Today we held a celebration assembly to recognise two momentous events.  Firstly, we recognised the fantastic achievement of our school cooks - Sarah and Caroline, who received a Welsh Government award last week. Mrs Littlewood was delighted to recognise their success in front of the whole school and present them both with a bouquet of flowers.

Secondly, Mrs Littlewood and the rest of Team Oldcastle wanted to wish Mrs Strachan a very happy 60th birthday!  Mrs Strachan has worked at Oldcastle Primary School for 41 years - that's a lot of children she has seen through the school!  We were delighted to present Mrs Strachan with a gift from her favourite handbag shop!  Happy 60th birthday, Mrs Strachan, from all your Oldcastle family.

To end the assembly, the school choir sang a beautiful rendition of 'Let it Be' for Mrs Strachan - they sounded amazing.

You can listen to their beautiful singing by clicking on the video below.

Children in Need

Thank you for everyone who supported Children in Need today. We are delighted to have raised £360 for the charity. We loved some of the outfits the children wore today.

Remembrance Day

Last Saturday our junior leaders represented Oldcastle Primary School in the Bridgend Town Council Family Remembrance Parade. Well done to Izzy, Bette, Avya and Gracie Rose for being such great ambassadors for the school. #remembranceday2025 #WeWillRememberThem 

On Tuesday, Today, we came together as a whole school at 11am to remember.Our pupils have created a lovely poppy display, which has been put together in our main hall. We were delighted to welcome parents into school to view our display.

Poppies to Paddington

On the 11th November, Oldcastle Primary School, along with the Mayor of Bridgend and other dignitaries, put a wreath on The GWR Poppy Train. This event involves collecting wreaths from various towns along GWR routes and transporting them on a special train to Paddington station.

A "Poppies to Paddington" event has historically involved laying wreaths on a Great Western Railway (GWR) train, including one from Bridgend, to transport them to the memorial at London Paddington station.

These wreaths are placed at a Memorial at Platform 1 in Paddington, which is where troops left for the Western Front during World War 1. The journey of the wreaths on the train symbolises the journeys soldiers took to war.

We were incredibly proud and privileged to lay a wreath on the train to London as part of the Routes of Remembrance initiative by The Veterans Charity and train providers. We were delighted to receive images of our wreath on display in Paddington Station.

#remembranceday2025 #wewillrememberthem

Nolton Church  Christmas Tree Festival - Make a Christmas Decoration

We are delighted to be supporting the Nolton Church Christmas Tree Festival this year.  We would love children to make a decoration that can be displayed on the tree in the church. Decorations should be no more than 5cms in size and be able to be hung on the tree.  Please send all decorations into school by Friday 5th December, as we will be creating the tree display on Monday 8th December. Thank you for your support, we can't wait to see wonderful tree decorations.  

Tesco Christmas Colouring Exhibition 2025

Tesco on Cowbridge Road (Big Tesco) have been in touch to share details of an exhibtion they are doing of children's artwork.  All children have to do is colour in a printed A4 copy of the image below and drop it into the Tesco Extra store and the poster will be displayed in the front window of their shop in December.  We hope children can get involved.  All posters need to be dropped into the store by Friday 28th November.  We have a small number of printed copies in the main office if you do not have access to a printer.

Governor's Annual Report to Parents

Parents are invited to attend a 'Meet the Governors' event on Wednesday, 19th November at 6pm to discuss the report.  

Governor's Annual Report to Parents 2024/25

Years 1 to 6 Panto Trip Packed Lunch Order Form

Please complete this form by 24th November if you would like to order a free packed lunch for your child attending the Panto trip.

The packed lunch will consist of a ham or cheese bread roll, muffin, piece of fruit, cucumber and carrot sticks and a bottle of water. 

If you choose to provide your own packed lunch please let us know on the form below.  

Please remember we are a nut free school and you should not send in any nut products with a packed lunch.

Panto Trip School Meals

Christmas Concerts

Children are getting ready to prepare for their Christmas concerts and we are looking forward to seeing the children on the stage in the main hall.  Tickets need to be ordered as numbers are limited in the main hall.  Tickets are £2 each and payment can be made in cash on the door.  

Nursery

• Monday 15th December 9.30am and Monday 15th December 2pm

Reception

• Tuesday 16th December 9.30am and Tuesday 16th December 2pm

Year 1

• Friday 12th December 9.30am and Friday 12th December 2pm

Year 2

• Wednesday 10th December 2pm and Thursday 11th December 9.30am

Year 3

• Tuesday 9th December 9.30am and Tuesday 9th December 2pm

Year 4

• Monday 8th December 9.30am and Monday 8th December 2pm

Year 5

• Friday 5th December 9.30am and Friday 5th December 2pm

Year 6

• Thursday 4th December 9.30am and Thursday 4th December 2pm

Christmas Concert Raffle

The PTA are asking for donations to create colourful Christmas hampers for each Christmas Concert Performance.  Please could each child donate an item based on the below colours for each class.  Donations can be whatever you wish in that colour such as, chocolates, sweets, smellies, candles, tea, coffee, drinks, biscuits or novelty items etc. 

Please hand donations to the office. The deadline for donations is Monday 1st of December.  A raffle will be held in each of the Christmas concerts . Tickets will be sold prior to each concert and the winner of the hamper will be drawn at the end of the concert.

Many thanks for your continued support.

