Another week has flown by and we have been very busy in Oldcastle with lots of exciting and interesting learning happening throughout the school.

We held an assembly for pupils in reception to year 6 this morning and this was led by Miss Craven as part of our welsh themed assembly. Miss Craven introduced the Criw Cymraeg team and the phrases of the week - see below.  Children also learnt a welsh blessing and sang a welsh song. 

Industrial Action

Following the NEU's announcement of strike action,  we would like to provide you with an update on the school opening plans for Wednesday 1st February. 

As part of the decision-making process, the school has undertaken a full risk assessment that has considered the ratio of staff to pupils, health and safety concerns and safeguarding measures. 

The factors that we need to consider are the number of staff striking and the number of staff affected due to their children’s school closing. 

Based on the information we have to date. The school intends to open for most children. However, some classes will be closed, and children in those classes will not attend school on the 1st of February. The classes affected are: 

• Class: RO

• Class: 2S

• Class: 3T

On this day, online learning and schoolwork will not be available. 

We are aiming to keep the disruption to a minimum. We know things can change, and we will keep you updated as and when this happens. 

We intend to look at each strike day individually based on the information we hold. Hence, the information I have shared today only relates to the 1st of February. 

We will write to you again on Wednesday 8th February to update you about the school's position on February 14th. 

Thank you for your patience and support with this matter, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Welsh Week

We are looking forward to celebrating Welsh Weej during week beginning 13th February.  Our Welsh Week was hugely successful last year and we know children will be preparing entries, learning welsh songs and dancing in readiness for our Eisteddfod on 1st March.  Children will be working hard throughout the week producing some amazing artwork, writing poetry, learning welsh songs, and taking part in folk dancing to name a few of the activities!  They will also be dragon feeding which is always great fun!  

We will be launching Welsh Week with children on Friday 11th February.

Criw Cymraeg

This week, in our Welsh Assembly we introduced our new Criw Cymraeg. The children are very excited to take on the challenge of encouraging those around them to speak more Welsh whether that be in school or at home! We hope that children wow you at home with their welsh phrases.

Criw Cymraeg’s word of the week is - 

• Gwasanaeth - Assembly  - (perfect timing with our first Welsh assembly of this term)

Crow Cymraeg’s Phrase of the week is - 

• Ga i fynd i’r tŷ bach, os gwelwch yn dda? - Can I go to the toilet, please? 

Cross Country

The next schools cross county race will be held at at CCYD (Comprehensive School opposite the swimming pool) on Saturday 28th January.  If your child is wanting to attend please meet at 9.30am for a 10am start.  Mrs Evans will be at the cross country to coordinate events.

Velindre Wear Red - Friday 3rd February

We will be supporting the Velindre Wear Red fundraising campaign this year on Friday 3rd February.  Children may wear red to school on this day.  Donations may be bought into school if you wish. 

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day will take place on Tuesday 7th February and as a school we will be raising awareness with pupil to remain safe online.  This year's theme is 'Making space for conversations about life online'. This focuses on encouraging the children to voice their views, stories and opinions. In their classes, pupils will be discussing age appropriate ways to understand how to keep themselves safe online.  

Nursery Open Day

We are delighted to invite prospective parents to attend an Open Event at the school on Thursday 9th February.  We have two session times available for parents and their children to call in to see our lovely facilities.  You will also get a chance to meet Barney our well-being dog!  For more information and to book a place please follow this link Nursery Open Day 

Radio community

Every day this week year 6 have been broadcasting to the rest of the school via Oldcastle Sounds our radio station.  We are delighted that the children have taken the initiative and developed their own shows every day - da iawn year 6. Mrs Hodge has also been introducing some of our younger pupils  to the radio station and the children have really enjoyed sitting in the presenter chair and wearing the big headphones! 

We are keen to further develop the use of our radio station and would like to invite members of our local community into school to get involved.  This could be reading a story to the whole school, talking about something of interest, being interviewed by our radio champions about your job or hobbies or anything else of interest!  Please get in touch via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk if you would like to get involved.

