Week 28 - Friday 24th April 2020
Week 28 - Friday 24th April 2020
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Welcome to our newsletter for week 28. We hope you enjoyed the Easter holiday period in these difficult times.
As a school we are very proud of the way that our pupils, parents and staff have dealt with the changes to normal school life. Our Oldcastle community is something to be very proud of, and we thank you as parents for the support you have shown Team Oldcastle over the past 5 weeks. We understand that these are challenging times however we hope that the connection your child can have with Oldcastle through their google classroom, their teacher and their class mates will help in some way.
Google Classroom update for parents
We are in an unusual and unprecedented situation and like many other organisations, we are having to design and implement new ways of working and learning. We appreciate the steepness of the learning curve that we are all on and we thank you for the support you have shown over the last few weeks.
Over the next two weeks, to try and support parents and pupils further, we will be making some small changes to Google Classroom arrangements. The changes are as follows:
- School teachers will upload work Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:00 am and 9:00 am only.
- We will only upload one days work each day, rather than a week's worth of activities. This should help manage the amount of work on each classroom. We are also looking at the volume of learning activities provided and we will adjust this as we understand more about online learning needs.
- No changes will be made to the Google Classroom after 9:00 am (except in exceptional circumstances).
- Where appropriate we will continue to add deadlines for work, however this should act as a guide only, enabling parents and teachers to manage learning. Work can be submitted after deadlines but feedback may be different. Often it is appropriate for work to be self -marked or marked by parents using guidance / answers from teachers.
We hope that these small adjustments will make improvements to navigating Google Classroom. The wellbeing of our pupils and families is really important to us as we strive to not only provide learning but also broader care and guidance.
Thank you for your continued support. We are here to help and will continue to support our families through this challenging time through our dedicated email address ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk
Rainbow of Hope
During the Easter holidays Team Oldcastle created a very special video called 'The Rainbow of Hope' - please show your children a lovely video to remind them what the staff at Oldcastle look like! We miss all our children and hope they like the video.
Weekly Assembly
During our closure period, Mr Thompson or Mrs Littlewood will hold a weekly virtual assembly as we would normally do in school. The videos are uploaded to our website and our You Tube channel, please click this link to view. Weekly Assembly We will also be recognising children through our weekly Headteacher's Awards - please scroll down to view who has been awarded a certificate in each class this week. Certificates have been emailed to all children who have received an award this week.
Google Classroom - Update for each year group
Nursery
This week in Nursery we have been practising our letter formation, using prepositional language and making our own repeating patterns. We have also challenged ourselves to play a throwing game where we had to make a mark for every point we scored. We then added the points up and wrote the corresponding number, we have been very busy!
Reception
Reception have thrown themselves into a new topic this week ‘Splish Splash Splosh’, we have been learning about underwater sea creatures and making our own fact files. The children have been telling each other the facts they have learnt on flipgrid, it’s been lovely to see everyone. We have also been learning about repeating patterns and are starting to explore subtraction. We are practising our reading skills by reading sentences about sea creatures. Reception were also set a challenge to learn a song ‘Jellyfish Smellyfish’ and create some dance moves. Thank you for your engagement and continued support. Da Iawn Reception
Year 1
This term’s new topic is ‘Mini Zoo’ and we have already seen so many imaginative and interesting Flipgrid videos created by our children!
Year 1 have been super busy this week, where we have worked on challenges throughout all the different areas of learning. Pictures and videos of children plotting their geographical maps, finding different number-bonds around their home, explaining what plants need to grow, are just some of the fantastic pieces of work which we have seen uploaded. A range of tasks based on our topic book ‘What the Ladybird Heard!’ have also allowed us to see amazing artistic skills. Within PSE and Art, it has been a delight to see detailed ‘Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len Wanted Posters’ and receive lots of creative, colourful rainbows. Keep up the amazing work Year 1!
Year 2
Year 2 have made a great start to their learning after the Easter break. This week they have been practising telling the time on an analogue clock and improving their reading and spelling skills. Children have also had lots of fun creating their own versions of constellations using materials they had at home. They looked amazing in the photographs that were uploaded to our shared presentation!
All the Year 2 staff would like to say well done to the children who are completing the tasks set and contributing to our shared presentations. We love seeing your photographs and hearing what you have been up to. Teachers are leaving comments on work that is completed on slides, so don’t forget to check back to read our messages to you.
We look forward to hearing more about your experiences this term on our News slides.
Year 3
This week children in year 3 have been recapping how to use speech marks and punctuation within their sentences. They’ve then completed some very creative pieces of writing! In maths lessons, they’ve developed their subtraction skills through challenges. Our science topic this term is The Natural World and children have been creating their own dragons based on the four seasons. We’ve seen some amazing designs! Keep up the great work year 3!
