Have fun at Half-Term!

Autumn half-term is a perfect time to get out and about!

Our latest newsletter tells you about 50 Things to do before you are 11¾!

This is a National Trust scheme to get children out and about doing all the things we tell them not to do!



Some examples are:

• Make a mud pie
• Go on a walk barefoot
• Cook on a campfire
• Eat an apple straight from a tree
• Catch a falling leaf
• Build a den!

Here's the full list!

We often say children can't do things because we think they might be too risky, but with proper thought and supervision, they normally can!

Children: make sure an adult always knows what you're planning to do and ask permission first!

A Happy Harvest!

Duncan from Southampton City Mission joined us for our Harvest Assembly this morning!

We also had Mr Charlesworth expertly playing the piano and Miss Patchett leading us in song! The signed poem was wonderful - everyone had learned it - and Years R, 1 and 2 sang to everyone, and the Songsters sang back.

It was also a good try-out for the new stage lights in the Key Stage 2 hall!

Duncan was really impressed with your very kind donations and the amazing singing of over 400 pupils.

He reminded us that he was saying Thank You to us and he reminded us to remember to say Thank You too!



(We hope Boots the Cat is OK!)

Y1 Bread Baking

We have been learning about symbols in Year 1. Bread is a symbol of God to Christians.



Miss Pratt and Mrs Abbott expertly helped us make our dough into a symbol of something special to us.

Maple Class Assembly

As a celebration of the topic "Around the World" Maple class rounded off the term with a show of "The world has got Talent" including performances from China, South Africa, New Zealand and Greece. We had our presenters and a panel of judges.



We all really enjoyed our whistle stop tour learning facts about the different countries.

Diwali Day

Diwali falls on November 3rd this year, but what is it?

That's the question Year 5 were learning to answer yesterday. Priti, a local Hindu woman from the Southampton Vedic Centre, shared the story of Rama and what it means to Hindus. We talked about the customs of Hindus, and found out how they will be celebrating Diwali this year.

Have a look at the rangoli designs we made, can you spot any 2D shapes while you are at it?

Y5 Get Cooking

The first meal on board the Titanic must be perfect to impress the fiendishly fussy first-class passengers. With these scrumptious scones, we knew we had a recipe for success. Let's just hope the jam is served at the right temperature!

Y5 Titanic Day and Home Learning Project

"All Aboard! The ship is now leaving Oakwood School for a cruise across the sea."

After fastidiously completing their passport and ticket details (corresponding to real passengers), our voyagers set sail. They showed off what they were wearing in a 1912 fashion show, followed by high-tea with their own hand-made scones. They then enjoyed a sedate first-class waltz and a frenzied third-class ceilidh.

Luckily, we made it back safe and dry for our incredible Home Learning Exhibition at the end of the day.

Meet the Passengers:



Boarding the Titanic:




1912 Catwalk:



Waltz and Celeidh:



Home Learning Exhibition:

Crazy for Patterns in Year R!

We have been learning about how to make repeating patterns. Have a look at all the different ways we have found to make patterns!

Fantastic Mathematics!

From Reception to Year 6, children were busy mathematicians this afternoon. We welcomed lots of parents, relatives and friends into Oakwood today so that we could show off some of our amazing maths skills. Many adults were challenged to a range of number, shape or problem solving activities using computers, interactive white boards, iPads, bee-bots - and of course, pencil and paper!

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and make the afternoon such a success.

Year 3 Super Science

Fantastic observations took place this morning in Year 3 Science Laboratory.

Lava lamps, Gloop, Liquid Layers & Magic Matchsticks and Soap Power experiments introduced the young scientists to careful observation skills, prediction, understanding scientific questions and drawing conclusions. We learned about the density of different liquids and had fun with science.

Junior PCSOs Report for Duty

No criminal within the grounds of Oakwood School was safe on Monday 21st October, as our very own Junior PCSOs were out on patrol. After being issued with radios, and being instructed on how to use them correctly, they were sent out to find suspects known to be lurking in our school grounds.



