Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

Welcome to week 10 of the school year. This newsletter is jam packed full of important information please read on for more information. There is a huge amount of information from our PTA regarding exciting events they have planned for both adults and our children!

School Logo

We are delighted to let parents know that we have refreshed our school artwork - we hope you like it! Over the coming weeks we will start to refresh banners and posters around the school. We will also use the new template on our social media sites to promote the great things that are happening in school.

Reward Scheme

Children love the virtual assembly that we hold on a Friday morning and finding out how their house colour is doing in other parts of the school. Our house captains collect their class tokens on a Friday afternoon and empty these into our token collector in the main reception. The reception token collector is starting to fill up nicely this term and lots of classes have been asking for more tokens as they have run out! We look forward to keeping parents up to date on the collection of the tokens.

Junior Leaders

At the beginning of the week we filmed parts of our video for the Super Ambassador Project. We got Barney involved and he is the star of the show! This project will be sent to the Children's Commissioner as we work on developing our school's well-being and completing our first mission! On Thursday we were invited to work with a partnership university to interview potential PGCE trainee teachers. Friday was Children in Need and it was great to raise money for such a worthwhile cause.

Enrichment Programme

Another fantastic week of enrichment today. This term we have a vast range of activities happening across the school. These range from model making, weaving, crafts, martial arts, knitting, Lego club, badminton, netball, rugby and boxing! Phew its certainly busy on Friday afternoons in Oldcastle.

Children in Need - Well Done Imogen!!

Christmas Event - Nursery and Reception

We are please to advise that the 'Littlest Christmas Elf Returns' production will be visiting school on December 14th (PM) and Nursery and Reception class children are invited to watch the performance, join in Santa’s workshop, meet elves, hear stories and dance along as the magic of Christmas is brought to life through charming puppetry and interactive drama.

The cost per child is £3.00 and to secure a place you should make payment through ParentPay by the end of November.

The performance will take place in school and children should attend school as normal on the day. Children can wear Christmas jumpers if they wish.

Pantomime - Years 1 to 6

We are delighted to inform parents of children in years 1 to 6 that we have been able to arrange a visit to the pantomime on Wednesday 15th December. The pantomime is Aladdin in the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl. Parents have been emailed details of the panto via Parent Pay with instructions on how to pay for the trip. Payment should be made by 26th November if you would like your child to attend the pantomime. We would like to reassure parents that a full risk assessment is in place for the visit to ensure we follow current Covid guidelines. We are liaising with the Grand Pavilion to ensure protocols are in place and these will be referenced in our risk assessment. We will share further details with parents nearer the time of the event. If you would like to discuss any aspect of the trip with us please get in touch.

We are currently looking at options for our children in Nursery and Reception and hope to be able to advise parents shortly if we are able to make arrangements.

STEM Week

We are very excited about our upcoming STEM week from Monday 29th November to Friday 3rd December. This year is based on the topic ‘Houses and Homes’ and we will be using the book 'If you Lived Here: Houses of the World'. Each year group will be given a page of the book as their project focus for the week.

On the Monday of STEM week, we will be given clues about what our house looks like and will make predictions based on this. Further, into the week we will all be designing and constructing our model houses which will lead to ‘The Streets of Oldcastle’ on Friday. On Friday afternoon, we will display our houses in the hallways of school and each year group will take a walk through the ‘streets’ to celebrate one another’s work. We look forward to sharing photos with parents throughout the week.

We would like to thank Swansea University, Morganstone Limited, Valleys to Coast, Keep Wales Tidy, Bridgend Fire Station, Willmott Dixon, Cenin Green Power, Bridgend College and Nuvision for their support in the development of our STEM week.

Carols on the Yard

We are also pleased to be able to offer parents the opportunity to join us and their children for Carols on the Yard. In previous years we have arranged this lovely event and we hope that parents will be able to join us in the run up to the Christmas period. The PTA have kindly offered to provide refreshments for sale at the events.

• Nursery and Reception - Monday 6th December 2pm to 3pm

• Years 1 and 2 - Wednesday 8th December 5.30pm to 6.30pm

• Years 3 and 4 - Thursday 9th December 5.30pm to 6.30pm

• Years 5 and 6 - Tuesday 7th December 6pm to 7pm

We will be operating guidelines for the carols on the yard performances and we ask that on;ly 2 adults per child attend. Siblings may attend but they must be supervised by parents and stay in the family group at all times. Children may wear Christmas jumpers to the performance if they wish.

School Savings Club

School Savings Club continues every Wednesday and we look forward to seeing our savers and hearing what they are saving for. 83 savers this week and we were delighted to have some of our year 5 pupils helping out with the club this week.

