Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

Mrs Littlewood welcomed all the children back to school following the Easter break during the virtual assembly this morning. The assembly was held outside main reception as Mrs Littlewood wanted to share something special with the children - see next section below .

During assembly we heard from some of our classes what they had been learning this week and as ever the classes provided an update on their token collection over the last couple of days.

School Moto

During our inset days this week staff were able to enjoy their lunch break on our picnic benches outside the main reception area. This does not normally happen during the normal busy school day so it was lovely to look at the environment around us and notice parts of the school you don't normally look at in detail!! On one occasion we noticed the wall plaque that is displayed on the original part of the school building with the words 'Goreu Cam, Cam Cyntaf' written. This plaque would have been installed when the school was built in 1912.

During assembly this morning, Mrs Littlewood showed the children and staff the plaque and reminded staff and pupils of the translation of these words. We wanted to share this with parents as we believe the words are lovely and epitomise the ethos of a primary school.

The words can be translated as 'The most important step is the first step' We will now use this phrase on our school branding.

School Values

Our school values for this month are Appreciation and Generosity. For these school values children have been asked to be kind, polite, grateful, look out for other people, and generally help out at home and in school.

Maintenance and Building work

During the Easter holidays we had a variety of building and maintenance works completed. We are delighted with the new flooring that has been laid in our main reception and corridor areas. Plus we have had a brand new room built in a cloakroom space - the sensory room is almost complete. and we look forward to sharing photos with you soon.

Professional Learning Days

At the beginning of the week we held two professional learning days. These days are so important for schools to plan and undertake training. Our teaching and support staff spent the first of these days developing our approach to the new curriculum for Wales which is being implemented in September. Please read on about an opportunity to find out more about our approach to the new curriculum. The second of our professional learning days focussed on digital security and planning for the term ahead.

Pupil Voice - Update from our pupil voice champions

Today we launched our new roles as part of Pupil Voice. We have been asked to run lunchtime clubs to support our pupils during their free time. Some of the ideas we came up with were: arts and crafts / board games / drama and sports clubs. Over the next few weeks we will be introducing a timetable of new clubs for pupils to join.

We also discussed Careers week and have been tasked with the job of finding out from our other pupils what careers they would like to learn about. We will be feeding back to Miss Lincoln next Wednesday. Another role we have been given is we are going to be supporting Miss Craven with Criw Cymraeg, promoting Welsh across the school.

Written by Seren, Ocea, Leo and Charlie

Careers Week - 6th to 10th June

This year we are delighted to launch a new proposal for Oldcastle in the form of a Careers Week!! Our Careers Week will be taking place after May Half Term with the aim of providing children with inspiring and motivating career options available.

With the implementation of the new Curriculum for Wales we will support children to be

• ambitious, capable learners ready to learn throughout their lives

• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work

• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world

• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

We believe that a Careers Week will be a fantastic opportunity for our children and achieves the four purposes as set out above. We hope to arrange for many visitors to come into school throughout the week and talk to the children and their job. We know that many of our parents have a job that will inspire our pupils so we hope you can help. If you think you can help please complete the google form with your details - Careers Week - Parents

Jubilee Celebrations

We are arranging an exciting event for children and staff on Thursday 26th May to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee and celebrate the 110 year anniversary of Oldcastle Primary School. Children will have the opportunity to dress up in clothes from an allocated era and will also be learning a song from the decade to perform on the day. Each year group have chosen the following era to dress up as on the day. There is no expectation for parents to buy outfits and following the Easter holiday we will send some easy suggestions for parents to follow.

• Nursery - 40s

• Reception - 70s

• Year 1 - 50s

• Year 2 - 40s

• Year 3 - 20s

• Year 4 - 90s

• Year 5 - 80s

• Year 6 - 60's

The PTA are arranging some special guests for the day and we are sure that children will enjoy all the excitement of the celebrations.

All children will be provided with a packed lunch from our catering team on the day and we would like to ensure children get the type of sandwich they will enjoy. Children will be provided with a wholemeal bread sandwich of their choice (see below for the choices available), a drink, crisps and ice cream. Please also confirm any special dietary requirements. Please return the form by 3rd May to allow the catering team to order supplies. Jubilee Celebrations Sandwich Request Form

The PTA are also arranging a Platinum Pudding Competition as part of our celebrations and we invite parents and carers to become involved. Get your baking equipment at the ready and marvel us with your creations that are fit for a Queen! Cakes should be brought into school on the morning of Thursday 26th May and we have some special guests to judge the cakes. We invite parents and carers to join us for a cake sale after school when we will announce the winners of the cake competition.

New Curriculum for Wales - Parental Engagement Session

The Curriculum for Wales is changing. Teachers and education experts from Wales have been working together to create a new Curriculum for Wales. In Oldcastle we are working towards designing a curriculum for our children that supports the 'four purposes' of the new curriculum.

