Week 35 - Friday 19th June 2020

Welcome to our newsletter for week 35 of the school year.

We have been busy working through the detail for your child's return to school following the submission of the Return to School survey. As you can imagine the information being prepared for parents, by the school is detailed and complex, and we are keen to ensure you receive the correct information when we send this out. We aim to send the information out to parents by the end of the day on Monday 22nd June.

Parents who have applied for hub places next week will be notified by the local authority today.. Key workers need to apply for a place at our hub school via Bridgend Council on a weekly basis.

We are aware that parents do need to make plans but we hope you appreciate the need to ensure that the information provided to you is accurate.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Weekly Assembly

This weeks virtual assembly has been uploaded to our website and our You Tube channel, please click this link to view. Weekly Assembly We are also 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, Nursery have continued to work incredibly hard and have impressed us all very much.

In literacy, we have continued to learn how to read and write new phonic sounds. We have continued to practise reading the words we know and we've also begun to sound out new words.

This week in maths, we started to look at capacity and weight. We were challenged to find objects in our house that we thought were heavy and light.

In our Flipgrid challenges we built towers using various objects and then counted how many objects we used in Welsh. We also read 'The Koala who could' and told our friends something we thought we couldn't do, but after giving it a try, we realised we were able to do!

As part of some outdoor learning, we were challenged to create our name using anything we found in nature. You were very creative in this challenge and we loved seeing the work you uploaded.

Thank you for another fantastic week of learning, we are all so proud of you!

Reception

Reception have had another challenging week of home learning. Along with estimation, quarter, half and full turns in maths we have revised, counting in 2s. 5s and 10s. They have also organised and set up a themed party. They have written invitations, menus, cards, designed and played party games and also made up food alongside their menus. We have seen some fantastic flip grid videos where many children have shared their parties with us. Parties included, Pirate parties, mermaid parties, under the sea parties and many more. Children have also participated in a Welsh doctors surgery role play organised by FFlic and Fflac. Well done reception on your continued effort and enthusiasm.

Year 1

Once more, we’ve had a marvellous week in Year 1, sharing challenges and ideas. Do you know - we’ve now had 500 fantastic videos uploaded to our Flipgrid classroom, as well as dozens of films and photos sent by email. Everyone should be so proud! In maths, our number-work is making us think harder, as we’ve been ordering 2-digit numbers. Along with this, the children have uploaded splendid examples of their home-made balances, demonstrating their work on balancing and weighing. We’ve loved watching their investigations using different resources. Within English, we have been focusing on a range of challenging words, practising our upper and lower case letters, and continuing to develop our independent reading skills. Knowledge of letter shapes shone through in the beautiful names made from natural materials. These natural materials were put to good use within our ice eggs activity too, which proved very popular. Throughout the week, we have received some very well drawn and informative life-cycle diagrams inspired by our shared story ‘Monkey Puzzle’. Our Welsh learning has been beneficial this week too, as we have recapped vocabulary used to discuss all types of weather! What a wonderful week for Year 1 once again.

Year 2

This week, Year 2 have been completing a number of Literacy challenges. They have been working on their punctuation skills, using conjunctions in the middle of sentences and listening to stories to work on their comprehension skills.

Maths this week has had a symmetry focus. Children have made a number of symmetrical pictures and played lots of games to deepen their understanding of the topic.

Music was a fun session this week, the children were asked to make their own kitchen percussion after listening to some cuban music. Your videos are amazing and so creative!

Year 2 have also created their own seaside jars to remind them of all the things they love about the seaside - hopefully we can all be back by the sea soon.

They've created their own nature paintbrushes using a variety of natural materials and used them to paint pictures.

Yet another fun, busy week on the Year 2 Google Classroom.

Thank you to all the children and parents for continuing to work so hard at home. See you soon!

Year 3

Wow! Another very busy week in Year 3, with lots of challenging activities. In Maths we have been re-visiting calculating areas by looking at the area of shapes. We have also been busy learning our 12 times table by practising a new song.

