Sports Day Years 1 to 6

What a fantastic day we've had with our years 1 to 6 sports day today.  The sun shone and we we all enjoyed the events.  Thank you to the parents who attended and helped walk the children to the fields. Thank you to our amazing PTA for providing refreshments, and finally, thank you to our amazing staff for ensuring the children had a wonderful day.

Well done to all the children for taking part and cheering on their house.  The results of the day are as follows:

Yellow House - 995 points

Blue House - 930 points

Red House - 880 points

Green House - 800 points

We plan to hold a whole school assembly next week to present the Sports Day trophy to the winning house captains.

Nursery and Reception Sports Day

Nursery and Reception sports day is now confirmed for Friday 24th May in the afternoon.  The event will take place in Heronsbridge School.  Please ensure that all children attend school with a bottle of water, a hat and sun cream applied.   We will walk the children to Heronsbridge at 12.30pm and we are hoping parents / grandparents can walk with your child.  If this is not possible please let us know.

Children may leave with parents / carers at the end of the event which will finish by 2.45pm.

The PTA will be providing refreshments on the day.  If you are able to help out please get in touch.  The PTA will also be hoping for cake donations for the event.  If you are able to donate a cake please bring into the main office at school drop off (9am), homemade cakes will require a list of ingredients included.  Thank you for your support.

Cross Country Competition and Presentation - Years 3 to 6

The final cross country competition of the school year will take place on Saturday 18th May at Bryntirion Comprehensive School.  Races start at 10am so please arrive at 9.30am.  Following the races there will be a presentation ceremony.

We hope to see our years 3 to 6 pupils at the event.

Year 6 Annie production

Year 6 pupils are getting excited about their end of year production, Annie.  Cast members have been learning lines, scene designers are busy getting the stage design ready and digital leaders are documenting the process.  The children will be performing to their parents and carers on 16th and 17th July.  Parents will be emailed details of how to apply for tickets.

Oldcastle Rocks 

We are delighted to announce that the PTA will be holding Oldcastle Rocks again this year.  The fantastic family event will take place on Saturday 6th July so save the date!

Universal Free School Meals - Year 5

We have been advised that Year 5 children will move to the Universal Free School Meal provision on June 3rd 2024 following the May half term. 

Your child will be entitled to a free school meal from this date onwards, if your child's account is showing a negative balance it is imperative that the account is brought up to date prior to May 24th, as this could affect the transfer.  If your child has a balance of £10 or more in their dinner account you will be sent a form in order to reclaim the payment, we are not able to send out the forms until after June 3rd.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

School Meals - change to dinner menu

The catering team will be changing the menu on Thursday 6th June for the one below to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings.

School Attendance

Attendance at school is important. Our whole school target for attendance is 95%.  This week's attendance was 93.7%.

Reminder - if your child is off school please ensure that you notify us by 9.30am.  

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

This week in Nursery

We have been very busy this week.

We have continued with the Gingerbread Men story.  Mrs Evans used our shopping lists that we wrote last week for our gingerbread ingredients and this week we have been baking!  We have made delicious gingerbread men.

We also made boats to help the gingerbread man get across the river and we made a trail outside and pretended we were the gingerbread man.  

Year 1 have been enjoying outdoor learning this week.

Well done to our year 6 touch rugby team who won the Phil Colston Memorial Trophy in the South Wales Police Touch Rugby Tournament on Wednesday. Congratulations! 

Well done to the years 5 and 6 boys who played in the football tournament on Thursday. You did the school proud!

The outdoor language and play session took a walk to Newbridge Fields this week to collect items for their nature art project. Barney enjoyed the walk too!

Community Room

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 

We love seeing the babies and toddlers coming each week to the Toddler Group - over the last couple of weeks the children and parents have been very creative!

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

• Thursday 2nd May 2024

• Monday 22nd July 2024

Friday 24th May - Nursery and Reception Sports Day (Afternoon)

Inset Days 2024/25

Inset Days have been approved by School Governors for 2024/25 and they are as follows:

• Monday 2nd September 2024

• Friday 6th December 2024

• Monday 17th February 2025

• Friday 11th April 2025

• Monday 2nd June 2025

• Monday 21st July 2025

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

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

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. 

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.