Governors Report to Parents 2021/22

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 9th November at 5.30pm. 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 8th November.

Welcome from Chair of Governors

While Covid hasn’t gone away, the last year has brought us far closer to where we want to be as a school. The last few years have been difficult for everyone, but a huge amount of work has gone into ensuring the children of Oldcastle continue to receive the best education, while also focusing on the wellbeing of both our children and staff.

On behalf of all the governors, I would like to thank every member of staff for everything they’ve done and continue to do, particularly with the huge amount of work that has gone into the new Curriculum for Wales. We are confident that the school is in a fantastic place and that we will have a curriculum that brings out the very best in all of our children.

It should be noted that it's been Mrs Littlewood’s first full year as substantive Headteacher. Again, on behalf of all the governors, I would like to thank Mrs Littlewood for her leadership over the year and all the positive changes that have been introduced to the school, including within the Governing Body.

It has been an incredibly busy year; there are almost too many highlights. However, I have to mention Barney, Enrichment sessions, the return of School Sports Day, the success of our rugby and netball teams, Careers Week, the Jubilee Celebrations, our Radio Station, the Year 6 Activity Week and lastly, Rewards Day. Once again, this couldn’t be done without the passion and commitment of the staff, and the support and enthusiasm of the children, their families, governors, and our wider community.

It has also been my first year as Chair of Governors. I’m still learning, but I am confident that alongside my colleagues on the Governing Body, we can provide the support and challenge that our school needs and deserves. As a school, we want to encourage an approachable, inclusive, and ‘open-door’ policy and this extends to the Governing Body - so please get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions.

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 2021/22

School Improvement Plan - Targets 2022/23

Vision and Leadership

• Governor Self-Evaluation

• Professional Development for all staff in line with Curriculum for Wales (CfW)

• Distributed leadership to ensure high expectations, high-quality learning and teaching and produce high standards in line with the CfW and assessment

Learning and Teaching

• Continue to build a curriculum that underpins the Four Purposes, that is broad and balanced and based on the six Areas of Learning and Experience.

• Introduce The Literary Curriculum, Planning Sequences, Literary Leaves and Spelling Seeds.

• Develop whole class reading from Nursery to Year 6.

Wellbeing, Equity and Inclusion

• Continue to Improve our universal provision of teaching and learning to be able to meet the well-being and learning needs of each and every pupil.

• Embed a whole school framework to Wellbeing and Mental Health.

• Embed a whole school framework to Equality and Diversity

• Embed a Person-Centred-Planning (PCP) approach in all aspects of our school life to achieve effective inclusion for all learners

Curriculum Overview 2021/22

In 2021 Curriculum Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE) leaders were appointed to develop a curriculum that underpins the Four Purposes of the new curriculum. AoLE governors were appointed to ensure a whole school approach to a purpose-led curriculum.

A Google site was developed to update parents on the school's curriculum journey, and parent meetings and focus groups were held to discuss and explain the curriculum for Wales.

A Junior Leadership/Pupil Voice team was appointed to share ideas and focus on creating a team where they regularly engage with the new curriculum and how it links to their learning.

Teachers worked with the cluster schools to ensure that content and progression were met along the 3-16 continuum.

Staff meetings were allocated to allow all staff to develop new planning to incorporate all six AoLEs, The What Matters Statements, Descriptions of Learning and Progression Steps.

The Senior and Middle Leadership Teams undertook reading and research through the National Approach for Professional Learning and Research Ed and attended professional learning sessions to devise a curriculum that meets the needs of all learners. The curriculum mapping group held weekly meetings to build a curriculum based on the school's vision. Senior Leaders have also attended network meetings to collaborate with and discuss the curriculum implementation with many schools across the region.

INSET days and staff meetings were designated for all staff to work collaboratively to design a purpose-led curriculum.

Oldcastle’s curriculum is coherent, progressive and rigorous. The school uses the Curriculum for Wales 2022 framework to plan for all six Areas of Learning and Experience and the Cross-Curricular Responsibilities (CCRs) of Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Competence. These provide class teachers with a guide to plan for skills, knowledge and experiences at the appropriate Progression Step for individuals.

The school transitioned to a concept-based curriculum where learning is transferred across all AoLEs and encompasses all 27 Statements of What Matters. Subject-specific learning is developed through conceptual understanding, ensuring mandatory curriculum components of Religion, Values and Ethics, Relationships and Sexuality Education, Welsh and English are embedded along with the cross-curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence. Cross-curricular themes are infused throughout the curriculum design and developed through focused themed weeks.

The school has devised 3 overarching themes (one for each term) and units of work sit under these for each year group. Timetabling encompasses the six AoLEs in order to be broad and balanced. This includes extracurricular activities and enrichment afternoons.

New Curriculum for Wales

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

Curriculum and Additional Learning Needs (ALN)

The school’s SEN/ ALN policy is available to read in school.

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. From September 2021 any new children to ALN were included in the Act, year groups are then being introduced on a rolling program from January 2022.

Our SEN register has been reviewed in line with the new ALN Act. Currently the number of pupils registered with ALN is 1.8%, these pupils have been identified and a draft Individual Development Plan (IDP) has been formulated.

