Week 6 - Friday 11th October 2019

Children's Voice Elections

This week we held our elections for our Children's Voice Council for pupils in years 1 to 6! The digital voting was embraced by children and the results have now been collated. We are delighted to announce that class representatives for Children's Voice 2019/20 are:

• 1ML - Bella
• 1V - Nell
• 2R- Florence
• 2GL- Seren
• 3BB - Scarlett
• 3ND - Harmony
• 4C - Tabitha
• 4R - Blair
• 5BJ - Finlay and Freddie
• 5JJ - Niamh and Daniel
• 6C - Lily and Lexie
• 6E - Oliver and Samuel

Bridgend Male Choir music scholarship

Auditions for the Bridgend Male Choir music scholarship took place this week. Well done to everyone who auditioned in front of Ms Ellett and Ms Stephanie Bailey, Accompanist for Bridgend Male Choir. They were amazed by the standard of the auditions and congratulated everyone for taking part. Well done to the 2 children who have gained a music scholarship for the academic year - Lily (year 4) for singing and Yuri (year 5) for violin. We are extremely grateful to Bridgend Male Choir for providing sponsorship for our 2 music scholars.

World Mental Health Day - Thursday 10th October

World mental health day was recognised on Thursday 10th October by our pupils and staff. Pupils throughout the school took part in a variety of activity sessions including discussions about feeling, and designing mental health awareness t-shirts.

Harvest Festival

As part of our school harvest festival celebrations we are collecting items for Bridgend Foodbank. The foodbank have advised us of items that they require. In particular the following items would be helpful:

• Tinned meat (corned beef / ham)
• Tinned fish
• Tinned vegetables
• Tinned fruit / rice puddings / sponge pudding / custard
• UHT Milk
• Spreads (jam, marmalade)
• Coffee
• Crackers

They do not need baked beans or pasta at the present time. Please bring any donations into school by 18th October. Thank you for your support. Our children will be taking part in a Harvest Festival concert in school on Friday 18th October.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner will be served on Thursday 12th December. The cost of the meal is £2.20. 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. Please ensure payment is received before Monday 9th December. Children who receive free school meals will need to order a dinner via the form but payment will not be required. 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 21st November to guarantee a Christmas dinner for your child.

Christmas Dinner Form

Oldcastle School PTA - Annual General Meeting

The PTA will be holding an Annual General Meeting on Thursday 17th October at 3.15pm. Parents are welcome to come along after pick up and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee before the meeting starts. We hope you are able to come along and support the PTA - in particular the PTA are hoping new members will be able to join the committee and help plan a range of exciting events for the children and raise vital funds for the school.

At the AGM committee members will need to be elected into the following roles:

• Chair
• Vice Chair
• Treasurer
• Secretary

There are also various other roles within the PTA and we would encourage parents to get involved and help out where they can. We hope to see many new faces at the PTA meeting on Thursday 17th.

School Holiday Club - October Half Term

The Oldcastle holiday club will operate from Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November from 9am to 3.30pm at a cost of £18 per day. Children from the age of 5 years to 11 years will be able to attend the club. Children will be able to participate in a range of exciting sports, and arts and crafts activity sessions throughout the day provided by our qualified staff. The Club will operate in the main hall and nursery areas in the school and utilise other areas as required. Children will need to bring a packed lunch and water to drink throughout the day. Please complete a booking form for each child. Once your booking form has been received we will issue a Parent Pay invoice to you. Discounts are available for sibling and weekly bookings. Please contact the admin team on 01656 815790 or by email holidayclub@oldcastleprimary.co.uk if you have any questions.

Booking forms are available here.

Criw Cymraeg

At Oldcastle we are aiming to enthuse our children to use Welsh in every aspect of their lives. To kick start our initiative we have identified pupils who will be part of our Criw Cymraeg. The Criw Cymraeg will be responsible for choosing a welsh word and phrase of the week for the entire school. We will share this with parents for you to help out at home. We look forward to providing you with more information in the coming weeks.

