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Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Head of School Update - Friday 28th January 2022
Fri 28 Jan 2022Welcome to this week’s ‘Weekly Update’.
As always, it’s been another brilliant week at Oakwood. Classrooms have been very clam and there has been a lovely working environment throughout the school, all week; pupils are focused, working hard and giving their best.
I’ve seen some fantastic Reading and Writing this week. In Reception, children are becoming experts in ‘holding a sentence’ and are able to remember all of the words before writing them in to their books. The children have also been practising their letter formation and finger spaces and are incredibly ‘speedy readers’. Children in Year 5 have been learning about the features of discussion texts and asking the question, ‘Are zoos good or bad for animals?’ I’m looking forward to reading their finished pieces!
In Year 2 this week, children have been learning about changes in medicines and health, and recreated two different hospitals, showing how they have changed through history and the things Florence Nightingale changed to make them better. The children in Year 2 are really enjoying their History learning journey this term!
Pupils in Year 5 have also been making prototypes in Year 5. They are trying to build mechanisms to help lift objects into a treehouse. The pupils have explored a number of systems including levers, pulleys and pneumatics.
And, once again, I’ve seen some fantastic homework, too, from Maths pages, Viking longboat models and versions of the missing chapter. It’s great to see how much enthusiasm the children have to want to extend their learning at home!
We’ve been enjoying our History and Design and Technology lessons in school, and we’ve been working hard towards getting ready for our upcoming Curriculum Events for this term. All of the dates and times, with a short description, can be found on this week’s Bulletin. We hope you will be able to join us!
Next week, we will be joining lots of schools across the country to celebrate ‘Number Day’ in school, to support the NSPCC charity. On Thursday 3rd February, the children will take part in lots of number themed activities throughout the day and, for a small donation towards the NSPCC, children are invited to wear something to do with numbers, as part of a special Mufti Day. Please see the letter from Mr. Paramor and Mr. Croft, for further details about the event next Thursday.
Some photographs from the week at school are shared at the bottom of the update and on the school’s Facebook page too.
In this week’s Celebration Assembly we awarded our certificates to our Writing and Maths ‘Stars’ and our ‘Stars of the Week’.
This week’s ‘Stars of the Week’ are:
YR Stephenson – Grace W. for Achievement – For her fantastic sentence writing.
Y1 Nightingale – Lexi S. for Achievement – For her fantastic focus and attitude when learning new things.
Y2 Brunel – Sebastian W. for Determination – For his determination to support with responsibilities in the classroom, including helping with Tutormate.
Y2 Seacole – Kallais S. for Knowledge – For excellent involvement in our ‘historical hospitals’ role play.
Y3 Ashe – Ava-Grace R. for Knowledge – For excellent Maths learning on parallel and perpendicular lines.
Y3 Turing – Adam P. for Achievement – For always demonstrating a positive attitude to his learning.
Y4 Thunberg – Ivana B. for Achievement – For always giving 100% effort, contributing ideas in class and producing work to a very high standard.
Y4 Logie-Baird – Leonidas S. for Determination – For showing improved focus during lessons and producing quality independent work!
Y5 Hamilton – Tyler C. for Achievement – For brilliant work for finding equivalent fractions.
Y5 Pankhurst – Mason W. for Achievement – For his excellent effort with his reading, including reading at home.
Y6 Amundsen – Antonio S. for Determination – For showing determination to achieve in all lessons, but particularly in Accelerated Reader.
Y6 Parks – Lily-Rose W. for Determination – For being determined to be the best she can be.
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Head of School
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Head of School Update - Friday 21st January 2022
Fri 21 Jan 2022Welcome to this week’s ‘Weekly Update’.
As always, it’s been a brilliant week at Oakwood.
I’ve been inundated with visitors this week, proud to show off their homework tasks and projects. It is great to see such enthusiasm, and the pupils have been consolidating what they have been learning in school with activities at home. Well done to everyone.
Pupils in Year 2 have been orally retelling their ‘Talk 4 Writing’ story this week, ‘The Papaya That Spoke’. The pupils came up with their own actions for the story and showed great enthusiasm when acting these out. I am looking forward to seeing their writing as we move through the rest of the term.
