Fabulous Final Friday!

It has been a fantastic week at Knapp House and to finish off a whole selection of fun-filled activities, we went for a spot of canoeing on a picturesque Devonian lake. The children had the opportunity to try three different sized boats and just about managed to stay dry!

After a quick change and a last look to make sure nothing was left behind, we set off home. Amazingly, after a tiring week nobody fell asleep on the way back (except Mr. Larder!)! Everyone was obviously far too excited to share their trip stories with friends and family upon their return.

Topsy-Turvy Thursday!

Still no broadband, but here's the lastest...

Where has the time gone? We can't believe it is our final full day at Knapp House!

After ANOTHER good night's sleep and ANOTHER cooked breakfast in our tummies, we set off for more fun-filled activities. Lewis found the tiniest crab imaginable when Miss H's intrepid explorers beach-combed the coastline. After two and a half miles and a few splashes later, weary feet trudged into the dining hall for lunch.

All groups learned the vital skills for tomorrow's lake trip: paddling, capsizing and climbing back on board! Brandon was fantastic at helping his partner back into a boat after it had capsized.



After being given extra pocket money, the atmosphere was electric as children got ready for the disco. Singing... Dancing... (And that was just the staff!). The children bopped away to Kanye West, getting 'Stronger'!

We are just about to rest our weary heads ready for our final day!

申し申し

Hello friends,

How are you doing? Thought I'd send you a quick update before I leave the country and head off back to sunny Southampton... make sure that sun is still shining for me when I arrive as I'm very used to it having been living here in Australia for almost a year!!

Last week I accompanied my Grade 6 host on a special trip to learn all about things Japanese. It was a very interesting day. We took a 45 minute bus trip to the Botanic Gardens where we learned some martial arts, viewed a Japanese tea ceremony and listened to the Japanese flute. We also looked at many bonsai trees.



For lunch we had teryaki chicken and spring rolls. I struggled with the chop sticks! The children helped me but I like to use my paws!

Well, I'll be off now as I'm on my way to the airport shortly. I will see you all very soon!

Love from Oscar. x x

PS Does anyone know what the Japanese writing at the top is?

Wicked, Watery Wednesday!

After a terrific, well-needed sleep, we awoke to another beautiful day of glorious sunshine.

Following ANOTHER hearty cooked breakfast, we went tunnelling commando-style and raft building. William was fearless underground!

Miss Hutchinson's group built a sturdy raft... which nearly kept them dry!

In the afternoon, Mr and Mrs D. went ringo-ing. Amy was awesome! The children staked a claim to Devon by carving their names into the sand. Much fun was had by all!



To round off Wednesday we all went crabbing! The children caught lots of crabs and learned how to tell the difference between males and females.

Tomorrow is the disco and we're all looking forward to a boogie!

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: It's a shorter update today with not many photos and no podcast - sorry! That's Devon Broadband for you... :-(

Sensational Summer Sailing at SWAC

Today year six took to the water at SWAC.

The activities were Pico sailing and Powerboat driving. The Pico sailing was enjoyable - steering in the right direction and staying in the boat proved challenging for some!

Most of the group had a turn at driving the Powerboats. Half went along the River Test and the other half, the River Itchen.

A fun day had by all in glorious sunshine.

Tan-tastic Tuesday!

Today year six took to the water and explored the coastline. We were ferried over to a beautiful strip of sandy beach by James Bond’s actual speedboat (honest…). The real stars of the ringos were James, William, Matt and Mitchell, who managed to cling on even when we were travelling at turbo speed!

The other half of the group went on an exciting coastal walk and discovered many creatures of the deep on their journey! A lucky few even found a starfish!

After a lightning lunch of sandwiches, crisps and fruit, half of the group embarked on the giant slide and low ropes course, whilst this morning’s ringo riders became mega mountaineers on the climbing tower.

We finished off the day by all having a fantastic session of pedal carting!



...and you can "hear all about it" on today's podcast!

Just another Manic Monday!

Surf's up at Knapp House as year six embarked on the beginning of their week of adventure. We were very lucky to have such fabulous weather; sun shining, not a cloud in the sky and the lovely warm sea!

We enjoyed surfing and body boarding in the afternoon, with great help from our instructors. After a much needed supper of pasta, chilli and pie, we scaled the heights of the climbing tower and risked it all on the 'Crate Stack of Terror'!

After some time relaxing with our friends, it is nearly time for bed. Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures!



You can hear what we thought of our surfing experience here in our mini podcast:

If I Could Turn Back Time....

It was Back to the 50s on Tuesday evening at Oakwood... (and the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s!) ...as everyone joined in celebrating the Dazzling Decades!

Our poetic narrators had to do some digging back into history to find Sandie Shaw, The Sweet, The Nolan Sisters and Kevin Keegan's perm!

