KS1 Personal Best PE day

On Friday KS1 children took part in the first of their six Personal Best PE days.

During the last week of each half term all the classes from KS1 will take on a number of agility, balance and co-ordination challenges where they will try to set new personal bests.

Friday's challenges were all based on balance. The children completed five different challenges in their session with each challenge having a number of difficulty levels to try and master.

All the children had a great time trying to beat their bests and are looking forward to their second Personal Best day next half term.

Titanic Day - Year 5

In the morning we designed our own passports and tickets in preparation for our journey.

We then lined up to have our tickets and passports checked and stamped before climbing aboard the Oakwood Titanic.

We celebrated our departure from Southampton with dancing (the Irish Jig and the Waltz) and then ate the scones we baked the day before.

As we crossed the Atlantic our celebrations were interrupted with an unexpected bump in the night. After reenacting the scene, the fate of the passengers was revealed. Each pupil has been writing as a Titanic passenger from 1912, for this half term.

Oakwood 4 - 2 Holy Family

The school football team played their third league game of the season after school on Thursday. The team visited Holy Family Catholic Primary School for the first time in a number of years in search of a third straight win.

The two teams had already met this year, with Oakwood winning on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the U11 Wide Lane Football Tournament.

Oakwood were again triumphant. Man of the Match, Gabe plundering all four goals in a 4-2 victory!

Autumn Patterns!

We have been learning to continue repeating patterns and create ones of our own! We used autumn objects that we found from around the playground. Can you figure-out what comes next?

Colourfully Creative Artwork in Year 6.

Inspired by the incredibly bold and imaginative abstract art work by Wassily Kandinsky, Year 6 put on the jazz music (his favourite genre) and created some masterpieces of their own. We are very proud of the results. Take a look:-

All Hands On Deck!!!

All hands on deck!! What a busy few days Year 5 have had!

In preparation for Year 5's Titanic day tomorrow, Year 5 have being preapring for the departure of Oakwoods Titanic tomorrow.

Our preparation has included: Making scones for our high tea, making 1st and 3rd class food menus for the tables, creating portholes and bunting to decorate the hall.

Have a look at our photos and look out for our blog of the fun we get up to on Titanic day tomorrow.

Y3&4 Club of the Month

With the excellent weather on Monday Y3 and Y4 finally got to enjoy their October Club of the Month session with Dean and Gary from Chilworth Golf Course.

Here's a few pictures from their sessions.

Baking bread like the Little Red Hen

Last week in Reception we were learning about Harvest. We read 'The Little Red Hen', and learnt about how wheat is cut down by the combine harvester, then milled into flour, then baked into bread. Just like the hen, we got to bake our own bread rolls! Fortunately though, our friends were happy to help. Yum!

Be Bright Be Seen

Due to the fact that the nights are getting longer, in assembly today KS2 have been learning the importance of wearing bright and reflective clothing when out at night.

GoRunForFun

Two teams of children, one from Y5 and one from Y2, made the walk up to the Outdoor Sports Centre today to take part in Southampton's GoRunForFun school event.

The children had to complete a cross county race around a mile of the Sports Centre's toughest hills. There were children from a whole range of Southampton schools to compete against. During the morning session Oakwood runners came home in a very impressive 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Well done to all the children who went and took part, and earned their race t-shirt! And a big thank you to Mrs Vaudin, Mrs Morgan, Ms Pratt and Mrs Wheeler for accompanying the teams.

'No Pens Wednesday' Maths in Year 6

As part of 'No Pens Wednesday' Year 6 pupils have been using string to learn the ancient Japanese method of multiplying using sticks. It's a great method which involves drawing lines and counting dots so you actually multiply without multiplying! Check it out on You Tube or even better ask a member of Year 6!

Year 1's Book Week

In year one we had a great time last week reading for pleasure!

We made some amazing reading dens, planned our perfect bedtime story, shared books with some of our grown ups and had lots of bed time stories with our cuddly toys and pillows!

What is your favourite book?
We hope you enjoy reading as much as we do!

Our October Club of the Month

Years 5&6 took part in our October Club of the Month today.

In a slight change to our normal Club of the Month programme each of our classes received a full hour lesson today from Dean, one of the golf pros from Chilworth Golf Club.

They had to brave the October rain and wind, but the children completed a number of golfing challenges under the expert instruction before finishing with a 'driving' competition.

Y3&4 are looking forward to their session soon.

Shadow Play in Year 6

Year 6 were investigating shadows today. A fair test was carried out to see how the distance of the light source affected the size of the shadow. Measurements were taken and graphs were plotted. We then had time for a bit of shadow play to see what shapes we could create with our hands. This was in preparation for an end of unit shadow performance in PE, where we hope to create group shadow illusions to music. Keep an eye on the blog for upcoming news and photos of the performance. In the meantime here are a few pictures from today:-

Sainsbury's School Games Mark Award

Oakwood has heard today that our efforts during the last academic year, to provide our children with sporting opportunities for all, was enough to meet the standard of a Silver School Games Mark School.

