Week 22 - Friday 22nd February 2019

Welcome to our newsletter for week ending 22nd February. Today is our last day before we break up for our February half term. We hope you enjoy the break and we look forward to welcoming children back to school on Monday 4th March.

Money Skills

We can't thank our volunteers from Nat West and Credit Union enough for coming into school over the last couple of weeks and informing children about money skills and savings. Our money skills sessions have been so well received by our children. We hope that your children have been feeding back to you all that they have learnt.

Eisteddfod - Monday 4th March

We will be holding our annual Eisteddfod celebrations on Monday 4th March. Children are busy in school working towards the Eisteddfod competitions focusing on welsh art, handwriting and poetry. Children will also be creating a piece of digital art. We are excited to see the results and we look forward to sharing some of these with you.

In the morning of the 4th March we will hold a celebration assembly when we will celebrate the Chairing of the Bard (a year 6 pupil who wins the poetry competition).

During the afternoon children will have the opportunity to discover a variety of sessions including folk dancing, touch rugby, art and digital welsh.

Children are able to wear house colour tops for the Eisteddfod on Monday 4th March.

Parents Evening Bookings

Parents evening meetings will be held during week beginning 1st April (apart from Miss Mullins year 1 class which will take on 6th and 7th March). If you have not received an email or need some assistance booking the appointment please contact the school office.

Nursery children

Children in nursery prepared and tasted Cawl this week - it looked amazing and it was lovely to see the youngest members of our school preparing the classic welsh dish.

Bridgend College

We are very grateful to Bridgend College who have entertained our year 6 pupils today as part of our Welsh celebrations. The catering department treated our children to a welsh themed breakfast which included welsh rarebit, glamorgan sausage, potato cakes and bira brith! The food looked amazing and the children had a fabulous time.

Bread making

Reception children have been learning how to make bread today as part of their story about The Little Red Hen. Children loved getting involved with the whole process particularly eating the bread!

PTA

The PTA have teamed up with a company called Cheeky Baby Tee Shirts to offer personalised house colour t-shirts for the Eisteddfod and School Sports Day. The PTA will receive 10% of all sales. The purchase of these t-shirts is optional and there is no expectation for children to have these t-shirts for any school events. For more information please click here

The PTA also have a number of events planned for the coming months please have a look at these Spring Newsletter available to view on our website.

They would also like to know if parents would be interested in them arranging a quiz night - the provisional date is 17th May however the event will only take place if there is enough demand. Please let the PTA know via their Facebook page or by email if you would be interested in attending. Email address is oldcastleprimarypta@gmail.com

A PTA meeting is arranged for Tuesday 19th March at 5pm - all welcome.

Headteacher Award

The following children were presented with a Headteachers Award during assembly today. This weeks theme is enthusiasm in our money skills sessions.

• Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis - Finley
• Year 1 Miss Mullins - Harri
• Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Leo
• Year 2 Mrs Evans - Dylan
• Year 3 Miss Minkowski - Ioanna
• Year 3 Miss Davies - Jayden
• Year 4 Miss Jones - Cairan
• Year 4 Miss Craven - Grace
• Year 5 Mr Clements - Jessy
• Year 5 Miss James- Isobel
• Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Ellis
• Year 6 Mrs Taylor-Jones - Jessica

Attendance of the Week

Class of the Week for the best attendance was awarded to 2R (97%) in Foundation Phase and 6TJ (100%) in Key Stage 2. Our whole school attendance target is 95.9% for the year. This week’s attendance was 94.7%.

Diary Dates

• Half term - 25th February to 1st March
• Back to School - Monday 4th March
• Monday 4th March - Eisteddfod - children should wear house colours
• Week beginning 4th March - 6C swimming
• 6th and 7th March - Miss Mullins parents evening
• Friday 15th March - School Council Fundraiser 'Red Nose Day'
• Tuesday 19th March - PTA Meeting
• Friday 22nd March - Year 5 trip to Big Pit
• Tuesday 26th March - Reception trip to Cefn Mably
• Week beginning 1st April - Parents Evening Week
• Inset Day - Monday 22nd July 2019

Inset Days 2019/20

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