Governors Report to Parents 2022/23

The Governing Body 

The role of the Governing Body is to provide strategic management, and to act as a critical friend, supporting the work of the Headteacher and other staff.

The full Governing Body usually meets once each term, but under special circumstances, they may need to have extra-ordinary meetings, but these are very rare.

The Governors at Oldcastle Primary use a committee structure to undertake their monitoring and evaluation roles. Membership and terms of reference of the committees are determined annually. Finance, Staffing, Admissions, Health and Safety, Curriculum and Complaints committees are examples. These committees meet outside of the full Governors meetings, as required, to discuss specific issues that arise throughout the year. Each committee reports fully to the whole Governing Body through its agenda/minutes.

All governing body minutes are available from the school website.   A list of the current Governing Body is available in the Report Appendix.

No Governors claimed any expenses for fulfilling their duties on the Governing Body during the year. The Clerk to the Governing Body is provided by the school and is currently Mrs Addell Whiteley. 

Feedback / Questions from Parents

We will hold a 'Meet the Governors' event on 15th November at 6pm.  As an alternative we are offering parents the opportunity to complete this Feedback / Comments Form to provide feedback or ask the governors any questions regarding the Annual Report to Parents.  Please return  by 13th November.

Welcome from Chair of Governors

I can hardly believe how quickly time has passed, but I'm grateful to have been a member of the Board of Governors since my eldest child attended Oldcastle. He's now in his second year of university, so it's certainly been a few years. My eldest daughter is now in Year 8 at Brynteg, while my youngest is starting her final year at Oldcastle. As a school governor for most of that time, I have seen how happy the children are at school and the commitment and passion of the staff towards providing all our children with the best education possible, in a safe and welcoming environment.

Each passing year seems to bring more activities, and last year was no exception. Our family engagement officer re-started language and play sessions, while all age groups benefited from our outdoor learning provision, careers week, school savings, sports and extra-curricular clubs and, of course, our Friday Enrichment programme. Beyond that, a significant amount of time went into designing and implementing the new curriculum. This year gives Oldcastle the chance to really take advantage of all the opportunities this new curriculum can provide.

We also had the long-awaited nursery toilet refurbishment, emergency repairs to the drains and new fencing which inevitably caused disruption around the school. A big thank you to everyone, especially staff, for their patience.

As a governing body, our aim is to provide the support and challenge our school needs and deserves, whether that’s through full governing body meetings, committee meetings or individual governor visits during the school day. For all members of the Oldcastle community, we will continue to do everything we can to nurture an approachable, inclusive, ‘open-door’ policy for everyone. With that in mind, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thanks to our staff, children, families, governors and PTA for all the work, encouragement and support. We couldn’t do it without any of you.

Here’s to another good year at Oldcastle!

Kind regards,

Damian Faulkner

Chair of Governors

School Prospectus

The School Prospectus is available on the school website and paper copies are available from the school office. School Prospectus

School Improvement Plan - Evaluation 2022/23

School Improvement Plan - Targets 2023/24

Our school is committed to fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability to ensure the best possible educational experience for our pupils. To achieve this, we are using the following questions to serve as the framework for our evaluation and improvement. 

Vision and Leadership 

• How well does leadership positively influence the quality of teaching to enable learners to progress in relation to the four purposes and the principles of progression?

• How well does leadership promote and use collaboration to improve learning, wellbeing, teaching and the curriculum?

• How well does leadership include stakeholders?

• How well does leadership establish and maintain a positive and inclusive learning and teaching environment?

Learning and Teaching 

• How well do learners develop growing sophistication in literacy, numeracy and digital skills?

• How well does our curriculum design and delivery enable appropriate progression for all learners along the continuum of learning in accordance with the principles of progression?

• How well does our curriculum design and delivery provide broad and balanced learning experiences?

• How well does the school support improvement to curriculum, teaching and learning through professional learning, collaboration and innovation?

Well-being, Equity and Inclusion

• How well does our school ethos, environment and provision support learners' and staffs’ emotional well-being and mental health?

• How well does the school promote and celebrate diversity?

