Week 29 - Friday 1st May 2020

Welcome to our newsletter for week 29 and the first day of May!

Once again we have been so proud to learn what our pupils have been getting up to during our closure period. Children across the school have been engaging with their teachers through Google Classroom. Every time a teacher receives an interaction from a child, whether it be a Flipgrid photo or video, submission of work or a simple hello this will be putting a smile on your teachers face! We are also keen to hear from you via our 'ask' email.

We must not forget all of our staff who are working tirelessly to ensure that pupils and parents receive the best they can from Oldcastle. Everyone at the school is fully committed to ensuring that we are there to support our school community through this challenging and unprecedented period.

In particular, this week we want to highlight the amazing work that our caretaker, Mr Jones, has been doing in the school whilst we are closed. Mr Jones has been continuing to open up the school and has been completing lots of exciting projects to ensure the school will be looking at its very best when we return. Thank you Mr Jones for all your hard work and continuing to make improvements to our school building. Our cleaners have also continued to work in school ensuring that all areas are receiving a deep and thorough clean.

As a school we are very proud of all our school staff who have shown commitment and enthusiasm in this very different time.

Google Classroom

Last week we informed you of a change to Google Classroom. We have received a lot of positive feedback regarding the change and have noticed that this approach is working much better for pupils and their families. The health and well-being of our pupils is paramount at this time and we are here to help with any issues you may have. Here is a reminder:

• 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.

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

Inset Day / Bank holiday for VE Day

Monday 4th May was due to be an Inset Day however at this time we would like to continue with a normal school day for our pupils to provide some routine. Teachers will be setting work via Google classroom in the normal way.

Friday 8th May is a national bank holiday to celebrate VE Day. Our website will be updated with a variety of activities that may help you celebrate. VE Day Resources

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.

School Projects

Our school governors this week approved the school to further explore two exciting projects. The local authority will need to approve final spending plans.

Our Children's Voice Council have been asking us to make improvements to our school canteen facility and we are delighted that the first stage of the redevelopment has been approved by Governors. This will include the inclusion of a new door at the far end of the dining hall which will lead out on a new outdoor seating area. The dining hall will also see improvements to flooring and decoration.

Following the success of our solar panel installation on the canteen we have been looking at ways in which we can increase our solar energy production and therefore reduce our energy costs. School governors approved a project for the school to install additional solar panels on the main school building. We are delighted also to have received grant funding to part fund this project from the Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust.

Google Classroom - Update for each year group

Nursery

This week in Nursery we have been learning new sounds and practising our phonics. In Maths, we have been learning all about money and symmetry. We have also been learning to say the days of the week in Welsh by singing along to a new song.

We have also been making pictures of people who help us and we have shown our friends our favourite dance moves. Nursery have certainly been very busy this week!

Reception

Reception have been experimenting this week with floating and sinking, then they had to make a boat that floats. They were excellent explaining their findings on flipgrid videos, looks like we've got some new scientists and teachers in our midst.

Children have also been practicing their halving skills with shapes and numbers. We are so proud of the way the children have adapted to the new 'school life', they continue to impress us with their enthusiasm and knowledge. Da iawn Reception!

Year 1

This week Year 1 have been super busy! In Maths, we have been practising finding doubles and halving with a range of challenging activities. Through our topic work, the children have been on a minibeast safari, searching for lots of different creatures and looking at their habitats!

We have also seen amazing work about looking after our planet and how it is important to reduce, reuse and recycle. Once again we have been able to enjoy viewing engaging, detailed and creative work uploaded throughout the week to our Flipgrid account. Year 1 you are working so hard to develop your skills and knowledge. Keep posting and continue to produce fantastic results!

Some children have said though that they’re a little shy about using Flipgrid. That’s not a problem - send photos or videos of any work to ask@oldcastle.co.uk with your name and class and we’ll be able to see all of the marvellous things you’ve done.

Year 2

There have been many challenging activities available this week, in Maths children have been building on their previous knowledge of time, reading and making both analogue and digital times. They’ve taken part in creative activities both indoors and outdoors and have had the opportunity to document their time living through this historical event, by making time capsules.

In Literacy they have been exploring a new genre - poetry. Children have had the chance to work on their comprehension skills whilst reading ‘Blast Off.’ They then had the challenge of writing their own poems about a journey into space! We look forward to reading them so please upload them to the Google Classroom.

