Castle Hill Castle Hill Blog, 04.02.2021
Covid update
This has been an incredibly challenging week for us in terms of staff absences due to Covid. We currently have 15 staff absent and although we’ve managed to cover all lessons, this situation is far from ideal. We’re hoping that things ease over the next few days but, in line with local authority guidance, we have a contingency plan in place should staff absence reach a point at which we can’t maintain safe staff to student ratios. At that point we would have no alternative but to ask specific year groups to stay at home for a day at a time, on a rota basis. Please be assured, however, that we will do everything possible to avoid that scenario.
You can help us stop the spread of Covid by continuing to test your child twice a week at home and keeping them at home if they show any Covid symptoms. If anyone else at home has Covid, you should test your child daily before sending them into school. We greatly appreciate your ongoing support with this.
I must take this opportunity to praise the staff team at Castle Hill. Such an unprecedented level of staff absence has put an additional burden on all of the staff in school. I'm proud, but not surprised, to say that they have shown remarkable flexibility, resilience and good humour throughout. You could not wish for a more dedicated team to be teaching and caring for your child.
Children’s Mental Health Week
Next week is Children’s Mental Health Week and we’ll be raising awareness of mental health issues through form time activities and school assemblies.
We also plan to raise money for the charity 'Place2Be', which provides mental health support to schools.
We're holding a ‘Dress to Express’ day on Friday 11th February. This is a day for students to wear something to express themselves, whether it is their favourite colour, a colour to reflect their mood, their favourite football team shirt or changing their hairstyle or hair colour. To take part we’re asking for a donation of £1. We’ve also set up a JustGiving page, if you’d like to make an additional donation. Click on this link to find out more: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/castlehillstockport
Wellbeing Award
On a similar theme, we are embarking upon a 12-month journey to achieve the Wellbeing Award, with the aim of promoting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of students, families and staff. To establish a baseline by which we can measure the effectiveness of initiatives we introduce, we will be carrying out a number of surveys, starting with students. Please take a moment to read the letter below which outlines how this survey will be carried out.
was 1 5 permission letter for parent.pdf
Location, Location, Location!
If you don’t follow us on Twitter (and why wouldn’t you?!), then you’ll have missed the unveiling of our new Cabin, the base for our expanding outdoor education and forest school curriculum. It’s fully rigged out with water, heat and an interactive whiteboard and Mr Hadley has promised he’ll be keeping it clean and tidy!
Have a great weekend!
