Year 6 have been letting their boots do the talking this term as they learn how to line dance. Lots of fun and laughter is being had by everyone, as they are taught to perform both the moves and attitude of the dance. After only 2 weeks we think they are doing such a great job we thought you would like to take a look.
We are really enjoying using I Can Animate on the MacBooks!
Here is a cartoon animated by Tate:
What a busy time we've been having in year 5 recently! Yesterday we had another fantastic trip as part of our Up, Up and Away topic. We started the day by visiting the INTECH Science Centre in Winchester. The children loved having the opportunity to be 'hands-on' with dozens of different science experiments. After that we were treated to a show inside INTECH's planetarium. We heard all about our Solar System, about stars and constellations and how the Earth spins in its axis. It was brilliant!
In the afternoon we went to another University, this time Southampton University and had a lecture by a professor who works there all about Space. It was thoroughly entertaining and we discovered lots of new information which will help us with our topic work.
Well done to all of year 5 for having a great day and being brilliantly well behaved!
Year 6 have been making delicious toasties to keep their energy levels up in this cold weather. They used the new sandwich toasters, obtained from the Sainsbury's voucher scheme, to make a range of both sweet and savory toasties. They then got to use the new breadmaking machine when they created a tasty spiced raisin bread. Lots of fun was had by all and many hungry bellies were filled too!
Year 3 have had a fantastic day today! We had a World War 2 Day and lots of children came in dressed as evacuees, complete with gas mask boxes and name labels.
Have a look at our fashion parade:
We started the day by going on a 'train' to the countryside, and then being picked by our new families.
Then we went to our 1940's classrooms (complete with blackboard and chalk) to write postcards home to our loved ones. We followed this by playing a traditional game of 'Beetle Drive'.
Finally, after a good old-fashioned sing song, we had our tea dance. Lots of parents came to join the fun, and one or two even took to the dance floor for either a jitterbug or a waltz. We tasted some food made with rationed ingredients and finished the dance with an air raid siren (we all hid under the tables to take shelter!).
We all had a lovely day and we would like to thank all the parents who came to join the fun and also those who provided a tasty rationing recipe for the children to try. We would also like to thank all the staff who made this day possible.
Both Oakwood Schools will be open as normal on Monday 6 December.
There may be still one or two pavements, and possibly some paths on the schools' site, which have ice on them, so please take care on your journey to and from school.
Thank you for your understanding last week when we weren't able to open because of the snow. As you can see from the pictures taken by Mr Barrett, it would have been almost impossible to clear safe paths around the site, and journeys to and from school for your families and the staff would have been dangerous.
Thank you to Sam for the very first photo of a Snowman!
Mr Barrett also gave me a photo of two snowy pupils who made it to school despite the weather - he said they had been waiting there all night to see if the school was open...
And who is that messing about in the snow...?
I also had a snowem from Charlotte called The Shivering Snow...
Both Oakwood Schools will remain closed on Friday 3 December.
This is out of concern for the safety of pupils, parents and staff travelling to and from school.
Tonight's weather is likely to lead to exceptionally bad travelling conditions tomorrow morning. The temperature is forecast to dip to -6°C just before dawn, which will make refrozen roads and pavements treacherous. On top of that, freezing fog is forecast, which is likely to make visibility very poor.
The forecast for Saturday is much warmer - a balmy 5°C! - and so should see a good deal of the snow and ice thawing.
Both schools expect to be open as normal on Monday morning, barring any worsening of conditions.
We realise that this closure will inconvenience some of you, but we do not take the decision to close lightly, as you will remember from when we were open in the snow in January. This fall of snow has been much heavier and safety has to come first. We thank you for your continued support.
Please keep your eyes on the blog for news about re-opening.
We have just heard from the Southampton Schools Music Association that the Guildhall Carol Concert tonight has been cancelled.
Although this is very disappointing, we think it's the best decision given the circumstances.
We await to hear whether it can be rearranged, given all the hard work the staff and children have put into rehearsals, and we'll keep you informed.
