Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

Farewell Jackie

We said a sad farewell to our school cook today. Jackie has been at Oldcastle for a number of years and has been a very important part of Team Oldcastle. Jackie has always taken the time to get to know the children and always has a smile on her face when preparing and serving the school dinners. Jackie has been a great supporter of the school and helped us ensure our whole school events are such a success.

Today, we held a surprise get together on the yard to say farewell to Jackie. All children and staff were able to thank Jackie and wish her well for her future posting. Jackie was presented with a bouquet of flowers, bottle of bubbly and was treated to a couple of songs from our school choir. We wish you all the best Jackie - you will be missed in Oldcastle.

Nursery and Reception Sports Day

The weather was very kind to us on Thursday for our nursery and reception sports day. The children were amazing in their races and obstacle course and it was a joy to see the delight on their faces taking part in their very first sports day for Oldcastle. Thank you to the parents and grandparents that helped walk the children to Heronsbridge School - we are very grateful for the support as the event could not have taken place in Heronsbridge without your help. All children took part in the events and as a result all children were awarded a house token. Barney had a great time seeing all the children participating and was the mascot at the finish line to encourage the children. We are very grateful to our staff for preparing our children for the sports day and to the PTA for providing the refreshments.

Photos from the sports day are included on our website please click here to view the slideshows.

Class Photos

Tempest Photography have provided us with links to the class photos that were taken last week. Emails have been sent to parents with a link to the online form to purchase the photos. Please complete the booking online by Sunday 10th July to guarantee delivery to school. If you haven't received a link please get in touch via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

School Community Forum

We will be holding our second meeting of the School Community Forum on 5th July. Please let us know if you will be attending the School Community Forum at 4.30pm to 5.30pm by completing the registration form in the link. Below is also a reminder of the purpose of the Forum.

School Community Forum - Registration Form

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.

PTA Event - Oldcastle Rocks Saturday 9th July

The PTA have been busy planning an exciting event for our school. Oldcastle Rocks will take place on Saturday 9th July from 3pm to 7pm. Everyone is welcome. The PTA have a BBQ, bouncy castle, fire engine, rugby skills, hair and tatoos treats, sweet stall, alcohol licence to serve drinks, and live music. We hope you can support their event. One of the stalls will be a 'Win a Bottle' stall and we hope you can support the PTA by providing a donation - they are looking for bottles - anything from Shampoo to Champagne! Please bring into the main office if you are able to donate.

Year 2 investigated nutritional and healthy snacks this week and made some lovely looking fruit kebabs

Year 3 have also been busy with food and prepared a lovely soup today.

Year 6

As part of their 'Fashion industry and the effects of fast fashion' focus, Year 6 will be hosting an upcycled Fashion Show during their final week at Oldcastle. They have learned about the effects of sweatshops and fashion dumping, now we want to produce fashion from preloved items. After being inspired by Brynteg's Expressive Arts day, they have begun planning their outfits. With this in mind, pupils can bring in their items from home (adult or children's clothes) as we will begin making next week. We do not expect parents/carers to buy anything for this, as the core focus is upcycling. Should you have anything that could be donated (buttons, ribbons, safety pins etc) we would gratefully take them and use them. We look forward to updating you over the next few weeks.

We are delighted with our new Sensory Room that has been developed instead of a storage area. Here's a little idea of the space and the resources available for staff and pupils.

Year 2 had a lovely trip to Porthcawl this week and visited Porthcawl Museum and had an informative talk from the RNLI.

Bump Up Day

On Thursday 14th July, children will be finding out who their class teacher will be for the next academic year. Children will have the opportunity to visit their new classroom and get to know their new class teacher. On this day we will email parents with details of your child's new class teacher from September.

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue from next week on every Wednesday. If you wish to withdraw money from your child's account please look at the details on our website for further information. School Savings Club Withdrawals

Community Governor Vacancy

We have a vacancy for a Community Governor on our Governing Body. If you are interested in applying please follow this link to find out how to apply. Applications should be sent to admin@oldcastleps.bridgend.cymru by 8th July. Governor Applications

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.

GDPR (Data Protection)

Welsh Government have asked us to make parents aware of an update to their Privacy Poluy in relation to school data. Please click here to view the revised Welsh Government Privacy Policy.

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

Exercise Class

Parents may be interested to learn that an exercise class takes place in Oldcastle Primary main hall every Monday evening from 6pm to 7pm. Everyone is welcome and the cost for the class is £5.

Diary Dates

• 9th July - Oldcastle Rocks

• 14th July - Bump Up Day

• 18th July - Year 6 Leavers Assembly 5pm to 7pm

• 22nd July - Last day of 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