Welcome to our jam-packed newsletter for week 6 of the school year.  There's lots of important information so please read on to keep up to date with events in Oldcastle.

World Mental Health Day

Today we supported the Hello Yellow campaign to raise awareness of mental health and well-being on World Mental Health Day.  Mrs Littlewood was delighted to see so many children and staff supporting the cause by wearing yellow today.  In the assembly, Mrs Littlewood discussed the importance of mental health and asked the children to think about what mental health means.  So many children were able to put their hands up and provide an explanation of mental health.  Mrs Littlewood continued the assembly by talking about how to look after ourselves and how to help a friend who might be sad.  The information from the assembly is detailed below so you may talk to your child 

Parents may find useful information on the Young Minds Website

SHINE Information for Parents

Parents may be interested in the following information from the CAMHS SHINE team regarding emotional well-being support for children and parents.   The SHINE team work in partnership with schools, partners and stakeholders to embed a whole school approach to emotional and mental health. They offer support, training and psycho-education for teachers and parents.  SHINE INFORMATION

Parents Evening 

Parents evening appointment will be held week beginning 20th October.  Appointment bookings have been sent from our website provider next week.  You will have received an email from notifications@primarysite.net with instructions on how to book an appointment. Each class teacher will offer appointments over a two day period. If you have not received an email please get in touch via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk  Appointments will take place on the following days:

• Nursery - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October

• Reception P - Monday 3rd November and Tuesday 4th November

• Reception R - Monday 20th October and Wednesday 22nd October

• Class 1I - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October 

• Class 1M - Monday 20th October and Wednesday 22nd October

• Class 2Y - Monday 20th October and Wednesday 22nd October

• Class 2H - Tuesday 21st October and Wednesday 22nd October

• Class 3O - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October

• Class 3L - Tuesday 2st October and Wednesday 22nd October

• Class 4D - Monday 20th October and Wednesday 22nd October

• Class 4C - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October

• Class 5S - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October 

• Class 5A - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October

• Class 6T - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October

• Class 6E - Monday 20th October and Tuesday 21st October

Christmas Concerts

We know it's early to be talking about Christmas, but we appreciate that parents like to be given plenty of notice regarding Christmas concerts.  Christmas concerts will take place on the following days and times.  There will be two performances per year group and parents / carers will be able to apply for up to 2 tickets for each performance.  Performances will take place in the School Main Hall.

Tickets will be £2 per person and payment can be made in cash on the door at the time of the concert.  

Due to health and safety reasons, we are limited in the number of people we can seat in the main hall so numbers will be strictly monitored based around the applications received via this form.

Please complete the Google form below each year group to reserve your tickets for the performances you wish to attend.

Nursery

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

• Nursery Ticket Application Form

Reception

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

• Reception Ticket Application Form

Year 1

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

• Year 1 Ticket Application Form

Year 2

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

• Year 2 Ticket Application Form

Year 3

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

• Year 3 Ticket Allocation Form

Year 4

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

• Year 4 Ticket Allocation Form

Year 5

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

• Year 5 Ticket Allocation Form

Year 6

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

• Year 6 Ticket Allocation Form

Christmas Tree Donations

As we approach the festive season, we would like to share some exciting news and opportunities for you to get involved with our school community.

We are thrilled to announce that we will be decorating our school hall with a real Christmas tree again this year, and we need your help! We are kindly requesting monetary donations towards the purchase of a real Christmas tree to help us create a Christmassy atmosphere for our pupils, staff, and visitors in the lead up to Christmas.

Alternatively, if you are a local business that would like to sponsor a Christmas tree or Christmas activities in school, please do get in touch with Sara Peters at the school. By sponsoring a tree, or Christmas activity, you can have your name or business logo displayed, showcasing your support for our school.

Please get in touch via our email ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk or by calling us on 01656 815790. Your generosity will be greatly appreciated and will help us bring the magic of the season to our school. 