Mrs Heathcock went into her attic to find some choice pieces for the fashion shows and the Songsters, the dancers and Mrs Spring all worked so hard to produce a fantastic, professional show!



We had some amazing soloists, magical musicians and we were very lucky to be joined by Paul Ibbot and students from Oasis Lord's Hill who played live for us!

A Dazzling Display from the Decades was enjoyed by a packed crowd (including someone with an "I ♡ WHAM!" scarf... Hmmmm!)

The collection on the door raised a grand total of £230, which will go towards the music department. Thanks for your support!

When was that again?

We're trying to make much more information available to you online.

As from today, you can see live Diary Dates on the school website. Just click on the...



...link on oakwoodlive.net

This will bring up a page with the calendar below, where you can see everything which is going on. (You can even print a copy for the fridge door!)



If you use iGoogle or GMail, you can copy events over to your own calendar by clicking on them!

A Sunny Day at the Fete...

Not a drop of rain (even though we thought it was going to throw it down!)

Mrs Handley-Garland, Mr Chafe and the OSA committee worked really hard to give the Oakwood Schools another excellent Summer Fete!

There was a huge variety of games and stalls in both schools, a bouncy castle to bounce on and hot dogs and ice cream to eat. The Junior School Let's Get Cooking stall was a great success - all the cakes went very quickly!

But the highlight of the day was Mrs Worley's Weigh-In for her sponsored slim...

Did she make her target?

YES! She has lost well over 10% of her body weight and raised over £300 for charity! (She's now setting a new target, so keep supporting her!)

Thanks for coming to Fete and supporting our schools. You helped everyone have a great time and helped us raise a massive total of...

£2013.85!

Thanks again!

Oakwood's PosterShop

Great News!

We can now turn your digital pictures or other documents into

Giant A1 Sized Posters

using our new Poster Maker!



Why not print out a giant family portrait for display or as a gift?

If you have a special birthday or anniversary coming up, create a montage of photos and we can print a poster for you. If you want to supply details with your photos, we can even design the poster for you.

You can bring in your photos or documents on CD, memory stick or camera card and we will do the rest. You can even email your photos to postershop@oakwoodlive.net and send in payment with your child.

A1 posters cost only £5!

(These can cost anything up to £25 at a High Street Print Shop!)

For an A2 poster, it's £4.

For very special pictures, we can print onto high quality canvas, which you can attach to an artist's frame for an extra special gift. Please ask about prices for this service.

Oscar at Movie World...

Hello all,

As I've been working so hard in school here over the past few weeks, my hosts decided they would treat me to a day out at Warner Brothers Movie World on The Gold Coast. I had such a fun day!

I was allowed to walk around the film sets and pretend I was a film star whilst I had several photos taken, and of course there are some big rides there too. I was a bit scared about going on some of them, my hosts are braver than me! We met some real Movie stars like Batman and Scooby Doo!!



Well, as you may know, I'm about to return to Oakwood very soon. I have a couple more weeks here with a special trip planned for next week which I will let you know all about soon. In the meantime, I've started packing my bags.

I've had a great time living "Down Under". It's been a wonderful experience of a new country and different culture. There's no place like home though!! See you all soon!

Oscar. x

Thrilling 6CD!

Today, 6CD had a fantastic time learning the Thriller dance from Emma Mear, Dance Coach at Oasis.



"We loved learning the zombie move and pretending to be Michael Jackson" commented Ryan!

The Aussie SATs!

Hello Folks!

How are you all doing?

I'm sorry I haven't been in touch for a while.....I have been soooooo busy!!

How did you all go with your SATS a few weeks ago? I thought I'd be able to escape them whilst I'm here in Brisbane, but no such luck, they have them here too! They are called NAPLAN here: National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy, and they have to do them in years 3, 5, 7 and 9!

Last month I went on a school camp...it was awesome!

Unfortunately the photos the teachers took of me have gone astray so you can't see what I got up to, but I can tell you I had great fun. We stayed up really late both nights and during the day we did high rope climbing, abseiling, raft building and canoeing! On the last night we had a disco and a trivia quiz. I had such fun.

I hope you are all being good at Oakwood....and that the sun is warming up as you are going into summer. It's autumn here now, but it's really nice weather. I'm still in my shorts and t-shirt at school!

Bye for now

Oscar x

The Top Gear exhibition was our favourite! We especially loved the limos the presenters had made!

The Mr Bean car was very popular!

Year 2 Beaulieu Motor Museum Trip

We all loved the very fast cars!

Stop, Look, Listen, Live!

Can you find this sign at our school....?

Year 1 Manor Farm trip!

We discovered there were no fridges!

Year 1 Manor Farm Trip

We had lots of fun at the farm....