Welcome back to school after the half term holiday.  We hope you all enjoyed the break (apart from the wet weather!).  

During the Monday inset day staff completed training in a variety of areas including welsh within the school curriculum.  We welcomed pupils back to school on Tuesday ready to start our busy term!   

Welsh Week and Eisteddfod

We are very much looking forward to Welsh Week next week.  Children will be immersed in all things Welsh and preparing entries for the Eisteddfod competitions.    

Children will be completing a handwriting competition, learning a song and a poem, and designing a love spoon for the art competition. Children in years 4 to 6 will also be writing a poem inspired by 'In the magic box' by Kit Wright.  Everyone will have a go at throwing the rugby ball through the dragon's mouth too! 

During the Eisteddfod we will also perform the 'Chairing of the Bardd' which is a traditional ceremony for our year 6 pupils. The Bardd will be selected by the winning entry of the poetry competition and will be announced in the ceremony in front of all pupils. 

Children will be able to wear St David's Day costume or house colours on Friday 1st March.  We have a full day of Eisteddfod events planned which will culminate in us finding out which house colour has won the most points!

During assembly today we introduced our year 6 House Captains to pupils.  The house captains met with their house colour pupils and enthused them to try their best at the competitions and get behind their house colour.  We love welsh week and the Eisteddfod and we know pupils get excited to see their house colour team mates doing well.

Our house captains are :

Blue House - Darcey and Matthew

Yellow House - Rosie and Esmay

Green House - Leila and Isla

Red House - Sofia and Viktorija

Bardd Sword

We are extremely grateful to Mr Price who has created the most amazing sword for our Bardd ceremony.  The bespoke and engraved wooden sword is a real asset to the school and we hope to display the sword in main reception.  Thank you Mr Price!

House Colour T-shirts

The PTA have arranged for parents to purchase a personalised house colour T-shirt for Eisteddfod.  Please follow the link to purchase. Due to the short timescale orders should be placed by Monday.  The company are local so please get in touch with them via their website if you wish to discuss further with them.

Children’s sizes:

https://www.cheekybabytees.co.uk/collections/school-sports-day-t-shirts/products/oldcastle-school-sports-day-t-shirts

Adult’s sizes:

https://www.cheekybabytees.co.uk/collections/school-sports-day-t-shirts/products/oldcastle-mens-sports-day-t-shirts

School Catering Menu

The catering team will be providing a Welsh themed menu next week on Wednesday 28th February .  The menu on this day will be:

Pork and Leek Sausage with yorkshire  pudding or Glamorgan Sausage in Gravy or Vegan Sausage in Gravy

Served with fresh carrots, cabbage and peas

Boiled Potatoes

Welsh Ice Cream 

Welsh Cakes or Fresh Fruit Salad or Welsh Llaeth y Llan yoghurt

Parents Evening

Parents evening appointments are now live and emails have been sent to parents.  If you haven't received an email please get in touch with us by email, phone or in person.

Appointments will take place on the following days for each class:

• Nursery - Tuesday and Wednesday evening and Thursday throughout the day

• Reception Y - Monday and Tuesday

• Reception H - Monday and Tuesday

• 1O - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 1L - Monday and Tuesday

• 2D - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 2C - Monday and Tuesday

• 3A - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 3S - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 4T - Monday and Tuesday

• 4E - Monday and Tuesday

• 5P - Monday and Tuesday

• 5R - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 6I - Monday and Tuesday

• 6M - Monday and Tuesday

Year 6 End of Term Production

The year 6 end of term production is always memorable as children start planning and preparing for the production.  This year we are delighted to announce that the production will be Annie!  Children have been auditioning for parts and we will be announcing the main cast members over the coming weeks.  All children in year 6 are involved in the production so as well as the main cast members we will have children helping with the stage design, set management and sound and lighting. All children have been provided with an Annie t-shirt thanks to funding from Bridgend Schools Savings and the Bridgend Lifesavers Credit Union.

We will be announcing all cast members over the coming weeks - today we are announcing Miss Hanigan. Please click on the clip below to reveal who will be playing this role.

Miss Hanigan

The production crew have been hard at work looking at documenting every stage of the production, costume design and set designs.

Food bags are available weekly (apart from school holidays) please do get in touch if you would like a food bag for £5.  Email us on ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk 

Schools Cross Country Years 3 to 6

The next schools cross country event will take place on Saturday 24th February at Pencoed Comprehensive.  Everyone in years 3 to 6 are welcome to attend and we will be delighted to launch our new cross country kit at this event. Thank you again to Fox Landscaping and ECS for sponsoring our kit.

Baby and Toddler Group

Don't forget  we run a baby and toddler group every Wednesday morning during term time from 9am to 11am.  Baby and Toddler Group 

School Attendance

Attendance at school is important. Our whole school target for attendance is 95%.  This week's attendance was 94.6%.

School Start Time

Please can we remind parents that school starts at 8.55am and children should arrive in time to enter through their classroom door.  Children who arrive late cause disruption to the class. Thank you for your support in ensuring children arrive at school on time.

Throughout the year we will implement the following values each month.

• September - Determination and Perseverance

• October - Respect and Responsibility

• November - Friendship and forgiveness 

• December - Compassion and Hope  / Understanding and Patience

• January - Community and Service 

• February - Co-operation and being a good citizen within society

• March - Learning and Effort

• April - Showing gratitude

• May - Care and Generosity

• June - Honesty and trust

• 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

Contact details

Please ensure we have up to date contact details for you to ensure 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.  

 Numbers and Play Sessions

Thank you to the support of the nursery parents at our numbers and play sessions over this last term.   We have been learning about numbers through nursery rhymes. There’s been lots of number making with playdough and the children have been teaching their grown up how to use numicon.  Mrs Diehl is really excited to continue this amazing work next week.

Super Work!

Mia from year 1 has created a lovely little book with poems and drawings on her favourite flowers.  Mia worked hard all on her own over half term and finished the book in school this week.  What fantastic work and Mrs Peters was pleased to hear that Daffodils were her favourite flower!

Year 2 managed to find some dry weather this week to explore gravity using ramps and balls outside.

Enrichment Friday

Due to the wet weather this week planned netball and football matches at Tremains Primary School were cancelled unfortunately. 

Heidi Hales from year 5 had a half term of competing. She played in the Welsh Squash championships and placed 2nd. She then travelled  to Lille, France, for her to compete in the French Junior Open.  She managed to beat both the number 2 and then the number 1 seed to get into the final of her first Superseries European tournament.  She placed second here also. Her dedication to return to fitness has been inspirational and these achievements so well deserved.   Well done Heidi amazing to hear of your success!

PTA Disco

The PTA are holding a disco on Friday 15th March - Tickets are £2.50 each and this time the PTA will be accepting 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 Form

The next Parents Evenings are planned for week beginning 11th March 2024.

Inset Days 2023/24

Inset Days have been approved by Governors for 2023/24 and they are as follows:

• Monday 4th September 2023

• Friday 22nd December 2023

• Monday 19th February 2024

• Friday 22nd March 2024

• Monday 3rd June 2024

• Monday 22nd July 2024

P.E. lessons this term will take place on the following days.  Children attending school should wear their P.E. kit to school on the day of their lesson.

• Nursery - Thursday

• Reception -  Thursday

• Year 1 - Wednesday

• Year 2 - Monday

• Year 3 - Thursday

• Year 4 - Tuesday

• Year 5 - Wednesday

• Year 6 - Monday

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.