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Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Headteacher Update - Friday 2nd February 2024
Fri 02 Feb 2024Welcome to this week’s Weekly Update!
We have had lots of fun with ‘Numbers Day’ today – there have been personal Maths challenges around school, for children to enjoy, as well as lots of Maths and number activities in classes. Our Reception children have been rolling dice, matching numbers and creating number-block towers. Across the school, it’s been brilliant!
Year 6 Parks Class shared their learning in today’s Celebration Assembly – some fantastic Sci-fi stories, knowledge recall of the Space Race and a celebration of ‘body image’ and self-respect. The children presented superbly and had an attentive audience too.
We celebrated a huge number of certificates today – Mathematicians and Writers of the Week and our ‘Stars of the Week’ too (the full list can be found on page 4 this week). We also awarded our very special ‘Lunchtime Awards’ too. ‘Well done’ to all of our amazing winners this week! The 'Golden Lunchbox’ was won by Year 1 Nightingale Class this week, who have a class reward to look forward to next week!
Year 2 Roper class picked up the 10 points in this week’s ‘Attendance Challenge’ and lead the way this term…Can they be caught?
Our pupils in Reception have been talking to all of the staff this week, finding out about all of the different jobs that all the people at Oakwood do. There are some pictures further on to show you who they spoke to.
Unbelievably, we have just one more week of Term 3 remaining. We are really looking forward to welcoming you to our Curriculum Events next week! The children have been busy planning and preparing for your visit…you are in for a real treat! We hope you will enjoy sharing your child’s learning…they are excited about you seeing them in school.
We will also find out who the Term 3 ‘Stars of the Term’ will be, so lots to look forward to!
Just a reminder that the last day of term is Friday 9th February 2024, returning to school for Term 4 on Monday 19th February 2024!
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Deputy Headteacher Update - Friday 19th January 2024
Fri 19 Jan 2024It has been another fantastic week of learning at Oakwood! Mr Laker was especially impressed with the standard of presentation in Year 5 during their writing sessions. He also saw some wonderful examples of maths books from Year 6.
I have witnessed a whole variety of superb work during the week. I thoroughly enjoyed reading some really exciting and imaginative portal stories from Year 5, whilst Year 3 have been making great use of our History artefacts box that we have borrowed from Hastings Museum. It has supported their learning and understanding of life in Britain during Roman times.
Year 2 pupils have been appreciating different musical genres, while Year 4 have been exploring electricity in their Science unit.
With calm (if cold!) weather this week, the children have been able to really enjoy their variety of activities during our 'Happy Lunchtimes'. There have been a great range of 'zone' activities and the children continue to enjoy their fair play focused 'Kickabout' sessions in our recently christened 'Arena of Fun' (previously known by many as 'The Cage!') Congratulations to Year 1 Nightingale Class for winning the coveted 'Golden Lunchbox' this week. This is awarded to the class collecting the most pompoms at lunchtime. These can be award for many reasons such as kindness, good manners and sportsmanship.
Our celebration assembly was overflowing with awards as usual for our fantastic children - please see the bulletin for the names of the stars of the week. Be sure to note the wonderful reasons why these awards were given too!
Our attendance challenge was as dramatic as ever, with our early pace-setters, Leah Williamson class, again having a great week. They came in second, behind David Attenborough class, and therefore extended their lead at the top to 4 points! Marcus Rashford class remain hot on their heels in second place, with David Attenborough in third. In our attendance raffle, number 80 was drawn. This was Isabella's number (year 2) and she chose a frisbee. Well done Isabellla!
Please catch up on lots more information in this week's bulletin and I look forward to seeing everyone again on Monday.
I wish you all a fantastic weekend!
David Sharp
Deputy Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 12th January 2024
Fri 12 Jan 2024Welcome to this week's 'Weekly Update'...
I have seen some exceptional handwriting this week; pupils in Year 5 were incredibly focused and hard-working, continuing to make progress with their presentation. Children in Year 1 and 2 are making great progress with their reading - incredibly fluent and confident. I enjoyed reading with a small group this week, and their skill of reading means they are able to enjoy so many books and new words.