Any parent who has bought tickets via the school will receive a full refund. If you bought your tickets direct from the Guildhall, please contact them for information.
Hello! Oscar here! Just the sort of weather us bears like!
Make sure you stay safe and warm today in the snow while the school is closed.
Both Oakwood schools will be closed today (Thursday 2 December) because of the considerable overnight snow.
Police have warned people not to travel. Many bus services are cancelled and lots of local roads have not been gritted.
Please keep your eyes on the blog as we hope to update throughout the day.
We expect that the Guildhall Concert tonight will also be postponed or cancelled, but we will post information later in the day.
This week both Year 5 classes had a super time at Solent University. We had the opportunity to use computers to control robotic arms, just like undergraduate students in technology at the University do. The children had to use the skills they had learnt in our instructions lessons in English (as well as their brilliant ICT skills) to make the robot arm pick up and stack four objects - it was much more difficult than it looked!
The children also had a lesson from a real University lecturer in fashion design and decorated their very own t-shirts, which they wore home after the trip.
Finally, all the children had a go at having a graduation photograph.
A brilliant day was had by all!
On Saturday 20 November, a large group of children from Oakwood Junior school had the amazing opportunity to attend the Saints match versus Peterborough. Saints were celebrating 125 years and offered free tickets to local schools. As apart of the experience, the children were asked to wear a t-shirt representing a community project run at Oakwood and walk around the pitch at half time.
The children had a fantastic time and enjoyed a 4-1 victory, with three of the goals being scored in front of the Chapel stand.
Click here to view our photos on the Saints Website - keep clicking through the goal photos to spot our children.
The City Council has advised us to remind you of our procedures for severe weather, especially if this causes the schools to close.
As you may be aware, very low temperatures have been forecast for southern England this weekend.
Although it is not clear how badly this will affect Southampton, it is likely that the city will see some snowfall, and that staff and pupils may experience difficult travelling conditions.
Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools will remain open if at all possible, but if conditions mean that it is unsafe for staff or pupils to come to school, then closure may be necessary.
We will make any decision as early as possible in the event we need to close.
Information will be available on the school website blogs, BBC Radio Solent, and Southampton Online. You may also receive a text message from the school.
If the bad weather doesn’t arrive, you can assume that we will be open as normal unless you hear otherwise.
Thank you for your continued support.
The City Council has advised us to remind you of our procedures for severe weather, especially if this causes the schools to close.
As you may be aware, very low temperatures have been forecast for southern England this weekend.
Although it is not clear how badly this will affect Southampton, it is likely that the city will see some snowfall, and that staff and pupils may experience difficult travelling conditions.
Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools will remain open if at all possible, but if conditions mean that it is unsafe for staff or pupils to come to school, then closure may be necessary.
We will make any decision as early as possible in the event we need to close.
Information will be available on the school website blogs, BBC Radio Solent, and Southampton Online. You may also receive a text message from the school.
If the bad weather doesn’t arrive, you can assume that we will be open as normal unless you hear otherwise.
Thank you for your continued support.
Year 5 have had a brilliant time this week building robots with the help of Solent University. The children worked in pairs to construct their robot and then had to work out how to modify the design because unfortunately the robots did not travel in a straight line! They had to follow some complicated instructions, which they were great at as this is our current English topic, and try hard at working as a team.
After lots of discussion, many groups worked out how to adapt their robot so it would travel in one direction and we finished the afternoon by having a robot race!
Thank you Solent University for coming in to work with us!
We were very lucky to receive 30 free tree saplings when we ordered resources with our Sainsburys Active Kids vouchers. Sainsburys teamed up with the Woodland Trust to provide schools across the UK with free tree or bush packs. The tree packs have been funded by donations from Sainsbury's 'Woodland' brand of free range eggs and chickens.
We have a range of trees: cherry plum, hazel, dog rose, black thorn, dogwood, elder and crab apple.
Yesterday, Year 4 spent the afternoon planting the saplings around our school field. Well done Year 4 - you did a great job. Everyone really enjoyed it, take a look at the photos to see for yourself.