Last week, I reported on one British invasion that took place between our Year 4 classes and, not to be undone, Year 3 also took to some inter-class invasions this week. Turing Class became ‘The Romans’ and Ashe Class became the ‘Celts’ in Britain. But who won the invasion...?
In Year 4, pupils have been looking at different circuits. They identified the main parts and then worked in groups to made human circuits, with the children acting as the wires and switches. We had electricians on hand to make sure that the circuits would work correctly.
In Year 6, our pupils have been ‘blogging’ in this week’s Computing lessons, on pupils’ topics of interests – food, gaming and horse-riding, were just some of the choices.
Some photographs from the week at school are shared at the bottom of the update and on the school’s Facebook page.
One of my highlights of the week is our Celebration Assembly. Well done to all of this week’s certificate winners.
This week’s ‘Stars of the Week’ are:
YR Stephenson – Alfie S. for Determination – For working hard to ‘Fred Talk’ his words in Phonics.
Y1 Nightingale – Aarabay L. for Achievement – For her improved confidence and for talking about everything that she sees.
Y2 Brunel – Ivy-May T. for Achievement – For great acting in History.
Y2 Seacole – Gray H. for Determination – For his determination to succeed in Maths, by asking lots of questions to further his learning.
Y3 Ashe – Isabella P. for Achievement – For consistently working hard and trying her best in every lesson. She always has a smile on her face.
Y3 Turing – Louie U. for Determination – For being determined to improve his attitude to learning.
Y4 Thunberg – Oliver J. for Achievement – For always leading class discussions, helping others and working to a high standard across all of his subjects.
Y4 Logie-Baird – Jessie C. for Achievement – For a fantastic attitude towards her home learning – the Anglo-Saxon shortbread was delicious!
Y5 Hamilton – Mackenzie P. for Achievement – For incredible work in Maths, involving perimeter, area and volume.
Y5 Pankhurst – Daniel C. for Achievement – For a fantastic story as part of his homework tasks.
Y6 Amundsen – Ellie-Mae J. for Determination – For showing an outstanding determination to achieve across the whole of this week.
Y6 Parks – Sabrina S. for Achievement – For her continuous commitment to achieving her best.
Congratulations also goes to Sabrina in Year 6 who became our sixth Word Millionaire of the school year! Sabrina was proud to collect her certificate in assembly this week. There are many children who are so close to the ‘one million word’ boundary (we are going to have to find some more space in the library to display the certificates).
Finally, we are looking forward to sharing our Term 3 Curriculum Events with you. We’ll update you with details of the events taking place. I hope you will be able to join us.
Have a good weekend.
Ryan Laker
Head of School
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Head of School Update - Friday 14th January 2022
Fri 14 Jan 2022Welcome to this week’s ‘Weekly Update’.
It’s been a very busy week at school, with lots of some fantastic learning opportunities.
In Reception, we’ve been incredibly engaged with our learning. The children have been making their own photograph frames and creating their own portrait pictures. In Maths, the children have been learning about teen numbers and they’ve also had time to visit the ‘Friendship Space Café’, which looks like a brilliant place to go.
Pupils in Year 1 have been on an expedition. The children discussed the things they would need to take and made sure Mrs Taylor made a list and packed the items. The children set off with their magnifying glasses, looking for unusual things and came across a space station with meteorites. In History, they’ve been learning about the journeys of Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus.
Children in Years 3 and 4 have been taking part in Cricket coaching sessions on Fridays. The children have really enjoyed the expert sessions, and are looking forward to applying their skills in the Summer. Children in Year 4 have also been having their own inter-class invasions. The Anglo Saxons and Romans went to war with their British invasions, with an activity to show how land was captured and empires won and lost. Great fun and lots of learning too.
In Year 5, children have been enjoying their Design and Technology lessons. They have been investigating different mechanisms to see which would be the most effective at lifting objects. The children looked at pulleys, levers and pneumatic systems.
In Year 6, children have been consolidating their History chronology and have been learning their 20th Century timeline, looking at key events that shaped these 100 years.
We’ve seen lots of homework projects and tasks being brought in to school, which has been great to see.
One of my highlights of the week is our Celebration Assembly. Well done to all of this week’s certificate winners.
This week’s ‘Stars of the Week’ are:
YR Stephenson – Jamie N. for Equality – For helping others with tricky skills, such as zips on coats.
