Tuesday 30 September 2014

Periscopes in Action!

As part of Year 6's science work on 'How We See Things', the children have been examining how a periscope works and how they are used in real life. They then had a go at making their own and spying on a few unsuspecting victims! Take a look at the fun they had:-



Monday 29 September 2014

Year R and 6 buddies meet again!

Year 6 'buddies' returned today to visit us in Year R 'buddies'. This time they came with books that they had made about themselves and about their buddy! They shared the books with us and we shared our baby photos, talking about how we have changed and what we can do now. Thank-you for visiting, Year 6!



Sunday 28 September 2014

Team Oakwood begin title defence

The School football team took their first step to defending their Southampton Schools' East division title on Friday after school as they played host to Newlands Primary School in the first game of the season.

Playing in the bright afternoon sunshine the game got off to a slow start with players from both teams adjusting to the new rule changes for schools football this year.

But with 2 goals from Sam B, an own goal and 1 each from Gabe W and Sam C, Team Oakwood stormed to a 5-1 victory.

Well done to all the team and special mention to man of the match Gabe.

There is no rest for the team though as they are back in action next Wednesday!

Friday 26 September 2014

A "World's Biggest" Thank You!

A very personal blogpost from me, on behalf of all the pupils and staff at Oakwood...

This morning we tried something a little bit daunting - Oakwood's Biggest Ever Coffee Morning for Macmillan Cancer Support...

We've done this very successfully three times before, (see how we did in 2009 and in 2012), but this morning was the first time we have done it as a primary school.

This meant:

  • more tea, coffee, milk and cups than ever before
  • more sugar lumps than ever before
  • more squash than ever before
  • more chairs and tables than ever before (and even then we didn't have enough!)
and, of course...
  • more cakes than ever before!

It was a really good job that everyone was prepared... children, teachers and especially all the support staff and volunteers who helped set up, because we had...
  • more visitors than ever before!
Every penny donated this morning will be paid into Macmillan's account this weekend so they can continue to the excellent work to support individuals and families affected by cancer.



The good news is that we raised...
  • more money than every before!
At 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, we tipped over the £1000 mark! (And still a few more pennies arriving!)

Thank you so much if you came along, helped make cakes or supported in some other way. 

I could not be more proud of the Oakwood community!
Mr Taylor

Introducing our 2014 - 15 House and Vice Captains

The votes have been counted and the results are in! Introducing our new House and Vice Captains for 2014-15:




They are wearing their badges with pride, and already have had an important job to do manning stalls at our Macmillan Coffee Morning. Look out for news from them soon!

Year 1 Senses

Our first topic in Year 1 is 'Wonderful Me'.

We have been learning about different parts of the body and have had great fun exploring our 5 senses.

We have touched, smelt, heard, seen and tasted some interesting things and have written some fab poems using amazing adjectives.



Thursday 25 September 2014

Let's Dance!

Today was Year 5's first dance lesson to the 'Irish Jig'. A dance wish might been used aboard the Titanic in the 3rd class deck. It was certainly something the children had never tried before. They were all brilliant and had fun in learning new moves, including steps, hops and skips. They also learned about how performances should look and the arrangement of dancers in their performance for their Titanic day. Have a look at a few photos below.

Cooking for Macmillan Coffee Morning

Some of year 5 had great fun making chocolate fridge cake for our Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday. They recapped many skills including weighing ingredients and reading the recipe. Look at our photos below.

Fantastic Fishbourne

Year 4 visited Fishbourne Roman Palace today to unravel the secrets of the Roman invasion of Southern Britain. From friendly Celtic farmers to King Cogidubnus, and from royal palace to wreck and ruin.

Y4 enjoyed: dressing up as slaves, having a short lesson on Roman schools, undertaking some Roman building an much much more. All that and we haven't even mentioned the beautiful mosaics and gardens.

Have a look us exploring.

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Year 2 Following Instructions


Year 2 have been looking at instructions. Before having the challenge to write their own instructions they had to work in a small group to read, follow and make a rocket for a superhero.