Our Year 6 pupils joined us for an after-school Maths Booster this week. We saw 33 children, which was amazing! Mr. Croft and Miss Elms were incredibly impressed with their enthusiasm, focus and concentration, and gave their best. We will look forward to seeing them next week!
I am delighted to announce that we have been awarded our 'Happy Lunchtimes' Award, which can be seen in the School Office. Our children are really enjoying collecting the pom-poms, and adding these to their class jars, and are excited about the different activities in The Zone; this week we have had 'Bubble Blowing' and 'Shadow Drawings' - perfect for the sunny days this week. In assembly today, we awarded our latest Happy Lunchtime certificates, for exceptional play and manners at lunchtime and trying new foods. We have our full list on the Bulletin. Our 'Golden Lunchbox' winners were Year 2 Roper Class - 'Well done' to them! They've earned a 10 minute reward to be used next week!
In our Celebration Assembly, we gave out lots of certificates to so many children. 'Well done' to them all! There were some brilliant reasons why children were Stars this week, and teachers have been particularly impressed with the positive start to 2024!
Our 'Attendance Challenge' has been reset. All classes went into today's assembly on 0 points. Three classes had attendance of more than 98% and it was very close at the top! With 98.9%, Year 6 Williamson Class picked up the 10 points and leads the way, but it's early days, with much to play for. In the 100% Raffle, there were 251 children in the draw this week. The number 223 was chosen at random - Congratulations to Lexi S. in Year 3, who chose the metallic pencils.
'Well done' to our Improved Attendance Award winners for Term 2, too.
There's lots more information in this week's Bulletin, so please remember to check this! I'll look forward to seeing all of the pupils on Monday!
Have a good weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 5th January 2024
Fri 05 Jan 2024Welcome to this week's Weekly Update!
Firstly a Happy New Year to all of our pupils and their families. I hope 2024 is a happy, healthy and positive year for everyone!
A very warm 'Welcome' to all of the new pupils who have joined us this week. We have had new pupils starting in Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6. I hope you really enjoy your learning at Oakwood!
It's already been a very busy few days back at school, with children settling into their routines, revisiting expectations and finding out about their new learning journeys. Pupils in Year 1 have been learning about the story of 'The Lost Son', as part of their RE learning this week. The children made story cubes, with a picture to show the story on each face. Inside the cube, children wrote the words 'love' and 'forgiveness', to show Christians that God is loving and forgiving. Some of the children are shown in the pictures. In Year 4, children have been practising their arrays to support them with the learning of their tables this week and our pupils in Reception have also been working hard on their Maths, looking at the weight of different objects and comparing these.
Despite a three-day week, we've been proud of our achievements, and celebrated these in assembly. 'Well done' to our Writers and Mathematicians of the Week, and also to our 'Stars of the Week', our first for 2024! A full list of names can be found on the Bulletin.
We have concluded our Term 2 Attendance Challenge. In a last-ditch effort, Year 6 Parks Class were crowned Champions, having picked up 9 points. This took them to 47 points, ahead of Hewett and Logie-Baird. The challenge now resets and we will track the attendance of each class across the coming weeks.
In our '100% Attendance Challenge', there were 228 children in the draw. The number 225 was drawn at random. 'Well done' to Joshua W. in Year 4, who was this week's winner.
I am really looking forward to the term ahead and, along with all the staff, helping all of the children to be successful. I am also looking forward to seeing your child's homework project, across the next few weeks.
Have a great weekend.
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 8th December 2023
Fri 08 Dec 2023Welcome to this week's Weekly Update!
We are coming to the end of the penultimate week of term, and the festive joy is certainly oozing out of the school this week. I have been fortunate to see two outstanding performances by our very youngest children in the Nursery and Reception Class. They sang some festive favourites and some modern Christmas songs, with some 'join-in' actions, too. They definitely sprinkled some Christmas magic in front of our packed-out and very appreciative audiences. We are very proud of them all! All of the children have been busy practising for Christmas performances and giving their best, alongside some fantastic learning in Maths, Geography and English.
This week, we also welcomed Frances Nation into school, who completed a curriculum review, meeting with teachers and leaders and looking in books. She met with lots of pupils during the day, and was impressed with their learning behaviours, attitudes and their manners.