Markers revealing the names of fictitious criminals were placed at various points. All criminals were successfully located, and after radioing in for further details, our officers celebrated the identification of two shoplifters and even a stolen car. Does anyone recognise the registration - N5 JAP?

Good, Better, Best: Year 6 experience life as a Victorian pupil.

Year 6 took a step back in time today to experience life at school as a Victorian child. After paying their school fee with an authentic Victorian penny, they had nails and hair inspected before they settled down for a hard morning's learning under the strict Victorian school conditions.

In maths they learned all about farthings, pennies and shillings, whilst in English they got to write with real nibs, ink and blotting paper.

During recreation they played some traditional playground games and worked together to produce a class portrait of Queen Victoria.

Take a look at some of the photos from their day.

Year 5 Saints Water Talk

Last week Year 5 got a very special coaching session.

Two Saints Football coaches (as part of the Saints Foundation) exercised our water-conservation muscles. They explained how our water comes from the Itchen and Test rivers, how vital water is for our health and gave us some top tips so we don't waste water. We learned so much, we will definitely think twice the next time we leave the tap running!

Year 5 Extreme Reading

Can't choose between reading and climbing? Year 5 have the answer!

We got creative about choosing fun places to read. Everyone picked themselves an interesting place, then disappeared into their books. The children brought the action home too - they proved it with their own extreme reading photos!

Whoever said reading wasn't fun? (No-one in Oakwood!)

Year 3 decorate their WW2 time capsules

Year 3 have been having fun decorating their time capsules. The children have been working extremely hard on their topic work (which is inside their capsule) to give a snapshot into the life of an evacuee in the 1940's World War 2. Their boxes have been covered in soil and leaves as if it has just been discovered after many years. The children's work will be on display at the children's WW2 tea party.

Year 3 have a sandwich tasting session

As part of our topic and Design and Technology unit, Year 3 had the job of tasting and testing a variety of sandwiches.

This was in preparation for their given brief 'To design and make a sandwich for an evacuee's suitcase in 1940'.

The children began by thinking about how sandwiches are made and can be an important part of a healthy diet. We also discussed what 'manufacturing' meant and how sandwiches sales are recorded on databases and why. Look out for more blogs on our bread roll making and sandwich making!

Autumn Dance Year R

We have been learning about changes that take place in Autumn. We used scarves to create an Autumn leaf dance.

Year 6 Tasty Toasties

Year 6 enjoyed making a healthy and nourishing snack. Tasty toasties were on the menu last week and were enjoyed by all Year 6 pupils.

The Little Red Hen

We have been reading the story of 'The Little Red Hen' and made our own bread!! We have been learning about where wheat come from and used the computer programme 'Dazzle' to paint some pictures of the characters. We thought carefully about how the hen was feeling and wrote some speech bubbles.

No Pens Day in Year One

No pens Wednesday gave the children in year one some great opportunies to work in groups practising their speaking and listening skills.



In literacy, children worked in groups. Each group were given a 'story box' with characters and objects. They had to create a story from the items in the box and present their work to the class.

Bitterne Park Champions

The Y3&4 football team (who fought so valiantly on Monday, where they lost in the semi-final of the U10 City cup) traveled to Bitterne Park Secondary school on Wednesday morning to play the Chelsea sponsored Southampton School Games 6-a-side event.

All the boys performed superbly and were rewarded with some great results against;
Oakwood 2-0 Heathfield
Oakwood 4-1 Beechwood
Oakwood 4-0 Shirley Warren
Oakwood 1-0 Sholing

Semi-final
Oakwood 2-0 Bassett Green

Final
Oakwood 2-1 Sholing

As winners of the event the Oakwood team will now travel to the Chelsea FC training ground in Cobham, for a 'Tournament of champions' in the new year!