Y1 Nightingale – Autumn-Rose L. for Achievement – For completing some amazing homework – 5 pieces!
Y2 Brunel – Sienna S. for Achievement – For fabulous comments in History.
Y2 Seacole – Rogue J-G. for Determination – For her determination to succeed in all of her lessons.
Y3 Ashe – Arthur. for Achievement – For demonstrating excellent understanding, particularly in his History lessons.
Y3 Turing – Archie L. for Determination – For being determined to try harder every day.
Y4 Thunberg – Elle B. for Achievement – For always working hard and helping others, beautiful presentation and contributing to class discussions.
Y4 Logie-Baird – AJ K. for Achievement – For showing great improvement in the content of his work and contribution in lessons.
Y5 Hamilton – Mia B. for Achievement – For always working hard and having a fantastic attitude to learning.
Y5 Pankhurst – Sophie L. for Equality – For being an excellent friend.
Y6 Amundsen – Darren W. for Equality – For showing great awareness of Equality at all times and for demonstrating great respect.
Y6 Parks – Ronnie W. for Achievement – For contributing great ideas in lessons.
Well done to Alfie S. in Year 3, who won this week’s Attendance Raffle ‘spot-prize’. The leader-board for the Attendance Challenge has been reset for this term and an update can be found, weekly, on the school Bulletin.
Have a good weekend.
Ryan Laker
Head of School
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Head of School Update - Friday 7th January 2022
Fri 07 Jan 2022Welcome to this week’s ‘Weekly Update’, the first of 2022! I’d like to start by wishing the whole Oakwood community, our pupils, parents, visitors and staff a very Happy New Year. I hope it’s a year that brings everyone happiness and health.
It’s been a pleasure to welcome back pupils to school this week, after the Christmas break. As I always am, I have been impressed with how well the children have settled back in to routines, with high expectations.
Across the school, we’ve been finding out about our new learning journeys. There are some highly creative and knowledge-rich learning activities to look forward and teachers have been busy sequencing the learning journeys together. The learning journeys will have a History and Design and Technology focus for this term. I’m looking forward to seeing the termly projects that children have been completing at home.
In our featured photographs this week, pupils in Year 1 have been learning about fractions and practicing their reading, whilst pupils in Year 4 have been doing some research and analysis about the strengths and weaknesses of different torches, as part of their DT projects. This term, they will be designing and making their own torches.
Today we awarded certificates to our three most recent Word Millionaires. Congratulations to Aiden R-S. in Year 5 and Anny B. and Nicole W. in Year 6. This takes our total for the year to five!
It’s lovely to have so many avid readers who are proud of the progress they are making, their achievements when quizzing and confident to talk about their favourite authors, too. The word counts are certainly shooting up and I’m looking forward to announcing other Word Millionaires throughout the year.
We announced our first Stars of the Week for 2022. This week’s winners are:
YR Stephenson – Archie H-W. for Achievement – For fabulous phonics work at home.
Y1 Nightingale – Sophia D-C. for Achievement – For starting 2022 with a positive attitude to her learning.
Y2 Brunel – Tegan L. for Determination – For giving everything her best this week.
Y2 Seacole – Rogue J-G. for Achievement – For having a fantastic attitude to her learning this week.
Y3 Ashe – Angie B. for Determination – For trying her best in everything she does.
Y3 Turing – Leighton R. for Determination – For being determined to have an amazing term.
Y4 Thunberg – Clara S. for Achievement – For showing great improvement in the content of her work and for contributing in class.
Y4 Logie-Baird – Tyler C. for Determination – For starting 2022 with a fantastic attitude, and working hard and with a smile.
Y5 Hamilton – Iola C. for Determination – For her brilliant attitude to learning and always being positive.
Y6 Amundsen – Ayrton O. for Achievement – For having a fantastic start to the new term.
Y6 Parks – Paisley-Rae J-G. for Determination – For showing energy and enthusiasm to the start of an new term and making improvements in her work.
Congratulations to Y2 Brunel Class and Y6 Amundsen Class for winning the Term 2 Attendance Challenge. The leader-board has been reset for this term and an update can be found, weekly, on the school Bulletin.
Have a good weekend.
Ryan Laker
Head of School
