas is moving to another senior Maths post in a nearby school and we wish her well in her new challenge. Mr Ferguson has decided to retire from teaching this summer after over thirty years at the school. He will return to us in September, however, to perform a different role.

Please have a safe and restful summer holiday and I look forward to seeing you all again in September.

Important dates6 Autumn term begins 9.00 for Y7, 10.00 for Y8-1119 School photographs26 Open Evening29 Pathways Evening

4 Y7 Parents’ Evening21 Staff training - school closed24-28 Half-term holiday

17 PHSCE Focus Day24 Celebration of Achievement Eve

Autumn term

1 Year 11 reports issued8 Year 11 Parents’ Evening13 Carol Service20 Last day of Autumn term

Talented linguists

The MFL department has recently nominated eight Year 7 students for Gifted and Talented status in French.

We would like to say ‘Félicitations’ (Congratulations) on your hard work!

Work Experience

Cricket and footballThis year has seen record numbers attending cricket practice both at lunch and after school in Y7. We have played a number of Y7-9 matches against Hillcrest and Bishop Milner narrowly losing on both occasions after being asked to bat first.

Due to the success of the year 7 training we managed to have a Y7 only game against Bishop which was a great game and a fantastic opportunity for students to be involved in competitive cricket whilst having fun! We set Bishop 70 to win following some excellent batting from Jessean Campbell (9 not out) and Callum Yardley (18) but despite two excellent run outs by Callum and Donnell Joseph, Bishop reached their target with a few overs to spare. It was great to see 7 different bowlers getting a chance as in particular with Callum and Daniel going for less than 1 run a ball.

Sport Matters

Best performances this year also include:Mohammed Waleed 9* v HillcrestRahim Latif 1-12 (3 overs) v HillcrestMohammed Waleed 0-3 (2 overs) v BishopRahim Latif 1-15 (2 overs) v Bishop

and Daniel going for less than 1 run a ball.

Best performances this year also include:Mohammed Waleed 9* v HillcrestRahim Latif 1-12 (3 overs) v HillcrestMohammed Waleed 0-3 (2 overs) v Bishop

St�Students

AthleticsWe have had a really busy Athletic season with Castle competing at the annual Y7, 8 and 9 Dudley schools event in addition to practices being held at lunch and after school. Students have been able to develop their running, jumping and throwing techniques to prepare them for these championships and also help them get ready for our Sports Day!help them get ready for our Sports Day!

St�Students

Kamil Nobis 5th in 200m final and 3rd in Long Jump,Dylan Souare Joint 2nd in High JumpBusayo Adetuberu Naomi Sawyers4th in Shot Putt 2nd in 800mFarid Mikidam3rd in 300m overall and 4th in High Jump. Bilal Ijaz 1st in Discus and qualified to represent Dudley in the West Midlands Athletics Championships. Bethany Fieldhouse4th in 800mDonald EgbonFinalist in 200m and Joint 1st High JumpAndre Furtado3rd in Triple JumpShannon Parker3rd in Shot Putt

Sports Captains A huge thanks to our sports captains this year who have helped the PE department with fixtures, kit and arranging teams in the selected sports. When we return in September we will be asking for nominations for new sports captains for the new season and look forward to working with these students!

We have once again had a brilliant turn out at many sports not only for fixtures but also for clubs before school, at lunch and after school. Over 50% of our current Y7, 8 and 9 have attended at least one of our clubs during the year and an amazing 40% of current Y9 students have represented Castle in 1 school team this year!

RoundersDespite the number of cancelled games due to our summer weather, the girls have shown a real commitment to the school rounders team and lunchtime practices.

Participants have included Molly Williams (Rounders Captain), Charlotte Anslow, Ikrah Shakoof, Lyndsey Chance, Shannon Parker, Rachel Hartlebury, Micah Hernandez, Shreah Bargota, Ellie-Marie Twitchen and Keely Price.

The Y8 team has also taken significant steps to build their team for next year thanks to the efforts of Samantha Shansonga, Harriet Dreslin, Murium Taslem, Angel Petty and Luvleena Kaur.

The success of our Y10 netball team last season was due in no small part to the netball coaching sessions held regularly on Tuesdays. These were led by Lyndsey (head coach at Dudley Leisure netball) and proved to be very popular. Further sessions are booked for next year and we look forward to the impact they will have on league fixtures and games.

We have now had confirmation that the Y8 boys have won the U13B league only losing one game all season. Farid Mikidam was top scorer with 12 goals in 5 games and he also represented the district U13 team who reached the cup final scoring in a narrow 2-1 defeat.

It was an excellent season all round. Well done to all the boys who played!

Don’t forget to follow the PE department on Twitter. Keep up to date with clubs, fixtures, teams, latest scores.

In addition, get access to GCSE PE help and support.

@Castlehighpe