Just a four day week in school for pupils this week.  Don't forget school is closed tomorrow to pupils whilst school staff complete essential training. We look forward to seeing pupils back in school on Monday for the last week of November!

Wellbeing Team

Over the last few weeks, children in years 2 to 6 have been preparing an application to be a member of the Wellbeing Team.  The children who applied have presented their application to the rest of their year group and the following pupils have been successful in being part of the team.  

Welcome to the new members Ben (year 2), Mia (year 3), Griff (year 4), Betsi (year 5) and Fara (year 6) who will join existing members Izzy, Mila, Harriet, Evie and Libby on the team. The children can't wait to get started as a new team. Their first priority will be to relaunch the Healthy Lunchbox initiative and the Buddy Bench on the main yard.

Well done to everyone who applied to be a member of the Wellbeing Team.

Year 4 Peaceful Protest

Pupils in year 4 have been learning about significant children who have made a change by speaking out. Pupils created their own campaign from a range of subject areas, including energy saving, littering, racism and bullying.  The children made a placard and have written a powerful speech. On Wednesday the year 4 pupils held a peaceful protest throughout the school.  Children silently marched around the school holding their placards for all to see.  Pupils have enjoyed exploring protest and how the impact of these can help to lead a change.  Well done year 4!

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.

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 Costumes and Jumpers

If you have any Christmas costumes or jumpers that your children have grown out of, we would happily accept these as donations.    We will ensure that these are available for other children to make use of.

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

We hope that all the children who attended the recent school disco enjoyed the event. We are delighted to learn that £510 was made from the sale of disco tickets and sweets.  We are so grateful to the PTA for giving up their time to put on the event. It's always an exciting event for children. 

Schools Cross Country Years 3 to 6 - please note venue change

The next meeting of the Schools Cross Country Competition for children in years 3 to 6 will be held on Saturday 22nd November in Porthcawl Comprehensive 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. We hope you can enjoy this warm space to get together with friends or meet new people.

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 93.8%.  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. 

Well done to Evie from year 5 for your success in the Martial Arts championship recently.

Well done to Lottie from year 6 on your Nipper Award. 

Nursery have been fantastic at placing the numicon shapes in the right place.

Reception have been busy on a number hunt and have been planning their route to the fire station next Monday!

Fantastic structure by Gwen!

Barney is looking forward to the weekend and plenty of walks!

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

• 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.