Welcome back to school after the half-term holiday.  We hope you enjoyed the holiday and the sunny weather last week.  We are delighted to be back and getting stuck into the second half of our term.  We have a busy few weeks leading up to Easter with lots of exciting learning taking place.  We look forward to sharing this with you.  

Welsh Week

Welsh Week has taken place this week where children have been immersed in all things Welsh.  Children have been creating poems, artwork, handwriting, dance routines and much more.  The week culminated in our annual Eisteddfod today where we celebrated successes and crowned our Bardd.  

For more information, please click on the link below to view information on the Welsh Week.

Welsh Week and Eisteddfod Winners

Charity Fashion Show 

What a fabulous night we had on Friday 21st February raising money for the Mayor of Bridgend's chosen charity, Y Bont. We are delighted to have raised over £2700. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in making the event such a success. The raffle was drawn on the night and winners have collected their prizes. 

Our school choir sounded amazing on the night and we are very grateful to our parents for supporting the event.

Community Room - Barclays Community Ambassador

We were delighted to welcome Luke from Barclays Bank into school on Wednesday afternoon.  Luke is passionate about helping people and wants to support you in any way he can.  Luke will be able to offer advice on a range of subjects from setting up an electronic device  to staying safe online to all sorts of life money skills.  Luke does not provide any banking support and you do not have to be a Barclays customer to pop along.  

Luke will visit us again on Wednesday 19th March between 1.30pm and 3pm. We even provide you with a cuppa!

Community Invitation - Every Tuesday

Don't forget to pop into our Community Room and enjoy a warm drink and warm up in this cold weather.  We are delighted to invite parents and carers to a Tea and Toast session every Tuesday during term time.  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. 

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 95.9%.

The following information has been sent to parents this week on behalf on BCBC.

We regard regular school attendance as a priority. We will support schools to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence levels. As part of this support, local authority officers will be conducting home visits to pupils with attendance levels under 92% and their absence is unauthorised.

It is important to note that you will only receive a visit from the local authority if your child’s absence has not been reported to school that day and their attendance is already under 92%. Should you wish to discuss your child’s attendance, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s school in the first instance. 

Schools Cross Country - Years 3 to 6

The next, and final, cross country event for children in years 3 to 6 will take place this Saturday 8th March at CCYD.  Events start at 10am and children should arrive by 9.30am.

Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen address is Ty Ynysawdre Lon Derw, Tondu. CF32 9EL

Forthcoming PTA events

• Friday 9th May - 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.

Take a look at the PTA Facebook page to keep up to date with events. Oldcastle Primary PTA Facebook Page 

Food Pantry 

The food pantry has been particularly busy over the last week, and we are delighted that many parents and carers are able to benefit from the pantry.  We are still finding a way to ensure that there is food available to parents, no matter what the day of the week, and we hope to resolve any supply issues shortly. 

Just a reminder that the pantry is £5 for 15 items - we do ask that you limit to 2 fresh and 2 frozen items to allow more people to benefit from the items.

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.

Free School Meals

Even though your child is entitled to a free school meal in primary school, there could be other financial support available.  Check your child's eligibility for the School Essentials Grant via this link.  Get Help with School Costs. Visit, https://www.gov.wales/get-help-school-costs

Parents Evening - Week beginning 7th April 2025

Parents evening appointments are now live and emails have been sent to parents.  If you haven't received an email, please get in touch with us by email, phone or in person. The bookings have been sent via our website and emails will be from notifications@oldcastleprimary.co.uk 

Appointments will take place on the following days for each class:

• Nursery - Monday and Tuesday

• Reception I - Monday and Tuesday

• Reception M - Monday and Tuesday

• 1H - Monday and Tuesday 

• 1Y - Monday and Tuesday

• 2O - Monday and Wednesday

• 2L -  Monday and Wednesday

• 3C - Monday and Wednesday

• 3D - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 4A - Monday and Tuesday

• 4S - Monday and Tuesday

• 5T - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 5E - Tuesday and Wednesday

• 6P - Monday and Tuesday

• 6R - Tuesday and Wednesday

School Menu Change

Catering Services have informed us that week 2 of the school menu will be changed.  The option of sweet and sour vegetables has been replaced with ravioli with tomato and basil sauce. 

After School Club and Late Club Prices Increase from 1st September 2025

The following information has been emailed to all users of the after school and late club facility. Following a review of our Afterschool and Late Club provision, we find it necessary to make some adjustments to our pricing structure. The increase in fees is due to increases in our operating costs and will allow us to continue to offer the service you expect both now and into the future.

Prices will increase from 1st of September 2025 

• Afterschool Club will increase to £9.00 per session

• Late Club will increase to £2.50 per session

We thank you for your ongoing support and trust that these changes will help us to continue providing you with the service.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

• 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 pupil success outside of school.

National Grid Useful Information

Adult Learning Courses - Bridgend College

• Week beginning 7th April - Parents Evening

• Friday 11th April - Inset Day

• Monday 14th April - Easter holiday begins

• Monday 28th - Term Starts

• Friday 9th May - PTA Disco

• Monday 26th May to Friday 30th May - Half Term

• Monday 2nd June - Inset Day

• Tuesday 10th June - Class and Team Photos

• Saturday 5th July - Oldcastle Rocks

• Friday 18th July Term Ends

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

Nursery Numbers and Play 

This week in Numbers and Play, the children and their grown ups had lots of fun listening to the story of ‘Tiddler’ and working on their cutting skills to make some brilliant jellyfish.  We also played a fishing game, did some lovely number printing and sang the song ‘Once I Caught a Fish Alive’. 

Fantastic Artwork

Nursery

This week in the Nursery we have been enjoying Welsh week.  We have all worked hard to produce some beautiful art work, we created our own dragons and gave them super powers. We have been showcasing our handwriting skills, writing “Cymru am byth” and singing Welsh songs.

We also had a visit from year 6, they read us stories for World Book Day.

World Book Day

On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day with year groups mixing to share their favourite books and stories.  There was a lovely buzz around school as year groups swapped around to talk about the books that they like.

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.