Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

Welcome back after half term. We hope you all had a lovely break. We are looking forward to the next part of our autumn term.

On Monday it was a school inset day and on this day we were delighted to arrange first aid training for a large proportion of our staff.

This week we also had a special visitor to the school. Mr Chilcott who was a previous headteacher of the school over 14 years ago came to visit the school and congratulate Mrs Littlewood on her appointment as headteacher. Mr Chilcott was headteacher at the school when Mrs Littlewood first started in Oldcastle 23 years ago! Mr Chilcott was extremely impressed with the children he met on his visit and as a school we are proud to show special visitors our school.

COVID 19 Rules from 1st November

You will be aware that Welsh Government guidance changed last week regarding household self isolation. The details released by Welsh Government are as follows:

Fully vaccinated and children between the ages of 5 to 17 years

• If someone in your household has symptoms or has tested positive for coronavirus and you are fully vaccinated or aged 5 to 17 you should self-isolate and take a PCR test.

• If your test is negative you can stop isolating.

Children under 5 years

• Children aged under 5 do not have to self-isolate or take a test if they have been in contact with a positive case in their household or otherwise.

• Children aged 0 to 4 years old no longer need to take a PCR test, even if they have COVID-19 symptoms. This is unless a doctor advises there is a need for it. Also they can get tested if parents feel that a PCR test is necessary and in the best interests of the child.

• If a child has a PCR test and the test result is positive then the child will need to self-isolate for 10 days.

• For those children under 5 who have COVID-19 symptoms but are not tested for the virus they do not need to complete any formal period of self-isolation. However, we advise that those children should be kept home from school or childcare until they are well enough to return. A simple cough is not a reason to keep them home

Not fully vaccinated

• If someone in your household has tested positive and you are not fully vaccinated you should self-isolate for 10 days. You should take a PCR test on day 2 and day 8. You should self-isolate for 10 days even if your tests are negative.

If the above applies to you or your child please let us know by email ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk or by telephoning the school or 01656 815790.

Covid Symptoms

• 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.

Reward Scheme

House captains have distributed all the tokens to classes again this week as we start afresh with our house colour token collections. We know that children are looking forward to receiving the tokens again and working hard in all areas of school life to achieve a token.

Children love the virtual assembly that we hold on a Friday morning and finding out how their house colour is doing in other parts of the school. Our house captains collect their class tokens on a Friday afternoon and empty these into our token collector in the main reception. Its been looking a bit empty this week so it has been a delight to see the tokens filling it up again! The whole school were impressed to see how many tokens Miss Vaughan's class had collected this week - the token collector was almost full in all house colours! Keep up the good work 1V.

We look forward to keeping parents up to date on the collection of the tokens.

STEM Week

This year we are excited for the return of our STEM week which will run for the week from 29th November. This year we have a whole school theme of Houses and Homes. Children will be creating their own mini models of different types of homes based on the book ‘If you lived here: houses and homes’. Through this children will explore properties of materials, engineering and structures, sustainability and the impact of environments. Throughout the week we are hoping to have a range of visitors where children will gain first-hand experience of roles surrounding our topic as well as hands-on experiences. If you or anybody you know can help with our STEM week we would be very grateful for your support and input, this could be anything from a show and tell opportunity, a talk on your role, or an experience linked to different trades etc. If there is anything you think you can offer please follow the link below to the Google Form so we can get in contact with you.

STEM Parent Interest Form

Governors Annual Report to Parents

The school governors Annual Report to Parents for the academic year 2020/21 is available to view on our website.

Annual Report to Parents

Governors will be holding a 'Meet the Governor' event on Wednesday 17th November at 5pm and invite parents to attend and discuss any aspect of the annual report or any aspect of school operations. The informal meeting will be held in the main school hall please note face coverings will need to be worn. We are able to offer the opportunity to attend virtually if required. Please let us know if you would like to attend virtually and we will make arrangements to facilitate this. We also have a Feedback / Comments Form included in the annual report so please use this if you would like to provide comment. The link to the feedback form is included in the report or please click here - Feedback Form.