PTA Christmas Wreath Making

A Christmas Wreath making workshop organised by Oldcastle Primary PTA will be held on Wednesday 26th November.  Places are limited and booking is essential. Participants need to bring gardening gloves and small gardening secateurs or sharp scissors if possible

The workshop will take place in the main school hall from 6pm to 8pm and will cost £30.  The £30 will include all materials needed to make your wreath, hot drinks and festive treats.

Payments must be made by 22nd November to guarantee a place.  

Book a place here

Cash payment should be taken into the school office in an envelope clearly marked with your name and PTA Wreath Making.

PTA Disco - 18th November - Reminder

The PTA are holding a disco on Tuesday 18th November - Tickets are £2.50 each and the PTA will be accepting cash payment at the door. Tickets should be pre-ordered and all children need to be supervised whilst at the disco.  

Nursery & Reception - 3pm to 3.45pm

Year 1 & Year 2 - 4pm to 4.45pm

Year 3 & Year 4 - 5pm to 5.45pm

Years 5 & Year 6 - 6pm to 6.45pm

Nursery and Reception children may be collected from 2.50pm to get ready for the disco.  A space in school to change can be provided if required.

Schools Cross Country Years 3 to 6

The next meeting of the Schools Cross Country Competition for children in years 3 to 6 will be held on Saturday 22nd November in Bryntirion Comprehensive School.  

School Choir

Our School Choir are looking forward to performing at two large events in the run-up to Christmas.  Firstly, the choir will be performing on the stage at the Bridgend Town Christmas Lights event on Saturday 29th November at 4pm. The children will then be performing at the annual Cor Bro Ogwr concert at the Tabernacle Church in Bridgend on Saturday 13th December. Exact details of timings will be emailed to parents shortly.

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. We hope you can enjoy this warm space to get together with friends or meet new people.

Oldcastle Rocks 2026!

We are being super organised and have popped a date in the diary for Oldcastle Rocks 2026!  Please keep the date free as we are promising a great family day with music and lots of activities.

Contact details - Have any details changed?

Please ensure we have up to date contact details for you to make sure 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 will use email and our School App to send messages to parents about activities or events.

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 

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. 

• 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

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. 

Toddler Group made a lovely remembrance wreath on Wednesday.

Fantastic idea to make Pudsey images with shavng foam - well doe Kobi!

Lily in year 4 has written a fantastic story for the BBC '500 words' competition. We were so impressed we wanted to share it with our school community.  Good luck in the competition, Lily. We have our fingers crossed for you.

Year 2 marched around the school this week to make their point about protecting endangered species. We all got to hear them as they were very vocal about their mission!

Year 2 also had a busy time cooking this week. Children used a recipe from World War 2 to understand how rationing and limiting of ingredients would have made a difference to food.  Children have taken the cupcakes home to try them - we can't wait to hear what they thought of them!

Reception have learning about health eating and made some lovely fruit kebabs today.

Bridgend Town Council Christmas Event

SAVE THE DATE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS SWITCH ON EVENT  SATURDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2025

Bridgend Town Council are excited to announce the date of this year’s Christmas Lights Switch On Event in the Town Centre on Saturday 29th November. The fun starts at 1.30pm and will include:

• Elf School

• Come as yourself – leave as an Elf!

• 5pm Light Switch On at Christmas Tree

• Meet at the Stage from 4.45pm for the big countdown to the Light Switch On.

• Meet the Grinch!

• The Grinch, back by popular demand, will be making appearances in the town centre throughout the afternoon, come and find him and see what mischief he makes!

• Entertainment Stage

Zack Franks will be introducing local choirs and bands throughout the afternoon:

•     Snow Sisters

•     Oldcastle School Choir

•     Louise Halliday

•     Bridgend Youth Theatre

•     The Dance Centre Academy

There will also be FREE

•     Fairground Rides

•     Christmas Side Stalls

•     Two Giant Snow Globes

•     Children's Craft Tent

•     Victorian Puppet Theatre in Carnegie House

•     Facepainters

SANTA'S GROTTO

Santa’s Grotto will be at Carnegie House again this year on the following dates from 10am – 3pm: Saturday 29th November, Saturday 6th December, Saturday 13th December, Saturday 20th December.

For £8 per child, children will meet Santa, choose a quality gift and you can take your own photos. Bookings can be made in advance  https://www.wegottickets.com/BridgendLionsClub

Santa‘s Grotto is run by The Lions Club of Bridgend in Carnegie House and is supported by Bridgend Town Council. All proceeds of the Christmas Grotto will be distributed to local Charites by the Lions Club of Bridgend.

Bridgend Town Council would like to thank Bridgend County Borough Council, The Rhiw Shopping Centre and Bridgend Business Against Crime for their contributions towards funding the Christmas Lights Switch On Event.

Toddler Group

• 18th November PTA Disco

• 21st November - INSET Day

• 22nd November - Years 3 to 6 Cross Country Competition

• 4th to 16th December - various Christmas concerts

• 10th December - Toddlers Christmas Party

• 11th December - Christmas Dinner Day

• 17th December - Nursery and Reception Christmas Show

• 17th December - Years 1 to 6 to the Pantomime

• 20th December to 6th January - Christmas Holiday

• 5th January - INSET Day

• 6th January - Back to School

• 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th January and 5th February - Year 6 Swimming

• 12th, 19th February, 5th, 12th and 19th March - Year 5 Swimming

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

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 - Monday

• Year 5 - Tuesday

• 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.