Latest News and Weekly Newsletters

• Our award winning school savings scheme

  Wed 21 Nov 2018 SP
  Click here to view a video regarding our recent ceremony to collect our award at the Credit Union of Wales presentation.

• Its a Magical Time of Year at Oldcastle this Chrismtas

  Wed 21 Nov 2018 SP

  Christmas is a magical time of year at Oldcastle Primary School

   

  Christmas is the most magical time of the year, a chance to dream and not just imaging the impossible but to make it happen!

   

  At Oldcastle Primary School we wanted to capture this spirit while also giving our pupils the opportunity to create life long memories, something to tell their grandchildren! Tied in with the day to day excitement that fills the school we have been working on a special musical project.

   

  All of our children have become recording artists!!

   

  For some pupils this, we hope, will inspire a journey into working with music, for others we hope it will foster a lifelong love of music, however our main aim is that there was at least one day in our children’s lives where they recorded their own Christmas music.

   

  Under the skilful instruction of our specialist teacher for music, Ms Charlotte Ellett, our children have been taught to sing and perform, and appreciate music. This mixed with the collective enthusiasm and motivation of our school community has produced a magical Christmas CD.

   

  The collective voice of the pupils singing together, and also the enchanting way the soloists and musicians perform make your hair stands on end. Six carefully chosen songs that capture the essence of this season and inspired by staff who looked back at their childhood. Tracks include Away in a Manger, It’s a Magical Time, Silent Night, Somewhere in my Memory, All I Want for Christmas, and Grandma We Love You.

   

  “Our Christmas CD truly is magical. The results of the performances and recording has far outweighed our expectation and we would like to thank Resonance Music Studio and Mr Ryan Wood for their support in producing the CD. We hope that parents, grandparents and the wider community enjoy listening to the CD and get a sense of how inspired and motivated the children felt recording the music”. Jeremy Malessa-Thompson, Headteacher Oldcastle Primary School.

   

  Parents and carers of pupils at Oldcastle Primary have been offered the opportunity to purchase the CD, which includes artwork from a number of pupils. The tracks are also available to download from the iTunes music store.

   

  Any profit generated by the sale of the CD will be used to continue to support the rich arts provision at Oldcastle, create a music and performance scholarship whilst ensuring that we keep making wonderful things happen for children in the School.

• Highly successful STEM week

  Wed 21 Nov 2018 SP

  Oldcastle pupils inspired in STEM subjects

   

  Children in all year groups at Oldcastle Primary had an amazing week recently with so many activities, trips and visitors inspiring and educating children in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects.

   

  Children in various year groups have been on trips to visit Bridgend College to take part in a food technology session learning how to use wonky or close to use by ingredients. Some of the dishes that returned to school has looked amazing and tasted lovely too. Thank you so much to Bridgend College for hosting our children this week - the children have learnt a great deal and hopefully will inform parents at home!

   

  Trips were also organised to Solcer House in Pyle. The specially built house is the first 'smart' carbon positive house. Children were also able to see wind turbines and solar farms up close and learn about the anaerobic digestive system. Some of our younger pupils visited Porthcawl and took part in a clean up of the beach to investigate plastic waste.

  
  Teachers have provided very hands on learning experiences throughout the week where children have made gloopy slime, made recycled paper, colour changing flowers, bottle explosions, built solar toys, dancing raisins, supersized marshmallows, bird feeders, dissection, to name just a few of the activities undertaken.

   

  Children who are part of our School Council, Eco, Newspaper and digital leader teams in years 2 to 6 took part in an incredible experience at the end of the week - creating a radio show about their STEM experiences. The show is absolutely brilliant and provides lovely feedback from the children about what they enjoyed throughout the week. The radio show can be listened to by clicking on the link on our website.

   

  ‘We are so fortunate to have had the support of many businesses, parents and staff throughout our hugely successful STEM week. Children loved the variety of sessions that were offered and it was satisfying to see children enjoying learning in a stimulating environment. I can’t thank enough all those that gave up their time to make this such an enjoyable experience for the children. We are looking forward to developing our STEM week further for 2019 with the aim of inspiring, motivating and educating children’, states Jeremy Thompson, Head teacher of Oldcastle Primary School.

   

  We have had many visitors this week and we are grateful for time taken to come into Oldcastle. Special thanks to Swansea University, Innovate UK, South Wales Police, STEM ambassadors, Clare Davies, Seaquest, CGI, Dr Mark Smith, Dr O'Malley, Royal Mint, John Laver, Alun Armstrong, Nat West, Boston Scientific, and Vesarian.

   

  The school would like to thank Madeleine Moon MOP for visiting and supporting our STEM week. Mrs Moon donated a ‘Tim Peak’s Spacecraft Mission Pack’. This pack was awarded to Jude from year 3 who showed an enthusiastic approach to all STEM activities.

• STEM Radio Show

  Fri 16 Nov 2018 S Peters

  Our School Council, Eco Newspaper and Digital Leader teams took part in a very special session yesterday and created a radio show that highlighted the best bits of their STEM week.  The result is fantastic - we hope you enjoy listening.

   

  Please click here to listen.