Another busy week in Oldcastle with lots of exciting learning taking place.  We know your children will keep you up to date with what's been happening in their classroom. Next week we will issue Class Newsletter for each year group to provide you with more information on what your child is learning this term.  These will be uploaded to our website next week and parents will receive an email.

We thank you for your ongoing support of Oldcastle Primary School.

Charity Fashion Show

We are excited to announce that this year our school is proud to support one of the Mayor of Bridgend's chosen charities, Y Bont. Y Bont is an incredible organisation that supports children with complex medical needs, disabilities, or additional needs.

To support this fantastic cause, we are hosting a Charity Night on February 21st in the school hall. The evening will feature a performance by our school choir, Côr Merched Bro Ogwr and a fabulous fashion show in collaboration with Venetia Steele, a local boutique.

We are reaching out to ask if any parents can support this event. You can help by:

• Donating items for the raffle.

• Assisting with hair and makeup for the fashion show participants.

Your involvement will make this event truly special and help us raise funds for Y Bont’s vital work. If you can assist, please contact the school office by Friday, 24th January

Tickets for the Charity Event will be available from the school office and cost £15 per person.  This will include a glass of prosecco on arrival and a high tea.

Thank you for your support. Together, we can make a difference!

Our PTA will be supporting the event and arranging a licensed bar.  We are very grateful to our PTA for their support.

Community Invitation

Don't forget to pop into our Community Room and enjoy a warm drink and warm up in this cold weather.

We were delighted to launch our Tea and Toast session last Tuesday.  We look forward to welcoming parents and carers every Tuesday morning to enjoy a cuppa and a chat.

We truly want our families to feel welcome and make the most of our school facilities, especially during this season when managing heating costs can be a significant concern. Whether you are looking for a place to stay warm, some good company, or just a change of scenery, our doors are open to you.

Thank you for being part of our school community. We hope to see many of you taking advantage of these resources in the coming weeks.

Attendance

We are committed to promoting good attendance at school and have a target of whole school attendance of 95%.  This week's attendance was 96.6%.

School Cross Country Event for years 3 to 6

The next school cross country events have been confirmed as follows.  The event is open to anyone from years 3 to 6 with all events starting on 10am. Good luck to everyone who is attending the event tomorrow.

• Saturday 18th January - Porthcawl Comprehensive School

• Saturday 15th February - Pencoed Comprehensive School

• Saturday 8th March - CCYD

Year 6 

Year 6 are off on their residential trip next week, and we know there is lots of excitement amongst the children who are attending.  Children will travel to Culmington Manor in Shropshire and enjoy a variety of outdoor activities. One of the highlights is the disco on the second night - we hope you've all been practising your dance moves!  We will keep parents up to date on their activities via our Facebook page.

Children not attending the residential will be taking part in some activities too, including swimming, cinema and pizza making.

All children in year 6 will be provided with a Leavers Hoody next week so they can make use of the hoody whilst on residential / non residential.  We are very grateful to the PTA for funding these year 6 hoodies.

Parent Teachers Association 

Just a reminder that everyone who is a parent of a child in Oldcastle is automatically a member of the PTA.  We do encourage parents to become involved in the PTA and this can be through a variety of ways.  Volunteering to help out at events, supporting the preparation for events, helping with fundraising and grant funding, or simply just providing ideas!  If you would like more information on our PTA please look at the details on our website.  Oldcastle PTA

We are delighted to let you know of some exciting PTA events coming up for you and and your children.

• Thursday 6th February - PTA meeting - this is an opportunity for parents to attend and find out more about events the PTA have planned and how you can get involved.  Feedback will also be provided on ways in which the PTA have supported the school in recent months. We hope you can come along.  The meeting will be held in school at 5.30pm.

• Friday 14th February - Cake Sale after school.  We hope bakers can support our cake sale and provide us with some amazing creations.  We will accept any cakes or biscuits all we ask is that you provide a list of ingredients and avoid nut products.  There will be a £50 Amazon for the best cake!  We invite all our parents, carers and children to enjoy the cake sale after school on Valentine's Day.

• Friday 21st February - Charity Fashion Show supported by the PTA

• Friday 2nd May - proposed date for a PTA Disco. More information soon.

• Saturday 5th July - Oldcastle Rocks. Always a highlight in our school year as we bring the community together to enjoy some fantastic music and entertainment.

School Admissions

Applications to nursery from September 2025 are now open and can be completed via the Bridgend County Borough Council website.  The timetable for admissions to full-time nursery places starting in September 2025 is for children born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022. 