They have been marked with plastic markers in the hope that they don't get stepped on! They are very small and fragile at the moment!
We will look forward to observing them grow and identifying which trees are which. Maybe in the future we will be able to use the fruit grown on the trees in cooking at school.
Year 3 continued Oakwood's tradition of honouring Remembrance Day with a visit to Hollybrook Cemetery today.
Before we went, we talked about the importance of buying and wearing poppies, and what the poppy represents. We then made our own poppies with special messages of respect written on them.
After laying our wreath at the Cenotaph, we looked at the World War 1 and World War 2 graves.
Year 3 were a credit to the school. They showed respect at all times and behaved very well. Well done Year 3!
Long before Oakwood Junior School was built, this area was all open woodland. The houses and the schools were built by cutting a big section out of Lordswood, which you can see on the aerial photo below...
The creatures which lived in Lordswood before the building started are still at home here, which means we get to see the most amazing woodland spiders, especially in Autumn. This one has made her home right outside the Admin Office windows...
As part of their topic work on Ancient Eygpt, Year 6 have been getting crafty this week creating their own unique scarab beetles.
These bugs were worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians because they represented new life. Images of the beetle were engraved in hieroglyphics and carved into many amulets and jewellery that the Egyptians wore. Amazingly, fossils of scarab beetles have been dated back 40 million years. The Egyptians considered them extremely good luck and so we are hoping that they bring a little of that luck to Year 6 in their final year at Oakwood.
As well as beetle making, Year 6 have been using watercolours to create their own Egyptian Sunset paintings. Take a look at some of our finished work.:-
Members of the Respect Drumming Club represented the school at the UN Flag Raising Ceremony which took place at Southampton Civic Centre on Friday 22 October. We were joined by drummers from Tanners Brook Junior School.
The UN Flag Raising Ceremony takes place all around the world and shows commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Year 6 C.S.I Forensic Crime Busters!
Last week Year 6 were lucky enough to be visited by Kate and James from Solent University, who also work in the field of forensic science. They came into school with loads of exciting scientific equipment, in order to help us learn how to gather evidence to solve crimes. We learnt how to lift and read fingerprints; make a foot cast; what measurements we would need to take from a suspect and how to test and identify different chemical powders.
We also got to visit Warsash Maritime Museum, where Kate and her team had set up a crime scene for us to investigate. We all had so much fun and learnt a lot about this field of science. We also got to use and apply a lot of the skills we are learning at school:- team work, problem solving and lots and lots of maths. We had a BRILLIANT time!
As we worked hard we managed to solve the clues and crack the crime, therefore we all graduated. Take a look at how smart we all look!
Oscar also enjoyed getting involved. Take a look a at Oscar the crimebusting bear!
Oakwood's House Captains and Vice Captains for 2010-11 have been elected!
Here they are proudly wearing their new badges...
...and they are excited about leading their Houses this year.
Their first job was to find a way of displaying their House's attendance certificates. Every week, the House with the best attendance is awarded a certificate in assembly. Watch out on our new display to see which House is in the lead!
On Friday year 5 had a fantastic day as passengers on the Titanic. During this half term we have been researching survivors of the Titanic have written some super diaries in role as these passengers. On Friday we arrived dressed-up as these real passengers and recreated the departing day of the famous ship.
We began by having passport photos taken. Then we made our passports and tickets - making sure to remember which class of passenger we were.
Later on, tickets and passports were checked and we were finally able to embark on the journey of a lifetime! Once we were inside the ship of dreams, the elegant first class passengers performed a graceful waltz. After that, the third class passengers treated guests to an Irish jig (we were pleased that all third class passengers passed their health checks).
Finally, all passengers enjoyed delicious scones prepared earlier and all were confident that nothing would go wrong on Titanic's maiden voyage...
Year 2 had a topic all about famous people. Take a look at the famous people they found out about for their homework!
This weekend Alice took me to the Cancer Research 10K Race on Southampton Common.