It's been a busy week for all of the children, so a huge 'Well done!' to them all.
In our Celebration Assembly this week, Year 4 Logie-Baird Class shared some of their fantastic Science learning, where they have been learning about Habitats, and exploring these around the school, and some excellent Design and Technology learning, where the children have designed, drawn and labelled their own savoury snacks. They shared with great confidence and pride.
We also celebrated our first set of 'Happy Lunchtime' awards. These are our very special lunchtime awards, chosen by all of our lunchtime staff, for great behaviour, trying new foods, or perfect manners. See our photo for this week's winners! The children have also been collecting their pom-poms and adding these to their class jars.
'Congratulations' to Year 6 Parks Class who won the 'Golden Lunchbox' this week!
In our 'Attendance Challenge', Year 3 Hewett Class picked up the 10 points this week. However, it wasn't enough to catch Year 4 Logie-Baird Class, who continue to lead the way with 36 points, with Year 6 Parks Class in second place, with 34 points.
In the 100% Attendance Raffle, there wer197 children in the draw this week. The number 156 was chosen at random - 'Well done' to Finley S. in Year R Stephenson Class.
'Well done' to all of this week's 'Stars of the Week'! (a full list of winners can be found on the Bulletin).
Next week, we head into our last week of this term and the end of the calendar year. We have lots to look forward to, including the annual Reindeer Walk on Thursday 14th December and our Christmas Lunch and Jumper Day on Friday 15th December, the last day of term, followed by the Winter Discos. We will also be awarding certificates to this term's 'Stars of the Term' and '100% Attendance Awards for Term 2.
We also have our Year 1 and 2 Christmas Nativity Performances in school and our Junior Carols at St. Mary's Church, Willingdon. The children are looking forward to sharing these with you and we hope you will be able to join us.
Please look out for our 'Winter Newsletter' next Friday!
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 1st December 2023
Wed 29 Nov 2023Welcome to this week's Weekly Update!
Our week at Oakwood got off to an exciting start as we hosted our first ever 'School Food Roadshow'. As part of our Healthy Schools initiative, the pupils got to take part in a very special cook-off (with some adult helpers, of course), preparing and producing some tasty dishes. Everyone then got to use their vote card to choose the tastiest plate of food. The pupils enjoyed learning about the ingredients, how to prepare the food and the health benefits of the foods we eat. Please see our Facebook page and Bulletin with some photographs from the roadshow.
Also this week, Beth Fitzpatrick, one of our dedicated LAB members, visited Oakwood to see some of our reading and to talk about our careers project, 'Start Small, Dream Big'. This year, we are looking at developing the opportunities to show children about the amazing jobs that the people in our local community, and beyond do, and bringing them into school. Beth was very impressed with the pupils' behaviour and their attitudes to learning.
Our pupils have been busy practising ahead of their Christmas performances this year. All of the dates can be found on the Bulletin and we really hope to see you in school, or at the church, across these next two weeks.
'Thank you' to all of you who took the time to complete this year's Parents Survey. Your feedback is really important to us. It helps us all take time to reflect on the things we do well, focus on what we can still do better and remind the staff of the importance of the job we do in teaching and looking after your children. Your positive comments are always really well received by staff. An analysis of the survey will be sent as part of this week's Bulletin.
In our Celebration Assembly this week, we announced our very latest 'Stars of the Week'. The list of this week's winners can be found on the Bulletin. In our Attendance Challenge, the 10 points went to Year 4 Attenborough Class with an attendance of 97.2% this week. 'Well done' to them. At the end of Week 4, Year 4 Logie Baird Class lead the way with 31 points, but just 2 points separate the top three classes.
In this week's 100% Attendance Raffle, there were 230 children in the draw. The number 120 was selected at random. 'Well done' to Denise in Year 6.
Our Christmas Post has started today and will run until the last collection on Friday 15th December 2023.
Next week, we will be welcoming Frances Nation to Oakwood on Tuesday. She will be completing a school visit, meeting with staff and talking to pupils, and reporting on the school's improvements. We will share more details of the visit with children in our assemblies on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
With my best wishes,
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 24th November 2023
Fri 24 Nov 2023Welcome to this week's 'Weekly Update!'
