Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

We had a lovely assembly this morning hearing about the teaching and learning taking place across the school. Year 3 were very excited to inform us about their work this week - the pupils have been writing persuasive letters to Lord Llewelyn to persuade him to change his castle to a stone keep castle. The children had to research the features of each type of castle and explain to him why a stone keep castle would be better!! Very impressive year 3. The year 3 children and teachers are also very excited to be going on their first trip in a long time on Monday. We hope year 3 enjoy their visit to Cardiff Castle - we can't wait to see their photos.

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. Mrs Littlewood was very pleased to recognise in assembly the effort that children have put in this week.

Careers Week - 6th to 10th June

Careers Week is coming together with a fantastic range of jobs to enthuse our pupils. If you think you can help out in any way please do get in touch. We are happy to have people in who can show us some skills or talk to a class about their job. Our aim is to show our pupils that there is a vast amount of job opportunity in the exciting world of work.

Jubilee Celebrations

We can't believe that next week is our Jubilee Celebrations - we've been planning the event for a while and we are so excited for next Thursday. A reminder of the era chosen by year group along with suggestions for clothing can be found here - Jubilee Era's and Suggestions Children do not need to dress up and can wear their own clothes if they prefer.

The PTA have arranged some special guests for the day and we are very grateful to them for helping us celebrate in style.

Platinum Pudding Competition

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. Please ensure that cakes are labelled with the ingredients that are included and we request that no nuts are included in any items.

After school, we invite parents and carers to join us for refreshments and cakes! The PTA will be offering teas, coffees and cakes for sale from the top of the main yard.

Junior Leaders and Pupil Voice

Today we had some very special visitors. Coity Primary School pupil voice / school council came to visit us to learn all about our Junior Leadership Team, Pupil Voice and House Captains. Lois, Charlie, Layla, Lottie, Aaron, Layla and Owen presented to Coity about their roles and responsibilities as well as what they have achieved so far. They fed back on the success of the token system and how behaviour has improved. Coity came prepared with some excellent questions, that Oldcastle were only more than happy to answer. They asked about impact, rewards, activities and much more.

To finish off the morning, both Coity and Oldcastle pupils took part in a recorded Q and A session and created our first Pupil Voice Radio show. This will be available to listen to very soon. Coity have kindly invited Oldcastle back to theirs, later in the summer, to see how they have progressed as a team. We look forward to their updates.

Sports Day

Sports Day will held on Friday 24th June for children in years 1 to 6 in the Atlantics Track in Newbridge Fields. Children in years 1 to 3 will complete their events in the morning and children in years 4 to 6 will complete events in the afternoon. All children will require a packed lunch on this day.

The PTA will be providing refreshments to parents

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

House Colour T-shirts - PTA Fundraiser

The PTA are pleased to announce that house colour t-shirts are now available for order via the link below. Please order and pay online by Friday 27th May and t-shirts will be delivered to the school for your child to bring home in time for sports day. There is an option on the order form to personalise with your child's name if you wish. Can we also request that you add a note of your child's class to make distribution quicker.

https://www.cheekybabytees.co.uk/products/oldcastle-school-sports-day-t-shirts

There are now larger sizes available to be ordered. Please follow these links.

• https://www.cheekybabytees.co.uk/collections/womens-t-shirts/products/oldcastle-school-pta-ladies-t-shirt

• https://www.cheekybabytees.co.uk/collections/personalised-t-shirts/products/oldcastle-ladies-sports-day-t-shirts

• https://www.cheekybabytees.co.uk/collections/personalised-t-shirts/products/oldcastle-mens-sports-day-t-shirts

Memorial Ceremony

We are currently planning a memorial event for the morning of Saturday 9th July in the school grounds. During this event we aim to recognise the dedication and resilience of our pupils, staff and families during the Covid 19 pandemic. We will provide more details to parents shortly.

PTA Event - Oldcastle Rocks

We are very grateful to our active PTA for the all the exciting events they are able to plan for our children in school time. They are now keen to plan an event for both parents and children and are looking to hold an Oldcastle Rocks event in the afternoon and early evening of Saturday 9th July. We know that the PTA have lots of amazing things planned for the day and they will be sharing these via their Facebook page and our weekly newsletter.

As part of the event the PTA hope to arrange some craft stalls - if you are interested in taking a table to sell craft items please message Angela Minton (Chair of the PTA) on 07584 620033. The PTA will not be charging for the tables but ask crafters to donate a prize for the raffle.

The nursery Language and Play session today had a special visitor in Barney! Some fantastic artwork was produced by both the children and their parents.

Year 2

Did you know the Titanic sunk the same year Oldcastle was built? Year 2 looked into the Titanic and created news articles as if they were reporting back in 1912 about this global event . Excellent work year 2.

Year 2 also used @googlemaps to take a walk around Bridgend. After analysing past photos we wanted to see how much things had changed in our local community. Great perseverance with our map work too!

Thank you to Bridgend Library for educating Class 1V in the joys of a library this week. The children really enjoyed.

Bridgend Fire Service visited us this week and informed our years 2, 3 and 6 about the dangers associated with fire. Children always love trying on the fire service kit!

Congratulations Blair

Blair from year 6 competed in a kickboxing point fighting at the WUMA Europeans last Sunday and came away with bronze. Well done!

Reception had great fun making chalk paint in their mud kitchen this week.

Job Vacancies

We are currently recruiting for a part time Learning Support Officer, Learning Supporting (Maternity Cover) and a Teacher (Maternity Cover). Please take a look here Current Job Vacancies

Free School Meals

If you are in receipt of free school meals you will be sent a packed lunch request form for your child for every school trip or event. Please look out for the letter, complete the form and return to us at least 3 weeks before the event.

School Cross Country (Years 3 to 6) - this Saturday

The second (and final) cross country event of the academic year will be held at Bryntirion Comp. on Saturday 21^st May. The first race will begin at 10am. There will be 4 races in the following order:

• Year 3/4 boys

• Years 3/4 girls

• Years 5/6 boys

• Years 5/6 girls

A couple of reminders:

• Dogs are not allowed.

• Smoking is not allowed.

• Arrive in plenty of time (by 9.30am).

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

• Please stress to parents that it’s still only primary school children running around a field, it’s no more than that.

School Savings Club

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

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

• 26th May - Jubilee Celebrations

• 30th May to 3rd June - Half term

• 6th June - Return to school

• 6th June to 10th June - Careers Week

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

• 20th June - Inset Day

• 22nd June - Class and Team Photos

• 9th July - Memorial Ceremony

• 9th July - Oldcastle Rocks

• 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