I saw lots of people connected to Oakwood Junior and Infant Schools, and thought they all did a wonderful job raising money for
charity.
And I got to wear the medal at the end...
We would like to welcome everyone back to school. A big hello to our new Year R children!!!
After being fabulous gardeners at Mrs Larder's allotment, we needed to find a way to use the lovely raspberries which we picked from her fruit trees.
Our Macmillan Coffee Morning gave us the perfect opportunity!
We used the raspberries to make some delicious white chocolate and raspberry muffins to sell for the coffee morning. (We also made some scrummy chocolate cornflake cakes too!).
Unfortunately, we weren't able to taste the muffins, because they we so tasty, they sold out really quickly! However, we didn't worry too much because we had our own sponge cakes on the coffee morning which we were allowed to decorate with icing and a variety of sprinkles! It was lots of messy, tasty fun! But more importantly, we raised lots of money for Macmillan too.
Year 3 have been very bust since the beginning of term!
As part of our topic this half term, we have been learning about plants. We know what each different part of the plant does, and are beginning to understand what we need to do to keep plants growing healthily.
Mrs Larder helped us with this, because last week we walked to her allotment. She told us all about the different plants, vegetables and fruit that she grows there, and we were allowed to pick some raspberries, apples and runner beans. Then, we completed a quiz! Mrs Larder had labelled all of her plants with numbers, and we had to match them up with the plants on our sheet.
When we got back to school, we used what we learned about how to look after plants in order to grow our own seeds.
We have been growing runner bean seeds. We made sure we planted them well in soil and watered them regularly.
A week later, and haven't they grown! We have been keeping a diary of their progress and the last time we looked, some of our beans had grown more than 20cm! We are now keeping them close to the window, because we have learned that plants' leaves use sunglight to make food.
Year 5 had a fantastic day at the Southampton Boat Show today!
All sorts of boats and anything to do with boats were on display, so we went on working boats, pleasure boats, safety boats and luxury boats, big boats and small boats!
We had a tour of the RV Callista, which is a research vessel operated by the National Oceanography Centre right here in Southampton. We loved the infra-red camera which showed temperature rather than colour - they use that camera deep in the sea to show the temperatures creatures live in.
We also learned about the RNLI and the fact that they get no government funding to save lives around our coasts.
The luxury Sunseeker and Princess luxury yachts were amazing and so new and clean that we had to wear special overshoes on our feet to stop the dirt getting in. The one we liked best cost about £12 million... perhaps we'll get two!
We also got chance for lots of fun and games at the Calshot Stage Show, Heart FM, the GirlGuiding Rowing Machine and the University of Southampton, where we got helium balloons, played games and drew pirates... "Shiver me timbers, you salty old sea dogs!"
4MM were lucky to be the first class to sample rock'n'roll dancing with dance teacher Hayley Warman-Johnston.
Every class will get to try out this fun dancing style before Christmas.
Sainsburys vouchers have funded this fantastic opportunity so thanks to everyone for collecting so many!
Enjoy your rock'n'rolling!!
My time in Canada has come to an end - just in time for me to return to school tomorrow morning!
The last stop on my trip was Vancouver...
...which is a large city on the west coast of Canada. Like many North American cities, it is full of skyscraper buildings:
Vancouver has one of largest city parks in the whole continent, called Stanley Park. It is a great place to spot more wildlife like the Canada Goose and grey (but really black!) squirrel below:
Stanley Park also celebrates Native American culture, as you can see from the totem poles exhibit here:
It has been an eventful summer, but I am refreshed and ready to start the new term. Hope you all are too!
See you tomorrow!
Hello again!
I have travelled nearly 200 miles along the "Icefields Parkway" and have arrived in Jasper. The roadside had some stunning views. Here I am at Peyto Lake (I had to climb a really steep hill to get here!):
This is the Columbia Icefield. It is a large area of ice wedged between two mountains. The ice here is as deep as the Eiffel Tower (in Paris) is tall!
During my travels through the Rockies, I have met many of my Canadian cousins. It was great to see them, even if they are much bigger than me!
