Bump Up Day - Thursday 26th June

Thursday marked an exciting moment in the school year : Bump Up Day! It’s the time when our children step into their new classrooms, meet their new teachers, and begin to imagine all that lies ahead in the coming year.

For our pupils, this is a wonderful opportunity to get a taste of what’s to come. It’s natural to feel a mix of excitement and a few nerves, too, but that’s all part of growing and moving forward. 

We know how special each child is, and our staff are already looking forward to getting to know them better, helping them settle in, and beginning to build strong, supportive relationships right from day one.

To our parents and carers, thank you, as always, for your trust and encouragement. We know that transitions can bring questions as well as anticipation, and we’re here to support you and your children every step of the way.

Let’s enjoy this important milestone together as we look ahead to another brilliant year at Oldcastle!

Below is a list of class teachers from September 2025.

Our teachers have prepared a welcome video to introduce themselves to parents and you may find this a useful reminder to your child as we approach the start of the school year. These videos have been uploaded to our website and you can view these here. Teacher Video's

Oldcastle Rocks - Next Saturday!!

Oldcastle Rocks is fast approaching and we are excited to let you know what will be happening on the day.  To start the day our school choir will perform and welcome you to Oldcastle Rocks.  We then have a jam packed itinerary for the performance stage .  We also have Fiery Jacks Entertainment, children's non stop disco, lots of fun stalls, bbq, children's activities, fitness sessions, bar, bbq, cakes , Sunday Afternoon Theatre Group and so much more.  Venetia Steele Boutique will be at the event and will have a range of items available to purchase.

We do hope you can join us. Entry is free and children's activity bands are available for £4. We will have raffle tickets on sale at the entrance too.  The gates open at 1.30pm with the stage entertainment starting at 2pm.  The event will finish at 6pm. We will accept cash and card.

The tombola is always a popular stall and we are on the look out for bottle donations - if you are able to donate please drop into main reception.  

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

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 

Thank you to the parents who were able to attend the BCBC Online Safety Session yesterday.  A copy of the presentation from the session is linked below for parents to view.

Parents may also find the following link useful as it contains information on apps and their guidelines- https://hwb.gov.wales/keeping-safe-online/in-the-know/ 

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 93.4%.

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

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

Well done to Lily K and Fearne from year 3 who have been selected to be part of the Bridgend and District Schools FA U9's girls squad.  Fantastic news girls.

Fundraising Success

On Saturday, Osian from year 6 rode 55 miles on The Taff Trail, to raise vital funds for research and clinical trials to find a cure for those living with Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (Butterfly Skin) like his little buddy Albi and the charity CURE EB.   A team of 45 friends and family walked and cycled in very warm conditions to finish the trail within 24 hours.  As a family they raised £530 and as a team they have raised almost £31,000.  Osian was the youngest team member by far and didn’t complain once. Amazing achievement Osian.

Well done to Aneira and Dewi who played the piano beautifully to the whole school this monring in assembly.

This week in Nursery

This week in the Nursery we had lots of fun making our own toys.  We chose to make either a car or a boat.  We did a super job!  We have also been using the numicon shapes to make number bonds to 5. We even had a go at writing the number sentences to match. We were all very excited to meet our new Reception teachers, we got to go and explore our new classes.  On Friday Reception showed us the old fashioned toys that they had seen on their trip to St Fagans. 

The last session of the school year for Oldcastle Toddlers will be held on Wednesday 2nd July and there will be an end of term party for our Toddlers. We look forward to welcoming our toddlers and parents / carers on Wednesday.

Bridgend Town Council - Old Stone Bridge Competition

The Bridge

We are excited to announce that we will be offering Healthy Packed Lunches for children under the age of 16 throughout the Summer Holidays. Packed lunches are available in our Community Hub from 11am - 3pm.  We are thrilled to introduce our Summer Kids Activity Planner! Throughout the summer, we will be offering a variety of engaging activities that kids are sure to love.  As the event dates come closer, tickets will be available for FREE on Eventbrite. Our Support Workers at the Community Hub are also here to help with your bookings.

Bridgend Tennis Camp

Bridgend Libraries Summer Reading Scheme

Bridgend Library came along to the school assembly today to launch the summer reading scheme. More information below.

Urdd Activities

• 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

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

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.