More information on the School Savings Club ca be found on our website. School Savings.

Christmas Dinner

It is with great regret that we wrote to you to inform you that we have received notification from the Local Authority, that due to staffing issues in their catering team, they are unable to provide a Christmas Dinner option to all primary schools. Therefore we are no longer able to offer Christmas Dinner to pupils on 9th / 10th December.

The Oldcastle team are extremely disappointed to be informed of this, and I want to reassure parents that we have discussed this decision with the local authority, however they feel they do not have the capacity to provide a Christmas dinner this year. We understand that pupils will be upset and disappointed and we can only apologise for this.

At this present time we hope to go ahead with our other planned Christmas activities including our Pantomime and Carol Concerts. We will keep you updated if this changes.

Once again please accept our apologies.

Christmas Jumpers

The PTA will be holding a Christmas Jumper sale on Tuesday 30th November from 3pm and are asking parents to donate any unwanted Christmas jumpers you may have. Please bring these into the collection box in main reception. Thank you for your support.

Christmas Wreath Making Workshop

The PTA have arranged a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop on Tuesday 30th November from 7pm. The cost is £25 - if you would like to attend please book a place via the link. The workshop will take place in the school hall. Places are limited. Wreath Making Booking Form

PTA Get Together

The PTA are arranging a get together on Thursday 2nd December from 6.30pm at Bridgend Tennis Club to make arrangements for the events they have planned over the next few weeks. Please complete the Google Form if you are able to attend the get together and help out at events. PTA Meeting Interest Form

Christmas Cards

Your child will have come home with their Christmas Card sample this week. To place orders please complete the order from on the front of the envelope and put the required money in the envelope. Seal the envelope and return to your child's teacher or the school office by next MONDAY 22nd November. Orders will then be placed and orders will be delivered back to school no later than 6th December. Thank you for supporting the PTA and helping to raise funds for our school.

Christmas Elf Day

The PTA are arranging an Elf Party Day for our children on Monday 13th December - we are so excited to learn about the event and we hope that Father Christmas will put in an appearance too!! Children will visit our very own grotto land and we hear that the PTA have arranged for it to snow on this day! We also hear that some naughty elves will be visiting and playing tricks on our staff and children and they will have to solve clues throughout the day. We can't wait to see what the PTA have planned on the 13th - we know from the Mad Hatters Tea Party last July that they like to go to town on the decorations when they plan an event!!

Thank You

We are so lucky to have an active PTA in Oldcastle - we can't thank the PTA enough for putting a smile on all our faces as well as raising money for the school.

School Governors - Parent Governor Vacancies

We have a number of parent governor vacancies and nominations are invited from all parents, or those with parental responsibility, of registered pupils at the school.

If you wish to nominate yourself for the position of parent governor, please submit a short personal statement of no more than 100 words and return it to the school no later than 29th November 2021. Nominations received after this date will not be considered. Please note applications must NOT exceed 100 words. Please email nominations to ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Following the closing date, the local authority will prepare ballot papers and these will be sent home to all parents. Further information on the voting process will be sent to parents at this point.

The term of office of a parent governor is four years from the date of appointment. A parent governor may serve out their term of office if their child leaves the school during the period of their term of office.

Safeguarding

In the event that you have a concern regarding a child please follow this procedure:

• During school hours please contact Mrs Ceri Littlewood, safeguarding lead at Oldcastle Primary School.

• Out of school hours please contact the out of hours Emergency Duty Team Tel No 01443849944

Flu Vaccine Consent - Reception to Year 6

Flu vaccines will be administered by the school nursing team on Wednesday 24th November for children whose parents have provided consent.

School Dinners

The catering team had a very busy day today with their highest amount of school dinners ever served at Oldcastle. The team served 263 hot dinners to our children - thank you from all of us in Oldcastle.

School dinner payment

Please note that payment for school dinners should be made via www.bridgend.gov.uk. The payment should be made 24 hours in advance.

Staying Safe Online

The website government 'Hwb' website has some very useful information for parents regarding keeping your child safe online. Please take a look at the information detailed here.

Diary Dates

24th November - Flu vaccine Reception to Year 6 children - more details will be sent to parents shortly

29th November to 3rd December - STEM Week

6th December - Nursery Carols on the Yard

7th December - Years 5 and 6 Carols on the Yard

8th December - Years 1 and 2 Carols on the Yard

9th December - Years 3 and 4 Carols on the Yard

13th December - Elf Party Day

14th December - Nursery and Reception Christmas Performance

15th December - Years 1 to 6 Trip to the Pantomime

Bridgend Schools Cross Country

Schools cross country competition will be held on Saturday 27th November 2021.