Children who can be provided with the school’s universal provision will be monitored at a class action level, many of these pupils were currently identified as school action/ school action plus. Children in the year groups Nursery, Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 have proceeded onto IDPs from January 2022. Children in Reception, Year 2 and Year 6 will stay on IEPs for the academic year (2021/22) and then it will be discussed if they require an IDP to start in September 2022.

During the summer term a new sensory room was designed and developed, creating an environment for 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.

Curriculum Cymreig

Oldcastle Primary is an English-medium school, but considerable work has been undertaken in order to deliver and improve the skills and confidence of staff throughout the school. There are three teachers who are fluent with another three members of staff who have strong Welsh language skills.

Incidental Welsh is encouraged throughout the school and across all subjects, in order to help children become familiar with the language on a daily basis. Every class has a daily ‘Helper Heddiw’ while Miss Craven has curated an online library of Welsh resources. Training among staff includes lessons delivered by Miss Craven for individual teachers to observe, theme-specific training on Welsh vocabulary covering subjects such as biology, maths, and using basic directions, delivered through coding.

The children have also participated in a ‘Welsh Week’, promoting Welsh music, history, culture, and geography while all classes now use ‘tri, dau, un’ as part of classroom management.

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

Wellbeing at the school is important for children, staff and parents.

In September 2021, the school launched a new rewards scheme as part of the Positive Behaviour Policy. All children in the school are allocated a house colour and can gain points for a variety of reasons including positive behaviour, good manners and working well in class. At the end of every term house colour tokens are totalled and all children receive a reward. Previous rewards have included breakfast with the headteacher, extra playtime and time with Barney, the wellbeing dog. The reward scheme culminates in the summer term with a whole school reward day when children get to take part in a large event - in the summer of 2022 a fairground style event was created for all children to take part in throughout the day.

The school has a number of whole school celebrations throughout the year. These have included a Mad Hatters Tea Party, Christmas Event and a Jubilee celebration. The school has an active PTA who work together with the school to create these events.

Oldcastle has a wellbeing dog and Barney is very much part of the team at Oldcastle. Barney will greet pupils and parents at the start of the school day and the wellbeing champions use him to support pupils within the school.

The Pupil Voice Champions in Oldcastle are integral to the success of the school. Pupil Voice champions include the junior leadership team who meet on a regular basis with the senior leadership team who have an input into school development.

In September 2021, we introduced an Enrichment Programme, which enabled all children and staff to come off timetable on Friday afternoons and participate in a wide range of activities including cooking, creative arts, board games, sporting activities and even fencing! The children have thoroughly enjoyed taking part and we will continue to run our Enrichment Programme for the enjoyment of all ages.

We welcomed back our School Sports Day after a two year pause due to the covid pandemic. It was wonderful to see all the children together down the athletics area of Newbridge Fields and also to welcome back the parents and carers to watch the children having fun.

We have also been able to run our afterschool sports clubs and currently offer cricket, football, netball and rugby to various year groups. Our netball team played competitive games against other primary schools in the Bridgend area and we participated in a Festival of Rugby in Brynteg School.

In 2021, Oldcastle Primary School achieved the Schools Mental Health Award. The award enables evaluation of the overall mental health and wellbeing support and strategies that exist within our school, whilst also helping to give structure to the development plan for improvements in mental health.

We work very hard to be a healthy school and are part of the Bridgend Healthy School Scheme. We achieved our Phase 5 Award in the previous academic year, and are continuing to work towards the Phase 6 Award by assessing and monitoring our progress in the areas of Safety, Hygiene, Food and Fitness, Mental and Emotional Health and Wellbeing, Substance Use and Misuse, Personal Development and Relationships, and Environment.

Staff wellbeing is paramount and we ensure that a healthy work life balance is encouraged. Communication within the staff team is very strong and a positive team ethic exists. Staff have an opportunity to join the staff netball team, a secret buddy scheme and the school coordinates flu and other vaccines as required.

Parents and other community members are key to the success of Oldcastle and are regularly invited to take part in events. The school has an open door policy and encourages parents to be part of the school community.

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. We have had 423 children and staff join the school savings club since launching in 2017.

School Developments

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

Radio Station

The purpose built facility was created in February 2021 and is designed to be all about the children broadcasting to other children. The radio station allows children to understand how professional sound and recording equipment works and develop these skills throughout their time in Oldcastle. The school has created Radio Champions from a selection of years 5 and 6 pupils and these Champions are tasked with developing the scheduling for the radio station, choosing music and developing show content. The best thing about the radio station is that all 430 pupils in the school from nursery to year 6 can listen to the radio show as it is broadcast through the school internet. Following a competition in school the radio station name was decided as ‘Oldcastle Sounds’.

Sensory Room

A cloakroom space was remodelled and a new area called the Sensory Room was created in April 2022. A sensory room is a specially designed room which combines a range of stimuli to help individuals develop and engage their senses. These can include lights, colours, sounds, sensory soft play objects and aromas all used within a safe environment that allows the person using it to explore and interact without risk. The room has plush carpet, specialist lighting, writable walls and will have blackout shutters installed.