They had to find different sized sticks, leaves and soil in the school grounds to make their finished rocket ready to take off!

3, 2, 1....BLAST OFF!

What other instructions do you follow at home?

Year 6 Taster Day at Oasis Academy.

What an exciting day Year 6 had at Oasis Academy, Lordshill yesterday.

Along with several other schools in the federation, the Year 6 pupils visited the academy to experience just a small taster of life at secondary school. Take a look at all the fun they had!


Tuesday 23 September 2014

Year 3 Evacuation to Testwood Lakes

War has been declared and Southampton is no longer safe! What choice do our plucky evacuees have but to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in? Farm work, shelter building and keeping a sharp look out for spies were just a few of the activities that kept Year 3 busy in a packed trip to Testwood Lakes Nature Centre...  

Year 5's Boat Show Trip

We traveled there on a double decker bus, lots of children were up the top of the bus. Our day at the Boat Show was fabulous apart from the miserable weather in the morning. First we into a massive tent with lots of different boating stalls including the RNLI. Suddenly, we saw a tall man who could make nearly anything out of balloons! Then we noticed the incredible Sunseekers up the tall stairs. The most expensive boat was a Sunseeker at £2,272,000. Then we went down to the marina (boats on water) were we saw lots of boats including a pirate ship called Phoenix.  Then we saw a real Royal Navy ship called the Severn and its number P282. But first we went on Phoenix and look around we found out that they had bags made out of leather and they had cabins bellow the deck. The Captain stood just below the crows nest on the ship. Then we went to the police boat and saw the blue and yellow squares on the side. Then we went onto the HMS Severn. HMS stands for ‘her majesty's ship’. We saw real rifles, pistols and over types of guns. After we went back to the coach and traveled to school. We had a great day!

By Amelia and Jessica


Another fun-packed R.E. Day in Year 6


Chris and Matt joined Year 6 today to bring to life 'The Christian Story' in their own unique way. While learning about the Christian belief that God created the world; man "messed it up"; God had a plan and that plan was Jesus, the children enjoyed a number of exciting activities that explored each stage of the story.

U10s miss out!

The Oakwood U10 football team, like the U11 team last week, travelled to The Wide Lane sports complex on Monday afternoon for the Southampton Schools U10 football 6-a-side tournament.

The team made a storming start to the tournament, winning their opening group game 6-0 against Charlton, a particularly impressive scoreline when only playing games for 8 minutes! The team found the next games a little more challenging, drawing 0-0 against a very defensive Fairisle Junior School.

In the third game Oakwood went down 1-2 against the tournaments eventual winners St Monica, before battling to a 1-0 win over Valentine.

Needing a win from the final group game against Hollybrook junior school the team could only manage a 0-0 stalemate meaning they did not progress beyond the group stages.

Well done to all the players, and a thank you to mums and dads for coming to cheer the team on.

Friday 19 September 2014

House Captain Voting

Article 12 of the UNICEF Rights of the Child Charter, which is one of our focus articles on our Whole School Charter, says that we all have a right to say what we think and be listened to.

Well, we certainly got a chance to do that today!

Every pupil in the school had a chance to vote for their House Captain for 2014 - 2015. The role of House Captain is very prestigious and the chosen pupils will be expected to be exemplary role models. Everyone who voted has had to think carefully about their decision and vote for the person who they think will represent their house the best.


After a rigorous application process, which included writing application forms and preparing and presenting speeches to the school, our Year 6 House Captain Candidates will be nervously awaiting the results of today's election.

We will be announcing the winner next Wednesday - watch this space for the results!

Year R and Year 6 Buddies!

Today Year R met their new Year 6 buddies! They got to know each other, read a book together and then did a bit of writing! What fun! We'll be meeting-up with our buddies on a regular basis throughout the year. We can't wait!


Semi final heartache

Team Oakwood suffered defeat in the semi final of the U11 Southampton Schools tournament at Wide Lane yesterday, loosing 0-1 to Townhill Junior School.