However, it was the real wildlife that was the most exciting. The Rockies is home to lots of beautiful, wild animals - and some of them are quite scary! In the photos below, you will see a mule deer (can you work out why it's named after a mule?), red squirrel, beavers, mountain goats and a beautiful stag.
If you look REALLY closely, you will see a coyote in this photo. (Sorry it's very far away, but it wasn't safe to get much closer!)
The highlight of my trip was seeing some real bears! This is a photo of a black bear (from behind!)...
...and this is a grizzly bear!
These bears are a very important part of the environment in this part of Canada, and must be treated with great respect.
Well, my time in the Rockies has come to an end. Now I am boarding a train which will take 18 hours to reach Vancouver, which is a big city on the west coast of Canada. Speak to you soon!
I travelled 9 hours on a plane in order to get to Calgary, which is in Western Canada. It's the gateway to the Canadian Rockies - a massive area which is surrounded by lots of mountains.
I started off in a little town called Banff, which is a ski resort in the winter. It is also the name of a National Park, which means that the area is very special and beautiful, so has to be protected. I went on some great walks - here is a picture of me next to Lake Louise...
...and here I am at Emerald Lake:
The water in these lakes is always incredibly blue, no matter what the weather. If you can find out why, leave a comment at the end of the blog and the first person to get the correct answer will win a prize!
I also let my adventurous side out on my holiday. I walked along the side of Johnstone Canyon and even went tree climbing!
I'm now on my way to another little town called Jasper. I have to drive nearly 200 miles along a stretch of road called the "Icefields Parkway" to get there, so keep looking on the blog for my next instalment!
Hello! I hope you are enjoying your holidays!
Today, I travelled through the inside of a mountain on a train in Germany, sat in some snow in the middle of summer, went on a cable car through the clouds and walked into another country!
The Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany - it's in the Bavarian Alps.
This year, the House Cup was a really close run thing...
Over the year, children earned a grand total of
100,424
House Points!
And yet only 341 points separated 2nd place from first!
Oriana's House Captain accepted the House Cup this afternoon!
Lots of our Year 6 Leavers' gathered early this morning for a final breakfast together as they faced the tears and emotion (we hope!) of their final day at Oakwood.
Thanks to Mrs DiMaiolo's superb negotiating skills (and determination!), all the food and drink had been donated by Tesco (Every Little Helps!) and Sainsburys (Whatever their slogan is...!)
It was a really lovely way to end the term and the start of a day of celebration and remembering...
We will miss you, Year 6!
(And in other news, 6CD's lunch trolley made it to the end of term! Hooray! - see photos above!)
We quite often get mentioned in newspapers and publications, but we think we have really done well this time!
Lloyds List is the World's oldest newspaper, first published in 1734 - nearly 300 years ago!
It's published every day of the week and keeps people in the shipping and maritime industries up to date with latest developments - so it's a particularly important read for lots of people who work on the ships which come in and out of Southampton docks.
We made a recent edition because of our Year 6 visit to Whitaker Tankers. Here's what they said...
"SEAFARERS of the future were put through their paces at the Whittaker Merchant Navy base in Southampton.
Year six pupils from Oakwood Junior School, Southampton, have paid a visit to Whittaker Tankers’ Whitchallenger and Solent towage tugs Tenax and Apex as part of an educational awareness scheme led by Whittaker’s director, Ashley Jenkins.
The pupils experienced the workings of merchant vessels, including navigation, seamanship, engine room and pump room operations. Youngsters had the opportunity to don a fireman’s outfit, learn a few knots and to round it off,watch the tugs depart with fire monitors running.
The programme could now be extended to other schools and colleges."
You can read the article from the actual paper too!
Year 6 have put on their last performance at Oakwood tonight as they go out in style this week.
They have been rehearsing long and hard for their production of....
...which is a tale of school trips, important visitors, teachers and TAs, all told from a typical family breakfast table.
It has great songs, a lot of laughs, a few home truths about family and school life and a headteacher getting gunged! (Nearly!)
