Week 32 - Friday 24th May 2019

Welcome to our weekly newsletter. We hope you enjoy your half term holiday. We look forward to seeing children back in school on Monday 3rd June.

For your information, Oldcastle Primary School is almost full across all age groups and may not be able to accept children moving into the area in some ages. If you know that there will be a change in your circumstances and your child will not be returning to Oldcastle in September 2019 we would be grateful if you could let the office know. Bridgend Council are currently running a waiting list in the age groups we are full. If you are applying for nursery or reception classes it is recommended these applications are sent in asap.

Please email us on admin.oldcastleprimary@bridgend.gov.uk

Schools Mental Health Award

We were delighted to co-host the launch of the School Mental Health Award in Wales this week. We have been working with Leeds Beckett University to facilitate the launch in Wales and it was pleasing to have positive feedback from schools that attended. As a school we will be working towards achieving the School Mental Health Quality Award to improve and support health and well being for pupils, parents and staff.

We look forward to keeping our parents and pupils up to date with information as we work towards achieving the award.

School Council Sponsored Event

Following the success of our School Council sponsorship event last summer, the children have decided they would like to run the event once again. This year the School Council are raising funds towards making improvements to the internal and external areas of the canteen. It is our vision to make improvements to these areas to make it more inviting for children who have school dinners and sandwiches.

The sponsored event will take place week beginning 17th June. There are various activities that children may choose and they would welcome sponsorship to encourage them. Sponsorship forms and money need to be returned by Monday 17th June.

Activities include:

• Number of balls kicked in the goal in a minute
• Number of words read in a minute
• Number of words typed on a Chromebook in a minute
• Complete the hopscotch without missing a step
• Number of laps on the sprint track
• Use a mini cycle to go round the track (nursery only)

Sponsorship forms are available from School Council members or you may download a copy here.

STEM Cluster Schools Learning Project

Year 5 and 6 have had a fantastic week so far as part of the CLUSTER STEM Poles Apart project, They have investigated the effect blubber has on the ability for animals to remain in cold conditions. They have debugged and re-coded a submarine to work in the depths of the oceans using scratch and investigated the acidity of different items and discovered how fossil fuels are affecting the acidity of our oceans. Today year 5 and 6 have undergone arctic explorer training which included pulling 'sledges' across the arctic ice and getting into 3 sleeping bags as quickly as possible!

Solar Energy

Now that we have had a full month of energy production we thought we would share with you the amount of energy that is being generated by our solar panels on the canteen building. During the month of April we generated 944.86 kwh, and already this month 892.54 kwh has been produced.

NatWest Money Sense

A letter has been sent home with children in year 3 this week regarding an exciting promotional video that NatWest wish to produce. They are keen to promote the Money Sense sessions and we were fortunate to have a visit from the Money Sense team in November last year. The video is designed to show how children interact with money and highlight how we use money. Please can parents in year 3 complete the consent form if they are happy for their child to appear in the video and return to school as soon as possible. We look forward to sharing the video with you once completed.

Class Newsletters

Class newsletters are available to view on our website. Please follow this link. Class Newsletters Summer Term

Changes to PE Kit - reminder

This term we will trial a new system for PE kit from nursery through to year 6. On the day your child's class has P.E. they will be allowed to wear their P.E. kit to school for the day. The aim is to increase the amount of activity time and make sure all children have their P.E. kit on the appropriate day. P.E. kit should consist of dark shorts / leggings / tracksuit and a white t-shirt. On top of the P.E. kit we recommend a school hoodie / jumper / cardigan, tracksuit and trainers. Please also remember that jewellery should not be worn for P.E - this includes earrings, necklaces, rings and hard headbands - and long hair should be tied back.

P.E. will be held on the following days for each year group:

• Nursery - Friday
• Reception - Monday
• Year 1 - Tuesday
• Year 2 - Thursday
• Year 3 - Friday
• Year 4 - Wednesday
• Year 5 - Tuesday
• Year 6 - Tuesday

Oldcastle Holiday Club

Don;t forget we are launching a children's holiday club this summer holiday. The holiday club will operate from Monday 22nd July to Friday 23rd August from 9am to 3.30pm. at a cost of £18 per day. We are pleased to offer add ons to the core time with a breakfast club from 8am to 9am at an additional cost of £4, and a late club pick up option upto 5.30pm for an additional cost of £7.50. Children from the age of 5 years to 12 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 of the school and utilise other areas as required. Children will be provided with toast and fruit in the breakfast club and late club options. 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. Bookings and payment must be received by Friday 12th July. 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.