School photos - Wednesday 16th October

Individual school photos will be taken on Wednesday 16th October. Please can all children attend in normal school uniform. Classes that have P.E. on that day will need to bring in their P.E. kit to change into on Wednesday.

Data Collection Sheets

It is important that we hold up to date contact information for your child. In the next week you will receive a copy of the contact numbers we hold - please can you check the numbers and email addresses and confirm the data we hold is correct. The data sheet will need to be returned to school.

We are continuing to email parents with relevant information regarding the school and your child's class, if you have not been receiving emails from notifications@primarysite.net please check your spam. If you have changed your email address please ensure you let us know.

PTA Clothing Collection

The PTA have arranged a clothing collection with Rags 2 Riches and bags have been sent home with children this week. Please return filled bags by Friday 18th October.

Panto - Years 3 to 6

Years 3 to 6 will be visiting the Panto in Porthcawl this years on 18th December. This years children will be entertained by a cast performing Snow White. The performances are always enjoyable. The cost of the trip is £11 and children will require a packed lunch on the day. If you wish your child to attend please ensure payment is made through Parent Pay by Thursday 24th October. Tickets will be booked and paid for on Friday 25th October and we cannot guarantee a place if you have not paid by this date.

School Uniform

Please can we remind parents that clothes should be appropriate for school. Our school prospectus details our uniform as grey / black trousers, skirt or pinafore dress, red or white polo shirts, navy jumpers or cardigans.

We have a large quantity of school uniform that has been donated and parents are welcome to have a look through our storage boxes to see if anything might be suitable for your child.

School Nurse Nasal Flu Spray

Parents of children in reception to year 6 have received a nasal flu spray consent form for your child. If you have not returned the form please return to school as soon as possible. The form will need to be returned even if you do not consent to your child receiving the vaccine. The nurses will be in school on 23rd October.

Headteacher Award

The following children were presented with a Headteachers Award during assembly today. This weeks theme is 'Contribution to World Mental Health Day'.

• Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis - Nojus
• Year 1 Miss Vaughan - Grace
• Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Darcey
• Year 2 Miss Lewis / Mrs Guy - Daisy
• Year 3 Brotherton / Mrs Burr - Rosie
• Year 4 Miss Radford - Ava
• Year 4 Miss Craven - Edyth
• Year 5 Miss Jones - Millie May
• Year 5 Miss James - Joseph
• Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Lexie
• Year 6 Mrs Evans - Ben

Diary Dates

• Friday 11th October - Choir concert at Sony Theatre
• Monday 14th October - Reception Autumn Walk to Newbridge Fields
• Wednesday 16th October - Individual school photos
• Friday 18th October - PTA Clothing Collection
• Saturday 19th October - Schools Cross Country event years 3 to 6
• Friday 25th October - Term Ends
• Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November - Half term
• Monday 4th November - Inset Day
• Tuesday 5th November - Inset Day
• Wednesday 6th November - Back to School
• Monday 2nd December - Nursery trip to Gower Heritage Centre
• Thursday 5th December - Reception trip TBC
• Tuesday 10th December - Year 1 trip to Dan yr Ogof
• Tuesday 10th December - Year 2 trip to Cardiff Castle
• Thursday 12th December - Christmas Dinner Day
• Wednesday 18th December - Juniors to visit Pantomime
• Friday 20th December - Term Ends
• Monday 6th January - Back to School
• Monday 17th February to Friday 21st February - Half term
• Monday 24th February - Back to School
• Monday 6th April to Friday 17th April - Easter holidays
• Monday 20th April - Back to school
• Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May - Half term
• Monday 1st June - Inset Day
• Tuesday 2nd June - Inset Day
• Friday 17th July - Term Ends
• Monday 20th July - Inset Day

Inset Days 2019/20

• Monday 4th November 2019
• Tuesday 5th November 2019
• Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd June 2020
• Monday 20th July 2020