As we approach the conclusion of another busy week at Oldcastle Primary School, we take a moment to reflect on all the exciting learning that has taken place. Our pupils and staff have created opportunities with remarkable dedication, embodying the collaborative spirit that defines our school community. We have embraced our school values - Forgiveness and Friendship and we are proud of our pupils for embracing the values.

As we transition into the final month of the calendar year we look forward to all the exciting events that are planned to see us to the end of term. We know children and staff will welcome our December school values, and there will be lots of 'understanding' and 'patience' required as we head into a very busy period!

If you are free tomorrow afternoon, why not pop along to Bridgend Town Centre for the Christmas lights event.  Our wonderful school choir will be performing on the stage at 4pm.  We hope to see you there.

Christmas Tree Donations - Thank You!

Once again, we are delighted with the generosity of local businesses and our parents following our call for help to fund a Christmas tree this year. We are delighted to be able to display two real Christmas trees in school. We look forward to showing these to you when you attend for the Christmas concerts.

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 Wednesday 5th 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.

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.  

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

School Attendance

As you know improving school attendance is a priority for us in Oldcastle, just as it is across BCBC and Wales.   As a school, we continually monitor attendance and punctuality.  We work with the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) to support children and families around attendance.  The table below shows the impact low attendance can have for a child and their future.  Lateness can also have an impact on a child’s learning.  They can miss key information, retrievals and the start of lessons.  It also can affect their well being as miss out on the start of the day, emotional check ins with their teacher and peers and key information for the day. 

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 Avya from year 5 on your recent accomplishments in LAMDA and Tae Kwon Do. Avya achieved a Distinction in two LAMDA communication courses — Speaking in Public Grade 1 and Speaking Verse and Prose Grade 4 and has also earned her 3rd Kup (red-stripe blue) in Tae Kwon-Do. 

Toddler Group

Toddler Group have been very busy this week creating keepsake crafts. Toddler Group runs every Wednesday morning 9am to 11am. Babies and Toddlers all welcome. £2 per session and includes a cuppa.

Wreath Making

Another fantastic PTA Wreath Making Workshop was held in school this week. We love how amazing the Christmas wreaths look. Thank you to Rachel for offering support and guidance throughout the session. Thank you to our amazing PTA for arranging. 

Netball and Rugby Team News

Despite our opposition crying off our rugby team got to have a great training session, and enjoyed getting muddy in the process.  Big thanks to Mr Baldwin, Mr Burns, Mr Durston and Mr John for giving up their time.  Thank you Mrs Evans for taking the children to the fields despite the weather!

The netball team also enjoyed a training game following the cancellation of the game.  The girls soon forgot their disappointment at the cancellation with a practice game followed by a sandwich in the warm!  Thank you Mrs Williams for keeping the girls happy!

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

Football

• 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

• 16th to 20th February - Half Term

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.