Week 26 - Friday 29th March 2019

Welcome to our newsletter for week ending 29th March. Don't forget to look for our new communication app - The School App in the Play Store or App Store if you haven't already downloaded. This app is used frequently to keep you up to date with activities and notifications regarding your child and the school.

Parents Evening Bookings

Parents evening meetings will be held during week beginning 1st April. If you have not received an email or need some assistance booking the appointment please contact the school office.

Nursery Parents - Book Look

Nursery will be holding ‘Book Look’ sessions on the following dates:

• Monday 1st April
• Tuesday 2nd April
• Wednesday 3rd April

A list is available in Nursery please speak to the class teacher to book a suitable time.

Parents Focus Group - School Reports

We are currently in the process of re-designing our school reports which are sent home to parents at the end of the school year. We are keen to gain parents views on our new look school report and will be holding a Parents Focus Group on Wednesday 3rd April at 9am. We hope you are able to join us and let us know your views on the revised format.

Eco Committee - Eco Code competition

We have received some lovely designs for our Eco Code competition. Our Eco committee will be looking at the designs next week and choosing which one they would like to use to promote the Eco Code at Oldcastle.

Our Eco Code

Cross Country

Reminder that there will be a cross country event for years 3 to 6 at Bryntirion Comprehensive School on Saturday April 6^th. The event will begin at 10am. Following the events there will be a presentation event, sponsored by the Rotary Club. The whole event is likely to be completed by 11.15am. The School would like to thank Mrs Sales for arranging bibs for the cross country runners, and the PTA and Bridgend Male Voice choir for sponsoring the bibs.

Summer Term Sports Club

We are pleased to be able to offer after school sports clubs to children in year 1 to year 6 in the summer term.

• Years 1 and 2 will be offered Multi Skills sessions every Thursday after school until 4.05pm. The club will be led by Mrs Evans along with Miss Vaughan. Children will learn generic catching, throwing and fielding skills needed for striking and fielding games.
• Years 3 and 4 will be able to take part in Cricket and Rounders every Thursday after school until 4.15pm. The venue will be Brynteg Comp Lower school fields. The entrance is off Heol Gam. Staff will walk the children to the school. Children must be collected promptly from Brynteg at the end of the session. Staff will also walk children back to afterschool club. The club will be led by Mr McNally along with Mrs Davies, Miss Jones, Mrs Minkoswki and Mrs Littlewood. Children will learn generic catching, throwing and fielding skills to each sport and then can choose to do either cricket or rounders if they so wish.
• Years 5 and 6 will be offered cricket and rounders every Tuesday after school until 4.15pm. The venue will be Brynteg Comp Lower school fields. The entrance is off Heol Gam. Staff will walk the children to the school. Children must be collected promptly from Brynteg at the end of the session or walk home from there. Staff will also walk children back to afterschool club. The club will be taken by Mrs Coleman and Mr McNally. Children will learn generic catching, throwing and fielding skills to each sport and then can choose to do either cricket or rounders if they so wish.

We will be sending an email to parents with more information on the sessions. If your child is interested the form attached to the email must be completed and returned to school.

School Communication

Please note that we will no longer be using Schoop as a communication tool for the school. If you haven’t already please ensure you download our new communication app - The School App to keep up to date with news and announcements for Oldcastle.

Twitter

Just a reminder that we frequently use our Twitter page to provide an insight into school activities and news. Please take a look and follow @OldcastleSchool

Fruit Tuck Shop

Children in year 6 are doing a great job running our fruit tuck shop every break time. Children in years 3 to 6 are able to buy a piece of fruit for 20p.

Sports Day - Years 1 to 6

We have booked our annual sports day for years 1 to 6 for Friday 5th July. The event will take place in the Athletic Club in Newbridge Fields.

Headlice

Please can we ask parents to check children's hair this weekend.

School Car Park

Please can we remind parents not to access the school car park to drop children off in the morning for breakfast club. The car park is extremely busy in the morning with staff parking and deliveries. Parking is not permitted in the school car park unless collecting from after school club.

Headteacher Award

The following children were presented with a Headteachers Award during assembly today. This weeks theme is contributing to wider school life.

• Reception Miss Williams - Abigail
• Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis - Charlie
• Year 1 Miss Mullins - Imogen
• Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Ali
• Year 2 Mrs Evans - Layla
• Year 3 Miss Minkowski - Bethan
• Year 3 Miss Davies - Lily
• Year 4 Miss Jones - Noah
• Year 4 Miss Craven - Anna
• Year 5 Mr Clements - Isobel
• Year 5 Miss James- Oliver
• Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Iolo
• Year 6 Mrs Taylor-Jones - Dewi

Class of the week for the best attendance was awarded to 1M (98.6%) in Foundation Phase and 3ND (99.3%) in Key Stage 2. Our whole school attendance target is 95.9% for the year. This week's attendance was 95.1%.

Year 6 are studying Tim Peake's 'Ask an Astronaut' book in English. This week the chidren are focusing on skills needed to create instructions. They performed challenges (wearing gloves and socks to make the challenges harder) as if they were in Astronaut training! This information was shared on Twitter and we were delighted to have a 'like' from Tim Peake himself!

We often welcome university students into Oldcastle and this week it was lovely to see our year 6 pupils showing student teachers how we use Google for Education in Oldcastle.

Year 3 visited Parc Slip this week as part of their topic work.

Diary Dates

• Week beginning 1st April - Parents Evening Week
• Wednesday 3rd April at 9am - Parents Focus Group - All welcome
• Friday 5th April - choir concert
• Wednesday 10th April - PTA Disco (Nursery, Reception and Year 1)
• Thursday 11th April - PTA Disco (Years 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6)
• Friday 12th April - School term ends at normal time
• Easter Holidays - 15th April to 26th April
• Monday 29th April - Back to School
• Monday 6th May - Bank Holiday
• Wednesday 15th May - Reception and Year 6 Class Photos
• Monday 20th May - PTA Clothing Collection
• Half Term - Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May
• Monday 3rd June - Back to School
• Wednesday 12th June to Friday 14th June - Year 6 residential trip
• Wednesday 19th June - Class and team photos
• Friday 5th July - Sports Day years 1 to 6
• Friday 19th July - School Term Ends
• 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