Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

In assembly yesterday, Mrs Littlewood announced the number of tokens that had been collected over the half term and children (and staff) found out that over 20,000 tokens had been collected by children across the school! Our children and staff are certainly enjoying the new reward scheme that we launched in September. These tokens were counted by our pupil voice champions and Miss Lincoln - who devised a very much easier way to count the tokens by weighing them. Great maths thinking Miss Lincoln. Miss Lincoln also had a special helper with the token counting - Hugo from year 1 loves maths and he made sure that all the tokens were counted properly and fairly. Great job Hugo thank you for being our special helper.

As well as announcing the total number of tokens collected, Mrs Littlewood also announced the number of points that had been collected by each house colour and informed the children what the rewards would be for each house. The rewards are chosen by our junior leadership team and we always love to hear what the children think is a good reward. The points collected by each house this half term are listed below along with their reward. Rewards will take place following half term.

Senior Leadership Team

Mrs Littlewood also informed the children in assembly of the school's new senior leadership team. Following a robust recruitment process with school governors we are delighted to announce the following staff will take up their new roles after Easter:

• Deputy Headteacher - Mrs Janine Burr

• (Responsible for Teaching and Learning and the New Curriculum)

• Assistant Headteacher - Miss Lyndsey Hodgson

• (Responsible for Additional Learning Needs)

• Research, Partnership and Development Lead (TLR) - Miss Katie Lincoln

• (Responsible for Pupil Progress, Transition and Curriculum Cluster Work)

Welsh Week

This week has been Welsh Week where children have been preparing entries, learning welsh songs and dancing in readiness for our Eisteddfod on 1st March. Children have worked so hard throughout the week producing some amazing artwork, writing poetry, learning welsh songs, and taking part in folk dancing to name a few of the activities! They have also been dragon feeding which looked great fun!

Well done to all our pupils for their hard work this week and learning new skills. Thank you to Miss Craven for putting together a great timetable of activities and our year 6 house captains for leading the whole school assembly every day and introducing welsh week and new welsh words to their house team. We look forward to finding out the results of the competitions in our Eisteddfod.

A variety of photos from Welsh Week are included further in the newsletter.

Eisteddfod Day - Tuesday 1st March

We are looking forward to our Eisteddfod on Tuesday 1st March when we will celebrate all the hard work that the pupils and staff have put into Welsh Week.

The day will start with an assembly and we will learn who will be crowned this year's Bard. This traditional ceremony has taken place in Oldcastle for a number of years and the Bard is awarded to a year 6 pupil who has won the poetry competition. During the ceremony, the Bard is 'robed' by her fellow classmates. Once the ceremony is completed the Bard will read their winning poem to the rest of the school via the online assembly. All children will be able to celebrate the achievement with a parade through the main hall to congratulate the Bard. We look forward to sharing photos with you.

Throughout the day, all pupils will be showcasing their Welsh week performances in singing, poetry and folk dancing within their house colour groups and staff will judge and award points to the winning house. Our house captains will be busy on the day announcing the winning house after each performance. We will also be announcing the art and poetry writing competition winners.

Finally, at the end of the school day, we will also be announcing the winning 'house' in an online assembly. All points accumulated from children's participation in Welsh week and the Eisteddfod will be totalled and the winning house will receive our Eisteddfod trophy!

Children may wear house colours or welsh costume to school on 1st March.

World Book Day - Thursday 3rd March

We are delighted to support the 25th anniversary of World Book Day this year.

World Book Day was created by UNESCO on 23rd April 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading. It is marked in over 100 countries around the globe.

On Thursday 3rd March children may bring their favourite book into school and share the book with their class. Spending just 10 minutes a day reading and sharing stories with children can make such a difference to children.

Children can also wear their own clothes to school on the day or dress up as their favourite character / superhero if they wish. Please ensure that books are clearly marked with your child's name and class.

More information on World Book Day can be found here https://www.worldbookday.com/ideas/about/

Fundraising for the children and families of Afghanistan

Don't forget we are still raising money for those affected by the troubles in Afghanistan. All children in school are taking part and are walking the number of miles from Afghanistan to the UK as a school collectively.

Each class complete a walk around our school yard on a regular basis to accumulate the total number of miles required which is an astounding 3,692 miles!

We are pleased to report that children have walked over 1743 miles so far!!

Please can we ask that all sponsorship forms and money be returned to school by 17th March 2022. Sponsorship forms can be downloaded from our website. Afghanistan Appeal Information

Thank you for your support.

Radio Station

We can't wait to share photos with you of our new radio station studio. This is being built during half term and once the studio is ready we will be installing the radio station. Here's a sneak peek at two of our new jingles!

• Radio Station Jingle Number 1

• Radio Station Jingle Number 2

Covid - changes to school operations

Following Welsh Government guidance from 28th February, we will be changing some aspects of our school operations as per the welsh government's Local Infection Control Framework. We are no longer required to operate in class bubbles and we look forward to using caution to return to normal school operations. The local framework works on the basis that at the current level zero the risk is set to low.

We will still be requesting that face coverings are worn, unless exempt, in circulation areas and will be ensuring that our hand washing protocol continues to be implemented. Please be reassured that staff are continuing to lateral flow test on a twice weekly basis and we ask staff and parents to be fully aware of the current rules for self isolation following a positive lateral flow / PCR test.

We thank you for your ongoing support during the pandemic.

Parent Evening Feedback

Thank you to the parents from Reception to Year 6 that provided feedback regarding the recent parents evenings we held. Your feedback is very important to us and we will use the feedback to plan future parents evenings. Overall, your feedback has been extremely positive and we understand how important these meetings are for you to catch up with your child's teacher. The feedback also informs us that as parents there is a mix of opinions regarding the preference of in person and phone appointments. Thank you again for providing such valuable feedback and we will use this for future event planning.

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.

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

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue on Wednesday after half term. This week we had 80 children saving their money - well done all!! We look forward to seeing our young savers following the half term holiday.

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

• 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

• 13th June to 17th June - Year 6 Activity Week

• 20th June - Inset Day

• 22nd July - End of summer term

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