Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

Mrs Littlewood performed her online assembly in the radio station studio again this morning and treated the children to a song at the beginning and end of the assembly. During the assembly Mrs Littlewood again told the children about some fantastic feedback she had received from visitors to the school. We've had a variety of visitors to school this week who have all commented how lovely and polite the children are and how enthusiast and friendly the staff are. We are also delighted to share positive feedback.

There were a couple of points that Mrs Littlewood reminded the children about in assembly and this included ball games at the start of school. Children are not permitted to play ball games on the yard prior to school starting. We ask that parents help us by reminding their children not to play with balls proior to school due to the number of people walking through the school yards.

We had our usual round up to find out how the token collection has been going and once again children have been busy collecting tokens for good behaviour and good attendance.

School Values

Our school values for this month are Community and Service. Over the next week children have been tasked with working on their behaviour lining up for school dinners and being respectful to the canteen staff.

School Times

Late arrivals cause a great deal of disruption to the class and we remind everyone that school starts at 8.55am. Please can we also remind parents of some of our older children that there is no supervision on the yard and children should not arrive at school before 8.40am.

Oldcastle Sounds - Radio Station

Our year 6 pupils have been developing a range of podcasts this week that will be played on Oldcastle Sounds over the coming weeks. The podcasts sound fantastic and cover various topics decided by the children including interior design, dinosaurs, book reviews, fast food, and sports to name a few! We can't wait to hear them.

Fundraising for the children and families of Afghanistan

We are delighted to announce that you have raised over £2880 for our Afghanistan Appeal. All children in school have been 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 3280 miles so far - nearly there!!

Thank you for supporting the Afghanistan Appeal - the majority of the sponsorship money has been sent to the Disasters Emergency Committee fund so we are sure you have made a difference with the amount raised.

Ukraine Crisis Appeal

We are aware of a couple of appeals within the local area to help the people of Ukraine.

In particular The Military Preparation College in central Bridgend have launched an appeal and are asking local residents to support them by dropping off items to their Bridgend Office. The MPCT is located on Queen Street (opposite the 3 Horseshoes pub under Manpower). Below is a list of the items that are most needed.

On Friday 1st April, MPCT CEO Huw Lewis MBE will set off for Poland with essential goods donated by you, the MPCT Family. From today you can drop any of the items from our approved list at your MPCT college. Accompanied on the drive, by MPCT Logistics Manager Allan Peet, the pair will ensure everything that’s donated makes its way to the Polish border where items will be distributed to refugees arriving from Ukraine or transported onwards to those areas most in need.

What Can I Donate?

This is a comprehensive list of items that are most needed

• Foil survival blankets

• Toys

• Nappies (including those for the elderly)

• Sanitary towels

• Crayons

• Towels

• First Aid Kits/Painkillers

• Sleeping bags

• Metal cups

• Thermal clothing/gloves

• Hairbrushes

• Shampoos

• Toothbrushes

• Children’s clothes

• Bandages

• Food – long term and dry

• Dog/cat food

• Batteries, flashlights, and candles

A parent in school has also asked if we can accept donations for another appeal and she will ensure that they are taken to the drop off location in Gloucester. If you are able to donate we will be accepting donations for the appeal until Thursday 31st March. Please bring the items to main reception.

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 1 - Visit to Newbridge Fields

Year 1 had a fabulous trip to Newbridge Fields this week for their nature walk. Looks like lots of fun was had and Mrs Morcom Lewis and Miss Vaughan were so impressed with the children's behaviour. Thank you to the parents that helped out on the trip.

Year 6 Cycling Proficiency

Some year 6 pupils took part in a Cycling Proficiency course this week. The BCBC Cycling Officers were very impressed with the children and they were so lucky to have the sun shining for them!

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 - Mrs Evans will be at Porthcawl Comprehensive from 9.30am to help the children.

• 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.

