Welsh Week

We are looking forward to celebrating Welsh Week next week and we were excited to launch the events with children today.  Children gathered on the main yard in their house colours this morning and were encouraged to be vocal in their support for their house colour!  Mrs Littlewood welcomed the children to the outdoor assembly and asked each house to cheer to see who was the loudest!  It was a close call between blue house, red house, yellow house and green house!  The house captains for each house colour informed all their fellow house members what will be happening during Welsh week and how everyone can get involved to earn points for their house.

To finish the assembly the children and staff sang the Welsh National anthem and Mr Hapus Ydw Ir.

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 look forward to sharing details with you throughout the week.

Eisteddfod

We will celebrate our Eisteddfod on Wednesday 1st March and we forward to sharing work that the pupils and staff have created for 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.

Industrial Action

The industrial action planned for Tuesday 14th February has been cancelled by the NEU.

February Half Term

Don't forget we break up for half term on Friday 17th February and we return to school on Monday 27th February.

Children's Mental Health Week

This week has been Children's Mental Health Week and throughout all year groups children have been encouraged to discuss what makes them happy.  For Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, we encouraging pupils to connect with others in healthy, rewarding and meaningful ways.  

Parents may find the information via this link and the document below useful.  Children's Mental Health Week - Information for families

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day took place on Tuesday 7th February and as a school we raised 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 discussed age appropriate ways to understand how to keep themselves safe online.  

Here is a reminder of how to stay safe online from some of our year 3 pupils when they were in Reception.  Safer Internet Day Video 

Language and Play Session

We had a lovely time in our Language and Play session on Wednesday with the nursery children and their grown ups. We read the book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, made some lovely bear headbands, split pin bears and binoculars which we used to go on our very own bear hunt. Mrs Diehl is looking forward to seeing everyone again next week.

Family Thrive for Parents and Carers

Oldcastle Primary School are fortunate to have adopted ‘Thrive’ a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development.  After half term we will be offering parents the opportunity to sign up to six-week courses to introduce you to the fundamentals of Thrive and how it works in practice.  The course will be split into either nursery to year 2 or years 3 to 6.  

Throughout the course you will find out about:

● the Thrive Approach

● how our brains develop

● how your right brain talks to your left brain!

● why play and creativity are so important to you and your child

● how to support your child at times of change and difficulty

● everyday trigger times and how to keep calm

● how to be a behaviour detective.

We will share information with parents next week regarding the Thrive parents and carers session.

Year 6 End of Year Production

We are delighted to inform parents that year 6 will be doing an end of year production in 2023!  The show is always a fantastic event for our year 6 pupils and this year pupils will be taking part in 'Psychedelic Cinderella'.  Year 6 pupils will be auditioning for parts in the coming weeks and we look forward to keeping you up to date with how the production is coming along.

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. 

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

Lifesaving Success

Well done to Archie from year 3 who competed in a lifeguard competition last weekend. He took part in a number of races as part of the Wales Stillwater championship and came second in the manikin carry race and second in the boys paddle board relay. Here he is with his two silver medals. 

Squash Success 

Heidi from year 4 has had more success in squash at the England Chichester Silver competition.   Heidi played well and achieved runner up in U11. She is very happy with her new trophy!

Reception

This week Reception O made a tree for Children's Mental Health Week. Children were challenged to draw a picture of themselves & write things about themselves on a hand cut out. The class then talked about similarities and how we are all connected. #childrensmentalhealthweek2023 

Year 5

Class 5I have had a fantastic day of coding this week on their visit to the Sony Innovation Centre. Thank you @SonyUKTEC for inspiring our children. 

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!

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.

• 6Y will attend on 13th February

• 5M will attend on 14th February

• 6H will attend on 13th March

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.  

Football Sessions

We have been provided with information on football sessions in the local area which may be of interest

Tennis Sessions - Information received from Bridgend Tennis Club

Half-Term Tennis Camps

Monday 20th - Thursday 23rd February

Under 5's 10-11am

5-11 years 10-1pm

The popular Holiday camps combine fun and learning and are designed for all levels of players. Run by our professional, CRB checked coaches our Holiday camps take place every half term and during school holidays. Children will be put into age and standard specific groups to ensure every player gets the maximum out of their tennis experience. We advise players to bring plenty of drink and a snacks and we have rackets to borrow if you need.

Book through the club website: Bridgend Lawn Tennis Club / Holiday camps in bridgend (lta.org.uk)

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