Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

We held our usual virtual assembly today and Mrs Littlewood informed the children about the process for house tokens over the next couple of weeks.

Tokens will be counted next week and rewards will now take place following half term due to Welsh Week taking place next week.

Following the assembly all children congregated on the yard in their house colours and house captains informed the children what they would be doing in Welsh Week next week. All houses were very vocal and cheered each other to encourage everyone to collect as many tokens as possible next week. It was lovely to see all our children out on the yard in their house colour groups and enjoying the sunshine. We are sure local residents heard all the local chanting and singing!

Parents Evening

Thank you to parents from reception to year 6 for making our parents evening run smoothly this week. Following a survey last year we decided to offer an in person appointment and a phone call appointment option. We would be grateful to receive feedback from parents on the parents evening so that we may use this to form our plans for future events. Please let us know your feedback by completing this form. Parents Evening Feedback Form

Inset Day Reminder

Don't forget children are in school for four days next week as Friday 18th February is an inset day when staff will be completing professional learning.

Radio Station Name

Our pupil voice champions suggested a variety of different names for our radio station and following consultation with our radio station provider we narrowed these suggestions down to three. The three names were shared with our pupils and staff and we are delighted to announce that the winning name is .................. Oldcastle Sounds !! We are very excited to have Oldcastle Sounds installed and up and running so look out for our big launch in March!! We hope you like our logo for the radio station.

Barney

Happy anniversary Barney! One year ago today you came to Oldcastle School to make a difference. What a difference you have made to our pupils, staff and parents. Thank you for making us smile every day. We love Barney.

Haven't they both grown!! The first photo shows Anwen & Barney last year when we named our new school dog. 'Barney' was suggested by Anwen & our school community loved it! The second photo is one year on as we celebrate Barney's anniversary

Children's Mental Health Week

As part of Children's Mental Health Week, we say a big thank you to Barney our school well-being dog. Our school is definitely a better place with you in it and you make staff, pupils and parents smile.

At Oldcastle we like to reach for the stars!

Throughout Children's Mental Health Week we challenged our children to set goals - things that we want to work towards. Children have been thinking about goals that we could set for ourselves to help with our emotional growth and development. Children wrote their goals on stars to display throughout their classroom area. Remember that we’re all in this together and we will all help each other. We are Team Oldcastle!

Netball News

Some pupils from our year 6 netball team were able to visit Nottage Primary School this afternoon to play a netball fixture. Its been some time since our pupils have been able to take part in a netball fixture so there was lots of excitement and that was just from Mrs Williams and Mrs Price!!

We were delighted to learn that the Nottage teaching staff commented how polite the children were, but we were are delighted to hear that the two teams had won both of their games!! Well done to all involved. Nottage Primary selected a player of the match from each game and these were Lily T and Esme L. Great work Team Oldcastle.

School Values

Our school values for this month have been 'Determination and Perseverance' and we have loved hearing how the children have taken on board the school values.

• Compassion and Hope

COVID - changes to self isolation

Please take time to refresh yourself with the current COVID Rules in place in Wales

• If you or your child get a positive lateral flow test result, most people will not need to take a PCR test to confirm the result. You must self-isolate immediately if you get a positive rapid lateral flow test result.

• Self-isolate for 5 days if you test positive for COVID-19. You should take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) on day 5 and day 6. If either LFT is positive, you should remain in isolation until 2 negative LFTs are received 24 hours apart..

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

When we are notified of a positive case in school we are required to send an 'Inform' letter to those in the same class as the case. If we have more than 2 cases in a class we are required to send a 'Warn and Inform' letter to parents - this letter provides further advice on LFT testing. If a warn and inform letter is sent we are not required to re-send the letter for a seven day period even if there are additional cases.

We are very grateful to parents for your support during the Covid pandemic.

Fundraising for the children and families of Afghanistan

A couple of weeks ago we launched a fundraising initiative that our Pupil Voice Champions have devised. The children decided that they would like to raise money for those affected by the troubles in Afghanistan and thought the best way to support children and families affected would be to complete a sponsored walk. We will walk the number of miles from Afghanistan to the UK as a school collectively.

Each class will complete a walk around our school yards to accumulate the total number of miles required which is an astounding 3,692 miles! We like a challenge in Oldcastle and it appears that the children are also committed to the pledge to help families and children affected by the situation in Afghanistan.

We are pleased to report that children have walked over 1688 miles so far!!

Please help us support this appeal by sponsoring your child to complete a walk in school with their classmates over the coming weeks. Friends and relatives may also sponsor your child - please can we ask that all sponsorship forms and money are returned to school by 17th March 2022. We look forward to updating you on our children’s progress as they collectively walk over 3692 miles. Sponsorship forms will be sent home with children or please download one from our website. Afghanistan Appeal Information

Thank you for your support.

Year 1 are certainly loving their enrichment afternoon on a Friday.

Year 6 are getting to grips with map reading for their orienteering enrichment sessions.

Happy birthday

Fantastic keyboard playing from one of our year 1 pupils today! Happy Birthday Video

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue next Wednesday. This week we had 88 children saving their money - well done all!! We look forward to seeing our young savers next week.

Headlice

Please can we ask that you check your child's hair for headlice over the weekend. Don't forget your local pharmacy can provide treatment free of charge for headlice without the need for an appointment.

Water Bottles

Please could children only bring water in their water bottles and not squash.

Diary Dates

• Friday 18th February - Inset Day

• 21st to 25th February - Half Term

• 28th February - Return to school

• 1st March - St Davids Day

• 11th to 22nd April - Easter Holidays

• 25th April - Inset Day

• 26th April - Inset Day

• 27th April - Return to school

• 2nd May - Bank Holiday

• 30th May to 3rd June - Half term

• 6th June - Return to school

• 20th June - Inset Day

• 22nd July - End of summer term

Information

Applications to Nursery - September 2022

Applications for full time nursery in September 2022 are now open. Applications can be made via this link https://www.bridgend.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-education/school-admissions/apply-for-admission-to-school/

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

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