Castle Hill Blog 24/10/2025

This week's assembly was on the theme of Diwali and Hinduism. The pupils were captivated by Mr Hadley's traditional Hindu wedding suit which had intricate sparkling jewels and vibrant threads. They listened carefully to the message of karma and the belief that positivity and kindness comes back to us.

Stop Motion!

This term, our Year 10 Creative Media pupils have dived into the exciting world of animation! They have been exploring various techniques, focusing especially on stop motion animation and green screen effects. The pupils started by brainstorming and developing their own animation plans, encouraging creativity and storytelling skills. With their ideas in hand, they moved on to the practical side: taking a series of photos to create stop motion sequences. By playing these photos quickly in succession, they brought their characters and scenes to life in short, simple animations. In addition to stop motion, students experimented with green screen technology, learning how to layer backgrounds and create dynamic visual effects. This hands-on experience gave them a strong foundation in key animation techniques and sparked enthusiasm for further media projects. Overall, the Year 10 Creative Media group has shown great imagination and technical skill as they continue to develop their animation capabilities. We look forward to seeing how their projects evolve in the coming weeks!

Successful Reaccreditation

I am very proud to announce that we have been successfully reaccredited the BPTAA again! This is a reflection of our incredible staff who are dedicated to the school and to gaining the best outcomes for our pupils and students. I must give a special thank you to Laura Agnew who dedicated a lot of time and organisation to ensure the evidence was provided to the external verifiers.

The Best Practice with Teaching Assistants Award (BPTAA) is a framework that helps schools strategically manage and support their teaching assistants to improve pupil outcomes. It provides a structure for evaluating, professionalizing, and celebrating the work of teaching assistants, leading to better induction, appraisal, and professional development for the staff. By implementing the BPTAA, schools can improve the impact of teaching assistants on pupils.

Strategic management: The award provides a framework for the strategic management of teaching assistants, ensuring their work is aligned with school goals.

Professional development: It helps schools create clear systems for induction, appraisal, and professional development, boosting the skills and impact of teaching assistants.
Recognition: The BPTAA formally recognizes the important and often complex role teaching assistants play in supporting pupils both academically and pastorally.
Improved pupil outcomes: By strengthening the management and support for teaching assistants, the award helps to maximize pupil attainment, achievement, and well-being.
School-wide improvement: The award process encourages schools to evaluate their systems and procedures, leading to whole-school improvement and a more positive learning environment.

Looking Ahead...Dates for the Diary:

Date	Event
Mon 3^rd Nov	Return after the half term holidays
Thurs 6^th Nov	Parent Open Morning (9.30am-12pm)
Thurs 6^th Nov	Non-Uniform Day for the Christmas Fayre (Chocolate donations)
	School Disco (3.30-5pm)
W/c 10^th Nov Mon 10^th Nov	Anti-Bullying Week Odd Socks Day
Wed 12^th Nov	Clothes for Sammy (Donations)
Tues 25^th Nov	Year 11 Manchester Airport Careers Trip – 11M&11S
Thurs 27^th Nov	Year 11 Manchester Airport Careers Trip – 11P&11A
	Non-Uniform Day for the Christmas Fayre (Bottle donations)
	Year 7 and Year 10 Parents’ Evening (3-6pm)
Fri 5^th Dec	Year 7 Plaza Theatre Trip (AM)
Sat 6^th Dec	Castle Hill Christmas Fayre (10am-12pm)
Tues 16^th Dec	KS3/ HUB School Pantomime (AM) KS4/ KS5 School Pantomime (PM)
Wed 17^th Dec	Christmas Jumper and Christmas Dinner Day (in aid of Save Our Children)
Fri 19^th Dec	Rewards morning Break up for the Christmas holidays at 1pm