Kindness  Resilience  Respect  Thankfulness

Flourishing in Learning and Love 

"Do everything in love" (1 Corinthians 16:14)

Newsletter                

27 March 2026

As the spring term comes to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Happy Easter.

This term has been filled with wonderful learning experiences, trips and events and it has been a joy to see the children grow in confidence, curiosity, and independence. We are so impressed with all they have achieved and grateful for your continued support. 

We hope you enjoy a restful break, whether that’s spending time with loved ones, enjoying the outdoors, or simply taking a well-earned rest.

We look forward to welcoming the children back next term, refreshed and ready for more exciting learning on Monday 13 April.

We have previously had a fairly relaxed approach to children using fidget resources to support their attention and focus when learning, particularly those with identified SEND Needs.  However, we have noticed a large increase in a vast range of fidget 'toys' being brought into school that have become more of a distraction than a tool to support learning and focus.

If a child requires something other than the ones we have at school see 'Mesh and Marble', via link here,  then this needs to be discussed with parents and the SENCO and will form part of their Individual Support Plan (ISP).  Therefore, from next term, fidget tools will be provided by school staff who will have a stock of 'Mesh and Marble' to trial with the children who may need a fidget tool to aid them in class.

This will also support Year 2 as part of transition to Thomas Coram who have the same rules around the use of fidget tools (not toys) being entirely school issued. 

We hope you support our view that fidget tools are intended to be a supportive resource within  a child's learning environment and not act as a distraction as many fidget 'toys' have become. 

I was extremely impressed with all the different things Year 1 shared with families during their year group assembly.  Everyone spoke clearly and sang beautifully. I could not believe how much they have learnt in the last two terms and the work they have produced. Thank to everyone who came and thank you to all the staff who helped put the assembly together. 

Year 2 Trip

Year 2 would like to thank all of the helpers who came on our trip to Legoland! It was fantastic and we couldn't have done it without you. We would like to also thank the VSA for their contribution to the trip. We had the best day! 

As we get closer to the Easter break, we have been busy in the final week of the Spring term.  On Monday it was lovely to come together at St Peter's for our Easter Service. Our Spiritual Ambassadors led the readings and shared a poem about the life of Jesus.  After leaving the service all the children were given a palm cross to take home.

We also had an RE theme day to explore the idea of Spirituality through our special places that we like to go to and spend time there including places where we feel safe and comfortable. They also looked at places where they felt part of something bigger than ourselves or where they felt a sense of our place in the world.

Easter Kindness Challenge from our Kindness Ambassadors 

Comic Relief

Thank you to your generous donations for Comic Relief, we raised £135 from dressing like a grown up.

Oracy Homework Conversation Starters

This week the oracy task to discuss is:

If you had to have the legs of an animal, what would you have?

 Use these sentence starters to help:

• I would have... because....
• I think...
• In my opinion...

Encourage your child to turn and face you to talk and use a clear voice when talking.  A fun way to help with turn taking when talking, is to have an object that you hold and you can only talk when you have the object in your hand.

Governor Newsletter

Please see the Spring Edition from the Governing Body of Castle CE Federation.

VSA Update

A Round-Up of a Busy Week!

• Easter Hunt - We hope the children all enjoyed the VSA's Easter hunt at school, with a chocolate egg for each child kindly sponsored by Oakleys Estate Agents - thank you, Oakleys!
• Dress Down Day - If you haven’t yet donated £1 for today’s Dress Down Day, there’s still time to do so online.   
• Legoland Trip - Thanks to your generous donations and support, the VSA were able to contribute towards the cost of Year 2’s trip to Legoland yesterday. We hope they all had a fantastic day!  
• Bingo Night - What a brilliant evening we had at Bingo last Friday! It was great fun and raised an amazing amount of money (over £1000) for the school. Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the event.  
• Allotment Update - A huge thank you to everyone who helped tidy up the school allotment last Sunday. Most of the beds are now prepped and ready for planting, and we’ve already sown courgettes, corn, pumpkins and sunflowers. If you’d like to keep up to date or get involved, please join the WhatsApp group (link shared by your class rep a few weeks ago).

Easter Trail

Looking for something fun over the holidays? Our Easter trail around town is packed with riddles to solve along the way. It’s a great way to get out and about, with a goodie bag waiting at the end! Trail sheets are available to buy online now.  

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter from the VSA!

Acorn - Cole for working hard on alliteration in phonics.
Ash - Ren for showing resilience with his amazing phonics work.
Oak - Dexter for showing resilience and staying calm when things get tricky.
Beech - Massimo for always putting 100% effort into everything & doing it with a smile on his face!
Cedar - Lucas for joining in group discussions and working hard with his independent learning.
Hazel Class - For a brilliant trip to Legoland.
Rowan - All of Rowan class for being fabulous at Legoland.