Bench

We have a new bench in school which has been designed to provide an area for reflection and thought.  We have also installed a plaque in our school garden area to remember the dedication and resilience of our pupils, staff and families during the Covid pandemic.  Please feel free to wander round to the garden area to have a look.

St Marie Street

Thank you for your patience with the closure of the St Marie Street entrance.  We are hopeful that the situation will be resolved in the near future and we look forward to opening the access from St Marie Street shortly.

House Tokens

House tokens are filling up fast this term!!

Eisteddfod

We are looking forward to our Eisteddfod on Wednesday 1st March when we will celebrate all the hard work that the pupils and staff have put into Welsh Week.  

The day will start with an assembly and we will learn who will be crowned this year's Bard.  This traditional ceremony has taken place in Oldcastle for a number of years and the Bard is awarded to a year 6  pupil who has won the poetry competition.  During the ceremony, the Bard is 'robed' by her fellow classmates.   Once the ceremony is completed the Bard will read their winning poem to the rest of the school via the online assembly.  All children will be able to celebrate the achievement to congratulate the Bard.  We look forward to sharing photos with you.

Throughout the day, all pupils will be showcasing their Welsh week performances in singing, poetry and folk dancing within their house colour groups and staff will judge and award points to the winning house.  Our house captains will be busy on the day announcing the winning house after each performance.  We will also be announcing the art and poetry writing competition winners. 

Finally, at the end of the school day, we will also be announcing the winning 'house' in an online assembly.  All points accumulated from children's participation in Welsh week and the Eisteddfod will be totalled and the winning house will receive our Eisteddfod trophy! 

Children may wear house colours or welsh costume to school on 1st March.

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. 

Year 6 residential trip 

We are delighted to be able to offer year 6 pupils the opportunity to go on a residential trip once again this year.  Pupils will be visiting Culmington Manor in March for 3 days, the facility is a purpose built activity centre managed by Manor Adventure.

Year 6 parents are invited to a meeting on 15th February at 5pm to find out more details about the trip.

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.

Applications are open from 9th January for admission to nursery with a start date from September 2023

BCBC School Admissions

The Zone Youth Club

The Zone currently run a youth club on a Monday evening from 5pm until 6.30pm for young people aged 8 – 16 years.  Each week they put on different activities for young people to enjoy and once a month they also organise a trip.  The youth club is such a great way for young people to make friendships and enjoy getting involved in new experiences. Further information is available on the poster below.

Headlice

Please can we ask that parents check your child's hair over the weekend as we have had reports of headlice.

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.  

Squash Success

We learnt this week that the Hales sisters have gained more sporting success!  Eliza and Heidi entered the Welsh National Junior Squash competition last weekend. Eliza is now playing in the u13 category and achieved runner up. Heidi is still playing in the u11 category and got a very respectable 3rd place. The girls started playing 5 years ago this week!  Well done girls we love hearing about your successes.

Enrichment

So lovely to see such lovely activities taking place throughout the school and beyond for our Friday afternoon enrichment programme.  This term we have such a variety of activities taking place including line dancing, cooking, gardening, lego, science experiments, fitness, tennis, fencing, felt, digital skills, textiles to name a few!

Barney

We are so lucky to have Barney in our school community - here's a couple of photos of Barney through the seasons.  We think he loves all the seasons!

Inset Days 2022 / 23

Inset days for the remainder of the school year

• Friday 31st March 2023

• Friday 26th May 2023

• Monday 24th July 2023

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

• February Half Term - Monday 20th February to Friday 24th February

• Easter Holidays - Monday 3rd April to Friday 14th April

• May Half Term - Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June

• School year finishes on Friday 21st July

Sony Workshop

Years 5 and 6 have been invited to attend a coding workshop in Sony, Pencoed, in February and March.  An email has been sent to parents today with more details of the free event.

• 5I will attend on 7th February

• 6Y will attend on 13th February

• 5M will attend on 14th February

• 6H will attend on 13th March

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