During the group stage Oakwood remained unbeaten, drawing 0-0 with both Blackfield Primary and Hollybrook Junior School, whilst picking up wins against Fairisle (1-0), Bartley (1-0), and Valentine (3-0).

Coming second in the group stages meant the team had to pit themselves against Holy Family in a play-off. With the final whistle blowing and the scores even at 2-2 Oakwood held their nerve to win on penalties 2-1.

The semi final against Townhill Junior School was a repeat of the  Southampton Schools Champions League Final which took place in April. This time the result and scored were reversed with Townhill progressing on  to the final.

A big well done to all the players, but a special mention to top goal scorer Gabe who managed 5 goals.


Monday 15 September 2014

Roaming Romans

Year 4 have been learning all about Romans today as an introduction to our Autumn 1 History topic, Roaming Romans. We learnt about what the Romans ate; how the senate ran Rome and investigated Roman numerals.



Can you sort the slaves from the citizens?

Not forgetting...A big thank you to all the parents who helped with costumes - the children looked great!!

Friday 12 September 2014

Y4 Story Telling Battle

Y4 have started their work on newspaper articles by studying how to write a good one! We have looked at all the features of newspaper articles so we're ready to write our own.

However we thought we should learn one off by heart first. To make it a bit of a competition we had a battle to see which class could remember the most.

Who do you think won?



Our new Year R children!

Welcome to the new Year R children!

We have had seven mornings to settle into school. We have been busy creating our 'Classroom Charters' and thinking about our rights and how we can respect the rights of others. Can you spot us tucking-in chairs, lining-up nicely, using tools safely and sitting nicely on our lily pads? We have been playing team building games and getting to know each other. Next week we will be full-time and are very excited! Early to bed for everyone!!


Wednesday 10 September 2014

Year 3 Light Laboratory

In our Second World War topic "A Long Way From Home", learning to control light can be the difference between being safe or being in danger. To find out what we already know, Y3 tried using torches, mirrors, prisms and filters for themselves.


Monday 8 September 2014

September Club of the Month

The new year 3 children had a great welcome to KS2 last week as they experienced their first Club of the Month.

The Y3 children, as well as all the other KS2 children, were put through their Karate Kicks and punches paces (and shouting) by Rachel from Sama Karate.

Rachel holds a Karate session for both KS1 and KS2 every week right here at Oakwood. If your child enjoyed their session then why not drop in to the office to see about booking a place for them to continue the sport of discipline.




Friday 5 September 2014

Team Challenges in Year 6.

From test to fun games, Year 6 showed their teachers what a great and determined team they are-ready to face any challenge they meet this year. Take a look at some of the fun they had.


Thursday 4 September 2014

Picture perfect

Y4 have started the new school year by looking at faces. They studied shape and proportion, and learnt how to use shade and tone to add effect to a drawing.

Take a look at some of our pictures.


Boat Day Bonanza!

The new year 5 had a wonderful day today exploring boats and learning all about how boats float and sink, and the scientific reasoning behind it. The children also produced a crashing wave scene collage with their choice of boat included. The day was ended with organising a timeline of what ships docked in Southampton from 70 - 2013. Have a look at our pictures below!

Wednesday 3 September 2014

SPUDILICIOUS!

It was lovely to welcome the new Year 6 today and what a great start to the year they all made. Administration tasks were carried out quickly and efficiently, and routines established.

Article 29 of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child states, "Education must develop every child's personality, talents and abilities to the full...." This is one of the articles that Year 6 explored in a creative way in the afternoon. Each child created a potato person that expressed a uniqueness of personality and talents. Take a look at some of our potato characters:-


Tuesday 2 September 2014

Oakie Bear on Holday

Oakie Bear went to Guernsey for his summer holiday.

He travelled on the ferry and while he was there he visited lots of interesting places and had a great time camping.

When he had written his postcard and posted it in the postbox, he noticed something was different. Can you see what it was?