Welcome to the new school year!  We were delighted to see pupils and parents returning to school on Tuesday, and we have also welcomed new pupils and parents to our lovely school.  We hope that you all enjoyed your summer break and are looking forward to all the exciting learning and events we have planned for the autumn term.

On Tuesday, the children met their new teachers and got to grips with their new classroom.  Mrs Littlewood welcomed all the children to an assembly and talked to them about the school year, and reminded pupils how we can all work together to achieve the school values.  There is always a lot of excitement at the start of the new school year and we love seeing how happy children are to be in their new classrooms, meeting their new teacher and seeing their friends.

Mrs Littlewood reminded pupils of the school moto that has been etched into the school building since 1912.

• September - Respect and Responsibility 

• October - Compassion and Hope 

• November - Friendship and Forgiveness 

• December - Understanding and Patience

• January - Determination and Perseverance

• February - Honesty and Trust 

• March -Learning and Effort 

• April - Community and Service 

• May - Co-operation and being a good citizen within society

• June- Showing Gratitude and Care and Generosity

• July - Taking and managing risks 

At Oldcastle, we are proud of each other and ourselves. We nurture all of our community so that we grow as confident, responsible and happy people. Oldcastle school is more than just learning.

• We try hard for each other

• We act responsibly

• We treat people how we’d like to be treated

• We work as a team

• We trust and respect each other

• We listen and learn together

• We share knowledge and experience

Together we make the difference

Together we shape innovative experiences 

More information on our values and visions can be found on our website.  Visions and Values

Health and Wellbeing / PE Days for 2025/26

PE will take place on the following day for each year group.  Children should attend school in their PE kit on their allocated day.

• Nursery - Thursday

• Reception -  Monday

• Year 1 - Tuesday

• Year 2 - Thursday

• Year 3 - Wednesday

• Year 4 - Friday

• Year 5 - Friday

• Year 6 - Friday

Tesco Community Blue Token Scheme - look out for us in Tesco!

We are delighted to have been accepted to be included in the Tesco Community Blue Token Scheme from July to September this year. Our project is now live in stores so please support us! We are grateful to the support from Jessica Ennis-Hill in the video below!

Oldcastle Primary School, Community Pantry, Bridgend

Our food pantry ensures that our pupils and their families have access to nutritious food and essential supplies, all-year round.

The project with the highest number of votes across your region will receive £1,500, the second placed project £1,000 and the third placed project £500. 

Please see below a list of stores taking part in the voting on your project. Feel free to share this list of stores amongst your supporters and within your community.

• Bridgend 1 Superstore CF31 4AP

• Bridgend Extra CF31 3SQ

• Gentle Way Bridgend Express Express CF31 5EJ

• North Cornelly Express Express CF33 4LN

• Pencoed Express Express CF35 5NG

Community Family Engagement Officer

Carolyn Richards is a Community Focused Family Engagement Officer employed by the Local Authority to support schools and their families.  Carolyn will be based at Oldcastle on one day a week on a Wednesday.  

School Savings Club

School Savings Club will start back on Wednesday. Please send your child's savings book into school with them on Wednesday. If you would to join the School Savings Club please look at our website for more information.   School Savings Club | Oldcastle Primary School 

Community Food Pantry

The food pantry has been restocked this week and will be restocked every week on a Monday. We invite parents and carers to pop in and fill a bag with 15 items for £5.  The food pantry is available to everyone and we hope that you can make use of the items.  Why not pop in and take a look at the type of items available in the pantry.

Community Room

We invite parents and carers to make use of our Community Room and enjoy a cuppa and a chat.  Why not call in after the morning school run or before the pick up and get together with other parents and enjoy a cuppa.

Oldcastle Rocks

We are looking forward to the rescheduled Oldcastle Rocks event on Saturday 27th September.  We are hoping the weather will be kind to us as a lot of work goes into events of this nature.  We hope you can join us on the 27th September. 

We do hope you can join us. Entry is free and children's activity bands are available for £4. We will have raffle tickets on sale at the entrance too.  The gates open at 1.30pm with the stage entertainment starting at 2pm.  The event will finish at 6pm. We will accept cash and card.

The tombola is always a popular stall and we are on the look out for bottle donations - if you are able to donate please drop into main reception.  

Volunteers Needed - we need your help!  Oldcastle Rocks will only be a success with the help of volunteers.  If you can help with setting up, help out on the many stalls or helping with clear up, please let us know via this Google Form.   

Oldcastle Rocks Volunteer Form

Skipping Ropes

Do you have any spare skipping ropes that are no longer used or required at home? If so we would be grateful for any donations. Please drop into the school office if you have any. Thank you.

Attendance

We are committed to promoting good attendance at school and have a target of whole school attendance of 95%.  This week's attendance was 94.5%.  For more information on the importance of good attendance and how we manage attendance as a school, please look at our website.  Attendance | Oldcastle Primary School 

SHINE Team

The SHINE Team provide emotional and wellbeing support to pupils and their families.  The team have developed some valuable resources for parents that provides information and signposts, please take a look at the excellent resources available.

CAMHS SHINE - Whole School Approach Service

Nut Free School

Please can we remind parents that we strive to be a nut free school as we have a number of pupils who have a severe allergy to nuts.  

This includes nut products such as peanut butter and nutella. 

Contact details

Please ensure we have up to date contact details for you to ensure you keep up to date with school news and we are able to contact you during the school day if required.  You can either email us with change of details (ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk) or complete the change of details form.  

We love to hear about all of the exciting achievements of our pupils during out of school activities. Please share any successes with us at ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk and include a photograph and details of the achievement to be included in future newsletters. 

Well done to Harrison L who ran his 100th parkrun last weekend!  Great job Harrison!

Toddler Group

Football Sessions

• 15th October - Individual Child Photos

• 23rd October - Flu Vaccine Reception to Year 6 - more information will be sent home shortly

• 27th October to 31st October  - October Half Term

• 21st November - INSET Day

• 20th December to 6th January - Christmas Holiday

• 5th January - INSET Day

Inset Days for 2025 / 2026

The inset days for 2025 / 26 have been approved by school governors and these are as follows:

• Monday 1st September 2025 

• Friday 21st November 2025

• Monday 5th January 2026

• Friday 13th March 2026

• Friday 22nd May 2026

• Monday 20th July 2026

PE Days

• Nursery - Thursday

• Reception -  Monday

• Year 1 - Tuesday

• Year 2 - Thursday

• Year 3 - Wednesday

• Year 4 - Friday

• Year 5 - Friday

• Year 6 - Friday

In the event that you have a concern regarding a child please follow this procedure:

• During school hours please contact Mrs Ceri Littlewood, safeguarding lead at Oldcastle Primary School.

• Out of school hours please  contact  the  out of hours Emergency Duty Team Tel No 01443743665

More information on Safeguarding at Oldcastle can be found on our website.