Welcome back after the half-term holiday.  We hope you all managed to relax despite the varied weather!  

Staffing News

Today we said farewell to our part-time Administration Officer, Miss Simister, who has started her maternity leave.  Good  luck and keep in touch during your maternity leave.

We are delighted to let parents know that Mrs Taylor Jones welcomed a baby girl at the end of May. Congratulations to Mrs Taylor Jones.

Inset Days for 2025 / 2026

The inset days for 2025 / 26 have been approved by school governors and these are as follows:

• Monday 1st September 2025 

• Friday 21st November 2025

• Monday 5th January 2026

• Friday 13th March 2026

• Friday 22nd May 2026

• Monday 20th July 2026

Our highly commended school dog - Barney!

We are thrilled to let parents know that Barney and Oldcastle Primary have been recognised as Highly Commended for our School Dog.  Barney and his story were considered for the School Dog of the Year award and although we did not reach the final we are delighted to receive a Highly Commended recognition.  The award celebrates Oldcastle's commitment to creating a safe, inclusive, and impactful school dog programme. The panel were particularly interested in the way we prioritise Barney's wellbeing while supporting the emotional and educational needs of your pupils. The panel concluded that it is evident that our school dog is making a real difference in our school community.

Community Food Pantry

Our Food Pantry is restocked weekly and we encourage everyone to call in and take a look at the fantastic food we have available. We are extremely grateful to receive ongoing funding for the pantry along with donations of food from Baobab Bach.  The pantry is stocked weekly, mainly on a Monday morning, and this is available for all parents and carers to make use of.  The pantry works on the basis of 15 items for £5.

Online Safety Parent Workshop - Tuesday 24th June at 4pm PLEASE NOTE THIS DATE HAS BEEN CHANGED 

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming ‘Online Safety Learning Event’. The event aims to encourage thinking about child development and their everyday use of social media, mobile apps, and device habits while highlighting the increasing risks posed to children by the online and digital world. 

The event will be run by Mathew Jones, Digital Lead Officer for BCBC and will be held in school.

Date: Tuesday 24th June 2025. 

Time: 4pm-5pm

The parent/carer online safety learning session will cover:

• Mobile apps: categories of apps and age-restriction.

• Child-development and maturity: are children ready for social media and over-aged apps? 

• Monitoring apps: mobile apps to be aware of, emerging technology, restriction and configuration of devices.

• WhatsApp: what parents and carers need to know, risks and advice

• School Health Research Network (SHRN): Digital and social media concerns for primary-aged pupils (sharing of data)

• Bridgend context: research studies highlighting outcomes for children and young people in Bridgend

• Reporting and Removal: tools to share with children

• How families can support children: Family Agreement 

The intended outcomes of the session include: 

• The types of mobile apps children are using;

• Mobile apps to be aware of and those that pose risks;

• Mobile app age-restriction settings;

• Encouraging thinking – are children ready for social media and over-aged apps;

• Encouraging thinking around the use of WhatsApp;

• The concerns for Bridgend children who are engaged in in-appropriate

• online behaviour; 

• How to report and remove harmful content.

• Family agreement to build trust and promote online good habits

If you are interested in attending this session, register by completing the Google Form  - Online Safety Registration Form

Attendance

The following information has been sent from the local authority regarding school attendance.

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.

Weekly 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 94.2%.

Oldcastle Rocks

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.

We are really looking forward to the event and we hope you can join us.  We will have the usual music entertainment, raffle, children's activities, bars, bbq and other food.  

If you are able to donate a raffle prize or bottle for the tombola please get in touch or drop something into the main office.

We will have a variety of stallholders offering lovely items. If you would like a stall, please drop us an email on ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Volunteers Needed - we need your help!  Oldcastle Rocks will only be a success with the help of volunteers.  If you can help with setting up, help out on the many stalls or helping with clear up, please let us know via this Google Form.   

Oldcastle Rocks Volunteer Form

Tesco Community Blue Token Scheme

We are delighted to have been accepted to be included in the Tesco Community Blue Token Scheme from July to September this year.  Please vote for Oldcastle when you see our project displayed!

Oldcastle Primary School, Community Pantry, Bridgend

Our food pantry ensures that our pupils and their families have access to nutritious food and essential supplies, all-year round.

The project with the highest number of votes across your region will receive £1,500, the second placed project £1,000 and the third placed project £500. 

Please see below a list of stores taking part in the voting on your project. Feel free to share this list of stores amongst your supporters and within your community.

• Bridgend 1 Superstore CF31 4AP

• Bridgend Extra CF31 3SQ

• Gentle Way Bridgnd Express Express CF31 5EJ

• North Cornelly Express Express CF33 4LN

• Pencoed Express Express CF35 5NG

Careers Week

We are looking forward to our Careers Week from 16th to 20th June.  We have a timetable of visitors for each year group and children will learn about a variety of different jobs and careers.  We look forward to sharing photos with parents throughout the week.

Volunteers Week - Thank You

At the end of Volunteer Week we want to thank all the people who help out in Oldcastle in one way or another.  We are so grateful to everyone who is able to help out and volunteer in our school - your time and support is invaluable.  We have a variety of people who volunteer in Oldcastle, including our School Governors, our PTA, readers, Toddler Group helpers,  school grounds helpers and many more. If you are interested in volunteering at Oldcastle please drop us an email at ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Bump Up Day - Thursday 26th June

Bump Up Day is when we announce who your child's teacher will be for the next academic year.  Children will congregate in the main hall for a morning assembly, and we will announce the class teacher for each class.  Children will then be able to visit their new classroom and get to know their new class teacher.  Year 6 pupils will visit their new secondary school on this day.

Once our assembly has finished, parents will be emailed with details of the new class teachers and the location of their child's new classroom.  We always enjoy Bump Up Day and know that children get excited to find out who their teacher will be from September 2025.

Barclays Community Champion

Luke from Barclays Bank is a local community champion and visits Oldcastle most Wednesday afternoons to offer advice on a variety of areas.  You don't have to be a customer of Barclays Bank to benefit.  Luke is there to offer help and support on digital and money matters and will be based in the Community Room from 1.30pm. Please do pop in and have a chat and a cuppa.

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.  

We love to hear about pupil success outside of school.  Please email us any achievements to ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Football Success

Nojus from 6P spent last season playing for Broadlands Tigers football club U11 team. Recently during a  team presentation, he was awarded with a club trophy and an individual trophy as the "Coach's Player of the Season". Well done Nojus.  

Well done to Emma from Reception who achieved a fantastic award in her swimming lessons this week.

Year 6

Year 6 have started their transition to Brynteg Comprehensive School this week. The children enjoyed trying out the different learning. 

• 4th June for 5 weeks - Year 5 swimming every Wednesday

• 5th June for 5 weeks - Year 6 swimming every Thursday

• Tuesday 10th June - Class and Team Photos

• Monday 16th to Friday 20th June - Careers Week

• 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

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.