Year 4
This week Year 4 have started their new topic The Tudors. We have been researching the Tudor royal family tree. We have also been thinking about what we want to learn in this topic by asking questions on Flipgrid. We will be looking at Henry VIII next week and finding out why he is infamous.
In literacy we have just finished our Unit 2 work but will be continuing to learn about the classification and characteristics of animals during our Science sessions.
In Numeracy we have looked at the methods of short multiplication and division. The children have worked really hard and have shown resilience in learning two new concepts at home.
Each week we set a new show and tell activity for the children to record and upload onto Flipgrid. This week's theme was “talent show”. We have loved listening and watching the children perform their talents for us all to watch and even some of the teachers have got involved too! We certainly have very talented pupils (and teachers) at Oldcastle!
Da iawn Blwyddyn 4 for all the work you are doing! Keep it up!
Year 5
It’s been another busy week for year 5. Over the past week we have looked at recapping previous skills in Maths as well as introducing new skills in Language and Communication.
During Maths, we have developed our multiplication and division skills. Pupils were asked to create ‘How to’ videos showing how to multiply 2 x1 using their preferred method and using bus stop and chunking method to solve division sums.
In Language and Communication we introduced our new topic of ‘Evolution across the ages’. This week pupils have been learning about Charles Darwin through answering comprehension questions based on his Biography. All this work will prepare them for later in the term when they will be writing a Biography.
Our afternoons have been focused around the theories behind the Extinction of Dinosaurs and pupils were asked to record a video on their personal opinion on how they think Dinosaurs became extinct.
Year 6
It’s been a great week back for year 6. Over the past week we have looked at recapping previous skills in Maths as well as introducing new skills in Language and Communication.
During Maths, pupils have developed their mastery skills for multiplication and division. Pupils were asked to create ‘How to’ videos showing how to multiply a 2 x 1 sum and their preferred method for 2 x 2 or 3 x 2 and using bus-stop and chunking method for division. Watching the videos is always great for us, we get to see the pupils in their home learning environment and listen to them using their mathematical language - we’ve even had sisters, brothers, mums, dads and dogs taking part - we have some budding teachers in the making.
In Language and Communication we introduced our new topic of ‘Evolution across the ages’. This week pupils have been learning about Charles Darwin through answering comprehension questions based on his Biography. All this work will prepare them for later in the term when they will be writing a Biography.
In the afternoons, pupils have been researching and recording theories behind Extinction of Dinosaurs, finishing this off by recording a video on their personal opinion on how they think Dinosaurs became extinct - they have created some compelling arguments.
We have been encouraging pupils to take part in daily physical activity and they have their thrive tasks to continue working on - we will be asking for these to be handed in soon. So far Mrs Coleman has had a disaster with her Sour Dough bread (even the birds didn’t want to eat it) but luckily Mrs Evans has been having great success with her running!!
As you can see, school may be shut but we are certainly busy in all year groups!
As you can see, school may be shut but we are certainly busy in all year groups!
Thrive - emotional and social well being
Thrive activities are available for parents via our website. Thrive Activities - Week 5
Home Learning Resources / Activities for parents
Our website has been updated to include a range of resources that parents might find useful to keep children entertained. There are a range of activities from phonics sounds for nursery children, to daily videos from Steve Backshall, to Dance sessions with Oti Mabuse! If you come across any additional resources or activity sessions on the internet please let us know via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk and we will share them on our website for other parents to enjoy. Home Learning Activities
Keep in touch
We are keen to support parents and pupils as much as we can during our closure period so please do keep in touch with us as much as you can. We would love to hear from parents and children about how you are finding home learning, what activities you have been taking part in and please share any artwork or music with us.
You can share these via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk, our Twitter page @oldcastleschool, or our You Tube site 'Oldcastle Primary School'.
Headteacher's Awards
The following children were presented with a Headteachers Award during our virtual assembly today.
- Nursery Miss Hughes - Hannah
- Reception Miss Walters - Jacob
- Reception Miss Williams - Anwen
- Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis - Harry
- Year 1 Miss Vaughan - Megan
- Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Louis
- Year 2 Miss Lewis / Mrs Guy - Luca
- Year 3 Brotherton / Mrs Burr - Lily-May
- Year 3 Miss Davies - Amelia
- Year 4 Miss Radford / Miss Mullins - Layla
- Year 4 Miss Craven - Katie
- Year 5 Miss Jones - Freddie
- Year 5 Miss James - Annelise
- Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Rhys C
- Year 6 Mrs Evans - Mylo
- Miss Ellett Music - Marla year 3
Helpful Links
Bridgend County Borough Council - Latest Coronavirus Advice
Wellbeing Support from BCBC Educational Psychology Service
Public Health Wales - Latest Guidance
Bridgend Active Young People Department have some great resources to keep families active. Please have a look at Family Active Zone.
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