• How well does the school support learners to have high rates of attendance and participation in learning?

• How well does the school meet the needs of learners with ALN and ensure they make the progress they should?

• How effective is the school at keeping learners safe?

• How well does the school draw on contributions from the community and other partners to develop its vision for learning, teaching and the curriculum?

• How well does our school ethos, environment and provision support learners to be physically active and healthy?

• How well does the school meet the needs of learners who are disadvantaged by poverty?

Curriculum Overview 2022/23

Over 2022/23, Oldcastle continued to embed a concept-based curriculum based on the principles within the Curriculum for Wales framework. Teachers planned lessons related to Units of Work and provided opportunities to develop pupils’ knowledge, skills and experiences across all six areas of learning. 

During the Autumn Term of 2022/23, the Literacy Tree Curriculum was introduced across the school, with whole-staff training taking place. High-quality texts supported teaching literacy knowledge and skills, and pupils were immersed in the new programme. Oldcastle became a Flagship School in the Summer Term and was recognised as a champion of the Literacy Tree Curriculum. 

Members of the Governing Body conducted an assessment of the new literacy scheme, speaking to staff and Pupil Voice representatives, alongside classroom observations. Feedback from pupils and staff was extremely positive and high levels of engagement and creativity was seen within the lessons.

Voice 21 was introduced as a framework to develop Oracy, with all classrooms utilising the Oracy Framework to develop speaking and listening skills within the classroom. 

The school successfully gained a Bronze Award in the Siarter Iaith for Welsh Language Competence. We also held a Welsh Week to promote Welsh culture and heritage, with pupils entering the school Eisteddfod. 

Mathematics and Numeracy continued to be developed across the school, using Sentence Stems to enhance pupils' vocabulary and mathematical understanding. The use of concrete materials continues to support pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts as they master solving complex problems. 

Another Governor review was conducted with a combination of observation and conversations with Pupil Voice and staff. The assessment concluded that the approach to maths and numeracy was working successfully, with the pupils being able to talk confidently about the concepts and approaches used by their teachers.

Staff meetings and INSET days were allocated to discuss assessment, progression, literacy, planning and curriculum adaptations. All staff discussed what assessment and progress look like at Oldcastle, and the introduction of Progress Profiles enabled personalised and robust assessment. 

Teachers continued to work within the Cluster Network and Central South Consortium, attending meetings with the Health and Wellbeing and Science and Technology teams. 

Senior Leaders continually revised curriculum and assessment design and adapted planning and assessment tools to meet the needs of the pupils and staff at Oldcastle. 

Middle Leaders worked on developing frameworks based on Mental Health and Well Being, and Diversity and Equality. A Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE), and Sexuality, Relationship Education (SRE) framework was produced during this year. AoLE Leads continued to meet regularly to discuss the design of mapping the curriculum content across the school to ensure coverage and progression. 

Oldcastle continues to embed and develop cross-curricular skills within its curriculum, using mapping documents to aid progression in digital skills and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) within the school’s values. 

Continuing to provide a supplementary curriculum, Oldcastle had a broad enrichment programme. Activities for pupils included fencing, rugby, netball, coding, green-screen, recorders, Thai cooking and line dancing. Pupils gained valuable experiences and were provided the opportunity to widen their experiences. 

A successful Careers Week was held for the second year to promote the cross-curricular element of Careers and Work-Related Experience within the Curriculum for Wales. We were grateful to have many visitors who spoke about their jobs and provided interesting and engaging activities for our pupils. 

Outdoor Learning was developed across the school by purchasing high-quality outdoor equipment. Staff training was provided to all staff to enhance their ability to provide outdoor learning. An Outdoor Learning Champion was allocated to provide bespoke outdoor provision for the following academic year.

New Curriculum for Wales

Our curriculum vision for Oldcastle can be viewed on our website - Our Curriculum Vision

Curriculum and Additional Learning Needs (ALN)

In Wales, SEN provision has been reviewed The term SEN has been replaced by Additional Learning Needs (ALN). In line with this change there is a new ALN Act which was introduced in September 2021.  The Act is being introduced in stages.  