Well done to all the team!

Penalty Heartbreak for U10 football team

After the U11 football team lost out in the semi-final of their football tournament last week the U10 team hoped to make up by retaining the City U10 shield on Monday afternoon at Wide Lane.

Despite only taking Y4 children to the tournament Oakwood still looked like a team to avoid, as they made it through the group stage as winners remaining unbeaten in their five games. There results were;

Oakwood 1-0 Bittern Manor
Oakwood 2-1 Bitterne CE
Oakwood 1-1 Foxhills
Oakwood 1-0 Fairisle
Oakwood 0-0 St. Monica

Despite looking the better of the two teams in the semi-final clash against Holy Family RC Primary School     after normal time the game finished 1-1 and continued to extra-time and then penalties. Oakwood were then outscored on penalties with Holy Family winning 1-3.

A huge well done to the team who played brilliantly and a big thank you to all the parents who came to support the team.

Pumpkin Picking!

Six lucky Year 1 children went to visit the farm at the Countryside Education Trust in Beaulieu to collect some pumpkins for their pumpkin pie. They even had enough time to take a quick look around the farm!

The eco monitors and friends represented their whole year group on this important assignment.




We all got to taste the lovely pumpkin pie made by Miss Shore last year but this time the children got to go and see where the pumpkins came from and pick them themselves.

Year 2 No Pens Wednesday

Year 2 had a fantastic No Pens Wednesday, learning how to communicate without using their pens.

They learnt sign language, learnt a poem about a magic box, made skeleton shapes, pieced together a world map and made an information book teaching the Year R children about Year 2(using the Ipads).

Introducing our October 2013 Club of the Month

KS2 were joined in school today by Jim from Southampton Rugby Club. Southampton RFC are based just down the road at Test Park, in Redbridge and are our closest youth rugby club.

After a brief assembly each of our KS2 classes braved the strong winds and enjoyed a 30 minute rugby session in the sunshine with Jim. They learnt some passing, movement and basic tag rugby skills, with lots of children showing some excellent promise!




Southampton RFC play/train every Sunday from 10-12am at Test Park, Redbride, Southampton. They are always on the look out for youngsters from 7-16 years of age to join their teams. All of their coaches are CRB checked by the RFU and even offer all children four free sessions to get them started.

If your child enjoyed their rugby session today and would like to give rugby another go then you can contact Jim Everett on 07999810058 or visit their website.

Active shapes in Year 1

We have been learning about 2D shapes.
We used a skipping rope to create circles, squares, oblongs and triangles.



We had fun trying to make the sides straight and make sure there were the right number of corners.

Keeping Healthy in Year R

In Year R we have been learning about ways to look after ourselves and stay healthy. We have been passing around 'germ balls' to show how quickly germs can spread. We designed our own 'germs' on the computer using 'Dazzle' and have put them up on a display to remind us to....WASH OUR HANDS!

Year 3 Do No Pens Wednesday!

We had a great day learning alternative ways to using our pens. We did lots of fun activities some included: French games, French singing, speaking and listening activities. The children also had great fun taking part in circle time games and movement activities with TMC.

Is it a Bird...Is it a plane...?

No! It's Year 4 investigating friction and air resistance.

The Y4 Science topic this half term is friction and, having already investigated surface friction and water resistance, on Wednesday they moved on to air resistance.

Having decided on the best material and the best sizes to use they then set about creating a parachute which would use air resistance to protect their precious cargo...(Water balloons!)

Many groups managed to protect their balloon on the first drop, but only one survived the big drop!

City U11 Football Tournament

On Monday eight boys traveled the short distance to the Southampton Solent Wide Lane Sports Ground where they took part in the annual City U11 Football Tournament. As the previous year's U10 winners, Oakwood were one of the hot favourites to pick up the trophy this year too.