As part of our curriculum design we will support your child to become:

* an ambitious, capable learner, ready to learn throughout their life

* an enterprising, creative contributor, ready to play a full part in life and work

* an ethical, informed citizen, ready to take part in Wales and the world, and a

* a healthy, confident individual, ready to lead a fulfilling life as a valued member of society.

We would like to invite parents to attend an informal session on the new curriculum with Mrs Littlewood and other senior leaders on Thursday 5th May. This session will inform parents what we are doing in Oldcastle as part of our planning to implement the new curriculum from September 2022. There are two sessions - one at 9.30am and one at 5.30pm.

If you would like to attend please complete the following google form. Curriculum Engagement Session

School Community Forum

We are keen to offer members of our school community the opportunity to become involved in the shaping of continuous school improvement at Oldcastle Primary School. In May, we will re-launch our School Community Forum and invite you to join us.

The School Community Forum involves members of the school community meeting once each half term at school to give their opinions, suggestions and support as we review and develop aspects of school life and approaches to teaching and learning. We believe that discussing the proposals for the school with community members, will enable us to ensure the best provision for our children.

Discussions will focus on aspects of school life, such as:

• Vision and Values

• Curriculum, Learning and Teaching

• Outdoor Learning

• Parent engagement and awareness

• Family Engagement

• School Priorities

• National Education Agenda

We hope that the School Community Forum will support us to drive our school priorities and ensure that our links with the local and school community are firmly established. We welcome opinions, views and ideas and would be delighted to share our vision and values with you. School community opinion is important to us please get involved.

Please complete the form below to register your interest in becoming part of our School Community Forum. The first meeting of the School Community Forum will be held on Monday 16th May from 9am to 10am. We aim to hold meetings at various times so please indicate via the form below if you cannot make daytime meetings.

School Community Forum - Registration Form

If you would like further information please do not hesitate to get in contact.

PTA Meeting - All welcome to attend

The PTA have been very lucky to have a wonderful team of parents, teachers, local businesses and friends of the school who have made it possible to create many wonderful fun-filled days for the pupils of Oldcastle! The great news is, we have more planned!

If you would like to help make the magic come to life and get involved with the fun in any way you can, please come to our next PTA meeting at the Oldcastle Pub on Nolton Street on Thursday 12th May from 7pm. All are welcome to come along and we look forward to seeing you!

This term, year 2 are looking at a concept ‘School: Now and Then’. and as part of their topic children were asked to bring in items that represent or symbolise a special memory in their own lives. The children were fascinated with each other's items and enjoyed telling their class mates and writing about their special memories.

Barney had a lovely Easter holiday but was very keen to return to school and see all the children. He was delighted to receive a new toy on Wednesday!

Well done to Eliza in year 5 who recently competed at the junior squash 5 nations competition. Eliza played for the under 13's team and achieved her first Welsh cap representing her country. A fantastic achievement Eliza! Well done from everyone at Oldcastle.

Eliza and her sister, Heidi who is in year 3, will be competing in the Silver Squash event in Manchester this weekend - good luck girls.

Year 1 exploring tools to make different effects with salt dough

Reception have had a lovely afternoon making mud pies, learning forest school skills and creating obstacle courses.

Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed their first visit to Bridgend Recreation Centre for their enrichment session.

Year 5 enjoyed playing rounders and enhancing their batting and fielding skills

Bank holiday

Don't forget there is a bank holiday on Monday 2nd May and school will be closed.

Job Vacancy - Administration Officer (Part Time)

We are currently recruiting for a part time Administration Officer. Please take a look here Admin Officer Vacancy

Sports Clubs - Year 5 and 6

Year 5 and 6 - Parents who registered their child on the after school sports clubs have been emailed this week confirming their child's place. The summer sports clubs will start on Tuesday 3rd May for year 5, and Thursday 5th May for year 6. Cricket Club will start from 9th May.

Year 2 request

Year 2 have an appeal - if you have any old photos of Bridgend please can any photos be emailed or bring in for us so they can explore the similarities and differences to now.

Sports Day

We hoping to hold our sports day on Friday 24th June for children in years 1 to 6. This year we will run the sports day slightly differently so that children are not in the athletics track all day. More details will be provided shortly.

Nursery and Reception sports day will be held on Thursday 30th June in the afternoon. More details shortly.

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue from next week on every Wednesday.

Lost Property

Once again, we have a vast amount of lost property. If your child has lost an item in school please do come in and look through the lost property. Lost property will be donated to charity after a period of time.

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

• 2nd May - Bank Holiday

• 5th May - Nursery, Reception and Year 6 Long Class Photos

• 26th May - Jubilee Celebrations

• 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 June - Class and Team Photos

• 22nd July - End of summer term

Inset Days 2022 / 23

Inset days for the next academic year have now been confirmed and these are as follows:

• Monday 5th September 2022

• Monday 7th November 2022

• Friday 31st March 2023

• Friday 26th May 2023

• Monday 24th July 2023

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