Week 2 has been a busy one in Oldcastle as we get off to a flying start in the new school year!  Teachers are busy preparing class newsletters that will be uploaded to ur website next week.  The class newsletters will provide you with an overview of what your child is learning this term.  

Coats

We have seen a considerable difference in the weather this week.  Please ensure that children attend school with a coat every day, as a lot of outdoor learning will take place throughout the day.

This week Mrs Parker left us to start her maternity leave.  We hope you rest up and we can't wait to hear from you.   

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.

Annual Trip Consent

Parents have been emailed details about our Annual Trip Consent form.  If you have not completed the google form please do so via the link below.  

This is an annual form where parents provide consent for your child to take part in routine school visits.  Parents will always receive communication regarding specific trips arranged for your child.  

Please complete and submit the form as soon as possible to enable your child to take part in routine visits.

Annual Trip Consent Form

Nursery Parents Coffee and Chat

We would like to invite nursery parents to a coffee and chat session on Monday 15th September after drop off.  We hope you can join us for a cuppa and chat and meet other nursery parents.  Our Community Family Engagement Officer and a member of nursery staff will be in attendance for you to ask any questions.  Our PTA will be providing the refreshments.

We hope our nursery parents and carers can join us from 9am to 10am on Monday 15th September.

Reading Information for Parents

A Guide to Reading for Parents was emailed out earlier this week. In case you missed the email you can view the information here.  Reading Information

Junior Leadership Application

Children in year 5 are invited to apply to become a Junior Leader in Oldcastle for this school year.  Children have been provided with the information and applications should be received by Friday 19th September.. More information on our Pupil Voice can be found on our website Pupil Voice | Oldcastle Primary School

Year 6 House Captains

Applications are invited from children in Year 6 who are interested in becoming a House Captain. To apply children must present through a 3 minute video recording based on the school's visions, values, and responsibilities highlighted below.

Videos will be shown to respective house members. After viewing the video each house member will then complete a Google form and elect their chosen candidate. The 2 candidates from each colour with the highest scores will become House Captains

Responsibilities

• Plan, support and deliver House events held in and out of school

• Update school assemblies on what has been happening for your house / share token updates

• Collect and count tokens

• Liaise with house members about events, rewards, ideas and suggestions, sharing these with JLT and SLT

• Run rewards at the end of the term

• Be an active member at meetings

• Be an advocate for the vision and values of Oldcastle

• Undertake tasks provided by JLT to support whole school-focused events

Deadline: Friday 26th September 2025 please the attached application form to ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk 

• 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

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 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 Cancelled

We wanted to let you know about a change to our plans for the Oldcastle Rocks event, which had been rescheduled from July and was due to take place on Saturday 27th September.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel this year’s event. We know how much our school community was looking forward to it, and we share in your disappointment.

The good news is that this is not the end for Oldcastle Rocks! Working closely with our wonderful PTA, we are already planning to bring it back bigger and better in the summer of 2026, when we can make sure it’s the fantastic celebration our pupils, families, and staff deserve.

In the meantime, there will be plenty of other opportunities for us all to come together throughout the year, including wreath making, a fashion show, quiz night, and more. We hope you will join us at these events to continue building the strong sense of community that makes our school so special.

Thank you for your understanding and ongoing support. Further details about the Oldcastle Rocks 2026 event will be shared closer to the time. 

Schools Cross Country - Years 3 to 6

The Schools Cross Country competition will start back on October 18th and will take place at Pencoed 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.  Mrs Evans and Mrs Littlewood will be in attendance to coordinate the events. Please note no dogs are allowed on site.

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 94.8%.  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. 

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 Esme for volunteering over the summer

Esme from year 3spent part of her summer holidays volunteering at the Many Tears Animal Rescue charity. She spent a day with the equestrian area of the charity and she got stuck in mucking out stables, organising feeds and even grooming of the horses. A local Farrier was impressed with her attitude and gave her a horseshoe for good luck! 

Shae from year 4 was very proud of his lego creation this week

Swimming Success

Well done to Maisie, Lottie and Heidi for their swimming success in a beach competition last weekend.

Running Success

Well done to Harrison from year 2, who took part in the Cardiff 2k event last weekend who managed a personal best time of 00.10.13.  

Park Run Success

Well done to Lyra  from Reception, Eloise from year 6 and Beatrice from year 5 who all achieved their half marathon wrist bands last Sunday in the Bridgend park run for completing 11 runs!  

Toddler Group

• 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

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

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.