Rugby Team Visit

We are excited to let our rugby team know that they will be going on a visit to the Brewery Fields on Monday 4th April!! The team will be able to see behind the scenes at the Brewery Fields and see the facilities that are provided for the players. Following the tour the rugby team will complete their normal rugby training session on the Brewery Fields pitch!! We are very grateful to the Brewery Field management for allowing us to visit. Rugby team parents - please note that children will need to be collected from the Brewery Fields at 4pm on this day.

Student Teachers

We have a number of student teachers in Oldcastle at the moment which your children might mention. We are delighted to be able to offer placements to these student teachers and they become a valuable part of our school community.

For a number of years, Oldcastle have been instrumental in developing links with universities in relation to teacher training. In particular we have developed a bespoke package, called The Welsh Project, to support University of West of England students who are completing their teacher training placement in Wales. This week we hosted 26 students who have started on their Welsh Project journey and delivered sessions on the New Curriculum for Wales, assessment in Wales as well as the new ALN bill applicable to Wales. Trainees are offered a number of days which are split into sessions that allow them to observe, good and outstanding teaching, behaviour strategies they can use in their own practice and have an opportunity to develop their professional learning. Trainees who visit the school gain a real insight into what teaching and learning opportunities are offered to children in Wales and we are delighted to be able to support students to develop their professional knowledge.

Year 2 enjoyed using our new maths equipment this week. We have recently invested in a range of new indoor and outdoor maths resources and we love seeing the children use them.

Year 6 made the most of the sunny weather this week and took their maths work outside.

Reception Mr Trigg have had a lovely week continuing their theme of Global Environments with their student teacher Mrs Parfitt. We have been discussing how we can take care of our planet. We listened to the story Harry Saves the Ocean and chatted about pollution and how it affects the ocean and animals all around us. We discussed ways of helping and how we can reduce pollution. We worked in groups to plan and create Save the Ocean posters. We also made our own clean, unpolluted ocean in a bottle by using cooking oil, water and blue food colouring, the children have worked extremely hard on these and have had lots of fun making them. Bendigedig Reception!

This week, Reception also enjoyed looking at the lighthouse keeper's lunch story.

On Monday, the children had a letter to say Mrs Grinling would be visiting our school. The children had to think of, and write questions in groups to ask Mrs Grinling. The children thought of some wonderful questions for her and worked so hard. The children also took part in sequencing and writing activities, they had to help Mrs Grinling write instructions to make a sandwich. Here are some children with their outstanding work! Mrs Parfitt, student teacher, has worked so hard with Mr Trigg’s class over the last few terms and she will definitely be missed by staff and pupils!

We were delighted to hear from two pupils this week who had achieved sporting success.

Dion in year 5 attended a World Kickboxing and Karate competition in England recently and came away with a Bronze and Silver medal! Well done Dion we know how committed you are to your kickboxing and the medals are huge!!

Lewis in year 5 has also had sporting success recently in cross country. Lewis attends lots of different events and has a large collection of rosettes! We hear you have a shelf for all your medals - if you keep achieving these great results you are going to need a cabinet!!

Well done both on your achievements. Don't forget to let us know of any success children have outside of school - we always like to congratulate pupils for achieving well out of school.

Another busy Friday afternoon with lots of lovely activities taking place for enrichment afternoon

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue on every Wednesday. This week we had 80 young savers which is fantastic. Mr Faulkner wants to thank year 5 for providing helpers for the savings club - they certainly make the club run smoothly.

Breakfast Club

Please can we remind parents that breakfast club starts at 8.30 am with the last drop off being 8.40am. Parents must sign children in to breakfast club.

New signs

We hope you like our new signs that we have had installed at school. We are proud of our school and are pleased to be able to raise our profile with the new signage.

Inset Days

Don't forget we have two inset days after the Easter holidays on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th April - children return to school on Wednesday 27th April.

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

Adult Learning

Please find below some information from BCBC regarding Adult Learning courses starting in April.

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.