It's been a great week at Oakwood! 'Well done' to all of our brilliant pupils for their effort this week!
Hopefully, you will have now seen a copy of our timetable of Christmas events taking place in school across the next few weeks. There is much going on, including Christmas performances from all of our year groups, our annual Reindeer Walk and Christmas Lunch. I hope you will be able to join us for one of the events taking place, either in school or at St. Mary's Church in Willingdon, this term.
This follows on from a successful Winter Fair, which took place in school last weekend. Thank you to our PTFA for organising this. Our 'Breakfast With Santa' and 'Winter Discos' are all scheduled for December, run by the PTFA.
Our Christmas Post starts on Friday 1st December. Pupils can send cards to their friends using the post box. Please include the name of the child you are sending the card to and the name of their class / teacher. This will help our Year 6 pupils to circulate these to where they need to go...stamps are not necessary!
We know that the run-up to Christmas is a busy time. The structure and pace in school changes and we understand that, for some pupils, this can be challenging. We will do all we can to minimise this impact, but please do speak to your child's class teacher should you be worried. They will be more than happy to help.
In today's Celebration Assembly, we awarded some fantastic certificates. I was incredibly proud to share the amazing reasons why children were Star Writers, Mathematicians and Stars of the Week. The full list of this week's Stars of the Week can be found on the Bulletin. It's Week 3 of our Attendance Challenge. This week's winners were Year 4 Logie-Baird Class, with an incredible 100% - well-deserved winners of the 10 points. This moves them onto 28 points. In the 100% Attendance Raffle, there were 224 pupils this week - Well done to you all! The number 34 was drawn at random, which belonged to Wynter C. in Year 4!
As always, please check out this week's Bulletin for further information.
Wishing you all a brilliant weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 17th November 2023
Fri 17 Nov 2023Welcome to this week's 'Weekly Update!'
'Well done' to every single one of our pupils this week - you have produced some excellent work and really thought about our values of 'Knowledge, Equality, Determination and Achievement'.
This week, we were visited by Steve Harris, who did some professional development work with our staff. We are always looking to improve the school, and this includes the offer that we provide all our pupils at lunchtime. Steve, who works for the 'Happy Lunchtimes' organisation, also worked with our pupils and met with the School Council, to introduce new games and the 'Epic Activity of the Day'. The launch day forms part of a larger piece of work that we are all excited about. The English 'Button Stacking Championship' is already a favourite!
In today's Celebration Assembly, we awarded some fantastic certificates. I was incredibly proud to share the amazing reasons why children were Star Writers, Mathematicians and Stars of the Week. The full list of this week's Stars of the Week can be found on the Bulletin. 'Thank you' to the pupils in Year 5 Rashford Class who shared their learning in assembly today - some super warning stories, accurate descriptions of topography and Ordanance Survey maps and some unique designs for shelters, all presented with confidence.
It's Week 2 of our Attendance Challenge. Tis week's winners were Year 4 Attenborough Class, who achieved an impressive 99%. They pick up the 10 points this week. This has moved them into second place in the challenge, with 17 points. It's Year 4 Logie-Baird Class who lead the way with 18 points. All to play for! In the 100% Attendance Raffle, there were 232 pupils this week - Well done to you all! The number 55 was drawn at random, which belonged to Alfie E. in Year 4!
As always, please check out this week's Bulletin for further information.
Wishing you all a brilliant weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 10th November 2023
Thu 09 Nov 2023Welcome to this week's Weekly Update! I hope your child is enjoying a day away from school this week.
Despite the shorter school week, we have still been incredibly busy. All of the staff have been engaged with training in school today, looking at planning and resources for Maths, as well as some time to look at teaching and learning across our subjects.
'Thank you' to all of the children who have shown me their brilliant home-learning projects. I am always impressed with the huge effort that goes in to these, and the time that children and families spend together doing them.
This week, our 'Forest School' sessions have got underway. We certainly chose a great week, weather-wise, to get started, but the children in Year 4 have come prepared with wellies, waterproofs and puddle-suits. They enjoyed some sessions in our brilliant woodlands and had a class on Dennis the Bus, too. The children have loved it, moving tree-stumps and wheelbarrows full of leaves...and some puddle-jumping of course! A huge 'Thank you' to Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Mathews who have led the sessions this week.
