Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

In our virtual assembly today Mrs Littlewood welcomed all the children and told them about the exciting events we have coming up in the last few weeks of the school year. Next week is bump up day, year 3 are having a medieval banquet, year 6 are putting on a fashion show with their up-cycled garments, we have a leavers assembly for year 6 and we have a top secret rewards day planned!

During assembly, we heard from the each year group:

• Nursery told us they had been making ginger bread play doh and learning about the Gingerbread Man.

• Reception have been directing the bee bops to find Hanzel and Gretel and writing their own traditional tales.

• Year 1 have also been writing descriptions, telling the time and making finger puppets. Mrs Morcom Lewis told us that the children are working really hard getting ready for year 2.

• Year 2 have been writing and sharing stories and making the staff really proud by showing how they are remembering what they have been taught recently.

• Year 3 have been busy this week in preparation for their medieval banquet next week. They've been making medieval weapons as well as investigating capacity and testing different containers.

• Year 4 have been super busy looking at inventions and preparing for their Dragons Den pitches - see below.

• Year 5 sound like they have had a great week - the children have been having class debates and one of the topics was looking at a 3 day weekend. We heard that it was evenly split in their debates.

• Year 6 are always busy with various comprehensive school transition arrangements but have found time to focus on their business project and prepare ideas for their upcycling project and getting ready for their fashion show in the last week of term.

Miss Lincoln finished off assembly with the introduction of a new idea that the Pupil Voice have thought of - lunchtime clubs. The clubs will be run by members of the Pupil Voice and will be trialled for the last few weeks of the school year. Following the trial we hope to be able to offer the lunchtime clubs to children in foundation phase too.

The following clubs will be offered next week - all children need to do is turn up and enjoy:

Years 3 and 4

• Tuesday - Colouring Club

• Thursday - Lego Building Club

Years 5 and 6

• Tuesday - Book Club

• Wednesday - Newspaper Club or Drawing Club

• Thursday - Board Games Club or Origami Club

• Friday - Netball Skills Club

Next week is the final week to collect tokens for this school year - counting will take place towards the end of next week and we look forward to the big reveal for our Reward Day at the end of term.

Don't forget!! PTA Event - Oldcastle Rocks Saturday 9th July

The PTA has been working tirelessly to create an exciting event for our school. Oldcastle Rocks is taking place this Saturday from 3pm to 7pm. Everyone is welcome. The PTA have a BBQ, bouncy castle, fire engine, rugby skills, hair and tattoos treats, sweet stall, alcohol licence to serve drinks, and live music.

The weather is looking good so we hope that you can support the PTA raise valuable funds for our school.

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. We will also provide parents with a short video from the new class teacher as they introduce themselves.

Year 4 Dragons Den

Year 4 have been learning about inventions that changed the world this term. Today they presented their own inventions n a Dragon's Den style pitch to Mrs Littlewood and some of our school governors. The inventions sound amazing we were so impressed with their ideas. Each group presented to the 'Dragons' with their pitch to find out if they could gain investment - the Dragons were incredibly impressed with all of the ideas, the style and standard of presentation, the use of different media to promote their products and the way in which everyone worked well as a team.

We invited year 4 parents after school today to view the different inventions and the presentation that the children developed. Here's an overview of the inventions:

• Eco Friendly Playhouses - the group presented their idea about an eco friendly playhouse made out of recyclable materials and with plants on the roof!

• Planet Lampshade - this group invented a glow in the dark lampshade which projected the different planets to help you sleep.

• The Pigeon Eye - this invention was a camera that you wear on your head to see what is behind you!

• The VA Pen - the voice activated pen with four different colours went down well with the Dragons.

• The Talkie Walkie Calculator is a clever invention for people with sight issues - you talk into the calculator and the calculator speaks the answer back to you.

• The Ultimate Breakfast Maker went down well with the panel - am invention that combines a cereal bowl, toaster and coffee machine all in one.

• The Robo Dog is a robotic dog that teaches children to be caring and responsible when looking after their pets.