Our register has been reviewed in line with the new ALN Act. Currently the number of pupils registered with ALN is 5, these pupils have been identified and an Individual Development Plan (IDP) has been formulated; this includes targeted additional learning provision (ALP) to support the child.  

Additional learning provision - ALP (Children who have an IDP will access ALP)

This is specific provision for a few pupils where it is necessary to provide highly tailored provision. Only pupils that have been officially identified as having an ALN would be in this stage.

We work closely with a number of agencies to ensure children's needs are met; Early Help, Speech and Language, Cognitive and Learning, Complex Medical Teams and Communication and Relationship Teams.

We have Thrive provision which support our pupils with emotional needs through class, group and individual Thrive sessions. ‘Thrive’ is a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development. Research has shown that how we behave is linked to how we feel and our emotions are linked to how we learn. By teaching children to recognise and notice these feelings and emotions it can help with their development and learning.  Children sometimes need some extra support with their emotional growth and this can be temporary or over a longer period of time.

Our sensory room which has now been used for over a year, was designed and developed creating an environment for all children who need a quiet and relaxing timeout of the classroom. This has already proven to be an excellent space and will help to provide support for children with additional sensory needs.

Lyndsey Hodgson, Assistant Head, is responsible for ALN needs within the school.

Nerys Sales and Angela Minton are the Governors with specific responsibly to ALN.

Curriculum Cymreig

Criw Cymraeg is a group that promotes the use of Welsh in school, and they achieve this through various means, including planning enrichment programs and introducing Welsh phrases in assemblies. They create posters and a Padlet and use tokens as a reward system across the school. Welsh assemblies are held regularly, where they can present the Cwestiwn yr Wythnos. Criw Cymraeg also aims to involve parents in Welsh learning.

Thanks to the efforts of Criw Cymraeg, a Welsh atmosphere has been established in the school. The school uses Welsh words and phrases in class, and they have a welcoming Cwtsh Cymraeg that uses Welsh vocabulary. The main entrance features a vivid display exclusive to the Criw Cymraeg, and QR codes are available to display the school's Cymraeg Campus journey. Signs are bilingual, and the Welsh language is used throughout the school, especially in the dinner hall, P.E. hall, music room, and maths rooms.

Incidental Welsh is encouraged in classrooms, with daily Helpwr Heddiw sessions. The Criw Cymraeg actively promotes and monitors the use of incidental Welsh and the use of Welsh throughout the day. Reading resources in Welsh are visible in classrooms and designated reading locations, such as The Book Nook. QR codes are used in classrooms to enable students to access Welsh reading material via iPads.

This year, a student competed in the National Urdd Eisteddfod, and the school is eager to expand its involvement with the Urdd and the Eisteddfod in the future.

Welsh is integrated across the curriculum, with a current focus on mathematical vocabulary. Working Walls in classrooms and the music room display a wide range of Welsh terminology and language patterns appropriate to the respective subjects. Both students and teachers are enthusiastic about learning Welsh, and the school'

Teaching Timings

The hours per week for lessons are based on the national recommendation:

Age 5 to 7 years = 21 hours

Age 8 to 11 years = 23.5 hours

Wellbeing and Sport

At Oldcastle, we prioritise the well-being and health of our students, staff, parents, and other stakeholders. We believe that celebrating events and accomplishments brings us closer together. In 2022 we celebrated Christmas with a series of fantastic concerts and a visit from the Grinch. The PTA works closely with the school to organise many of our events, and the children certainly enjoyed our party celebrating the King's Coronation.

Oldcastle's Pupil Voice Champions, including the junior leadership team, regularly meet with senior leadership to provide input on school growth, while Enrichment remains a hugely popular programme, with children participating in a variety of activities every Friday afternoon. These activities have included a variety of sports such as tennis and fencing, Thai cookery, Lego building, and various arts and crafts.

We offer after-school sports clubs in rugby, football, netball, cricket, and rounders. Our rugby team won the South Wales Police Tournament while our tennis teams have also been very successful, winning Bridgend Schools tournaments as well as South Wales finals across a range of age groups. We have also witnessed growth in our cross-country teams, with students of all abilities competing in years 3-6. The season ended with numerous personal bests and three gold awards for our trophy collection.

