Week 21 - Friday 26th February 2021

Message from Headteacher

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you for making our first week back after half term go as smoothly as possible.

It has been wonderful to have our foundation phase pupils back in school. We appreciate how efficient you are moving around the school at the start and end of the day and helping to keep everyone safe.

We all know that Covid 19 has had a huge impact on our children both educationally and emotionally. For some families, the impact has been devastating. With the children returning to school, I felt it was important to write to explain what we will be doing to support our pupils as they start to resettle into education.

As a school, we have developed “Curriculum Core“. This is a set of plans that highlight which areas the children have missed, which areas need consolidation and what new teaching is required. Over the next few weeks, teachers will carry out child-friendly assessments which will help us further develop our understanding of the children’s needs.

Teaching will focus mainly on Literacy, Reading, Maths, Welsh, and Health and Well Being. As the pupils have spent so much time working on their laptops our aim is to focus on working outside as much as possible. This will provide opportunities to socialise and work together in their bubbles and to be as active as possible. Time and resources will also be provided for those children that require any form of support. Other subject areas will be covered but we feel that priority at this time is needed for the above four areas.

Over the next few weeks, we would also like to give you the opportunity to have a telephone consultation with your child’s class teacher. This will allow you to ask questions and have a general discussion about your child’s progress. Parents will be offered a daytime or evening telephone call on a given day and you will be asked to book a one hour slot. The class teacher will then contact you sometime during the hour slot booked. Details on how to book these slots will be sent to parents next week.

The consultations will take place week beginning 22nd March for Foundation Phase and the week beginning 12th April for Key Stage 2.

We are hopeful that we will start to have more restrictions lifted over the next few weeks and we are very much looking forward to having all our pupils back in school.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Kind regards

Mrs C. Littlewood

Acting Headteacher

Foundation Phase Return to School

Here's a reminder of the start and finish times for foundation phase pupils and children attending the in school provision.

Barney

Barney, our school dog, has had a great first week in school and he has enjoyed meeting our staff and some of our pupils. He's been on a tour of the school and particularly likes the outdoor areas! He has had his next set of puppy injections this week so has had a rest on Thursday and Friday and not attended school. We are looking forward to him meeting more of our pupils over the coming weeks. Here's a photo of Barney for those of you who haven't met Barney yet.

Welsh Week

Thank you to our staff and pupils for getting involved in our welsh week. There has been a lot of activity and celebrations of all things welsh. Miss Craven developed some interesting Welsh facts that have been Tweeted throughout the week. In case you haven't seen them here they are:

• Wales officially has more castles per square mile than any other country in the world.

• The Welsh language (Cymraeg) is the oldest language in Britain; it could be up to 4,000 years old.

• Cardiff City Football team are the only non-English club to win the FA Cup (in 1927).

• The Welsh village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest place name in Europe, and the second longest place name in the world. It means St. Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the Church of Saint Tysilio of the red cave.

• The original national emblem of Wales was the Leek (Cenhinen), over the years this was often confused with a very similar Welsh word Cehhinen Bedr which means daffodils and so the daffodil was adopted as a second emblem of Wales.

Miss Craven has also prepared some Welsh phrases to illustrate some of the phrases that your children will be learning in school. Welsh Lesson for Parents

Below are just some photographs from Welsh Week.

Rugby ball catching!

Clay Daffodils

More daffodils - Spring is coming!

Making a welsh dragon banner to support Wales rugby on Saturday!

Welsh Dancing - click on the image to view the video

St David's Day

On Monday we will be celebrating St David's Day and children may wear some welsh - this could be a welsh costume, Wales rugby shirt or something else. We look forward to seeing our children in their Welsh clothes on Monday. Children in key stage 2 (years 3 to 6) can show their outfits in their Google Meet sessions. Children will be taking part in a range of Welsh activities on St David's Day.

P.E. Lessons

P.E. lessons this term will take place on the following days. Children attending school should wear their P.E. kit to school on the day of their lesson.

• Reception - Thursday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Tuesday

• Year 3 - Wednesday

• Year 4 - Tuesday

• Year 5 - Friday

• Year 6 - Thursday

World Book Day

Its World Book Day next week and our teachers have some exciting activities planned for our pupils. The children do not need to dress up.

Masked Reader

On Thursday 4th March, as part of our World Book Day celebrations some of our teachers will be taking part in The Masked Reader. Our teachers have recorded themselves reading a part of a story with a mask or filter over their faces. Will you be able to guess who each of our contestants are?!

On the day we will release The Masked Reader video along with a Google form for you to take part in guessing who is behind each mask. At the end of the day we will release a reveal video for you to see who is who. Happy guessing!

Click on the video link below for a taster!

School Governors

Towards the end of last year we asked parents to nominate themselves for the position of Parent Governor on our Governing Body. We have received notification from the Local Authority that they are unable to meet the requirements of the secret ballot process and have taken the decision to suspend the process at this time. When we gain further advice from the Local Authority we will provide this to parents.

The Governing Body is still contiuing to operate in the usual manner.

School Savings Club - Message from Bridgend School Savings

We hope you and your family are keeping well! We can’t wait for the return of our school savings clubs but until then we’d like to remind all our school savers that we are still open for any deposits, withdrawals or queries. If you would like to get in touch with us for any reason, please visit www.bridgendschoolsavings.com. On the website you’ll find a FAQ section, a ‘contact us’ page and all of our forms available to complete online (including withdrawals and new memberships).

Building development on Ewenny Road - School Competition - Extended !!

We are delighted to let parents know this competition has been extended till 1st March !! We look forward to seeing your entries.

We have been contacted by Valley2Coast Housing Association to inform us of building work that will take place on the corner of Ewenny Road and St Marie Street. The association are developing 7 single bedroom flats on the site of the building previously known as MPN Windows. The housing association are keen to inform local residents of the development and further information can be found on their website via this link Valleys2Coast

Poster Competition

As part of the development, Valleys2Coast are asking Oldcastle Primary pupils to get involved with a poster competition. The company would like to decorate the hoarding around the development with posters designed by pupils from the school. The top three posters will win a prize of shopping vouchers!

Posters should be A4 in size and be based on either of the following themes:

• Keeping safe on a building site

• My dream home of the future

Work is due to start on the site from the beginning of February and hoardings are likely to be erected in the springtime. If you would like to enter the competition please take a clear photo of your drawing or send a digital file to ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk by Monday 1st March 2021.

Some websites that might be useful with information are:

https://www.ivorgoodsite.org.uk/

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/ipc-early-years-all-about-me/ipc-early-years-all-about-me-construction-area/building-site-construction-area-all-about-me-early-years-age-3-5-ipc

Thrive

During the last school closure we shared with parents resources that are available through Thrive - social and emotional development for children. Thrive is used in Oldcastle Primary School as a tool to support and encourage the development of confident, curious, creative and capable children and young people who are open to learning and better equipped to deal with life’s ups and downs.

Please have a look at our website for further useful Thrive resources - Thrive

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