• The Electric Mover - a solar and wind powered mobile box for charging anything from electric cars to mobile devices.

You can listen to the radio adverts the children prepared in our radio station via this link. Inventions Radio Adverts

School Reports

End of year school reports will be sent home with children next week. We welcome feedback on the report and once the reports are issued we will send parents a link to a short google form for you to provide any feedback.

Radio Station

Its been a busy week in our radio station this week as year 4 have been preparing radio adverts as part of their inventions topic and the radio champions have broadcast another great radio show to the whole school. The radio champions are developing the shows each week and it is lovely to hear the great ideas they come up with to make the shows more engaging. This week some of the radio champions visited nursery and recorded them singing! Please have a listen. Radio Show

School Savings Club

School Savings Club has finished for the school year - thank you for all your support this year. The club is continuing to grow its membership and we are always delighted to see our savers. Here's a message from Mr Faulkner.

As we near the end of the school year, I wanted to message all our school savers. It has been a really positive year and we continue to grow our school membership. I would like to thank all the staff, children and families who embrace the school savings – it really is fantastic to visit the schools and meet so many of our savers building good habits and learning about money management.

The children do not need to withdraw any savings as we will return in September, but if your child does want to withdraw some, or all of their savings, a BACs withdrawal (Bank Transfer) can be done online at any time by their parent/guardian at School Withdrawal Form - Bridgend School Savings. BACs transfers are the easiest way to withdraw their savings and we encourage all our savers to choose this option, where possible. We aim to process all BACs withdrawals within 48hrs.

During the summer holidays we can be contacted through our website at Bridgend School Savings - Part of Bridgend Life Savers Union or by visiting the main Bridgend Lifesavers Credit Union office where they can continue to save their pocket money.

A note for Year 6s. If they have a younger sibling in school, they are more than welcome to continue saving for them. Alternatively, they can save directly with the credit union by setting up a standing order or by visiting the branch in Bridgend. For any of our savers moving up to Archbishop McGrath, I’m pleased to confirm that we have now opened our first secondary school savings club, so they can continue to save at school in September.

If you have any other questions, you can find lots of information at Bridgend School Savings - Part of Bridgend Life Savers Union. You can contact us directly through the website (including during the school holidays) or by email at damianf@blscu.co.uk.

Thanks once again for all your support!

Kind regards,

Damian Faulkner

School Partnerships

Year 1 have been reading about Welsh Myths and Legends this week and have been busy exploring how Castle designs helped protect the story characters

Year 3 have been looking at medieval weapons this week and developed their own trebuchets and cataputs!

Year 3 have also been estimating volumes and comparing different containers - great team work year 3.

Enrichment

A very busy afternoon for enrichment today. We have had fashion designing, netball, painting, paper aeroplanes, arts and crafts, model houses, finger puppets, rounders, rugby and so much more!

Squash Succeess

We were delighted to see Eliza, from year 5, Welsh cap this morning that she received for representing Squash Wales recently. Fantastic achievement. We are very proud of you.

Surf Life Saving Nipper Carnival

Well done to the Oldcastle pupils who competed in the Pen Y Bont SLSC Nipper carnival last Saturday at Ogmore By Sea. Aaron, Leila, Sophie, Rosie, Daisy, Lewis, Reuben, Malakai, Gracie May, Lily, Esme, Layla and Emily all took part and thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was a great day of competitions where Pen Y Bont competed against 10 other clubs. Races included long run, flags, board race, swim race and relay. Each child performed brilliantly and had lots of fun. The children picked up lots of points and medals which helped their team to win the competition overall. Well done everyone! Lots of these children will be competing in the Welsh Nipper Championships on the weekend in Aberavon. Good luck to them all!

Rugby Trials

Congratulations to Dion and Isaac from year 5 who have been selected to for the Bridgend District Rugby Schools training squad. Good luck boys.

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.

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

• w/b 11th July School Reports issued

• 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

Message from Welsh Water

Are you a family receiving free school meals? With the cost of living still increasing some of our customers may struggle to afford essentials over the summer period. We are here to help, with up to £230 off your water bill.

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