Week 9 - Friday 8th November 2019

Welcome back to school following the half term break. We hope you all enjoyed the time off school. As a school we use the inset days to undertake staff training and meet as a team. It is often difficult for us to get together as a whole team so the days are useful for training and communication.

STEM Day

We've had an amazing start to the term! Children have been so enthused and excited about our STEM day, digital day and remembrance day - it has been truly inspiring to see how much the children have enjoyed.

On Wednesday we had an exciting start to the new school term as we headed straight into our STEM day with a launch assembly! Throughout the day each class celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Lunar landings and looked at the future projects for moon landing and the possibility of building on the moon!

Nursery and reception - Children took on the role of Astronomers and used light sources to represent the sun and modelling clay to create mountains on the lunar surface.

Year 1 - Year 1 became Lunar Geologists for the day and tested the effectiveness of a variety of tools for taking samples of lunar soil.

Year 2 - Rocket scientists of the future!! Year 2 investigated the forces required to launch a sponge rocket, tested the effects of changing the design by adding fins to the rocket and measured the distance travelled. Great fun!

Year 3 - Footprint on the moon, the moon is covered in dust caused by the impact of meteorites. The absence of rain and wind leaves imprints to remain unchanged. Children in year 3 became Geologists and tested the impact of different objects on Moon rocks. Year 3 also investigated the effect of certain liquids on eggs - very smelly!

Year 4 - Children built a landing craft and designed a method to enable their model to land gently without damage. Future aerospace engineers!

Year 5 - Children became physicists and investigated ways of creating electrostatic charge using a variety of materials and then tested whether the charge can lift particles from the surface. Children particularly enjoyed using static electricity from balloons to limit and move items!

Year 6 - Year 6 made structures from simple ingredients (paper) and conducted stress tests to determine which produces the strongest bricks.

The STEM days held throughout the school year will be used as evidence for Oldcastle to gain The Space Education Quality Mark. The Space Education Quality Mark (SEQM) is awarded to schools who want to inspire and engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. At Oldcastle we are fully committed to doing this!

Digital Days

On Thursday children were excited to be involved in the creation of videos that will promote how children can use the internet safely. Every class had such different ideas and the children were really enthused to create some amazing work. Children from nursery to year 6 have used digital resources and have learnt how they must stay safe online. We are collating the videos and look forward to sharing all of these with you via our website. Below are a few photos from the production!

As a school we will be taking part in a Welsh Government Safer Internet Day competition in February as part of Safer Internet Day. The aim will be to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. The competition aims to encourage children and young people to express their creativity and share their understanding of digital well-being and online safety issues. The theme of the competition is “A better internet: How to look after yourself and others”. We will be entering an entry from each class following the success of the Digital Day.

Remembrance Day

On Friday 8th November we participated as a whole school in remembrance day activities to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War 2. Children worked throughout the day to create a display of poppies in our main hall and have been working on poetry to mark the event. The display is breathtaking.

Thank you to parents who provided us with names of relatives to be remembered as part of our event.

During the morning we held a coffee morning for parents and other guests. We are so grateful to those who supported our event. Our year 6 poppy sellers particularly loved hearing about the stories beyond our guests medals. The school choir sang a beautiful version of 'The White Cliffs of Dover' at the coffee morning. Throughout the week we have been selling poppies, and other merchandise, and we are delighted to let you know that all of our merchandise has sold out! We still have a few poppies available to purchase.

Our celebrations will culminate for children on Monday 11th November when they will mark a minutes silence at 11am and read out a poem per year group.

Christmas Concerts

Christmas is fast approaching and we have been planning the dates for our Christmas concerts. Concerts will take place at the school on the following dates. Due to limited numbers in the main hall we will be providing parents with tickets for these events - please keep the tickets safe as they are not replaceable. Tickets will be issued in November. Please note the change to the years 5 and 6 performance on 10th December.

Nursery

• Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th December - 9.30am - parents will receive 2 tickets for each show

Reception

• Monday 16th December - 9.30am and 2pm - parents will receive 2 tickets for each show

Year 1 and 2

• Thursday 5th December- 9.30am and 1.30pm - parents will receive 1 ticket for the morning and 1 for the afternoon

Years 3 and 4

• Monday 9th December - 9.30am and 1.30pm - parents will receive 1 ticket for the morning and 1 for the afternoon

Years 5 and 6

• Tuesday 10th December - 9.30am and 5pm - parents will receive 1 ticket for the morning and 1 for the evening

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

School Savings

The savings club will start back on 13th November.

Meet the Governors

Parents are invited to meet our School Governors on Wednesday 13th November at 6pm. The annual Report to Parents has been emailed to parents and is available on our website. Parents are invited to come and discuss the report with Governors. We hope you can attend.

School Dinners - National School Meals Week

It is National School Meals Week from 11th November to 15th November and our catering team have an exciting menu available for our children. You can view the menu here. Please ensure payment is added to your child's BCBC dinner account if they wish to enjoy any of the special menu's.

PTA

Our school PTA held a meeting this week after school. The meeting was very productive but it is apparent that the PTA require more parents to get involved and help with events and fundraising. The PTA play a vital role in raising funds for Oldcastle and we are very grateful for all that they do. If you would like to find out more information please contact the office or look out for the Oldcastle Primary PTA facebook page. In particular the PTA require parents to come forward if they are interested in a role on the committee.

Twitter

Don't forget we regularly use our Twitter account to let parents know what we have been up to in school. Please have a look @oldcastleschool

Headteacher Award

• Due to our remembrance event a headteacher's assembly was not held today.

Diary Dates

• Wednesday 13th November - Meet the Governors at 6pm
• Wednesday 20th November - 5JJ trip to the Senedd
• Wednesday 27th November - 5BJ trip to the Senedd
• Monday 2nd December - Nursery trip to Gower Heritage Centre
• Thursday 5th December - Reception trip to Brecon Mountain Railway
• Thursday 5th December - Years 1 and 2 Christmas Concert - ticketed event at 9.30am and 1.30pm
• Monday 9th December - Years 3 and 4 Christmas Concert - ticketed event at 9.30am and 1,30pm
• Tuesday 10th December - Year 1 trip to Dan yr Ogof
• Tuesday 10th December - Year 2 trip to Cardiff Castle
• Tuesday 10th December - Years 5 and 6 Christmas concert 9.30am and 5pm
• Wednesday 11th December - Nursery Christmas Concert - ticketed event at 9.30am
• Thursday 12th December - Christmas Dinner Day
• Friday 13th December - Nursery Christmas Concert - ticketed event at 9.30am
• Monday 16th December - Reception Christmas Concert - ticketed event at 9.30am and 2pm
• 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