Week 9 - Friday 13th November 2020

Another week has flown by in school. Thank you once again for all your support. We've had a busy week fitting in remembrance activities and Children in Need celebrations amongst our normal learning!

Please can we remind children not to bring a bag into school at the present time. Children should only bring a coat, water bottle and lunch box (if applicable).

Children in Need - Friday 13th November

We were delighted to support Children in Need again this year in November. Thank you to everyone that got involved in any way you could. We are delighted to let you know that as a school we raised over £523 for Children in Need.

Our children loved getting behind Joe Wicks and completed some sessions with him to celebrate his 24 hour workout! The children in Oldcastle have been some enthused by his commitment to raising £1.5 million for Children in Need.

Remembrance Day - Wednesday 11th November

All children and staff in school marked remembrance day on Wednesday 11th November. Children stood silent for 1 minute in their class bubbles and we rung our school bell to mark the occasion. https://twitter.com/OldcastleSchool/status/1326481426934493186

School Governing Body

The school governing body met this week to elect a Chair and Vice Chair for the forthcoming year. The role of the Governing Body is to provide strategic management, and to act as a critical friend, supporting the work of the Headteacher and other staff.

On Wednesday the governing body elected Ms Clare Davies as Chair, and Mrs Nerys Sales as Vice Chair.

We currently have a vacancy for a parent governor, and we have will other vacancies in the coming month. We encourage parents to become involved in school life and in particular the school governing body.

The full Governing Body usually meet once each term, but under special circumstances they may need to have extra-ordinary meetings, but these are very rare. The Governors at Oldcastle Primary use a committee structure to undertake their monitoring and evaluation roles. Membership and terms of reference of the committees are determined annually. Finance, Staffing, Admissions, Health and Safety, Curriculum and Complaints committees are examples. These committees meet outside of the full Governors meetings, as required, to discuss specific issues that arise throughout the year. Each committee reports fully to the whole Governing Body through its agenda/minutes.

If you would like to apply to be a parent governor at Oldcastle please provide a short paragraph about why you would like to be a governor. If you would like to discuss the role of a parent governor please contact Mrs Whiteley, Clerk to the Governing Body at the school office.

Complaints Policy

The school's Complaints Policy has been updated and approved by school governors. The Complaints Policy is available on our website please click here.

Anti Bullying Week

Anti-Bullying Week takes place from Monday 16th to Friday 20th November and will start with Odd Socks Day to mark the first day of Anti-Bullying Week. The theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2020 is: United Against Bullying.

On Monday 16th - We are suggesting that children 'Wear Odd Socks' to school day to help raise awareness of bullying. We hope that children can get involved and show their support by wearing odd socks on Monday!

School App

Don't forget we use The School App for lots of our communication to parents. Parents will need to download the app in the Play or App stores. Once downloaded type in Oldcastle Primary School and you will be able to view our school. If you have any problems accessing the school app please let us know. Emails are another method of communication we regularly use so please ensure we have the most up to date email address for you. We regularly send emails and app messages so if you are not receiving them please get in touch.

Class Newsletters

Class newsletters have been uploaded to our school website on our Class Pages. The class newsletter provides an update from your child's teacher about what they are learning in their year group. Class Pages.

Science Equipment

We've been lucky enough to receive grant funding from the Edina Trust for science equipment recently and we were delighted to receive deliveries of exciting new science equipment today. We look forward to rolling this out to pupils throughout all ages. Grant funding is particularly important for us as a school to ensure our resources allow us to provide an inspiring curriculum to our children.

We have also received funding from the Ernest Cook Trust for outdoor clothing for our foundation phase children to aid our outdoor teaching.

Nasal Flu Vaccination Programme

The School nursing team have booked the nasal flu vaccination programme to take place at Oldcastle on Thursday 3rd December. Letters have been sent home today with children in Reception to Year 6 after half term - all parents are required to complete a form to indicate if your child will be having the vaccine. The form needs to be returned even if you do not wish your child to have the vaccine. Please complete and return the form by Friday 20th November.

Criw Cymraeg

It has been fantastic to see the children using the phrase and words of week around the school this week. The children are very enthusiastic and always want to learn more Welsh. Da iawn! Teachers have started to choose their class Criw Cymraeg members and children will be notified next week if they have been picked. These children will be responsible for encouraging their classmates and teachers to speak Welsh! We cannot wait to meet our new Criw!

This week’s word of the week:

• Words of the week - Tŷ bach - Toilet

• Phrase - Ga i … os gwelwch yn dda

• Can I have …. please.

We hope you all have a ‘penwythnos da’- a good weekend!

Christmas Cards

Unfortunately due to the COVID pandemic we will not be able to allow children to bring in Christmas cards to swap with their classmates this year. We apologise for this but we hope you understand the need to avoid cross contamination. We do have a lot of activities and crafts sessions planned with the children and we feel that this will provide the children with opportunities to celebrate Christmas with their classmates. Thank you for your understanding.

School Savings Club

Another busy week in school savings club around 100 savers. Savings Club will continue every Wednesday morning. If your child would like to join please download and complete an application form available on our website. Every new child account will receive £2 from the school to start them on their savings journey. School Savings Club Application Form

School savings club is operated by Bridgend Lifesavers Credit Union and they have created a dedicated website for Bridgend School Savers, Please take a look at their really useful website. Bridgend School Savers

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

COVID Symptoms

Please remember if you or child presents any othe COVID symptoms you must self isolate and have a test.

• High temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature);

• New, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual);

• Loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

Please can we also remind parents of the Welsh Government guidelines regarding COVID 19 -

• If you or any other member of your household has COVID symptoms you must stay at home. If you have symptoms you should get a test.

• Children should not attend school if you or someone else in your household has symptoms or is having a test.

• Once the test result is received as negative children may return to school. Please inform the school when you receive the test result.

• If a positive result is received children should isolate for the 14 day period.

Keeping in contact

Please ensure you contact the school in the following ways when you need to inform us of COVID symptoms and / or test.

Telephone - 01656 815790 during school hours

And / or Email - ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk