Year 3 at Cedar School

Year 3 were a credit to the school today when they attended the Cedar School Christmas performance, The Star that Couldn't Twinkle. They joined in with the songs, saw Santa and got into even more of a Christmassy mood (and they got some exercise on the walk!)



They were very privileged, because this is the first time another local school has been invited to be part of the audience at Cedar; we want to work much more closely with all our partner schools and give our children lots of chance to be part of other communities.



We all met new friends as we shared breaktime after the performance.

Thank you, Cedar, for your hospitality!

Ahoy there, Captain!

Do you recognise these boys looking so smart? And do you know where they are?



Conor, George, Luke and Nathan were lucky enough to spend some time aboard Southampton's newest cruise liner, the Queen Victoria before she left port on Tuesday 11 December.

It looks like they were nearly recruited to be stewards!

They had a good look around...









...but they didn't have time for a swim!



...and they were allowed to get off before the ship sailed!

Well done boys!

(PS You can have your own virtual tour of the ship too!)
(PPS You can also see where the Queen Victoria is now by looking at the bridge webcam!)

Hansel and Gretel... and the Robbers' Tango!

Years 3 and 5 put on an excellent performance of Hansel and Gretel this afternoon and evening. We're sure you enjoyed it if you came to see either of the performances.

The acting was great, the singing was amazing and the costumes were out of this world!

A highlight of the performance was the Robbers' Tango, where several shady looking characters went sneakily around the school and helped themselves to various goodies. But they didn't know they were caught on CCTV...

(Well done to James and Conor who actually made and edited the video!)

Thank you to Edgy Productions who wrote Hansel and Gretel and very kindly gave us their permission to use the Robbers' Tango music on our blog...!

Is it supposed to look like that...?

Here's the latest news on our new playground seat...

It's not had much done to it in the last few weeks. The seats have been bolted on, but it still looks a bit new and featureless.



The soil is coming this week and the planting will be done early in the new year. A big feature tree will go into the middle and shrubs and bushes will be planted to soften the edges.

By the end of January, we're expecting it to look really fabulous! Keep your fingers crossed...

An Artistic Christmas!

Once again, some of our talented artists have designed the Christmas cards the school will be sending to all its friends and partners this year...

...but this is the very first time you can see them online!

Well done to... Bradley and Ellis and Leah and Lewis and Matthew and Megan and Miriam and Rachael and Tate! (Phew!)

There's a whole lotta shoppin' goin' on!

Our fabulous choir performed to family and friends (and hundreds of Christmas shoppers) today at West Quay in Southampton.

This has become an annual event for us at Oakwood and all the money raised goes towards the Hampshire Autistic Society. Choirs from lots of Southampton schools provide a whole morning's Christmas entertainment!



Here you can see Miss Smith keeping everyone under control, singing in time and in tune! One of their favourites (and good for West Quay) is "Come on everybody, there's a whole lotta shoppin' goin' on!", but they also sang some more traditional songs.

Well done, choir!

School Travel Plan Award

Oakwood Junior School has been given a very important award by the Road Safety department at Southampton City Council.

We have supported and organised lots of ideas for keeping everyone safe on their way to and from school. These include:

• Walk to School Weeks
• Walk on Wednesdays
• Respect the Zig Zag
• Parking Enforcement sweeps
• Promoting the Actionline (0800 5 19 19 19) to report inconsiderate and dangerous parking
• Road Safety messages on OJS News

In the new year, Mrs Barr will be organising a Road Safety Action Group, so you can expect our work to get even better!

Mrs Barr was presented with this very special plaque at a recent School Travel Plan Meeting.