Welcome back to school following the half term break.  We were pleased to see children returning to school on Monday with smiles on their faces.  We are ready for another busy term and can't wait to share news of activities and learning that will take place during the rest of the Spring term.

Barney has been a little under the weather this week with a poorly paw so the children won't have seen much of him.  He's on the mend now so will be looking forward to welcoming pupils next week.

Eisteddfod 2023

Well done to all our children for taking part in our Eisteddfod 2023.  The Eisteddfod celebration has been all about competition for each house colour and children have certainly enjoyed working as a team to support their house colour.  We love the competition of the Eisteddfod and the children particularly enjoyed singing the Welsh National Anthem to end the celebrations. Thank you to all our staff and children for making the celebrations so wonderful.  Special thanks to Miss Craven for pulling the events all together and ensuring we all enjoyed a truly great celebration on St David's Day.  

Well done Ty Glas for being the winning house! 

Please click here to view the results from the Eisteddfod.  

Chairing of the Bardd

Congratulations to our new Bardd.  Well done Hannah we loved your poem.  To read the poem please click on the Eisteddfod Results link above.

House Rewards

We are very much looking forward to our Rewards Day on Monday 6th March.  The results of the token count for the period January to February half term were announced at the beginning of the week and children were delighted to hear about the rewards for their house.  

Parents - please note Blue House pupils will need to bring bikes or scooters to school on Monday. Pupils will need to bring a helmet where possible. Scooters and bikes can be parked on the artificial grass area for years 3-6 and along the climbing wall area for nursery to year 2. Pupils will be using the main yard area for their activity. Please label the bike or scooter and helmet with your child's name. If your child doesn't have a bike or scooter don't worry we have a small number in school. 

Parents Evening

We will be holding parents evening for all year group at the end of March.  The appointments will be in person appointments and held in school.  Telephone appointments will be available by request only.   The booking form for the appointments will be sent to parents at the beginning of next week.    Bookings will be first come first served and will be made via a link emailed to parents from our website.  The email you receive will be from notifications@primarysite.net.  If you have changed your email address please contact us to let us know an updated email address. 

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@oldcastlprimary.co.uk) or complete the change of details form.  

Year 1 School Nurse

The school nurse will be visiting year 1 on 20th March - parents have been emailed details if you haven't received an email please let us know. 

Years 5 and 6 Visitor

PC McDonald, the School Community Police Officer, will be visiting years 5 and 6 in the coming weeks to deliver a session entitled 'It's your choice' and 'Internet Safety'.

World Book Day

Our pupils have enjoyed spending time with different year groups today to enjoy stories together for World Book Day.  Children have brought in their favourite books and enjoyed reading / listening to the stories as part of our World Book Day celebrations. 

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

Girls Rugby

As part of Girls Rugby Week girls in years 3 to 6 took part in a rugby session with the WRU Development Officer today. Looks like they all enjoyed! A weekly training session for girls is run by Ogwr Hawks every Monday between 6pm and 7pm.  

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 llino printing, fabric printing, line dancing, cooking, gardening, lego, science experiments, fitness, tennis, fencing, felt, digital skills, textiles to name a few!

Cross Country

Well done to Lewis from year 6 who took part in the Welsh Cross Country Championships in Brecon last Saturday. He ran a 1.6km course with athletes from all over Wales. Lewis ran brilliantly for Bridgend Athletic club and came 1st! Making him the Under 11 boys Welsh cross country champion! Great news LKewis we are very proud of your achievement.

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

• 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

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