Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

Another busy week in Oldcastle Primary.!

If you need to contact us please get in touch via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk.

Reward Scheme

The token collector in main reception is filling up really quickly this term! The tokens are being collected throughout the school and next week our house captains will be counting up each house total - we can't wait to share this information with you. In line with our reward system each house will have reward for collecting their coins - children will be discussing the type of rewards they would like in their classes on Monday and then the Pupil Voice champions will report these suggestions to the senior leadership team next week.

Junior Leaders

On Wednesday the Senior Leadership Team and the Junior Leadership team held their first meeting. It was a very productive meeting and the team chose two pledges to work on this term.

School pledge - the junior leaders wanted to recognise the distress that the children who have fled Afghanistan have faced. After half term all children will walk around the yard to collect miles to show their support to these children.

Community pledge - we will link with the community and in particular care homes for the elderly.

The team also started to work on the updating the school behaviour policy. Next week they will work with the pupil voice champions to collect and build further ideas.

Poster Competition

The junior leaders also launched a poster compeition in assembly this week. The junior leaders are also concerned that their is a lot of litter on the yard left by pupils. The group are concerned that this might cause harm to Barney and would like pupils to design a poster reminding all children in the school that litter should be placed in bins or taken home.

Posters should be sent into school by Thursday 21st October.

Fundraising

Following our fundraising efforts last Friday for Y Bont we received a lovely message of thanks from the charity. Once again thank you for your support last week.

"A huge thanks to all of your staff and pupils for taking part today and raising such a fantastic amount! Every £18 raised allows us to fund 1 subsidised session for a child who needs our specialist care. This means that Oldcastle Primary will help us to provide 37 sessions! Amazing! All of the children should be really proud for helping to make a difference!"

Y Bont is a small charity who are tasked with raising £300,000 each year to keep their service running. More information on Y Bont can be found here https://ybont.com/

School Savings Club

School Savings Club started back this week and we were delighted to see 78 children save their money. Savings Club continues every Wednesday and we look forward to seeing our savers and hearing what they are saving for. More information on the School Savings Club ca be found on our website. School Savings

STEM Week

We are busy planning our next STEM week which will take place at the end of November. We can't wait to share the exciting information with you after half term.

Shwmae Day

Shwmae! It is Shwmae Day today and we challenged our children to use more welsh in school today! Children who used more welsh were congratulated with a house token! We had a class sing along at 2.45pm and the children enjoyed singing the welsh songs - Aderyn Melyn and Lliwiau'r Enfus. Thank you Miss Craven for arranging this.

Outdoor Equipment

We have now installed the majority of outdoor equipment in the year 1 and 2 yards - we love seeing the children enjoying the new equipment. All junior year groups have been issued with a games set for use during playtimes and lunchtimes. We have now ordered the final equipment for our reception classes and main yard. We look forward to taking delivery of these pieces and seeing our children enjoy them.

Please can we ask that children do not play with the items being school and after school. Thank you for your support in this.

Child photos

This week children have had their individual photo taken this week and the photo proofs have been sent home with children. Sibling proofs are being sent home today. All orders should be made through the Tempest Photography website as per the instructions on the information sent home.

Barney

Barney also had his photo taken this week. We think you will agree he looks very handsome! He also had a little visitor from nursery this week as well as lots of visits to different year groups.

Enrichment Programme

Week 6 of our Enrichment programme The enrichment programme takes place on Friday afternoons and will give the children opportunities to try new and varied activities that may not strictly fit into the curriculum, but that develop character, resilience and motivation, and encourage them to pursue wider goals. It helps to teach life skills that benefit children beyond the classroom and can develop an appreciation for cultural and community issues, teamwork and social responsibility.

School Operations

Don't forget these are the current school hours for drop off and pick up:

• School starts at 8.55am for all pupils

• Nursery children can be collected between 2.45pm and 3pm

• Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children finish at 3.05pm

• Years 3 to 6 children finish at 3.10pm

School Values and Visions

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

App security - Squid Game

We are aware that some children have been accessing the game related to the TV show Squid Game. This week we have had to remind pupils that the content of the game should not be re-enacted within the school yard. We would urge parents to look at their children's devices and confirm the age rating of the app / game.

Diary Dates

25th to 29th October - Half Term

1st November - Inset Day

24th November - Flu vaccine Reception to Year 6 children - more details will be sent to parents shortly

Nut Free School

We have a number of children in school with a nut allergy and we ask parents to be mindful of this when sending in a packed lunch or snack. We strive to be a nut free and we hope you can support us in this.

Lost Property

We have a large amount of lost property once again. If your child has lost an item please ask them to come and check lost property or call into the office.

Private Booking in Oldcastle

We have recently hired out our main hall to an exercise class and they have asked us to share the details with our parents in case anyone is interested.

Circuit Class

£5 per class, payable weekly.

No need for equipment everything supplied.

Exercises adapted to everyone’s ability.

6pm – 7pm.

Bring water/drink and towel.

Text/whats App/messenger to book place.

Liz Roberts 07875171351

Tony Poole 07590766084

Facebook page:- Tony Poole – Personal Trainer

COVID 19

Thank you for all your support this week by helping us keep our school community safe. As a reminder if your child develops any of the Covid symptoms identified by Public Health Wales please ensure they attend for a PCR test.

• high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

If your child does have a PCR please let us now via our ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk email address or by telephoning 01656 815790.

P.E. Days

Children should wear P.E. kit to school on the day their class has a P.E. session.

• Reception - Wednesday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Thursday

• Year 3 - Monday

• Year 4 - Wednesday

• Year 5 - Tuesday

• Year 6 - Thursday