Miss Hodgson led the whole school assembly today and talked to the children about behaviour and expectations. Below is a copy of the assembly for parents to talk to their children about.
Thank you
We wanted to say thank you to our parents and pupils for following the uniform information we sent out recently. Children looked very smart in the assembly today, wearing the appropriate school uniform. Here's a reminder of the uniform information we recently sent.
School Uniform
Pupils may wear the following school uniform:
Grey or Black trousers, skirt or pinafore dress;
Red or white polo shirts;
Blue jumpers, cardigans or hoodies;
In the Summer months, grey shorts or blue check dresses may be worn.
(Clothing items emblazoned with the school logo are available to purchase locally if you wish but are not required)
Pupils may wear dark blue, grey or black socks or tights. White socks may be worn in the Summer.
Dark-coloured school shoes should be worn.
Boots, backless sandals or trainers are discouraged (trainers may be worn for PE and sports activities).
PE Kit
Oldcastle Primary School's PE uniform is dark shorts, a white t-shirt and black plimsolls or trainers.
Tracksuits may be worn in the winter months.
Expectations
Pupils are expected to dress neatly and appropriately.
We encourage long hair to be tied back to avoid injury, and patterns shaved onto the head are considered inappropriate for school. Jewellery must not be worn to school. If your child has pierced ears, small studs are permitted but must be removed or covered with micro-pore tape for PE.
Nail varnish, false nails or transfers should not be worn to school.
PTA Treasurer Vacancy - Please get in touch if you can help!
Our PTA plays an important role in supporting the school by fundraising for resources, activities, and experiences that benefit all of our children. As we look ahead to the coming term, we are writing to let you know that we currently have a vacancy for the role of PTA Treasurer.
The Treasurer is responsible for keeping an overview of the PTA’s finances, including tracking income and expenditure, maintaining clear records, and working with the committee to ensure funds are used effectively.
Full support will be provided, and the current team is happy to offer guidance during the handover. The role does not require a financial background — just reliability, basic organisation skills, and a willingness to help.
Getting involved in the PTA is a rewarding way to support the school community, meet other parents, and make a real difference to the children’s school experience. Many tasks can be done at home and fit around work and family commitments.
If you would like to find out more, or if you are interested in putting yourself forward for the role, please contact Sara Peters in the school office or speak to any member of the PTA committee. For more information on the PTA please take a look at our website Oldcastle Primary PTA.
Thank you for your continued support of the school and the PTA. We look forward to hearing from you.
Parent Governor Vacancies
We currently have vacancies on our school Governing Body for parent governors. The position of school governors is an important role and we hope parents will consider applying.
To apply please complete the application form on the link below and return to school by 27th January 2026.
Please click here for more information on our governing body. School Governors If you would like to discuss please do not hesitate to contact the school office
Job Vacancy - Relief Supervisory Assistant
We are seeking to appoint a Relief Supervisory Assistant to work during the lunchtime period, between 11.30am to 1.30pm as and when required, Monday to Friday, term time only. Working as part of a team, the successful candidate will be required to undertake the supervision of the children in all areas of the school including the school canteen and play areas. You will be required to actively engage with pupils, including play activities on the yard. Experience of working with children, and the ability to encourage good behaviour and play amongst pupils would be an advantage, but not essential as training will be provided. An Enhanced with Children's Barred list criminal records check by the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) is a requirement for this post.
Please apply via the BCBC website - click here.
Schools Cross Country - Years 3 to 6
The Schools Cross Country competition will start back on 31st January and will take place at Porthcawl Comprehensive. The event is open to all children in years 3 to 6. Children and parents should meet at the venue at 9.30am for a 10am start. School staff will be in attendance to coordinate the events. Please note no dogs are allowed on site.
T-Shirt Sponsor Required - Year 6 End of Term production - Can you help?
Year 6 children will be performing an end of term production for their parents and grandparents in the summer term. It is always a highlight of the school year and a wonderful chance for our pupils to showcase their talents and creativity before moving on from Oldcastle Primary. This year the children will perform Psychedelic Cinderella and we can't wait to see their production.
We would like to provide every child in year 6 with a printed t-shirt that they will wear for every rehearsal of the production. The t-shirts will be recognised throughout the school as children will feel pride wearing their 'Psychedelic Cinderella' t-shirts! We are looking for a sponsor to contribute to the cost of the t-shirt and we will of course, promote the sponsor's association with the school to our school community, school Facebook page and in the production programme. If you are interested in sponsoring these t-shirts or would like further information, please get in touch with Sara Peters at the school via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk
Nursery Open Day for children starting in September 2026
Thursday 12th February 2026 at 10am and 4pm
Come along to see our lovely nursery facilities for children aged 3 years. Parents and carers are invited to our Open Day events on Thursday 12th February. We have two sessions - 10am and 4pm. You will be able to view our facilities and speak with the nursery teacher and senior members of staff. The sessions will last for no more than 1 hour.
Please book a space by completing this short form.
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 94.9%. 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.
School Values
The school values for January are Determination and Perserverance
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 Bette from year 6 on your LAMDA Level 1 Award in Performance achievement recently.
Rewards Day
Children in all house colours enjoyed a special reward on Wednesday, Blue house enjoyed time with bikes or scooters on the main yard, yellow house were able to wear pyjamas or own clothes to school, green house enjoyed some lovely milkshakes with cream and sprinkles and red house had some time on the climbing frames in the main hall or small hall. Lots of happy children in school on Wednesday! Keep collecting those tokens for our next rewards day at the end of the term.
Thank you to our amazing staff for facilitating the rewards on the day.
Year 4 have been learning about the Earth's crust recently and four year 4 pupils stood up in assembly today to tell the rest of the school what they had learnt. Well done Bonnie, Lily, Evelyn and Sonny for proudly showing off your experiment and knowledge (even though the experiment had turned a bit smelly!)
Toddler Group
Toddler Group is back up and running following the Christmas break. On Wednesday children and parents had great fun with the craft activities all about arctic animals.
Our babies and toddlers had lots of fun this week.
Vale Cricket Club
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
23rd February - Welsh Week
2nd March - Eisteddfod
13th March - Inset Day
25th to 27th March - Year 6 Residential
27th March - Term Ends
30th March to 10th April - Easter Holidays
13th to 15th April - Parents' Evenings
4th May - Bank Holiday
15th May - Years 1 to 6 Sports Day
21st May - Nursery and Reception Sports Day
22nd May - Inset Day
25th to 29th May - Half Term
9th June - Class and Team Photos
15th June - Careers Week
20th June - Oldcastle Rocks
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.