Castle Hill Blog, 21.07.2021

Well, we made it!

But what a year...

Student bubbles
Lunch in form rooms
Two lockdowns (both of which we stayed open through)
One week in December when over 20 staff were absent due to Covid illness or self-isolation
Face masks
Setting home learning whilst delivering a full timetable of lessons in school
Operating on-site Covid testing
Having to send year group bubbles home
No trips or residentials
Twice weekly home-testing
GCSE and exam uncertainty

And then Mr Law decided to retire!

Through it all there has been one constant.... the resilience, adaptability and good humour of our students. They have been an absolute credit to themselves and their families and we're incredibly proud of them.

And the staff aren't bad either

None of what we've achieved this year would have been possible without an incredibly strong staff team. A special mention must go to our four Newly Qualified Teachers: Miss Green, Mr Hampson, Mr Pilling and Mr Ullah who have had very successful year, we're delighted that they'll be staying with us.

Goodbyes

As well as Mr Law, three other members of staff are leaving us this week:

Mrs Galvin, who organises staff cover and does much of the administrative work behind our annual review process, is moving to North Wales.
Mr Elms, one of our Year 8 teaching assistants, is leaving us to undertake a PGCE teacher training course.
Mr Manina, who has been studying a part-time PGCE course over the past two years, is leaving us to pursue a career in teaching.

All of them will be greatly missed and we wish them the very best of luck!

I scream, you scream, we all scream.... ICE CREAM!

If ever students and staff deserved a treat it was this year and what better treat is there than an ice cream on a hot, sunny afternoon? Many thanks to Miss Wheeler for organising this.

September

School opens for students on Thursday 2nd September.

You should by now have received timetables for 2021-22, along with a variety of other forms and letters. We're trying to move to online forms, which are easy and quick to complete.

As Covid restrictions ease we're hoping to reintroduce our tuck shop and after-school clubs in September. Students will also need their PE kit as they'll resume changing into full sportswear for PE lessons.

Before we get to September though there's the small matter of a six week break. We wish all of our students and their families a very happy, sunny and safe summer holiday.

There's only one way we could possibly sign off for the year though and that's by thanking Mr Law, one last time, for all he has done for Castle Hill over the past 14 years and wishing him the very happiest of retirements.