As you might expect, there were one or two tears in the audience as children took their very last Oakwood Bow!
Well done, Year 6! You have been a real credit to us, your parents and yourselves!
Year 5 had a rocking time at Oasis Academy on Friday afternoon, performing in a Rock Challenge and competing against pupils from Fairisle Junior School...
They had been practising for a while, but the disc kept breaking down, so thanks to Paul Ibbot at Oasis for keeping us supplied with extra ones!
A great time had by all! Well done, Oakwood, and thanks, Oasis!
As mentioned in a previous Knapp blog, group 14 completed the 'Towers of Hanoi' game in the quickest time so far this summer, even beating all the Secondary school children! Here is the proof...
WOW! What a fantastic Sizzling Sunny Summer Sports Day!
Last year it rained twice and a couple of years ago it was just too hot, but this year's Sports Day went off exactly as planned, with everyone having a fantastic time!
There were some individual events, such as javelin, discus and shot put and some more traditional sports day events, such as the hurdles, sprints, skipping and the egg and spoon race.
Every child got to have a go at every event, scoring points for their House Team as they went along...
We would like to say a huge thank you to the Sports Leaders from Oasis Academy Lord's Hill, some of whom are ex-Oakwood pupils, for their professionalism and support during the morning.
It was a close run thing, but this year, Aurora pipped the other three houses and came out on top!
Well done to everyone in Aurora - a new name on the House Cup this year!
Year 6 had an amazing week with Chris and the team from Southampton City Mission.
We learned all about Christian beliefs through the telling of the Christian story, which started with Creation, moving onto how things changed with the story of Moses and the 10 plagues, finishing with how Jesus came to help people put things right.
Some of the exciting activities we took part in were: designing a dream city, making a magic 'flicker' book and helping 'Eggbert' to climb a mountain, parachute safely back to land and fly as far as he could to reach home!
When you look through the photographs, look out for a trick being played on Miss Denton too!
Miss Denton, Mrs Collins, Miss Beavill and all the year 6 children would like to say a huge thank you for all the hard work Chris and his team put into making this such an exciting week for us all!
Stand and Deliver!
We had a fantastic first day in Year 6. We quickly got to work reading our new class novel 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes. It is an exciting poem about a doomed love affair between a highwayman and a landlord's daughter.
We choose one of the first three lines of the poem to illustrate. A range of different pens were available for us to use. Amazing work was produced-here are some for you to admire.
by Shelby Wasey (5LD and 6MC)
We have some budding authors in our midst here atOakwood Junior School. Lots of children recently entered a writing competition called "Frozen in Time" (which is also the title of one of Ali Sparkes's children's books!). The children were challenged to write any type of writing about being stuck in a particular time period.
Waterstones, who were running the competition, were amazed at the quality of the pieces they received. They found it very hard, but eventually chose an overall winner (out of 2 schools) and a runner up, both from Oakwood! Congratulations to Amy and Amie-Megan!
Amy won a complete set of Ali Sparkes books, signed by the author, and Amie-Megan won a signed copy of Ali's most recent release, "Wishful Thinking". Both girls had the opportunity to meet Ali Sparkes and chat to her, prior to her public book signing, last Saturday, at Waterstones in West Quay.
Not only that, but ALL the entries from Oakwood were on display to the public in the shop, and some of the entrants even came along to meet the author and get books signed.
Well done to Oakwood Writing Superstars!
OJS Dance club showed some serious talent yesterday when they performed at the Turner Sims Concert Hall at Southampton University.
Joining together with lots of other schools from all over Southampton, they spent the day sharing dance moves and watching lots of other talented youngsters from all over the city.
Performing 'Broken Heels' and 'Ciara 1,2 steps', they were hugely popular and were given a very loud cheer.
Many thanks to Emma Maeer, dance coach, for helping the team put their routines together - they did you proud!
Here is the final evidence of a fantastic week at Knapp House 2010! Can you believe we crammed so much into just one week? We had such amazing weather, company and of course, activities...I think we all could have stayed another week!