Part-time admissions for children starting in January 2026 or April 2026 are also open.  (January 2026 – children born between 1 September 2022 and 31 December 2022 or April 2026 – children born between 1 January 2023 and 31 March 2023) 

Children who will be starting Reception in September 2025 will also need to apply for a place and this application process has been open since November.  The deadline is 14th February.

Applications for children moving to Secondary School are also open and these applications should be completed by 17th January 2025. 

All applications can be completed by following this link School Applications.

Wear Red for Velindre

We are delighted to support the Wear Red for Velindre campaign again this year.  Children may wear red to school on Friday 31st January. We will be collecting money for the cancer charity if you would like to support.

This fun campaign invites schools, businesses, and individuals across Wales to wear something red and donate £1 to support Velindre and cheer on our international rugby teams as they kick off their opening Six Nations match. 

Parents may find the following links helpful.

• Behaviour Support Hub – Visit website

• Early Help Services – Visit website

• Silver Cloud (Mental Health Support) – Visit website

Food Pantry - 1 Year Anniversary!

We had a wide range of new foods available in our food pantry this week There were plenty of items for everyone so please do make use of the pantry.  All you need to do is register at main reception (membership costs £1) and bring a bag to help yourself to 15 items for £5.

We are delighted to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of our Food Pantry!  The pantry has been a huge success, and we are so pleased to be able to help our families with the provision of reduced-price food.  We are so grateful for the funding support we receive and the partnership we have developed with Baobab Bach. Mostly, we are grateful to the families that use the Pantry and support our venture. We are looking forward to further developing our Pantry and our Community provision 

Nursery spare clothes needed

If you are a nursery parent please can you ensure your child's bag has a supply of spare clothes.  If you are a reception parent and have spare clothes that your child has grown out of we would be grateful to receive.  We specifically need tracksuit bottoms and leggings. Thank you for your support.

Uniform Swap Shop

Don't forget we have plenty of pre-loved uniforms available for parents to help themselves. The uniform is free of charge and is located on clothing rails in main reception. Please pop in and take a look. We also have an ever growing mountain of lost property - please do call in to check if your child is missing an item.

• September - Respect and Responsibility 

• October - Compassion and Hope 

• November - Friendship and Forgiveness 

• December - Understanding and Patience

• January - Determination and Perseverance

• February - Honesty and Trust 

• March -Learning and Effort 

• April - Community and Service 

• May - Co-operation and being a good citizen within society

• June- Showing Gratitude and Care and Generosity

• July - Taking and managing risks 

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

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. 

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

Please let us know of any success that pupils may have achieved outside of school.

Parking around the school

We have a received a number of complaints regarding parking around the school at drop off and pick up times. Whilst we cannot police the parking on the public highways we can ask that parents and carers park without causing blockages.  A number of parking complaints arise from people parking on the pavement which makes it difficult for a pushchair or children to navigate. We are grateful for your support in keeping the streets surrounding our school safe for all.

Bridgend Town Council Warm Space Initiative

• Friday 31st January - Wear Red for Velindre

• Thursday 6th February - PTA meeting in school at 5.30pm

• Friday 14th February - PTA Cake Sale

• Friday 2nd May - Proposed PTA Disco

• Saturday 5th July - Oldcastle Rocks

The next Parents Evenings meetings are planned for week beginning 24th March 2025.

Inset Days 2024/25

• Monday 2nd September 2024

• Friday 6th December 2024

• Friday 21st February 2025

• Friday 11th April 2025

• Monday 2nd June 2025

• Monday 21st July 2025

Health and Wellbeing / PE Days

• Nursery - Thursday

• Reception -  Wednesday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Tuesday

• Year 3 - Friday

• Year 4 - Friday

• Year 5 - Friday

• Year 6 - Friday

This week in nursery

This week in the Nursery we have been measuring ourselves to see who is the tallest.  We have been trying to use the words tall, taller and tallest.  We have been painted pictures of trees and included roots, a trunk, branches and leaves. We have been sorting pictures of living and non living things and sticking them in our books.  We have also been practising our phonics and writing the letter ‘a’.

Year 6 topic

Year 6 have been discussing how to deal with emergencies in school and what to do in the case of a fire.  They listened to a presentation by Mrs Peters on her role as Health and Safety Manager at the school and developed their own evacuation plans and posters.  Here are a couple of examples of their work. Da Iawn year 6 some great advice.

Enrichment

Class 5E Outdoor Learning

Thank you to Mrs Lancett, who came into school today to demonstrate tectonic plates and how they move using maple syrup, biscuits, jelly, and biscuits. The children were challenged to locate the tectonic plates on Earth. They loved the session! Thank you for your support.

Year 4

Year 4 had a great PE session today taking part in a blinded folded obstacle course taking managed risks. 

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.