End of term

We made it to the last day of term - this term has been a long one with 8 weeks and we know that our pupils, parents and staff are ready for a break next week! We hope you have a lovely half term break and stay safe during Halloween and Bonfire night events. Don't forget we have two inset days after half term and children return to school on Wednesday 8th November.

We've a busy newsletter today with some lovely photos of our children taken throughout the week. Please scroll down to view.

House Rewards

We held a whole school assembly on Wednesday to announce the house token amounts for the last term. We are delighted with the number of tokens collected by all the children and our junior leaders stood up in front of the whole school to announce the results and the rewards for each house colours.

Today, children have been enjoying their rewards and there have been lots of smiling faces around the school. Thank you to our wonderful staff for ensuring the rewards morning went smoothly.

Staffing News

Today we said goodbye to Mrs Price who started her maternity leave. Good luck Mrs Price we look forward to hearing all about the arrival of your baby.

Congratulations to Miss James and Mrs Hardy who have both welcomed little girls into the world. Congratulations both.

PTA Disco

The PTA organised a fantastic disco for all year groups on Tuesday and there were many smiling faces leaving each disco! We are very grateful to our PTA for all they do for our school and delighted to hear that over £1200 was raised from the discos! Every parent is automatically a member of the PTA and we hope you can get involved and help with their fundraising ideas. For more information please get in touch or look at out website for more details.

PTA Christmas Designs

Earlier this week we sent some information home to parents from the PTA regarding personalised Christmas cards. If you would like to participate please get your child to draw and create a festive design on the template sent home. Templates need to be returned to school by Wednesday 9th November.

Please help your child by following these simple rules:

• Make sure your design is within the borders.

• Use bright colours, paint, felt tips, crayons and coloured card.

• Don't use glitter, 3D objects (pom poms etc), sellotape, staples, glossy or metallic paper.

• All designs must be PORTRAIT, not landscape.

• Write your child's name and class in block CAPITALS at the bottom of the template in the space provided.

You will then receive a personalised order form displaying your child's design and how it will appear on the cards. There will be full instructions on how to order cards, mugs and tea towels online.

Please help the PTA raise money and support this fundraising project!

Congratulations

We were delighted to learn that Mr Faulkner, who runs the school savings club and is our Chair of Governors, has received a prestigious award from the Credit Union of Wales. Damian is a school saver club advocate who has encouraged more than 1,300 children across Bridgend to save their money regularly. Damian is the Business Development Manager at Bridgend Lifesavers Credit Union and received the “Outstanding Member of Staff” award from BBC broadcaster Roy Noble OBE at The Pierhead in Cardiff Bay on Thursday 20 October – International Credit Union Day.

Seven years ago Damian developed a savings scheme specifically within local primary schools and it has continued to expand. At Oldcastle we were extremely keen to get involved with Damian's savings scheme and launched the savings club in September 2017.

Well done Damian we are very pleased to hear of your award.

Governors Annual Report to Parents

The school governors Annual Report to Parents for the academic year 2021/22 is available to view on our website or via this link below.

Annual Report to Parents

Governors will be holding a 'Meet the Governor' event on Wednesday 9th November at 5.30pm and invite parents to attend and discuss any aspect of the annual report or any aspect of school operations. The informal meeting will be held in the main school hall.

We also have a Feedback / Comments Form included in the annual report so please use this if you would like to provide comment. The link to the feedback form is included in the report or please click here - Feedback Form.

Oldcastle Sounds Radio Show

The radio champions broadcast live to the whole school on Wednesday and we are delighted to be able to share the recording with parents. Please take a listen to their show via this link.

Live Radio Show 26th October 2022

Children in Need

We will be supporting Children in Need once again this year and join in with The Great SPOTacular on Friday 18th November !

Our junior leaders will be thinking of lots of exciting ways we can support the charity this year and children will be able to wear their own clothes on Friday 18th November and we will be accepting donations if parents wish to donate.