Having not conceded a goal and with four wins and a draw, team Oakwood topped the group and progressed to the semi-final where they met a very strong Bartley School. Despite having the better opportunities, it was Bartley who managed to claim a 0-2 win and progress to the final where they would play Fairisle Junior School.



Oakwood's Results were as follows:

Oakwood 3 - 0 Townhill
Oakwood 1 - 0 Charlton
Oakwood 0 - 0 Bitterne CE
Oakwood 2 - 0 Bassett Green
Oakwood 3 - 0 St Marks

Oakwood 0 - 2 Bartley

We were very proud of the entire team and will be celebrating them at school soon, including our goal scores and Man of the Match!

No Pen's Wednesday in Year 6.

No pens for Year 6 today. Instead we have been exploring how people communicate in different ways.
Through drama and storytelling, we have explored how it must feel like to arrive in a strange land where you do not understand the language and customs.We have used  music to convey our own stories and learnt a little bit about Morse code.

We have also learnt how challenging it is not to be able to use a pen but we have also discovered how important other forms of communication can be.

Junior PCSO Scheme in Year 6.

The Junior PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) scheme in Year Six has began in earnest. First of all we learnt the rules of PNB (Pocket note book).In these books there should be no ELBOWS-No Erasers, No Lines Crossed out, No Blank Spaces, No Over Writing and No Writing Between Lines.
We then learned to parade:

• Stand to attention arms length apart 
• hair to be up 
• shoes polished
• shirt tucked in

We then learned rank structure and how to address different officers.
Constable: use their name
Sergeant: Sergeant or sarge
Any officer above: Sir or Ma'am

We are having lots of fun so far and we are looking forward to the weeks ahead.




Watch out Mrs Collins we now have your fingerprints!
                                                                                                     
   Posted by Sejal and Sam.
                                                                                                                       

Year 6 Extreme Reading!

Last week Year 6 prepared to do some reading -Extreme reading to be precise! Take a look at our innovative ideas.

Sainsbury's Eco Gift

A big thank you to Sainsbury's Lordshill for their generous gift to contribute to the upkeep of our pond area in KS1.

The Eco Monitors are very grateful.

Traction Man Assembly

Elm have been the first KS1 class to perform in their class assembly.

They recreated the story of Traction Man and danced to Superman!



We hope everyone that came to see it enjoyed it!

House Captains are here!

After a lengthy selection process, which included application forms, speeches and a whole school electronic voting system, we finally have our 2013-14 House and Vice Captains.




They have already been fantastic ambassadors for the school by showing round parents of prospective 2014 Year R children.

We are very proud of them!

Year 3 Take Shelter at the Search WW2 Museum!

Year Three had a fantastic time on their trip to Search last week.

The trip gave the children a first hand experience into what it was like to live in the 1940s, focusing on World War 2.

Year Three became curators for the day investigating artefacts from the 1940s. Some children also had the opportunity to dress up and be put back in time!

Pupil Council for 2013 to 2014 in KS1

We have been voted in by our friends from our class! There are two Pupil Council members for each class.

Year 1 Fire Safety Day

Look at Year One's fantastic Fire safety day pictures.  We were lucky enough to have a visit from Hampshire Fire Service and have a go at some activities.  We rode on the fire engine, put out a pretend fire with a real hose and learned how to keep safe on the roads.  We had a wonderful day and learned some special rules.  If there is a fire, Get out, Stay out and phone 999!

Superhero Day!

Year 2 had an exciting Superhero Day as a finale of their topic.

We all dressed up as real life and fantasy superheros and took part in some super activities like cooking energy bars, writing persuasive adverts, making clay superhero sidekicks and creating information pages about ourselves!



Can you spot yourself in the pictures?

Y1 Self Portrait

We have been drawing our self portrait into our NEW sketch books.




We used mirrors to look at our features and then used pencil as our art medium.

We are enjoying using a sketch book to record our art!

Fun in the Foundation Stage!!

We have been busy having fun in our 'Explore and Discover Time' topic!