Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

During the online school assembly this morning, we heard from every class what they had been doing throughout the week. We also got to see how many tokens each class had been collecting.

Mrs Littlewood asked children to focus on behaviour on the yard throughout the next week especially being mindful of other children and adults on the yard. Children can sometimes be excited to be in the open space and forget about other people that may be on the yard. Mrs Littlewood congratulated the children on small changes they had made in their behaviour recently but asked everyone to be aware of other people.

Mrs Littlewood finished off the assembly with a reminder to the children that they attend the best school in Bridgend and of course everyone agreed!!

School Values

Our school values for this month are Community and Service.

Oldcastle Sounds - Radio Station

We are currently putting together a schedule of shows for our new radio station with our radio champions and we can't wait to show more details with parents soon. Songs have been chosen by the children and we are setting up our radio playlist as we speak!

We we will be arranging an official opening of the radio station next week when we hope to have a very special guest for our Radio Champions to interview!

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 2378 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.

Bug Hotels

This week Robyn from Willmott-Dixon came into Oldcastle again to visit both Reception classes. The children took part in a workshop that involved making bug hotels. The children very much enjoyed making the bug hotels and they will be displayed around our school.

Da Iawn Reception for all of your hard work!

Comic Relief

You may be aware that it is Comic Relief on Friday 18th March. As a school, we have committed to lots of fundraising recently and we feel that our current focus is on the Afghanistan Sponsorship funding and do not feel that we should ask parents to commit to further fundraising. We will however be inviting children to wear their own clothes on Friday 18th March - please can we ask that these clothes are appropriate for their Enrichment session on a Friday afternoon.

If you wish to make a donation to Comic Relief please do so via the Comic Relief website.

Year 6 Leavers Arrangements

Reminder to year 6 parents - please complete the google form relating to your child's leavers hoodie and pay the deposit for the activity week. If you have not received these details please get in touch.

Year 4 Trip to Porthcawl - Tuesday 15th March

Year 4 will be going on a trip to Coney Beach in Porthcawl next Tuesday to look at beach pollution, nurdle hunting and looking for materials for their stop motion movies.

Children will need to wear weather appropriate clothing and wellies. Children will be back in school by lunch time. Payment for the trip can be made through Parent Pay.

Cross Country Years 3 to 6

The Bridgend Schools Cross Country events for children in years 3 to 6 will be held on the following dates:

• Porthcawl Comprehensive School Saturday 26th March

• Bryntirion Comprehensive School Saturday 21st May

The first race will begin at 10am. There will be 4 races in the following order:

• Y3/4 boys; Y3/4 girls; Y5/6 boys; Y5/6 girls

Please note the following:

• We will not be using any indoor facilities.

• There will be no finishing ‘funnel’ at the end of the race. There will be a medal for the first three across the line in each race.

• There will be no team scores or league this year, just two ‘stand-alone’ races. We will resume the league from 2022/23.

• Dogs are not allowed.

• Smoking is not allowed.

• We support all pupils from all schools.

• Arrive in plenty of time (by 9.30).

• When leaving please be aware of the remaining races taking place.

Cross Country Years 3 to 6

The Bridgend Schools Cross Country events for children in years 3 to 6 will be held on the following dates:

• Porthcawl Comprehensive School Saturday 26th March

• Bryntirion Comprehensive School Saturday 21st May

The first race will begin at 10am. There will be 4 races in the following order:

• Y3/4 boys; Y3/4 girls; Y5/6 boys; Y5/6 girls

Please note the following:

• We will not be using any indoor facilities.

• There will be no finishing ‘funnel’ at the end of the race. There will be a medal for the first three across the line in each race.

• There will be no team scores or league this year, just two ‘stand-alone’ races. We will resume the league from 2022/23.

• Dogs are not allowed.

• Smoking is not allowed.

• We support all pupils from all schools.

• Arrive in plenty of time (by 9.30).

• When leaving please be aware of the remaining races taking place.

Sporting Success

Well done to Charlie H from year 6 who has gained a place in the South East Wales cricket development squad. Well done Charlie from all of Team Oldcastle

Ukraine Crisis - Impact on children

We have been provided with some useful information from BCBC regarding the Ukraine crisis that parents may find helpful when explaining the news to children.

What to do if you are upset with the news?

How to talk about Ukraine with children

Year 2 have been learning about capacity, making mud potions and measuring litres and millilitres, using bottles that they have drawn scales on. Looks like fun learning.

Stopmotion video

Year 4 are looking at Stopmotion videos at the moment and creeating small videos based around their topic of the environment. Theo in year 4 developed this at home and we think its great.

Year 6 team building. They have to get the pole from standing to the floor resting on all of their index fingers. Fantastic team building year 6!

Year 4 love their junk modelling and made some super robots today. Welcome 'Bob' and 'Beep Beep; !!

Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed their yoga sessions this afternoon!

Year 1 spent time in the Learning Lodge this afternoon continuing with their work on the artist Laurel Burch

Late arrivals

Please can we remind parents and carers that school starts at 8.55am . There are a number of children who arrive late to school and this causes disruption to their class and school operation. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Scooters

Please can we ask that scooters are not used on the yard. Scooters may be brought to school however we ask that users dismount at the school gates and wheel / carry the scooters to the storage areas.

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue on every Wednesday. We look forward to seeing our young savers following the half term holiday.

Online Game

We have been made aware than an online game called Huggy Wuggy may be causing upset for some children. You may wish to find out if your child is aware of the online game.

Water Bottles

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

Contact details

If any of your contact details have changed please let us now so that we may update our records. You can either complete a Change of Details online form here, call us or email us via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Diary Dates

• 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

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

COVID

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.