Schools Cross Country - Years 3 to 6

Well done to all our years 3 to 6 pupils who took part in the Schools cross country event last Saturday. Mrs Littlewood attended and she was so impressed with the turn out and the standard of running. We bought all the children who competed together on Monday and took a photograph of them all to celebrate their success. Well done all. The next events will take place on the following dates:

• Saturday November 26^th – Brynteg Comprehensive School

• Saturday December 17^th – Porthcawl Comprehensive School

School Christmas Dinner - Reminder

Christmas dinner will be served in December. Please inform us if your child requires Christmas dinner or if they will be bringing their own sandwiches on the allocated day - a response is required for both options. Normal school menu is not available on these days. Vegetarian and other dietary needs will be catered for.

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

• 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. A Christmas dinner will still need to be ordered if required.

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.

Please complete a separate form for each child.

Please complete the form by 11th November to allow us to plan with catering services.

Christmas Dinner Form

School Swimming

Swimming lessons are offered to children in years 4, 5 and 6 over the autumn term.

Year 5 will swim every afternoon for a period of one week on the following dates:

• 5I - week beginning 14th November

• 5M - week beginning 21st November

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

• 6Y - week beginning 28th November

• 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.

Parents Evening

Parents evening appointments were made live for parents in reception to year and here is a reminder of the dates for each year group.

Nursery

• Monday 21st November

• Tuesday 22nd November

• Wednesday 23rd November

Reception

• RO Wednesday 16th November - in person or Thursday 17th November - phone

• RL Wednesday 16th November - phone or Thursday 17th November - in person

Year 1

• 1C Wednesday 9th November - phone or Thursday 10th November - in person

• 1D Wednesday 9th November - in person or Thursday 10th November - phone

Year 2

• 2A Tuesday 15th November - phone or Wednesday 16th November - in person

• 2S Tuesday 15th November - in person or Wednesday 16th November - phone

Year 3

• 3E Monday 14th November - in person or Tuesday 15th November - phone

• 3T Monday 14th November - phone or Tuesday 15th November - in person

Year 4

• 4P Wednesday 9th November - in person or Thursday 10th November - phone

• 4R Wednesday 9th November - phone or Thursday 10th November - in person

Year 5

• 5I Monday 14th November - in person or Tuesday 15th November - phone

• 5M Monday 14th November - phone or Tuesday 15th November - in person

Year 6

• 6Y Wednesday 9th November - in person or Thursday 10th November - phone

• 6H Wednesday 9th November - phone or Thursday 10th November - in person

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.

Parent Netball Sessions

Please read on to find out more about a parent netball session being run by parents.

ALL WELCOME (from novice to experienced)

We have high hopes of starting a parent netball team after half-term. Initially running every other Wednesday after school for an hour.

Our aim is to have fun whilst achieving a level of fitness, meeting new friends and gaining netball skills through practice and competing in competitions.

Anyone interested please WhatsApp the following numbers;

Jacque 07511990386 or Gemma 07812130408

Text 'interested' and your name and we will confirm start dates. Look forward to seeing you!

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.

Nursery visit to the Sensory Room

Nursery had a lovely visit to the sensory room recently.

Reception walk

This week, Reception went on a walk around our local area to look at different styles of houses. The children were then were challenged to use junk materials to build our own houses. . Mrs Littlewood and Barney were very impressed!

Year 3

Year 3 have been researching Marie Curie and Florence Nightingale for their concept and have looked at x-rays and used art straws and paper to recreate x-rays of different parts of the body in art. They've also been exploring the question 'What grows on us?' by handling different slices of bread with clean and dirty hands and watching bacteria grow!! Very interesting results we hear!

Year 2 mini beasts

Year 2 have been creating mini beasts using natural objects they have found in our school garden. They worked in pairs and some chose to be inspired from examples given to them, whilst others used their imagination. They were very enthusiastic and loved this activity.

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!

Barney wishes you all a lovely restful break over October half term.

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

• Last day of term for this half term is Friday 28th October.

• Autumn Term finishes on Friday 23rd December 2022.

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 01443849944

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