In literacy this week, we have been revising long and short vowel sounds and started looking at our new story, "Born to Spell". We answered questions about the story in order to secure an understanding of the text and looked at character descriptions. Lastly, we practised familiar spellings and had the opportunity to take part in a spelling bee competition at home with our families.

We have started to move our learning on in Science, from "life cycles" to "the water cycle". We've been finding out how water moves through earth through evaporation, condensation and precipitation. We have also learnt some interesting facts along the way!

Once again, we would like to thank you for your continued hard work and support. We love to see what you have been up to, on our weekly slides. Well done Year 3!

Year 4

We have had another busy week in Year 4 and we are so impressed with the work we have seen!

In Literacy, the children have been listening to Spy Master: First Blood. They have been using literal, inference and deduction skills to answer a variety of questions about the text, and have written a descriptive paragraph about our main character, Jack. The children and teachers have loved the book so far and we are excited to see what happens next.

In Maths Year 4 have been battling their classmates and teachers by taking part in the Timestables Rocks challenge.

This week the children have been learning all about Tudor housing. They have been looking at images and comparing the different styles of housing. Year 4 have been researching the housing of the rich and poor during Tudor times. We challenged them to go on a walk and look for any Tudor buildings and we wonder if they found any!

To prepare ourselves to go back to school the children have been watching and creating their own social stories. The social story helps explain how school will be different when we return. We encourage parents to watch the social story with their children and help them with any questions they have.

Year 5

Year 5 have been busy working hard again this week.

Maths this week has focused on recapping pupils multiplication skills and using different strategies to solve procedural style questions. They have worked hard to work through different strategies and identifying which is their preferred strategy.

Our Keyhole theme continued this week in literacy. Pupils were asked to draw their keyhole through the perspective of someone involved in WW2 and write a description of how they saw the world. Miss James and Miss Jones have both been very proud of the outcomes of this project, pupils have made every effort to showcase the variety of skills they have developed throughout the year.

Our afternoons this week have focused on Health and Wellbeing, in particular developing nutritional knowledge. Pupils have been tasked to plan, prepare and evaluate a home cook meal for their whole family, focusing on dietary requirements and nutritional values. We look forward to watching the feedback videos from their families.

Year 6

Another week gone and year 6 pupils have been producing some excellent work. During Maths, pupils have been recapping multiplication skills, using different strategies and applying their knowledge to procedural style questions. It has been great to see their timetable recall being put to the test.

English week is continuing on the Keyhole Theme, pupils have been asked to draw from the perspective of someone involved in WW2 and write a descriptive piece in 3rd person based on what they can see through their keyhole. Last week’s work was a fantastic example of what skills they have learned over the year.

As part of Health and Wellbeing we are looking at developing basic cooking skill and nutritional knowledge. Year 6 have been asked to plan, prepare and evaluate a home cooked meal. Pupils have been tasked to find a meal that the whole family can enjoy, adapt the recipe for the number of people eating as well as looking into any specific dietary requirements. We look forward to watching the feedback videos from the family food critics. Masterchef in the making.

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.

Thrive - emotional and social well being

Thrive activities are available for parents via our website. Thrive 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'.

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. Home Learning Activities

Headteacher's Awards

As we would normally do in school at the end of the week 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 - Evie
• Reception Miss Walters - Gabrielle
• Reception Miss Williams - Reeve
• Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis - Mason
• Year 1 Miss Vaughan - Ozias
• Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Caleb
• Year 2 Miss Lewis / Mrs Guy - Seren
• Year 3 Brotherton / Mrs Burr - Owen
• Year 3 Miss Davies - Issac
• Year 4 Miss Radford / Miss Mullins - Charlie
• Year 4 Miss Craven - Olivia
• Year 5 Miss Jones - George
• Year 5 Miss James - Amy
• Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Anya
• Year 6 Mrs Evans - Dexter
• Miss Ellett Music - Anna Year 5, Elizabeth year 6 and Elisha year 4.

Helpful Links

Welsh Government - Latest Advice

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.