Year 6 had a fantastic morning at Whitaker Tankers today.
We learnt how to tie a reef and bowline knot, saw how radar worked and pretended to fight a fire onboard!
The Captain decided to play a trick on us when we were investigating the meaning of the flags flying at the bow of the ship. After deciphering the flags, we discovered that he was telling us a submarine might be passing by! Definitely not possible at dock gate 4!
Thank you to everybody at Whitaker Tankers for such a unique and fun experience.
Our last morning at Knapp House was as busy as ever!
Group 14 braved the crate stack and crawled their way through the tunnels of doom!
Group 15 and 15 spent the morning soaking up the sun on the beach and feeling the wind flying through their hair as they ringo-ed around the River Torridge!
What a fantastic end to a fantastic week!
All that was left to be was pack up and say goodbye to the sheep!
Thank you to all the staff at Knapp House who made our week so brilliant!
A very hot and sweaty Oakwood crew tumbled out of the 'bar' at 11pm!
After dancing the night away to Lady Gaga and Beyonce, which included a fantastically acted rendition of 'Single Ladies' by the boys and a giant conga line all around the site, we made our way to the field for some stargazing.
We spent some time reflecting on our best moments of the week, then a tap on the shoulder meant it was time for bed and our last 'knapp' at the house!
This afternoon it was group 15 and 16's turn to abseil down the Great Tree of Terror. As you can see from the photos, it was not an easy feat, but by the end of the session everyone was scampering up and down like monkeys!
Swapping vantage points, Group 14 braved the abseil tower; they gritted their teeth and drew upon every ounce of strength and determination to reach the top!
As this blog is being written, the air is thick with deodorant, hairspray and anticipation, as everybody puts on their best clothes ready for the DISCO!
After busting a few moves, we are going to have a relaxing end to the holiday stargazing before bedtime. Is it really our last night? It has gone so quickly!
This morning group 14 gazed down at Knapp House from the dizzying heights of the mighty abseil tree.
Before anyone could say 'vertigo', Ashleigh was flying 'like an angel' (group joke, sorry!) down the rope!
Meanwhile, Miss Denton took considerably longer to get up the tree. The whole group, plus Josh and Lewis P, helped hoist Miss D into the upper branches of the tree - we didn't think the huge cooked breakfast this morning helped!
We also played some fantastic brain teaser games such as 'The Towers of Hanoi' using car types and '15 Rusty Nails' using, not surprisingly, rusty nails!
We were officially the fastest group to complete 'The Towers of Hanoi' this summer, demonstrating our great teamwork and logical thinking skills!
See what group 14 have been up to below. Look closely at the 'Observation' photograph. Can you spot something that shouldn't be there?!?
A few sheep fields over, groups 15 and 16 were navigating the low rope course. A test of balance and co-ordination skills, many of us nearly ended up being tied in knots!
Yesterday evening we had huge amounts of fun go-karting!
From team relays to drag racing, we learnt a thing or two about steering a moving vehicle and when to use the brake!
Mrs Adams was disqualified for cheating! We decided that Brayden needed to wear 'L' plates as he crashed spectacularly into the fence, and Hannah D's feet appeared to be on fire as she zoomed around the course!
A great evening...even if the helmets were not exactly fashionable according to the girls!
We awoke to another sunny morning in North Devon. After a hearty breakfast all three groups hit the beach surfer style!
After squeezing into our wetsuits, we grabbed our surfboards and bodyboards and rode the waves. Everybody had lots of fun and Elliot and Cameron were proper surfer dudes - they nearly stood up on their boards! Following many wipeouts we headed back to base for lunch; wet, weary, but very, very proud and happy!
In the afternoon, group 14 'water babies' ringo-ed around the River Torridge, clinging to the inflatable ring for dear life (or to simply avoid a mouthful of salty sea water!) We were then given a lift in a speedboat back to camp, pulling some scary 'doughnut' moves along the way!
