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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 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
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Friday 6th October 2023
Fri 06 Oct 2023Welcome to this week's 'Weekly Update'.
Firstly, a huge 'Thank you' to the whole school community who contributed to this year's Harvest Festival Celebration. The donations were collected earlier this week and the Eastbourne Foodbank were overwhelmed by the amount of support you have shown and your generoisty. Thank you!
We've had a great week at school - some fantastic learning in Maths and Science, particularly. The children are preparing for this term's Curriculum Events, taking place in the last week of term, and are looking forward to sharing their learning with you. We have some arts and craft sessions and some workshops too; the full list of this term's Curriculum Events, as well as an overview of what you can expect, can be found on this week's Bulletin. We really hope you can join us!
We enjoyed a fabulous Celebration Assembly today. Some fantastic reasons for our Star Writers and Mathematicians. Our full list of Stars for this week can be found on the Bulletin. 'Congratulations' to Jacob in Year 6, who has become the first Word Millionaire of the school year. What a brilliant achievement!
In this term's Attendance Challenge, Year R Stephenson Class lead the way with 35 points - I am truly impressed to see such fantastic attendance for our youngest pupils. There is a four-way tie for second place with four classes on 23 points - Year 3 Hewett, year 4 Logie-Baird, Year 6 Parks and Year 6 Williamson! In this week's 100% Raffle, there were 218 children in the draw. The number 8 was drawn at random - 'Well done' to Caleb in Year 3, who was this week's winner!
As always, please see this week's Bulletin for further information!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 22nd September 2023
Fri 22 Sep 2023Welcome to the week's 'Weekly Update!'
'Thank you' to the PTFA for the events they have ran this term. The 'Doughnut Sale' was really well received (and very tasty too) and I'm delighted that £143 was raised. This week, 'Penny Wars' was launched and we've already seen some 'competitive collecting', with some jars already brimming. The children are really enjoying this!
I have seen some brilliant Homework Projects - Thank you for your support with these!
This week, we appointed our Head Boy and Head Girl for 2023/24. There were ten Year 6 pupils interviewed, all of whom had written a letter of application and then answered some questions about their qualities and thoughts for the school. I was incredibly proud of all of them for putting themselves forward, for some, being out of their comfort zone, and for showing a real pride for the school. They are exceptional role-models and ambassadors of Oakwood!
'Congratulations' to...
Head Girl - Olivia W.
Deputy Head Girl - Lily-May B.
Head Boy - Oliver J.
Deputy Head Boy - Blake D.
We will let them introduce themselves next week.
We had a brilliant Celebration Assembly today. 'Thank you' to Year 6 Williamson Class who shared their learning with us. We learned about some clever 'function machines' in Maths, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000; a colourful introduction to the work of Andy Warhorl and his famous screen-prints and pop-art designs; and some dark and develish descriptive writing.
As always, we were very proud of all of this week's certificate winners - a full list of 'Stars of the Week' can be found on this week's Bulletin. 'Well done' to Jeremiah in Year 6 who won this week's '100% Attendance Raffle' - the number 139 was drawn at random. There were 240 children in the draw this week!
It was great to find out that so many children in Key Stage 2 are already quizzing and loving their books. We are three weeks in and Clara in Year 6 has already ready 25 books! Cadie and Chloe in Year 3 are new to Accelerated Reader and have already achieved more than 5,000 words. After Week 3, Jacob in Year 6 is top of the Word Count list, with more than 460,000 words...just this term! I have encouraged, as I always do, all of our pupils to keep reading and to find books that they love - 'Reading unlocks all learning' - I'll look forward to updating you across the next few weeks.
Just a quick reminder about some events taking place across the next week. On Tuesday 26th September, we will be holding our 'Meet and Greet' afternoon for all classes (for Miss Harris, this is on Thursday 28th September), and is a chance for you to talk to your child's class teacher and see the classroom. I hope you will join us and I look forward to seeing you!
Our Harvest Festival Assembly is taking place on Friday 29th September. This year, we are once again supporting the Eastbourne Foodbank and any donation will be gratefully received. We will be displaying donations on Friday, before they are collected. I would be grateful if you could, therefore, bring any donations in on Friday, only.
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 15th September 2023
Fri 15 Sep 2023Welcome to this week's Weekly Update!
We've had a lovely second week back at school. Our children in Reception have completed their first few full days at school, and it's been great to watch them explore their new learning environment and settle into their new routines. 'Thank you' to parents for your support - you should be proud of the start your child has made.
We have been enjoying our reading this week - lots of fantastic lessons reading with adults or with a partner. I've shared some photographs at the bottom of this update. Children are settling well into their new routines. I've seen some fantastic handwriting in Year 4, children enjoying ukuleles in Year 5, and brilliant Maths work in Year 2.