Our Sports Day saw children from Years 1 to 6 compete for their houses on the Athletics Field at Newbridge Fields. Nursery and Reception held their own Sports Day at Heronsbridge School.

We continue to follow a healthy school policy, focusing on Food, Fitness, and Hygiene. Our Thrive practitioners work directly with the children, giving crucial support to ensure their wellbeing and mental and emotional health. Wellbeing has also been a focus for our staff, with the school actively supporting a good work-life balance.

Barney, our wellbeing dog, remains our most popular staff member; he can typically be found greeting children and parents in the schoolyard each morning but is also found visiting the children's classes.

Finally, thanks to our families who provide a lot of support and encouragement, our local community remains so important to our school and we will always welcome parents and carers to events and workshops.

School Savings Club

Oldcastle Primary School has operated a successful school savings club in conjunction with Bridgend Lifesavers Credit Union since 2017.  Children are able to pay money into their account every week on a particular day at the school and are issued with their own School Savings Book to keep track of their savings.  The school provides every new starter with £2 to start off their savings and this is deposited in the account on their first visit to the club.  Children also receive a piggy bank to encourage them to save coins at home.

The school savings club offers an excellent opportunity for pupils to save each week at school and learn about money management.  We aim to combine financial education, family engagement and promote partnership working within the community to help teach children from an early age the value of saving while learning valuable money management and life skills.  Children help run the savings club and will act as the banker to collect money, recording the deposits in the savings book and collate the appropriate paperwork for the credit union.  The school currently has 288 plus savers in the scheme.

School Developments

Throughout the last year the school has been involved in a couple of projects to make improvements to the school.   

Nursery Toilets

The nursery toilet area has been completely refurbished with the installation of new toilets, cubicles and wash facilities.  The toilets look fabulous and really make a difference to the area. 

Drain Project

The Local Authority have implemented a schedule to replace underground drainage systems within the school boundary.  The drains were identified in need of urgent replacement and a five phase project has taken place over the last year.   

Sound System

The main hall sound system was upgraded in March 2023.  The system is used throughout the day by various classes as well as larger scale productions. 

Canteen Facilities

Catering Services installed new cooking and washing equipment in the canteen facility to aid the implementation of universal free school meals.

Toilet facilities

The school has adequate provision of toilets for pupils and 6 for adults including disabled provision for both adults and pupils. In the old infant block there are separate toilet facilities for all children: one dedicated to the Nursery and Reception classes, one for boys, one for girls and a disabled toilet. In the new Foundation Phase block there is one set of toilets for year 1/2 boys and 1/2 girls plus a separate set of toilet for reception age pupils. In the junior block there are two sets of toilets for girls and two sets of toilets for boys. All of which are cleaned daily.

Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Community Links

The PTA have had another fantastic year, and the relationship with the School and our joint vision of making memories for our children continues to strengthen. In order to create these memories we have held some amazing fundraising events which have been supported by so many parents and our local community.

During Autumn Term we held the Wreath Making Evening, which was very popular once again. We held an autumn disco in October and for the second year running the children took part in drawing their own Christmas designs which could be purchased on cards, mugs, tea towels etc. The PTA were very happy to be able to provide tea, coffee, mince pies for parents, guardians and visitors at the Christmas concerts also.  We then provided another fabulous Christmas Event for the Whole School. ‘The Grinch’ proved very popular with the children and staff, and gave everyone some entertainment and laughter, and caused some mischief and chaos too! All the children had a great time at the Christmas disco and enjoyed taking part in the treasure hunt also.

The King's Coronation was our next event. Flowers and plants were planted by all the children in the colours red, white and blue to represent the Union Jack flag. We had received many donations from members of the local community, parents, guardians and local garden centres which we are extremely grateful for. We also had a visit from the Mayor and local councillors who very generously gave a donation of seeds to every child in commemoration of this memorable day.