Junior Leaders

Junior leaders will be holding a meeting with the senior leadership team next week and they will also be meeting with our Pupil Voice Champions to discuss:

1. Rewards from last half term - how did they go? Were they enjoyable?

2. Litter poster for our competition - closing date on Monday 8th November

3. Any issues/ concerns that they would like to let us know about.

Enrichment Programme

Week 8 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.

We have been so pleased to see children develop new skills as part of our enrichment programme. We look forward to continuing with the enrichment sessions after half term.

Children in Need - Friday 19th November

As a school we are delighted to be supporting Children In Need again this year. By taking part we know that children in our school can make a huge difference helping fund local charities and projects that support young people. Children will be able to come to school in their own clothes on this day and make a donation to Children in Need if they wish. Donations will be accepted in school on the day or if you prefer donations may be made directly to https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/

Flu Vaccine Letters

Children in years reception to year 6 are eligible for the flu vaccine this year. Letters have been sent to parents this week with details of the vaccination programme. Vaccines will be administered in Oldcastle by the schools nursing team on Wednesday 24th November. Please note that the letter should be returned to school stating whether or not you would like your child to receive the vaccine. Please return letters to school by Wednesday 10th November.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner will be served in early December. Please inform us if your child requires Christmas dinner or if they will be bringing their own sandwiches on this day - a response is required for both options.

Payment for the Christmas dinner should be made to your child's dinner account via Bridgend County Borough Council website. The cost of the meal is £2.20. Please ensure payment is received before Monday 6th December. Christmas lunch will not be served to any child with no credit on their account.

Please complete a separate form for multiple children.

Please return the form by 12th November to allow us to plan with catering services.

Christmas Dinner Form

Brynteg Open Evening

Brynteg School will be holding a virtual open evening for pupils and parents of years 5 and 6 children . The event is being held on 18th November at 5pm. More information is available for parents on the Brynteg School website.

BBC Bitesize - Pupil Video

We were delighted to hear that one of our year 4 pupils had participated in an environmental session to learn how important oceans are to us recently and the video from the session has been included on BBC Bitesize. Please have a look at 'Why Oceans are Important to us' and see Jayden participating in the 'Let's Go to the Beach' video https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zw4m2v4#zvhssk73 Well done Jayden its a very informative video!

Oldcastle Tigers Basketball

Oldcastle Tigers Basketball are currently recruiting for the Under 10's girls basketball team. If your child is in year 4, 5 and 6 and would like to join, please send an email to Natalie at oldcastlebasketball@googlemail.com

Bridgend Schools Cross Country

Schools cross country competition will be held on Saturday 27th November 2021.

Children must be under 11 and be at least 9 years old on the day of competition and be under 11 years old on 31st August 2021.

Under 11's 1pm (1500m)

Event Address: Forage Farm, Penllyn Estate, Cowbridge. CF71 7FF

This event is open to pupils from schools in the Bridgend area..

Cost: £2 per entry

If you would like more information please contact the school. Mrs Evans (Year 6) will be in attendance on the day and will coordinate entries from Oldcastle Primary. Entries can be made via this google form School Cross Country Competition.

School Website

Our school website is constantly updated and parents may be interested to to know that as a school we have a statutory duty to publish certain information. Details on our Accelerated Learning Plan and Pupil Deprivation Grant can be viewed on our website - please click here for more information.

School Savings Club

School Savings Club continues every Wednesday and we look forward to seeing our savers and hearing what they are saving for. This week we had 94 savers!! This is the most savers we have had sin a weekly session since December 2020!

More information on the School Savings Club ca be found on our website. School Savings.

A newsletter was also sent to parents this week with information about a competition for our children please take a look here.

Children's Christmas Cards - PTA Fundraiser

Thank you for all the Christmas designs that have been sent into school. These will now be forwarded to the design company and the PTA will provide parents with further details on ordering soon.

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

Diary Dates

19th November - Children in Need fundraiser (own clothes day)

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

29th November to 3rd December - STEM Week

9th December - Christmas Dinner Day for Nursery, year 1, year 3 and year 5

10th December - Christmas Dinner Day for Reception, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6

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.

P.E. Days

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

• Nursery - Friday

• Reception - Wednesday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Thursday

• Year 3 - Monday

• Year 4 - Wednesday

• Year 5 - Tuesday

• Year 6 - Thursday