Panto Trip - Years 1 to 6

Parents in years 1 to 6 have been emailed details about our panto trip this year.  Children will be watching Rapunzel in the Maesteg Town Hall on Wednesday 17th December. The trip is £13 and payment should be made via Parent Pay by 22nd October.  Please check your Parent Pay account for details of the trip and how to pay.

Christmas Dinner Order Form

Christmas dinner will be served on Thursday 11th December. Please inform us if your child requires Christmas dinner, a packed lunch roll from the school or they will bring their own sandwiches.

A response is required for every child. Please complete a separate form for each child.

Normal school menu is not available on this day. Vegetarian and other dietary needs will be catered for.

Please return the form by 10th November to allow us to plan with catering services.

Christmas Dinner Order Form

PTA Meeting

Thank you all those we attended the PTA meeting today.  During the meeting the following committee members were confirmed:

Chair - Lowri George

Vice Chair - Kim Lewis

Treasurer - Sian Jones

Secretary - Jo Lancett

The chair of the PTA provided an update on the current financial situation of the PTA and was delighted to inform the meeting that the PTA has £10743 in their bank account. The PTA arranged various events in the last school year including school discos, wreath making, bake sales, sports day refreshments and other fundraising initiatives.  The school were fortunate to have the following events funded by the PTA in the last school year: Christmas and Summer Rewards Days, VE Celebrations, Part funding for new hall chairs, year 6 leavers hoodies and the year 6 residential bus.

As a school we would like to thank all parents and carers who get involved with the PTA and raise much needed funds for the school.  We are grateful to be able to offer the educational and fun experiences that the PTA help to fund.

Don't forget the fill in the PTA Get Involved form below if you are interested in being part of our fantastic PTA. If you'd like to find out more about our PTA please scan this QR code.

PTA Get Involved Google Form

Christmas Wreath Making - Can you help?

The PTA have arranged a Christmas Wreath Making event for the last few years, and this year we are looking for someone who can help advise on the making of the Christmas Wreaths. We don't expect anyone to have a huge amount of knowledge, but we would like someone to help us out for the session. If you can help, please do get in touch by calling the school or emailing us on ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

PTA Disco - 18th November 

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. Please do not send money into school, bring the payment with you on the day. All children need to be supervised whilst at the disco.  

You will need to complete a separate form for every child you wish to purchase a ticket for. The PTA are hoping to be paperless so will not be sending tickets home.  Please keep your email to hand and show this to gain entry to the disco.  The PTA will have a list on the door of all tickets ordered.  Tickets are allocated on a first-come first-served basis and are limited due to fire regulations. We cannot guarantee entry to anyone who has not pre-ordered a ticket.  Drinks, sweets and snacks will be available to purchase at the disco.

PTA Disco Google Form

PTA Christmas Designs - return these to school by 17th October

All children will have come home this week with information from the PTA regarding personalised Christmas cards.  Children can create a design on the template provided, return to school and you will then receive a personalised order form displaying your child's design.  There are lots of options to choose from, including mugs, cards and tea towels - perfect Christmas presents!  All designs must be portrait format and no glitter, sequins or photographs to be used.  And as a bonus, the PTA receive a percentage of all sales!

For more information on the types of products available, please look at www.classfundraising.co.uk 

All templates should be returned to school by Friday 17th October, to allow for the items to be ordered in time for December. Unfortunately, orders received after this date cannot be accepted.

Oldcastle Rocks 2026!

 Unfortunately, we had to cancel the PTA event - Oldcastle Rocks - in 2025 due to the weather so we are being super organised and have popped a date in the diary for 2026!  Please keep the date free as we are promising a great family day with music and lots of activities.

Individual Child Photos - Wednesday 15th October

Tempest Photography will be in school on Wednesday 15th October to take individual child photos.  A proof will be sent home with children to enable parents to directly from Tempest.  Please can all children wear school uniform to school on Wednesday 15th October.  

