Week 25 - Friday 26th March 2021

Easter Holidays and Inset Day

Reminder - today we break up for the Easter holidays. We hope you all take time to relax and enjoy time with your families. We have an inset day on Monday 12th April for staff training so pupils will return to school on Tuesday 13th April.

Reflection

This week we paused to reflect on the past year. The last 12 months have been extremely challenging for our school staff and community but we promised last March to do everything we could to support our staff, pupils and families. This message still stands - we are here to support our staff, pupils and their families to get through this pandemic as a school community. We are so proud of our staff and pupils for dealing with the difficulties faced over the last year.

As a school we feel it is important to remember this challenging period as as we mentioned in last week's newsletter, we are looking forward to creating our Memory Garden. Work will start on the area behind the canteen over the Easter holidays - we look forward to sharing photos of the development with you.

Message from Mrs Littlewood

As I come to the end of my first term as Acting Head, I wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all our pupils, staff and parents. I am so proud of how the children have returned to school, their resilience and determination has been amazing to watch and school is starting to feel a little normal again after all this time.

Staff are working hard to ensure the children’s needs are identified following the last lockdown and Curriculum Core will continue to be the focus when we return after Easter.

As parents, your support and understanding have been greatly appreciated by all of the staff and we feel our school community is growing stronger every day.

I know that over the last 12 months many of you will have been personally impacted by the coronavirus in lots of different ways, and I understand the stress and grief that may have brought. As a school we want to support all our families any way we can.

I hope with the Easter Break upon us and the fact that from Saturday we can travel further afield in Wales, that everyone has some time to rest and recover. I look forward to seeing everyone on April 13th.

Best wishes

Mrs C. Littlewood

Curriculum for Wales at Oldcastle

Oldcastle Primary School is delighted to launch a website dedicated to illustrating our approach to the New Curriculum for Wales.

The Curriculum for Wales guidance produced by Welsh Government aims to help each school develop its own purpose-led curriculum, enabling learners to progress towards the four purposes of Learning – the starting point and aspiration for every child and young person in Wales.

The four purposes of the school’s curriculum are to support its learners to become:

• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives

• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work

• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world

• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

At Oldcastle, we have been working towards the design of the new curriculum and have created a new google site dedicated to the implementation of the new Curriculum of Wales. On this site, you will find lots of information to help you deepen your understanding of the Curriculum for Wales, and keep up to date with Oldcastle's journey to prepare for implementation in September 2022.

We are delighted with the website and we are keen to share our experience with parents and other members of the school community. Please view the website via this link Curriculum for Wales at Oldcastle

Police Visit

Our local PCSO's popped into school this week to offer their support to the school following our return. PCSO Hughes and Sparkes were delighted to meet Barney and hear about our school well-being dog.

Barney's Training

Barney had another training session with Clever Canines Dog Trainer this week. He got to visit classrooms and learnt how to behave around the children. He is doing so well and the children thoroughly enjoyed seeing him. Here's some photos of his training.

School Vacancy

We currently have a vacancy for a lunchtime supervisor.

Oldcastle Primary School is seeking to appoint a Supervisory Assistant to work during the lunchtime period. Working as a part of a team, the successful candidate will be required to undertake the supervision of children in all areas of the school, and actively engage pupils in playground games. Experience of working with children would be an advantage, but is not essential. Applicants should note that an Enhanced Disclosure Check by the Criminal Records Bureau will be necessary for successful applicants for these posts. Closing Date: 31st March 2021

More information and details of how to apply is available on our website. Job Pack Lunchtime Supervisor Assistant

Nursery Yard

Please can we ask parents not to let their children move the equipment in the nursery yard before and after school. This includes the tyres and the tables. Thank you.

Teacher Telephone Appointments

Teachers in reception to year 2 have this week completed parents phone calls. Thank you to our parents for making these calls run so smoothly.

Parents of children in years 3 to 6 have the opportunity to speak with their child's teacher after the Easter holidays. Please complete the booking form if you have not already done so.

Nursery parents can also book an appointment for a phone call with Miss Hughes on either Monday 19th or Tuesday 20th April. Please complete the booking form sent by email on Thursday.

Classroom Tables

We are currently in the process of changing classroom tables in years 3, 4 and 5, and will have a quantity of tables available. The tables will be free and will need to be collected from school after the Easter holidays. If you are interested in a table or know of a community group that would like any of our tables please get in touch via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

School Savings Club

We hope that our children have been continuing to save their pennies whilst we have been away from school. Our school savings scheme will start again after Easter holidays on a Wednesday. We will send a reminder closer to the date - start hunting out those paying in books!

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.

• Nursery - Friday

• Reception - Thursday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Tuesday

• Year 3 - Wednesday

• Year 4 - Tuesday

• Year 5 - Friday

• Year 6 - Thursday

COVID Reminder

If your child is off school due to a member of your household having a Covid test please ensure that you let us know when you report their absence.

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature

• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot, for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours

• a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – this means they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

What to do if your child has symptoms. If your child has any of the main symptoms of coronavirus:

1.Get a test to check if they have coronavirus as soon as possible.

2.Stay at home and do not have visitors until you get the test result – only leave your home to have a test.

Anyone you live with, and anyone in your support bubble, must also stay at home until you get the result.

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

Easter Holidays start 29th March