Coffee and Chat Morning

We hope you can join us on Thursday 10th October after drop off for a cuppa and chat in our community room.  

Food Pantry

Our food pantry has been stocked with some lovely items this week. Pop in and fill a bag for £5. Surplus food gets delivered to school every Tuesday but parents may visit the pantry on any day.  Here's a little video to tempt you in. We have also been able to gain funding to purchase a large chiller fridge and hope to offer chilled products soon.

On ocassion we are also receiving some bakery items from Asda as part of our Fairshare allocation.  When we do we will have these items available on a Friday.  

Recipe Cards

Baobab Bach, our food pantry partner, have provided us with some recipe cards that parents may find useful. We know its tricky to think what to have for tea so we hope you find these useful!

Schools Cross Country  - Years 3 to 6

Mrs Evans launched the cross country competition in assembly this morning and encouraged everyone in years 3 to 6 to come along!

The Schools Cross Country 24/25 season will start in October with the first competition taking place in Bryntirion Comprehensive School on Saturday 5th October.  The competition is open to all pupils in years 3 to 6.  The event starts at 9.30am for registration with the races starting at 10am.

Following events will be held on:

• 19th October

• 16th November

Volunteer Army

We are very grateful to the parents and local residents who have offered to volunteer with the school.  We have a range of volunteering opportunities available and we would love to hear from you if you can help out in any way. 

As a thank you for volunteering, we can provide you with Tempo Time Credits.  You will be awarded 1 time credit for every hour that you volunteer with us. Time credits can be used against a variety of things - for instance, a behind-the-scenes tour of BBC Wales, The Royal Mint, rugby games and much more.  

If you are interested in volunteering with us please complete the Google Form - Volunteer Army.

School Reading

Parents may find this information on phonics useful.

Reading Phonics Guide

Saying Phonics 

Panto Trip - Years 1 to 6

Parents in years 1 to 6 have been emailed details about our panto trip this year.  Children will be watching Cinderella in the Princess Royal Theatre in Port Talbot. The trip is £12.50 and payment should be made via Parent Pay by 31st October.  Please check your Parent Pay account for details of the trip and how to pay.

PTA Christmas Designs - Reminder these designs need to be returned to school by Friday 11th October

All children will have come home today with information from the PTA regarding personalised Christmas cards.  Children can create a design on the template provided, return to school and you will then receive a personalised order form displaying your child's design.  There are lots of options to choose from, including mugs, cards and tea towels - perfect Christmas presents!  

For more information on the types of products available please look at www.classfundraising.co.uk All templates should be returned to school by Friday 11th October in order for the items to be ordered in time for December.

Christmas Card Competition

We have been invited to take part in the annual Chris Elmore (MP) Christmas Card competition.  Templates have been sent home with children.  If you have not received one please get in touch with us. 

The lucky winner will have their design showcased to businesses, politicians and community groups.  There is a prize for first, second and third place.  The theme is ‘A Welsh Christmas’. The closing date is Tuesday, 5th November 2024. Please ensure all entries are returned to school by this date. 

Templates will be sent home with children this week to allow them to prepare their designs. Here are some top tips:

• Don’t use glitter as it cannot be reproduced by the printers.

• Don’t make your card too dark.

• 3D cards can’t be reproduced by the printer.

• Make it simple – sometimes less is more.

• If you are drawing a character, make sure he/she fills the space.

• Use bright colours; try not to leave some of the space without colour unless it’s white for snow.

• Stick to the template – it’s important for the printer that the size is the size on the template

• Please keep your design in a landscape format

University Students

As a school, we collaborate with several education establishments to provide opportunities for students as part of their journey to become teachers or learning support officers. We currently have students from the University of South Wales, Bridgend College, and Brynteg Comprehensive. We will also shortly have students from Swansea University. Students are included in our Team Oldcastle and will be involved in the classroom environment.

Netball and Rugby Matches

Well done to our netball teams who won against Nottage Primary School.  Team 1 won 18-1, Player of the Match Henry D, Team 2 won 14 - 0, Player of the Match Ava J.  Player of the Match were chosen by Nottage Primary.

Well done to our rugby team who played 2 great games of competitive rugby against Notage Primary.  The team won 1 and lost 1 game.

Flu Vaccine

The school nursing team will be in school on Thursday 24th October to administer the flu nasal spray to children in Reception to Year 6.  Parents will receive a consent form with your child today, please return this to school as soon as possible.  Please return the completed and signed form even if you do not want your child to have the vaccine.  The nursing team will only administer the vaccine to children where consent has been provided by the parent. 

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 94.9%.

Sickness

Please can we remind parents that children should stay off school for 48 hours following their last episode of sickness and diarrhoea. 

Jewellery

Please can children only wear studs as earrings and not hoop earrings.  Children do not need to wear jewellery to school and we ask that bracelets, rings and other jewellery are not worn to school.

School Photos

Don't forget to scroll to the end of the newsletter to view photos from the week.

• 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.

Toddler Group

Sadie and Franks

We have been supplied with the following information which may be of interest to you.  Please contact Sadie and Franks if you would like further information. 

• 16th October - Individual Child Photos

• 24th October - Flu Vaccine Reception to Year 6 children

• 28th October to 3rd November - October Half Term

• 20th December to 5th January - Christmas Holiday

Parents Evenings are planned for week beginning 21st October 2024 and 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

PE Days

• Nursery - Thursday

• Reception -  Wednesday

• Year 1 - Monday

• Year 2 - Tuesday

• Year 3 - Monday

• Year 4 - Wednesday

• Year 5 - Thursday

• Year 6 - Tuesday

This week, we have been exploring our school.  We have visited the Castle room, the radio station and the food pantry in our community room. We even went upstairs and got to see Barney.  We have been sharing our All About Me books with our friends and talking about our families.  We are learning a song about Autumn and exploring Autumn objects.  

Some children from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils, parents and carers took part in a language and play sessions this week.  The group read The Snail and The Whale and made some fantastic snails out of old CD's!

Enrichment

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.