Children must be under 11 and be at least 9 years old on the day of competition and be under 11 years old on 31st August 2021.

Under 11's 1pm (1500m)

Event Address: Forage Farm, Penllyn Estate, Cowbridge. CF71 7FF

This event is open to pupils from schools in the Bridgend area..

Cost: £2 per entry

If you would like more information please contact the school. Mrs Evans (Year 6) will be in attendance on the day and will coordinate entries from Oldcastle Primary. Entries can be made via this google form School Cross Country Competition.

Nut Free School

We have a number of children in school with a nut allergy and we ask parents to be mindful of this when sending in a packed lunch or snack. We strive to be a nut free and we hope you can support us in this.

Grapes

Please can we ask that parents chop grapes in ahlf if they are sent into school with your child. Thank you for your support.

Year 2 went on a walk round the local streets this week and drew maps of their route in class. We hear that the pupils were very well behaved on their walk - da iawn!

Year 1 have been celebrating Nursery Rhyme Week and used their addition skills to play a fun games!

Mrs Hardy, our well-being champion, has been very busy with different year groups this week teaching sewing. Mrs Hardy is tasked with teaching children 'life skills' - last term she focused on gardening and now she is teaching pupils how to sew. Over the next few weeks Mrs Hardy will be undertaking cookery with a range of year groups. Here's a few photos of year 3 sewing.

Year 3 have also been making 3D skeletons in maths and used straws and plasticine to help with maths.

Year 6 Literacy Work

As part of their Literacy work, Year 6 have been re-writing a Silent Movie based on Walt Disney's Paperman. Pupils have written their own stories and recreated still photos to tell their stories. Not only have they developed their language features, they learned to edit, colour and crop photos but most importantly how to get the best photo to show the story and emotions of the characters. We are very proud of the work they collaboratively produced. Well done Year 6.

P.E. Days

Children should wear P.E. kit to school on the day their class has a P.E. session.

• Nursery - Friday

• Reception - Wednesday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Thursday

• Year 3 - Monday

• Year 4 - Wednesday

• Year 5 - Tuesday

• Year 6 - Thursday

Private Hire - Exercise Class

We have recently hired out our main hall to an exercise class and they have asked us to share the details with our parents in case anyone is interested.

Circuit Class - £5 per class, payable weekly.

No need for equipment everything supplied. Exercises adapted to everyone’s ability.

6pm – 7pm.

Please bring water/drink and towel.

Text/whats App/messenger to book place - Liz Roberts 07875171351 / Tony Poole 07590766084

Facebook page:- Tony Poole – Personal Trainer

At Oldcastle, we are proud of each other and ourselves. We nurture all of our community so that we grow as confident, responsible and happy people. Oldcastle school is more than just learning.

• We try hard for each other

• We act responsibly

• We treat people how we’d like to be treated

• We work as a team

• We trust and respect each other

• We listen and learn together

• We share knowledge and experience

Together we make the difference

Together we shape innovative experiences

More information on our values and visions can be found on our website. Visions and Values

COVID 19 Rules from 1st November

You will be aware that Welsh Government guidance changed last week regarding household self isolation. The details released by Welsh Government are as follows:

Fully vaccinated and children between the ages of 5 to 17 years

• If someone in your household has symptoms or has tested positive for coronavirus and you are fully vaccinated or aged 5 to 17 you should self-isolate and take a PCR test.

• If your test is negative you can stop isolating.

Children under 5 years

• Children aged under 5 do not have to self-isolate or take a test if they have been in contact with a positive case in their household or otherwise.

• Children aged 0 to 4 years old no longer need to take a PCR test, even if they have COVID-19 symptoms. This is unless a doctor advises there is a need for it. Also they can get tested if parents feel that a PCR test is necessary and in the best interests of the child.

• If a child has a PCR test and the test result is positive then the child will need to self-isolate for 10 days.

• For those children under 5 who have COVID-19 symptoms but are not tested for the virus they do not need to complete any formal period of self-isolation. However, we advise that those children should be kept home from school or childcare until they are well enough to return. A simple cough is not a reason to keep them home

Not fully vaccinated

• If someone in your household has tested positive and you are not fully vaccinated you should self-isolate for 10 days. You should take a PCR test on day 2 and day 8. You should self-isolate for 10 days even if your tests are negative.

If the above applies to you or your child please let us know by email ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk or by telephoning the school or 01656 815790.

Covid Symptoms

• high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

If your child does have a PCR please let us now via our ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk email address or by telephoning 01656 815790.