Week 38 - Friday 16th July 2021

Leopard Print!

You might have noticed on the school run today that many of our staff were wearing leopard print! This was our way of congratulating Mrs Littlewood on her recent promotion. Team Oldcastle looked fantastic!

Thank You!

Thank you to our parents and carers for all your support over the last school year - we are so grateful for your continued support during a very difficult year. We have a very special team of staff in Oldcastle and we can't thank them enough for adapting during this uncertain times to ensure that our children have the best opportunities.

Finally we thank our pupils for showing us how adaptable they are. Watching the smiling faces coming into school and greeting Barney really does make our day.

Thank you medals!

We are delighted to provide a medal to every child in the school this week. We really are so proud of the way our children have dealt with the pandemic we felt we needed to give them a lasting memory. We hope your child cherishes their medal and it will remind them in the future how resilliient they were during these difficult times.

Library makeover!

Year 5 have worked really hard on our junior library over recent weeks! They came up with drawings and ideas of how the library should look. Thanks to Mr Jones, Mrs Murdoch, Miss James and Miss Murphy we now have an amazing library space which children will be able to use from September. We hope you agree it looks fantastic - we held a small ceremony this morning with Mrs Littlewood cutting the red ribbon to officially open the library! The first image shows how the library used to look!

Class arrangements from September 2021

This week we announced our class teachers for the next school year. Here's a reminder below:

Class Teacher Videos

Don't forget you can view your child's new class teacher video on our website. We know that our younger pupils in particular find this useful in the run up to the new school year. Follow this link to our website - Class Teacher Videos

Year 6 Leavers Assembly

This week we held our year 6 leavers assembly. We are very proud of all our year 6 children and we were delighted to present each child with a certificate and medal.

The following awards were also presented:

Academic Achievement - Kirsty

Awarded to the top performing pupil in year 6 either as an overall performer or within an individual subject.

Learning Resilience - Jacob

Many pupils face different learning challenges this award recognising someone who has either made excellent progress or who has overcome adversity to become a successful learner.

Jane Hughes Reading Award - Olivia

This is a new award this year in memory of a long standing governor who sadly passed away this year. Miss Hughes spent a great deal of time in school helping children read. This award is for the pupil who has shown great achievement with their reading.

Contribution to school life - Niamh

It is important to recognise the contribution made by pupils not just to their learning but to the wider aspects of school life such as community engagement, extracurricular clubs or any significant achievement outside of school that has a positive effect in school.

Creative excellence - Anna

Musician, artist, drama and philosophers all contribute to school life this awards someone with a disposition to the creative arts in school but could also recognise achievement away from school

Collaboration and Friendship - Annelise

Pupil choice award – decided by the pupils and staff someone who has effectively worked within the class but has also demonstrated the characteristic of good friendship and is an exemplar to all.

Aspiring Athlete - Max

Sports Stars of the future contribute to school life, this awards someone with a disposition to the physical activity in school but could also recognise achievement away from school .

The embodiment of school values - Evelyn

This is the award to recognise someone who represents the values and vision of Oldcastle.

Nominated by staff and selected by the headteacher.

Good luck year 6!!

Good luck year 6 with your new school journey - we know that you will make us proud when you start in Brynteg! As is tradition every child in year 6 has the opportunity to ring the school bell on the last day in year 6! Parents also formed a guard of honour to wish their luck on their next school journey. Its a sad and happy time to see our year 6 pupils move on from Oldcastle but we hope that they cherish their memories of the time spent in Oldcastle.

After School Club

If you have booked a place in after school club for the period September to October you will have received an email confirming your booking.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast club will start again in September but will operate in slightly different way. Parents were asked to submit a booking form to confirm the days required. We have now processed these bookings. If you have completed a booking form your place in breakfast club is confirmed. Please remember that breakfast club will open at 8.30am and children will need to be registered in the club by 8.40am. Children must consume a breakfast whilst in the club.

Family Engagement Officer

We are delighted to inform parents that we appointed a family engagement officer this week. Mrs Lisa Diehl will start as our family engagement officer in September. The main aim of the role is to strengthen links between our families, our community and the school. We are very excited to develop this position and we look forward to informing parents with further details in our new school year. Congratulations Mrs Diehl!

School Savings Club

School savings club has had a very successful year during the time they have been able to operate in school. Thank you for supporting the scheme - our most regular school savers have been lucky to receive a certificate from the Savings Club this week. If you need to contact the Savings Club please follow the link on our website. School Savings Club

School News

Today we said goodbye to Mr Smalley who is leaving us for new pastures. Thank you for everything you've done at Oldcastle Mr Smalley.

During the summer, two members of staff are getting married - we wish them all the best for their wedding day - cherish every moment Miss Jones (Mrs Price) and Miss Murphy (Mrs Hardy)

We also want to congratulate Miss Lincoln who has recently achieved a Masters qualification - such an achievement on top of being a full time teacher! Well done!

Barney

Barney has grown so much during his first school year - we have enjoyed having Barney around school and we are so pleased how easily he has fitted into our school routines. We will keep you posted on Barney's adventures during the summer holidays via our Twitter and Facebook pages.

New school year - September 2021

Don't forget children return to school on Monday 6th September. When we return to school on this day we envisage that school operations will be largely the same as our current operating procedure. As we near the start of term we will confirm arrangements with parents following advice from welsh government and the local authority.

If you need to get in contact with us during the school holidays please use the ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk email address.

Outdoor Improvements

If you've walked around the back of the school you will have seen the lovely painting in the nursery / reception yard. Thank you Mrs Roberts it looks fabulous. In September you will see lots of exciting improvements to our outdoor areas!

New email address

The local authority has changed school email addresses recently. Our new Admin email address is now admin@oldcastleps.bridgend.cymru. Our ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk is also available for parents.

Inset Days

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

• Monday 19th July 2021

• Tuesday 20th July 2021

We ask that you refresh yourself with the following information regarding Covid and inform us if your child is having a covid test - please call or email ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

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.

You can now also book a test if you feel unwell but don’t have one of the three main symptoms of coronavirus. Examples of other symptoms could include a sore throat, headache, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting.

When you get tested for other symptoms, you don’t have to self-isolate while you wait for your result. You will only have to self-isolate if your test comes back positive.

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

Inset days from September 2021

Inset days from September 2021 have been confirmed and are as follows:

• 2nd and 3rd September

• 1st November

• 18th February

• 25th April and 26th April

• 20th June