Flu Vaccine Reception to Year 6

The School Nursing Team will visit Oldcastle on 23/10/2025 to offer pupils the Fluenz Nasal Flu Vaccine. This year the Nursing Team are rolling out an E Consent form to parents.  Parents in Reception to Year 6 have been emailed a copy of the letter and the link to provide consent.  The link is also detailed below, the Nursing Team require a response, even if you do not wish your child to have the vaccine.

Nasal Flu Vaccine Consent 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.

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.

Parking and Road Safety

We have received complaints from local residents and businesses regarding parking around the school at drop off and pick up times.  Please can we remind parents to be respectful to local residents and park considerately.  Local businesses have also reported that children move between parked cars when arriving at school with parents. The area around the school is busy in the morning and we ask that everyone is considerate and aware of traffic and pedestrians at this time.

Earrings

Please can we ask that children do not wear hoop or 'dangly' earrings to school.  Children may wear stud earrings as mentioned in our uniform policy.  Thank you for your co-operation.  Click here to view our Uniform Policy

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 95.1%.  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. 

This week, our staff held a cake sale in school to raise funds for the Macmillan Cancer Charity. Well done Team Oldcastle for raising £100 for the charity and providing yummy cakes in the staff room.

Barney enjoyed his well-being time this week with a visit to Newbridge Fields.

Year 1 made a poster about things that keep us happy and healthy for ‘Hello Yellow’ Day.  They have also been playing ‘Wellbeing Bingo’ and seeing what they can do to support their wellbeing.

Chris Elmore MP Christmas Card Competition - closing date 4th November

We are pleased to share details of the annual Christmas card competition for Chris Elmore MP. This will be the tenth year of the competition and every year it’s getting bigger and better. Last year a pupil from Oldcastle was fortunate to win the competition! 

The winning design will be used as the official Christmas card for Chris Elmore MP and sent out to local businesses, community groups, politicians, and other friendly faces across the constituency. There’ll be prizes for 1st place and for two runners up. Every child who takes part will get a certificate, too – no one goes home empty-handed! 

This year’s theme is “What Christmas means to you” – a lovely chance for the children to let their imaginations run wild and show us what makes the festive season special to them.  Please use the template below to enter the competition. Designs can be returned to school and we will pass these onto Chris Elmore MP.

Here are a few handy tips:

• Keep it simple – sometimes less is more. If you are drawing a character, make sure it fills the space.  

• Try to use bright colours; try not to leave some of the space without colour unless it’s white for snow.  

• Stick to the template – it’s important for the printer that you stick to the size on the template. 

• Please keep your design in a Portrait format. 

• Make sure your name and class are clearly marked, this is so we can make sure we get your design back to you after we’ve announced our winner. 

• Don’t use glitter as it cannot be reproduced by the printers.  

• Don’t make your card too dark.  

• the printer can’t reproduce 3D cards. 

The closing date for entries is 4th November.

Christmas Card Competition Template

Brynteg School - Years 5 and 6 Open Evening

Glamorgan Cricket

Glamorgan Cricket are  offering the chance to win a family ticket with food vouchers to Sophiaworks at Sophia Gardens Stadium on Wednesday 5th November. 

The competition is open to primary pupils in Years 1-6 and provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase your creativity by designing a firework-themed poster. Posters can be A4 or A3 in size, and any medium can be used, from drawing and painting to collage or digital art. All entries must be submitted in 2-D landscape format via email (a photo can be taken of your artwork) and will be judged by the team at Glamorgan Cricket. The final submission date is Monday 20th October, and the winner will be announced on Thursday 23rd October.

Participants can submit their posters by emailing to sophiaworks@glamorgancricket.co.uk.

Toddler Group

• 15th October - Individual Child Photos

• 20th to 22nd October - Parents Evening

• 23rd October - Flu Vaccine Reception to Year 6 - more information will be sent home shortly

• 27th October to 31st October  - October Half Term

• 18th November PTA Disco

• 21st November - INSET Day

• 4th to 16th December - various Christmas concerts

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

• 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.