Welcome to the start of December and what will be a very busy month for our pupils and staff! We are very much looking forward to seeing all our year group concerts - there will be 16 of them in total! We are in the process of getting the main hall ready for the concerts and look forward to welcoming parents in for your child's concert. Thank you for completing the Google form to request tickets for the concerts. Tickets will not be sent home we will use the list of ticket requests to check off names. Please can we remind parents that children are allocated 2 tickets for each concert, and we cannot exceed this number due to fire safety regulations. Thank you for your support in ensuring the appropriate number of attendees to each concert.

Here's a reminder of the concert times. The PTA will be providing refreshments in each concert and we will also be offering raffle tickets for sale to win a hamper.

School Assembly

Mrs Burr led the online assembly this morning and introduced the children to the Voice 21 framework for oracy and listening. The following poster is displayed in all classrooms for children and teachers to use as part of their oracy learning process. We also heard from each year group who provided a very thorough description of learning undertaken throughout the week. We love hearing from the children in the assembly about what they have been learning throughout the week and we are very proud of the children who stand up and tell the whole school all about their week.

Mrs Burr also launched this month's school values to the children and described how each and every child can play a part and get involved in the values. The values are detailed below:

Schools Cross Country - Years 3 to 6

Well done to all participants from years 3 to 6 who took part in the Bridgend Schools’ Cross Country League on Saturday 26th November in Brynteg Comprehensive School.

• The final meet of the year will take place on Saturday December 17^th at Porthcawl Comprehensive School

Parents Evening

We have now completed parents evenings for all year groups. We would welcome feedback from parents on the appointments please complete the form below:

Parents Evening Feedback

School Community Forum - Date for your diary

The next meeting of the School Community Forum is planned for Wednesday 11th January at 9am. We hope that many parents will join us to discuss various aspects of school life.

School Swimming

Swimming lessons are offered to children in years 4, 5 and 6 over the autumn term. Years 4 and 5 have completed their swimming lessons.

Year 6 will swim every afternoon for a period of one week on the following dates:

• 6H - week beginning 5th December

Children will be required to bring a packed lunch on these days along with their swimming kit, towel and goggles. The bus will collect them from school and take them to Ynysawdre Pool and then bring them back to school in time for the end of the normal school day.

Year 6 Residential Trip

We are delighted to be able to offer our year 6 pupils a resdiential trip in 2023. Mrs Littlewood and Mrs Peters visited the venue in Shrewsbury this week and were really excited to see the great accommodation and vast array of activities offered to the children as part of their Monday to Wednesday stay. The food also sounds amazing and we can't wait for our March visit.

Parents Maths Session

This week Miss Lincoln ran a parents maths sessions to allow parents to find out how maths is taught in Oldcastle. The session was for parents of children in years 3 to 6 and Miss Lincoln will be looking to run a similar session for parents of children in reception to year in the new year.

If you were unable to attend please view the details of the session here - Parents Maths Session

PTA Wreath Making

The PTA arranged a fantastic evening on Tuesday for parents who signed up to the wreath making workshop. The PTA and school are extremely grateful to the florists from Townsend florist in Bridgend for sharing their experience and expertise with us.

School Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner will be served in December. Thank you to all our parents for confirming if your child will require a Christmas dinner - our catering team will be serving over 380 meals over the two days!! Normal school menu is not available on these days.

• Wednesday 14th December - Nursery, Reception, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6

• Thursday 15th December - Reception, Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5

NB. Reception children will be able to have a Christmas dinner on both days due to the welsh government universal free school meals allowance.

Payment for the Christmas dinner should be made to your child's dinner account via Bridgend County Borough Council website. The cost of the meal is £2.20. Please ensure payment is received before Friday 9th December. Christmas lunch will not be served to any child with no credit on their account.

Christmas Tree

Thank you to F.P. Hurleys for donating our school Christmas tree. We are delighted to be able to have this lovely tree on display for all of our Christmas concerts starting next week.

PE Days

Children should wear P.E. kit to school on the day their class has a P.E. session.

• Reception - Monday

• Year 1 - Tuesday

• Year 2 - Monday

• Year 3 - Tuesday

• Year 4 - Wednesday

• Year 5 - Thursday

• Year 6 - Wednesday

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.

PTA Christmas Tree Fundraiser

Admissions to school

Please refer to the Bridgend Council website for details of applications to school, currently applications are open for children moving to secondary school and children moving from nursery to reception.

BCBC School Admissions

Contact details

We regularly email and send App messages to parents - please ensure we have up to date contact details for you to ensure you keep up to date with school news. You can either email us with change of details (ask@oldcastlprimary.co.uk) or complete the change of details form.

Enrichment

Friday afternoons are all about enrichment sessions. Children are excited about the different activities they take part in and always look forward to a Friday afternoon. What a busy Friday afternoon it was today!

Language and Play

Nursery parents attended a Language and Play taster session this morning with Mrs Diehl. The parents and children had a lovely time reading the book 'Stick Man'.

Barney

Barney loved his pamper time today!

Inset Days 2022 / 23

Inset days for this academic year are as follows:

• Monday 5th September 2022

• Monday 7th November 2022

• Tuesday 8th November 2022

• Friday 31st March 2023

• Friday 26th May 2023

• Monday 24th July 2023

Term Dates - all term dates are available to view on our website

• Autumn Term finishes on Friday 23rd December 2022.

12 Says of Christmas Challenge in Bridgend

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.

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