To book a place please complete a copy of the Booking Form by clicking this link https://forms.gle/xyZoz9NNNj9gjBgK9 or by clicking on the link on our website https://bit.ly/2DKQFHa

School Swimming Gala

Oldcastle will be competing in a school swimming gala on Thursday 6th June in Ynysawdre Swimming Pool. Parents of children who have been selected to take part have been allocated a Parent Pay payment to cover the cost of the bus.

PTA

The PTA are busy planning a couple of events over the coming months, we hope you can support them. A newsletter has been produced and is available to view on our website. If you are able to help out at any of the PTA events please let the office know or contact the PTA via their Facebook page.

• Monday 10th June - PTA Cake Sale after school
• Saturday 22nd June - PTA Summer Fete
• Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th July - School Disco

PTA POSTER DESIGN COMPETITION!

The PTA would like to invite all children to design an eye-catching A4 poster advertising the Oldcastle Summer Fete. The poster needs to include the date and time - 22nd June 11am to 3pm. The children can use any materials or processes to create their design. The children need to return their entries to school after Half Term on Monday 3rd June.

The PTA will judge the entries and announce the winner by Wednesday 5th June. The PTA will use the winning design on our FaceBook group - https://www.facebook.com/oldcastleprimarypta/ and we’ll also make copies to advertise on the school notice-boards.

The prize will be a goodie bag of art and craft materials. We’ll also display the entries in the school hall during the fete.

School Site

We have noticed that some children are arriving on the school site unaccompanied from 8.30am in the morning. We would like to remind parents that a breakfast club is available from 8.05am with the last entry at 8.40am. If you have any suggestions for improving provision at this time of day please let us know. Ideally we would suggest to parents that children are not allowed on the yard or school premises unsupervised prior to 8.45am. The yard is not supervised before school.

School Savings Club

Don’t forget that your child can join anytime by filling in a membership form. The form can be collected from the office, Wednesday’s weekly collection or can be sent home with your child. The form is also available to download on our website. School savings club will continue on a Wednesday after half term. Thanks again for your support.

Twitter

Oldcastle Primary School are on Twitter - the page is regularly updated with news and activities that take place in school. @oldcastleschool

Headteacher Award

The following children were presented with a Headteachers Award during assembly today. This weeks theme is co-operating.

• Reception Miss Walters - Maya
• Reception Miss Williams - Nojus
• Year 1 Mrs Morcom-Lewis - Gruff
• Year 1 Miss Mullins - Jayden
• Year 2 Mrs Roberts - Timea
• Year 2 Mrs Evans - Dion
• Year 3 Miss Minkowski - no award
• Year 3 Miss Davies - Thomas
• Year 4 Miss Jones - Rafferty
• Year 4 Miss Craven - Hannah
• Year 5 Mr McNally - Rhodri
• Year 5 Miss James - Angelina
• Year 6 Mrs Coleman - Noah
• Year 6 Mrs Taylor-Jones - Elliot

Class of the week for the best attendance was awarded to 2E (97%) in Foundation Phase and 6C (98.4%) in Key Stage 2. Our whole school attendance target is 93.2% for the year. This week's attendance was 95.2%.

Diary Dates

• Half Term - Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May
• Monday 3rd June - Back to School
• Tuesday 4th June - PTA Meeting at 5pm
• Thursday 6th June - School Swimming Gala
• Monday 10th June - PTA Cake Sale
• Wednesday 12th June to Friday 14th June - Year 6 residential trip
• Wednesday 19th June - Class and team photos
• Saturday 22nd June - PTA Summer Fete
• Friday 5th July - Sports Day years 1 to 6 at the Athletics track, Newbridge Fields
• Wednesday 10th July - PTA Disco
• Thursday 11th July - PTA Disco
• Friday 12th July - Sports Day Nursery and Reception at Bridgend Show
• Friday 12th July - whole school trip to Bridgend Show incorporating nursery and reception sports day
• Tuesday 16th July - Reception trip to Porthcawl
• 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