'Well done' to all of this week's certificate winners. Our full list of 'Stars of the Week' can be seen on this week's Bulletin.
Our 'Attendance Challenge' is up and running for this term. With 100% attendance in our first week back at school, the first set of 10 points goes to Year 1 Nightingale Class. In our '100% Attendance Raffle', the number 150 was drawn at random. This week's winner was Emily O. in Year 2.
'Thank you' to the PTFA who ran this week's 'Doughnut Sale' and for the gifts they kindly provided to all of our parents who have children starting in Reception.
Our 'Meet and Greet' takes place in Tuesday 26th September, and is the opportunity for you to meet your child's class teacher and ask any questions about them settling in to school this term. I hope you will be able to join us!
As always, there is lots of information in our Bulletin - details about our Open Evening, for children starting in Reception in 2024, and our new Communication Pathway. We've also introduced some of our new staff and shared some weekly updates too - Maths, Nursery and The Hive, this week.
I have really enjoyed seeing children's Homework Projects for Term 1, and look forward to seeing lots more of these in the coming weeks.
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 8th September 2023
Thu 07 Sep 2023Welcome to the entire Oakwood community to a brand new school year! I hope you have all had a lovely Summer break and, like me, hope you're looking ahead to the start of a school year!
A warm welcome to all of our new pupils who have joined us this year. We have some new faces who have joined our classes, from other schools or even other countries - +'Welcome' to you all! We also have a brand new class of Reception of pupils! They have all been in school this week and have come into school happily and calmly...they have been brilliant! I look forward to welcoming them all to school, together, next week! And finally, 'Welcome' to all our new staff this year. Joining us this term are Mr. Mitchell in Year 3 and Ms Seath in Year 4, teaching Hewett and Logie-Baird Classes; Mrs Mack, who has joined the Inclusion Administration Team; and Miss Wordsworth, Mr Hampson, Miss Jehad and Miss Dunn, who have joined our Support Staff teams. I hope you enjoy your time at Oakwood!
I have been incredibly impressed with the settled start that children have made in their classes. Despite some very late Summer sunshine (and heat), it's been a purposeful first few days and a real buzz for learning across the school. Staff have worked hard to prepare some fabulous learning environments and the children have enjoyed finding out about the learning journeys for this term. I am looking forward to seeing some outstanding Homework Projects across the next few weeks.
We have taken time this week to reinforce school expectations; to revisit the school rules; and to take care to understand our School Values. We also have some brand new Class Icons to help us name our classes. Our School Values were certainly evident in our first set of 'Stars of the Week' - an excellent achievement to set the standard in the first week of the first term. This week's Stars are:
Class
Child
School Value
Reason
Nursery
Mia R.
Achievement
For coming back to Nursery with such positivity and confidence.
Year 1 Nightingale
Roscoe P.
Achievement
For great ideas when talking about 'creation' story.
Year 2 Roper
Isabella H.
Determination
For sitting and listening well on the carpet.
Year 3 Hewett
Caleb A.
Equality
For being kind and welcoming to a new student in our class.
Year 4 Logie-Baird
Jaydee K.
Achievement
For settling into our class so well and coming into school every morning with biggest smile.
Year 4 Attenborough
David O.
Achievement
For having an excellent start to Year 4, being settled and ready to learn!
Year 5 Hamilton
Hope P.
Achievement
For an excellent approach to all of her work in every lesson leading to very pleasing achievement. Keep it up Hope!
Year 5 Rashford
LJ J.
Determination
For his fantastic determination and attitude towards his learning, as well as being a brilliant helper in the classroom.
Year 6 Parks
Bethany V.
Achievement
For being kind, caring and polite.
Year 6 Williamson
Lillie-May R-G.
Achievement
For settling into class so well and being the best that she can be.
'Well done' to all of this week's winners. Next week, we will launch our brand new Attendance Challenge. As always, continue to check our weekly Bulletin for attendance updates.
'Thank you' to our PTFA who have launched some events for this term. We have a planned Coffee Morning and Doughnut Sale, as well as a new 'Penny Wars' challenge for each class. This week, they have given out a magnet and badge to all children, as a Welcome to the new term. The full list of PTFA dates for Term 1, as well as other key dates, can be found on this week's Bulletin.
You hopefully will have received a copy of your child's Learning Journey for this term. This aims to provide an overview of your child's learning across each of the curriculum areas and details about your child's PE lessons and our expectations for reading. Please take the time to read through the Curriculum Newsletter.
If you have any queries, questions or concerns, please speak to your child's class teacher in the first instance, who will be happy to help you. We know how important this is, particularly during the first few weeks of a new school year.
There will be much to share in the coming weeks. I have really enjoyed welcoming all the children back to school this week, and look forward to the momentum continuing into next week. I hope all of the children have a fantastic Term 1. I look forward to seeing their learning and sharing their progress with you.
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