Oldcastle Rocks was a huge success once again, and encompassed our vision of a family friendly music festival for the whole community. Performers ranged from some very talented parent singers, a local ukulele group, a welsh women’s choir, our very own school guitarists and school choir. Once again we have to thank local businesses for their sponsorship, and donations. And not forgetting our wonderful parents who gave up their time to make this event a success as well as pulling together to bring in an amazing array of raffle donations that ensured a great day was had by all. We believe this event highlights the essence and spirit of Oldcastle, and is a great way to invite members of our local community to come and enjoy with us.

The school endeavours to continue to make links within our local community through attending local sports competitions, Urdd Eisteddfod competitions, visiting care homes and local groups with the school choir, connecting and communicating with various local professionals during our careers week, and visiting local places of interest for educational experiences.

Finance

Our school receives its funding from the Local Education Authority (LEA). The amount is based on pupil numbers and the estimated cost of maintaining the buildings – budget formula.

Other monies are available from educational grants and awards. The school also applies for external grants for specific needs e.g. sports, arts, culture etc.

This final budget pays for the general running costs of the school – heating and lighting, staff salaries, books, equipment, and general maintenance work. 

The head teacher manages the budget in consultation with the LEA and governing body. Specific requirements are prioritised, along with the financial implications of the school development and improvement plan. These are discussed and agreed by the governing body. The budget is then set to facilitate all projected financial needs. 

Through the effective management of the budget, the school has been able to create an underspend. This to be used as a contingency fund to safeguard our staffing levels so that all pupils are taught in straight year groups. Also to support any major projects which include outdoor learning, outdoor classroom, updated I.T. equipment, extra resources and projects to enhance and improve the learning environment for our children and staff.

Our school also has its own private school fund, where donations and money collected from special fund-raising ventures are deposited. This fund supports our sports clubs, Eco Committee, school council and other groups or activities within the school. This fund is managed by the head teacher, staff and governing body.

Here at Oldcastle we have a very active PTA – Parent, teachers and friends association. The money donated to school by the PTA makes a huge impact on our spending plans, enabling us to buy equipment and resources that we need. The PTA make regular donations to projects within the school and support all our clubs and committees. Their hard work and generosity is much appreciated.  This year they organised and funded a Christmas event for all children in the school and donated and helped with the Mad Hatters tea party.

Funds for music tuition lessons and after school clubs is paid for by parent contributions, all monies raised are used to support the individual activities. 

Fundraising for Charities – The school council ‘Children’s Voice’ select charities each year to support. In the last year the school has collected £931.87 in total.   £180.62 of this was an internal collection for an outdoor learning project within the school  and  £751.25 was collected  for the following external charities:

• Children in Need

• Velindre

Attendance 

It is recognised that regular attendance plays a vital part in enabling children to take full advantage of their education. At Oldcastle, we believe every student is entitled to the highest possible quality of education. We are committed to providing a full, rich, effective and appropriate education where achievement is celebrated. 

Attendance is crucial to the continuity of learning experiences and effective learning, and as with everything we do at Oldcastle, attendance is considered a partnership between families and the school. 

The 1944 Education Act states that parents must ensure that their children receive efficient full-time education, whether by regular school attendance or otherwise. Therefore, everyone at Oldcastle Primary monitors and supports attendance and investigates problems that lead to non-attendance. 

Our Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) works closely with Miss Lyndsey Hodgson (Assistant Headteacher), Mrs Lisa Diehl (Family Engagement Officer) and the governors in monitoring and supporting attendance. As a result, poor attendance and lateness are being targeted through phone calls and meetings so that we can work together with families to overcome the barriers surrounding their child’s non-attendance. 

The school's academic year 2022-2023 attendance was 93.8%. The attendance for girls was 94.3% and 93.4% for boys.

Below is a breakdown of days lost by category:

• 1007 days – term time school holidays

• 2313 days - illness

• 195 days - medical appointments

We will continue to work on attendance with families and hope you will continue to support us by trying wherever possible to take holidays during school holidays and booking appointments outside of school hours.

Term Dates

Term dates are published on our website and follow those set by Bridgend County Borough Council.  The school has a number of inset days that are set in conjunction with our cluster schools. The inset days are published on our school website.

List of Current Governors