Castle Bromwich Community Website

The catering team at Park Hall Academy, Castle Bromwich, received the West Midlands Catering Award for ‘Best Secondary School Catering Team’ for their hard work promoting the importance of eating well and having a healthy lifestyle.

The team, headed by Kim Elliot, has seen their hard work pay off with more pupils opting for healthier meals, as well as getting involved in more physical activities at the Academy.Food is an important subject at the Academy, who have set up a group called CHEF – Council for Healthy Eating and Food in school.  CHEF is made up of pupils, school staff and caterers and regularly works together to promote health, nutrition and well-being.

Over the last year there has also been a 10% increase in the Academy’s free meal provision, which has been helped by promoting awareness to those pupils entitled to them.

Castle Bromwich Junior School has won the Solihull Indoor Athletics Championship. Congratulations to all involved. Read more about their victory HERE

Pupils of Alderlea Boys' School Circa 1960/61

Do you recognise anyone in these photos? If so, could you share the information here and with M Dickers who posted the photos here with a request for further information. Email md18446@telus.net The photographs were provided by Mr Hedges - back row second from right in photo below.

Teachers of Alderlea Boys' School Circa 1960/61

Pupils at Castle Bromwich Junior School donned hats on Friday to raise money to for Haiti's Earth Quake Appeal Fund. The children were invited to wear a hat of their choice for the day in exchange for a small donation. Details can be seen on the CBJS website.

IPSEA an independent charity which provides free legally based advice to parents who have children with special educational need is anxious to hear from any Solihull parent who would like help arguing for quantification of provision in part 3 of their child's statement of educational need at Annual Reviews or who has experienced difficulty or resistance from Solihull LEA when they have requested an amendment to their child's statement aimed at achieving greater quantification.

In January 2009, IPSEA lodged a formal complaint with the Secretary of State against Solihull under section 497 of the Education Act 1996. IPSEA alleged that the Authority was pursuing a policy of never quantifying special educational provision in the Statements it produced. In order to investigate IPSEA’s complaint the DCSF examined a sample of Solihull Statements and the Authority agreed to review 50 Statements issued over the period covered by the complaint. Although the DCSF found no evidence of a policy, as such, Solihull has accepted that someof its Statements were

'not sufficiently quantified and specified [and] … has said it willuse the annual review process to further scrutinise the content ofcurrent statements, clarify any perceived shortfall in terms ofspecificity and quantification and make appropriate amendments wherenecessary.’

The DCSF has informed IPSEA that they have

‘… brought this matter to the attention of the Department’s NationalStrategies SEN Adviser for the region and asked that the work theAuthority has committed to is carried through.’

IPSEA welcomes Solihull’s assurance that vaguely written Statementswill be screened out and made more specific at annual review.

Letter of Complaint from Ipsea to SoS

IPSEA's free phone advice line is 0800 018 4016

Park Hall Academy has announced that two of its 6th form pupils have been selected for the National Selection process of the Prime Minister's Global Fellowship.

Gordon Brown's Global Fellowship awards were launced in 2008 giving school and college leavers in England an opportunity  to compete for one of a hundred six week educational trips abroad to explore cultures and societies which Ministers think will be key to Briatin's future such as China, India and Brazil.

During a six week visit, participating students will learn about the culture and language of the country they are in, spend time in a localschool or college, help as a language assistant and pursue an individual research project. They will also spend time with a global company, learning about their business operations and how projects impact on the local community.

Students will be asked to share their experiences with their school,college and local community upon their return. They will also be invited to Downing Street to share what they have learnt with the Prime Minister.

In the classrooms of Castle Bromwich Junior School lies a gold mine of talent. Ever keen to entertain audiences, the children of Year 6 classes of 2009 last night staged a stunning performance of Rock World, packed full of Queen songs that so many know and love. I hold my hands up to not being the greatest fan of musicals and whilst I like a few Queen Numbers, it wouldn't normally be enough to get me along to a musical based around their career highs. But, I loved this production. I spent the whole time with a silly grin on my face.

Musicals are about performances - singing, dancing and acting, but usually acting takes a back seat. No worries here though, it was a great ensemble with acting every bit as strong as the sensational song and dance routines. It would be impossible to single anyone out for praise as all the performances were so strong from the chorus to the principals, all deserve a mention. Rock World is set on a futuristic Earth, globalisation is complete; everyone wears the same clothes and has the same thoughts. The company computers generate music and the kids download it, musical instruments are banned, but resistance is growing. The script invited participation and the pairing of the evil "Killer Queen" and her enforcer "Khashoggi" had the audience booing and hissing and joining along with the rendition of "Another One Bitesthe Dust." Whilst the hero "Galileo" teamed with "Scaramouche" and "Pop" bring the audience back to a world where Rock n Roll can again flourish and originality and individualism are once again the order of the day.

This was a big scale production in every sense and so the technical aspects also deserve praise. What Castle Bromwich Junior School does so well is to build partnerships with the community and enhance the pupils' learning experience by enlisting the help and support of professionals. Their technical support and assistance helped to provide an unforgettable experience. Set design and props added to the atmosphere, lighting was some of the best that I've seen and could rival that used in professional theatres, and the video projection was well used. The live band that "rocks" at the side of the stage further added to the experience. At times it was difficult to remember that this was a school production by ten and eleven year olds as the whole experience was so professional and definitely guaranteed to blow your mind.

I'm sure that most people will have left the performance talking about the fantastic singing, the subtleties of the acting and the comic timing which all belied the young age of the performers, but what struck me even more was the enjoyment these children got from performing and their sheer enthusiasm, confidence and the sense of belonging.

School performances are normally viewed as being for the parents and relatives of the children involved. Well forget that. This was a performance that would be enjoyed by anybody. It was a great production, fantastic fun and the audience thoroughly enjoyed it.

 (More photos can be seen HERE)

Congratulationsto the girls' from Castle Bromwich Junior Schools' 4 a side footballteam  who won the North Solihull Championship. The schoolhas a fantastic record of achievement in sports and offers a diverserange of sporting opportunities to its pupils to ensure that all canparticipate and enjoy. Why not check out their website and learn more about the things that are going on in the school?