Welcome to Our School

At Castlefort, we offer a warm, welcoming, caring and secure environment in which everyone feels valued. OFSTED inspection reports have aptly described our school...‘Castlefort is like one big family’. We provide high quality teaching and learning experiences for all pupils resulting in excellent standards and pupil achievement. The curriculum is broad, rich, challenging and exciting but recognises that English and mathematics are the vital building blocks on which children succeed. We want our pupils to be confident to use a wide range of learning strategies aiming to ‘be the best they can be’. They are encouraged to take pride in their achievements and have a positive sense of belonging to a school that aims for both individual and collective excellence in all aspects of school life.

Castlefort is highly regarded within the local community having forged strong links between staff, parents, governors, the local and wider community, all having a valuable role to play in the education of the children.

Both academic achievement and personal development are valued here at Castlefort. We regularly monitor our teaching and learning to ensure that it remains of a very high standard. We also provide pupils with a wide range of extra-curricular activities and off-site educational visits as we believe these provide valuable enrichment to the curriculum. Through our PSHE and Citizenship curriculum, we aim to ensure that our pupils develop into well-behaved, confident, independent and caring young people who have pride in themselves and in their school.

We promote British values set out by the Government’s 2011 Prevent Strategy. The core values are:

Democracy - all children in our school have a ‘voice’. Everyone is heard and listened to. School Council Representatives and House Captains help to ensure that pupils’ views and ideas are shared with teaching staff.

The rule of law - our school rules help to keep everyone safe. Playground Leaders and Peace Patrollers help children to get along with each other and play nicely together.

Individual liberty - children have the freedom to make lots of choices during the school day. They can choose how they learn best, what games they want to play, which clubs they want to join and much more!

Mutual respect – children are encouraged always treat others as they would wish to be treated themselves. Kind and thoughtful behaviour, attitude to learning and achievement are all recognised and rewarded in our school.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs - children enjoy learning about each other’s faiths and cultures and know that it’s important to show respect for different beliefs.

At Castlefort, we value a strong home/school partnership. Parents are encouraged to support their child/children with homework activities and are invited to attend termly consultation evenings which provide an opportunity to discuss pupils’ progress and targets. We welcome ideas and suggestions from parents/carers as to how our school can be further improved. The weekly newsletter keeps everyone up-to-date with events both in and out of our school. Parents/carers are always welcome to telephone, or pop in to school and see staff if they have any concerns.

I look forward to welcoming you and your child to the ‘Castlefort Family’. If you would like to arrange a visit to the school, please do get in touch!

Jo Wilson

Executive Headteacher