Week 16 - Friday 15th January 2021

Well done to all our pupils, and their parents, who have accessed online learning this week. We understand the difficulties that comes with home learning and we are grateful for your ongoing support during this time.

Our staff are working extremely hard throughout the last week and we say 'Thank You' to each and every staff member for their commitment to Oldcastle Primary School.

We are continuously reviewing our home learning provision and will provide details to parents next week regarding any changes or adaptions to our current provision.

This week we trialled a daily question and answer session for children in year 3 to 6 - the sessions allowed children to ask their teacher any questions they had with the online work. We are using the feedback from the trial to formulate provision in the coming weeks. We are also preparing our policy on remote learning and will share this with parents next week.

Online learning

Online learning has continued for all pupils this week.

• Children in nursery to year 2 are using Seesaw to access learning - parents have received a log in code / QR code for their child.

• Children in years 3 to 6 continue to use Google Classroom. Children must remember to sign in using their Oldcastle Primary email address.

If you require assistance with accessing any of the above please email us on ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Chromebooks have been distributed to those parents that have requested one. If you have not collected or would like some assistance with the use of a chromebook please do get in touch.

Seesaw

Our children and parents have really taken to using Seesaw - our online learning platform for children in nursery to year 2. In the last week there were 2380 posts added across all classes in Foundation Phase!!! This week children have been accessing a range of activities here's a few photos:

Google Classroom

Children in years 3 to 6 have been continuing to use Google Classroom and our staff have been developing ways of expanding our use of Google Classroom and its resources. This week children have completed literacy, numeracy, reading and topic lessons using a variety of methods in Google Classroom.

All children in years 3 to 6 have been provided with an Oldcastle Primary email address - we would be grateful if parents can remind children that this email address should only be used for school work.

Critical worker school provision

The school continues to remain open for children of critical workers. A booking form will be sent every Monday enabling critical workers to book their children into the provision. The in school provision operates normal school hours.

As a reminder the current definition of a critical worker (as defined by Bridgend County Borough Council) includes the following employment:

• Health

• Police

• Ambulance Service

• Fire and rescue service

• Education

• Social Care

• Prison Service

Brynteg Treasure Hunt

Today, our year 6 children were treated to a virtual treasure hunt with Brynteg Comprehensive School. The event was designed to be a fun way of showing the children around the school and meeting some of the staff as part of their transition programme for year 6 children. We hope our year 6 children enjoyed.

Inset Days

Inset days for the school year have been approved and these are:

• Monday 12th April 2021

• Monday 7th June 2021

• Monday 19th July 2021

• Tuesday 20th July 2021