Next week, we look forward to introducing our new topic ‘All About the Sea’

Remember to keep looking out for comments on your work and news slides from your teachers.

Year 3

Hi Stay at Home Superstars. We can’t believe another week has gone by already! This week year 3 spent time revising a bit of work we first learnt about in school together; number and place value in Maths and nouns, adjectives, spellings and handwriting in English. Science lessons have involved research about the Seasons whilst Miss Ellett has had the children looking into pulse and rhythm in Music. The children were also encouraged to become teachers for a day to help their families learn our Eisteddfod song and poem.

Even though it’s been a rainy one, Year 3 have still managed to get out and about for their daily exercise to locations like; Merthyr Mawr, The Dipping Bridge as well as Newbridge Fields. The teachers are also glad to hear the children have been keeping in touch with one another either facetiming or playing Roblox together. The weekly entries on the ‘What we have been up to’ slide have kept everyone entertained and always inspire us to try something we read about in them.

Keep up the great effort everyone, we really appreciate it and remember to keep smiling and always be kind!

Year 4

Da iawn Blwyddyn 4! The teachers in Year 4 are very proud of you all for the work you are handing in. We know that it is a very strange time and you have shown us how resilient, hard working and creative you are. Keep it up!

In English we have been looking at adjectives and how to create interesting sentences using them. In Numeracy we have finished looking at the short written method of division. We will be revisiting some of the maths we have already learnt this year over the next few weeks.

We have been learning about Henry the VIII for our topic work and we have been very impressed with the mind maps that you have created. Next week we will be learning about Henry’s six wives and can’t wait to see your work.

Our Flipgrid ‘Show and Tell’ challenge this week is to learn a new skill, this could be anything from learning colours in a different language to learning how to do a magic trick. We hope you all take part and enjoy the challenge!

Year 5

Another busy week in year 5 this week.

In maths, pupils have been developing their money skills and using our addition and subtraction skills to calculate change from given amounts. Towards the end of the week pupils became school trip organisers and were given a budget to plan their dream school trip. Pupils were then tasked to use their persuasive language techniques to sell their trip to the rest of the class using Flip Grid.

In Language and Communication, pupils have been completing tasks that have demonstrated their understanding of biographies. They then created their own toolkit of features that are needed when writing a Biography.

Our afternoons have been focused around developing the Welsh language. Children became town planners and were tasked with designing their own town on Scratch and using their Welsh language skills to describe what is in their towns.

Year 6

Year 6 have been working hard again this week.

In maths we have introduced new skills. Pupils have been learning about squared and cubed numbers. They have then applied these skills along with their multiplication and division knowledge in BODMAS calculations. At the end of the week the pupils were set a Flipgrid challenge to solve a mathematical problem and record and justify their answer.

In Language and Communication, the pupils have been completing tasks that have demonstrated their understanding of biographies, they have created a toolkit of features that need to be included and have identified these key features in given pieces of text. They will be using these skills in the coming weeks to write a biography of their own.

During the afternoons, the pupils have been working on their Welsh language skills. The pupils took on the role of town planners and were asked to design their own town using Scratch, demonstrating their Welsh language skills to describe their towns.

We really appreciate the effort that the pupils are putting into completing the daily tasks.

As you can see, school may be shut but we are certainly busy in all year groups!

Our website - www.oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Our school website is constantly being updated to ensure parents and pupils have all the relevant information they need whilst we are closed. Recently the Kids Zone section has been updated with a range of fun games for children. Please take a look. Kids Zone

Thrive - emotional and social well being

Thrive activities are available for parents via our website. Thrive Activities - Week 6

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'.

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

Headteacher's Awards

As we would normally do in school on a Friday we held an assembly to celebrate all our children. We know all our children have been working hard with their parents at home. These are the children identified for awards this week.

• Nursery Miss Hughes - Aida
• Reception Miss Walters - Eloise
• Reception Miss Williams - Violet
• Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis -Matthew
• Year 1 Miss Vaughan - Maya
• Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Imogen
• Year 2 Miss Lewis / Mrs Guy - Amelia
• Year 3 Brotherton / Mrs Burr - Dion
• Year 3 Miss Davies - Lewis
• Year 4 Miss Radford / Miss Mullins - Sam
• Year 4 Miss Craven - Sebastian
• Year 5 Miss Jones - Iris
• Year 5 Miss James - Ellis
• Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Rosie
• Year 6 Mrs Evans - Oliver
• Miss Ellett Music - Hannah D Year 5

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.