Ceiling Works

The local authority made improvements to the ceiling areas downstairs in the junior building by boarding some areas. A suspended ceiling and new energy saving LED lighting will be installed as part of a programme of works identified by the local authority.

Memory Garden

The past few years have been challenging for our school staff, pupils and parents, and as a school we feel it is important to remember this period and support those who have lost loved ones. We plan to create a dedicated Memory Garden in our school grounds and create a space that can be used for reflection and remembrance. A plaque has been installed and we plan to hold a memorial service for our parents in the coming year.

Outdoor learning

During this period, the school governors approved a detailed proposal to make improvement to the outdoor play and learning provision at Oldcastle. A consdierable investment was made to provide outdoor learning and play equipment for all outdoor areas in the school over the period September 2021 to March 2022.

New flooring

New flooring was installed in the main reception circulation areas in April 2022. The new flooring makes an impact in the main circulation areas and is easier to maintain and clean.

Toilet facilities

The school has 10 toilets for pupils and 5 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)

We are delighted to have such a fantastic relationship between the school and the PTA with our joint vision of making memories for our children.

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 the Autumn Term we tried a few new events - a Wreath Making Evening and Christmas Jumper Sale. Children took part in drawing their own Christmas Designs which could be purchased on mugs, tea towels etc.

The PTA were then delighted to be part of supporting the first Christmas Concerts for 2 years. Whilst held outside they were magical. We had Christmas trees and lights sponsored by Local Businesses. These trees were then delivered to local care and children's homes in our community.

A Fabulous Christmas event was also arranged for the Whole School. A very cheeky elf on the shelf caused some chaos In the classrooms, treasure hunt and parties in the classrooms. All the children had a visit to our Magical Grotto to visit Father Christmas.

The PTA decided in the New Year to concentrate on 2 main events - Platinum Jubilee and Oldcastle Rocks.

To celebrate the Jubilee we held a street party on the main yard. The children were dressed in different eras from the Queens reign. All the Children were together in the yard with Street Entertainers. Acrobats, jugglers, stilt walkers and a circus school. An amazing day which finished with our Jubilee Cake Competition. The school received the most fantastic entries from so many parents, grandparents and children. We were truly blown away. The sale of these cakes supported the next event - Oldcastle Rocks.

The PTA's vision for Oldcastle Rocks was to create a family friendly music festival for the Whole Community to enjoy. So many parents gave up their time to make this event a success, we can't thank them enough. Local Businesses sponsored different parts of the event from the Inflatables to the animal encounters, even to the bread rolls. Our artists were all parents/grandparents and our own School Choir. We even had Belly Dancers. The sun shone, the music played and a great time was had by all.

The PTA and the school look forward to making more memories this year.

Finance

Our school receives its funding from the Local Authority (BCBC). The amount is based on the Budget Formula which takes into account pupil numbers and the estimated cost of maintaining the buildings. Other monies are available to the school 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 headteacher manages the budget in consultation with BCBC and the finance committee of the 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 good effective management of the budget, the school has been able to generate an underspend. This is used as a contingency fund to safeguard our staffing levels, so that all pupils are taught in straight year groups, to support any major projects which include outdoor learning, outdoor classroom, updated I.T. equipment, extra resources and projects that enhance and improve the learning environment and opportunities 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 extra 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 valued and appreciated.

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 external charities – The school council ‘Children’s Voice’ select charities each year to support. In the last year the school has donated £3510 for the following charities: Children in Need and the Disaster Emergency fund for Afghanistan

Total underspend to be carried forward £278,145. This underspend is allocated for projects in the planning stage, these include toilet refurbishment, the new literacy scheme. A percentage is also ring fenced to support delivery of the New Curriculum for Wales and to aid with delivery of the schools covid recovery plan.

The estimated budget, income and expenditure for the forthcoming year 2022-232 have been calculated and should result in another projected underspend, although some of this is already earmarked for forthcoming projects. This will allow us to continue to provide a progressive, effective and safe learning environment for our children

Attendance

At Oldcastle school, we believe that every student is entitled to the highest possible quality of education. We are committed to providing a full, rich, effective and appropriate education for all its pupils. We aim to celebrate achievement and it is recognised that regular attendance plays a vital part in enabling children to take advantage of the educational opportunities offered to them. Attendance is crucial to the continuity of learning experiences and hence effective learning.

As with all aspects of our work at Oldcastle Primary School, attendance is considered a partnership between parents and the school. The 1944 Education Act states that parents are required to ensure that their children receive efficient full-time education whether by regular school attendance or otherwise. It is, therefore, the responsibility of everyone at Oldcastle Primary to monitor and support attendance and to investigate problems which lead to non-attendance. Our school Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) works closely with Miss Lyndsey Hodgson (Assistant Headteacher) and Mrs Lisa Diehl (Family Engagement Officer) and the governors in monitoring and supporting attendance. Both poor attendance and lateness is being targeted through phone calls and meetings so that we can work together with families to over come the barriers surrounding their child’s non- attendance.

The schools attendance for the academic year 2021-2022 was 92.1%. We will continue to strive to work on this target with families.

Term Dates

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

List of Current Governors