Meanwhile, group 15 and 16 were scaling the heights of the climbing tower...you will have to wait for the video to see this fantastic feat! As if this was not enough excitement for one day, after celebrating England's victory over Slovenia we are now just about to head off for some go-karting!
Year 4 have been very lucky this week to use a set of Macbooks to complete their English work.
They had the challenge of writing their own film review of Charlotte's Web which is also our current class novel. It has been wonderful for the children to have the opportunity to work on the Macbooks in the classroom.
Yesterday, Year 5 cool cricketers played a tournament at Fairisle Junior School run by Testlands Multisport Coaching.
The standard of cricket was really high, with fours and sixes being hit and wickets being bowled. Oakwood team won their heats and made it to the final where they came runners up by just 4 runs. The team would like to thank Dan Annetts and the Sports Leaders for their superb coaching over the past 10 weeks, which helped them reach the final. It was a fantastic afternoon with all the family schools. Well done, Oakwood!
Crashing, splashing canoe Tuesday!
After our canoe boat drills in the swimming pool yesterday, we left for the unchartered waters of the lake!
Working as a team we had to paddle and race the 'dragon boat', 'Canadian canoe' and 'blue raft' across the murky depths, hoping not to capsize...although there were a number of voluntary man overboards!
After a yummy lunch, we walked down to Appledore in the sunshine to catch some crabs. It was fantastic to fill the bucket full of crabs of all colours and sizes.
We were then taken for a spin in the speedboat, James Bond style, we were all certainly thrilled.
Once we had finished zooming around the River Torridge, some of us spent our pocket money on clotted cream ice creams, yum! We were very glad we had decided to do this after the speedboating!
This evening we are looking forward to our Coastal Walk at Westward Ho! (Do you know why this name has an exclamation mark at the end of it? We do!)
Check out out fab day below...
What have group 14 been up to?
Well, this afternoon they were wet and wild in the water, practising their strokes and capsizing techniques to be let loose on the lakes tomorrow!
Later in the evening, they had to use their initiative and team building skills to get around the low ropes course and we are here to tell you that some of it is more difficult than it looks!
Each person needed 'spotters' for each section of the course to help them with hand and foot holds and to be there should the inevitable happen...(in other words if they fell off!)
See how they got on below....
Crate stacking is a really excellent example of the kind of Knapp House activities which demand teamwork...
18 children from groups 15 and 16 worked together to build the highest crate stack possible, with three team members at a time taking turns to be the climbers.
Other group members passed up the crates and three sets of three people "belayed" for them. (This means they pulled the ropes through the safety locks and kept them tight so that when the crates fell over, their team mates were safe...)
We used special time lapse photography to capture one group's work...
On a very sunny day, the first thing groups 15 and 16 did when we got here was to get very warm and very dusty boiler suits on and go underground! (Group 14 were cooling off in the pool, more of them later...)
It's a quick hop over the fence to the Big Field of Tunnels (guarded by the Big Scary Sheep).
Now, it's not easy on a sunny day to bury yourself away underground like a Womble, but every one of the team managed it! If you're a bit worried about the dark, or being underground, or being in small spaces, you had to be especially brave to go into the tunnels.
But everyone came out smiling and had another go!
Well done!
Year 6 Knapp Housers have arrived safely in Devon after an unexpectedly long journey!
Firstly, our coach went to the wrong school first, but after we'd picked up our new friends from Fryern, we were on our way...
It's the summer solstice today - the longest day of the year. Where do lots of people go to celebrate the solstice? - Stonehenge! What did we have to go past on our journey? - Stonehenge! (So it was a bit busy!) (Especially with the Doctor being locked in the Pandorica underneath, eh, Miss Beavill?!)
We stopped at Cartgate for the loo and the staff decided a bacon sandwich would be order... (but just for the adults...!)
We were about an hour later arriving than normal because there was a v e r y l o n g traffic jam to get onto the M5, but we were straight into our activities... Keep your eyes peeled for more news!
By the way, just in case you want to know where Knapp House is...
(Zoom out to see where we are...)
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