It has been lovely to see so many of you at our Autumn Parents' Evening this week. I really hope you have found the opportunity to meet with your child's class teacher useful and informative. I know that teachers have really enjoyed meeting you and talking about your child's start at school in these first few weeks. If you haven't been able to make an appointment this week, please call the School Office so that a time can be arranged to meet with your child's teacher.
We haven't had our Celebration Assembly today, but not to worry, our 'Stars of the Week' will be announced in our assembly on Monday, and we will share the list of winners with you then.
Please see this week's Bulletin, where we have shared our Christmas Performance dates. We will write to you in the coming weeks with further details, but I hope having the dates now will be helpful in planning for a busy festive period.
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Deputy Headteacher Update – Friday 13th October
Fri 13 Oct 2023Welcome to the penultimate ‘Weekly Update’ for the term.
This week started with the school learning about Black History Month that is celebrated across the UK in October. Children learned why this month is important and looked at a few achievements of black people from the past and today. Next week, children, in our Monday assembly, will learn more about the achievements of Marcus Rashford, in particular the work he did during the National Lockdown to ensure all children had access to food.
As always, the children have been completing lots of exciting learning this week. We have a class of cooks in Reception: this week they have been cutting vegetables to make their own vegetable soup which was enjoyed by all! In Year 3, they have been putting themselves in the part of a stone age hunter by imitating a diary about the event of a stone age family in English. Year 4 have gone back in time and learnt about the mummification process. The children even performed the ceremony themselves…. on a tomato. Year 6 have been developing their screen-printing skills using Andy Warhol as inspiration to begin creating their own piece of art.
Well done to all our children who were celebrated today in our Friday Celebration Assembly. This week’s Stars our:
Class
Child
School Value
Reason
Nursery
Effie-Raen E.
Achievement
For amazing name writing.
Year R Stephenson
TJ P.
Achievement
For super accurate counting.
Year 1 Nightingale
Zosha W.
Determination
For great effort and determination when reading DSR and in phonics.
Year 2 Roper
Eldhadh G.
Achievement
For a fantastic drawing of the Great Fire of London.
Year 3 Hewett
Leia S.
Determination
Leia has always engaged with everything we have been learning this week and has completed her work to a high standard and asked interesting questions.
Year 4 Logie-Baird
Bryan O.
Knowledge
For his love of reading and always having his nose buried in a book.
Year 4 Attenborough
Aya H.
Achievement
For excellent focus, hard work and quality work this week.
Year 5 Hamilton
Rubi R.
Determination
For demonstrating high levels of determination in her learning all week. She has made a great start to Year 5.
Year 5 Rashford
Arthur B.
Determination
For demonstrating high levels of determination in his learning, aiming to be better every day.
Year 6 Parks
Naomi-Nadia N.
Equality
For being very helpful and showing kindness to adults and children.
Year 6 Williamson
Joey F.
Determination
For being determined to always help his peers and try his best every day.
In our ‘Attendance Challenge’ this week saw Hewett Class gain the 10 points and close the gap on Stephenson Class. There is only 4 points between 1st and 2nd now! It’s all up for grabs. Well done to Ava-Rose in Year 3 who was the winner of our ‘Attendance Raffle’ this week with the number 232.
Will you have a child starting school in September 2024, or know someone that is? Our Open Evening is taking place on Thursday 2nd November 2023, from 4.30pm. We will also hold an additional Open Morning on Monday 6th November 2023, from 9.30am, and school tours are available. Tours of the school can be made by contacting the School Office.
Next week, all the children and staff are looking forward to welcoming families into school for our Curriculum Events. Whether you want to know about ‘Why squirrels hide their nuts?’ with our Reception children; learn more about the Great Fire of London in Year 2’s ‘Pudding to Pepys’ event or trying to work out ‘Who let the gods out?’ with our Year 6 children, then our Curriculum Events for this term is the place to be! We look forward to seeing you all next week.
Have an amazing weekend.
Mr Paramor
Deputy Headteacher