This is a great achievement for us, as we had previously missed out on the Bronze version of the same award, in 2012-13.

To achieve the Silver Games Mark we had a number of in school criteria to meet, in addition to criteria which stipulated how many children and in how many sports school teams must compete in during the year.

Well done to all the children and staff who worked towards this award!!

Maths in Year R Autumn 1

We've been busy finding 1 more/less than a given number to 10. We used bricks, number lines and fingers to find and check our answers. We have been practising writing and ordering numbers. We have been ordering dinosaurs and can describe them using words like "tallest" and "shortest".

Keeping Healthy in Year R!

This week we have been learning about different ways we can keep ourselves healthy! We have been using a 'germ ball' (a ball covered in red glitter to represent the germs) and passing it around to learn about how germs spread. We have learned how to wash our hands properly and how important it is to...."Catch it, Bin it and Kill it!" We have also begun thinking about eating healthy foods, looking after our teeth and keeping clean.

Y3&4 Book Week

Having book swapped, den built and shared favourite stories, Y3 & Y4 continued the reading fun with parent reading sessions and 3 bedtimes today! But only so we could enjoy a good bedtime story.

Book Week Fun in Upper KS2.

Book swap and bedtime stories- shared by parents, teachers and each other-were only part of the fun that Years 5 and 6 had as part of our whole school celebration of book week. Here are a few highlights of the week:-

Willow class and 4TA Buddy up

Yesterday was the first meeting of Willow class and 4TA, who will be paired together this year. We will meet regularly to undertake a whole range of tasks, but yesterday, as its book week, 4TA chose a selection of books from the school library and read and shared them with their 'Buddies' in Willow class.

Y4 really enjoyed the visit and can't wait to invite Willow class to their own classroom for the next activity.

Florence Nightingale

This week in Year 2 we have been learning about Florence Nightingale. 

Florence was often known as 'The lady with a lamp' because she always carried a lamp when she checked on the injured soldiers during the night. 

Today we made our own lamps using; sugar paper, yellow, orange and red tissue paper and glue to make a glowing lamp. 

We thought Florence Nightingale was a real superhero.

Can you think of any other real superheroes?

Jewish Visit to Y3

Last week, Year 3 had a special visit from the President of the Southampton Hebrew Congregation - Martyn Rose. He told shared with us the things that made his Synagogue a sacred place.

2014 Y3 Jewish Visitor

Stripes or Spots

A big thank you to children, parents and friends for getting involved with our Stripes or Spots challenge yesterday. 259 of our children came to school without using a car, which is good news for our bodies, our planet and our learning!
      

'Vicious, Malicious, Delicious' spellings under attack from Year 6!

As part of Year 6's ongoing work towards our new whole school curricular writing target, they explored different ways of learning to spell tricky words. Take a look:-

Coding at Oakwood!

We are getting into coding at Oakwood, which means the teachers have to learn first...!

Here's a quick game one of our teachers made today using Espresso Coding... When you click a balloon, a new one appears. Which colour gives you the most points? Which colour balloon takes points away?!

You've only got 30 seconds!

The Disgusting Sandwich Writing Task!

What a fantastic fun morning in Year 3 (Day 3 of Book Week)!
 They all made the most disgusting sandwiches (following our story 'The Disgusting Sandwich') and then did a fabulous job drawing and describing them using super adjectives! They really enjoyed making and writing about these disgusting creations!

Year 1's Fun Fire day!

Year 1 were really lucky to have firefighters Nick and Paul come in to visit us yesterday.

The children learnt all about fire and road safety.
They were lucky enough to go inside a fire engine and race to the scene of a fire and put it out using the powerful hose.
They also learnt some catchy safety rhymes, so if you see a year 1 child ask them to teach it to you, it might come in handy one day!

All the children would like to say a massive thank you to Hampshire Fire Service for such a great day!

Sainsbury's school games Tri-Golf festival

12 children from Y4 made the short journey to the Southampton City Golf course this afternoon to take part in the Sainsbury's school games Tri-Golf Festival.

Although the wind meant that the children were unable to play Tri-Golf, they did try their hand at full golf and once in the swing of things all the children had a great time.There were no winners and losers as the festival was all about trying something new and enjoying sport.

Y5 at the Seacity

Year 5 had a spectacular day last week at our local 'Seacity Museum'. The children took part in many activities from Science experiments to being in role of a passenger on board. Have a look at our photos below.

Kicking off Book Week in Year 3

Year 3 are very excited to be sharing books together!
Our first story - 'The Disgusting Sandwich' was a real hoot!

Superhero Day!

Today Year 2 was full of superheroes; real life, comic book and imaginary!

Everyone has had lots of fun designing a clay superhero logo, cooking an energy bar and enjoyed walking down a runway, striking a pose to Batman music.

If you could dress up as a superhero, which one would it be?

Chicken...

Year 5 and 6 had an utterly amazing time watching 'Chicken', an original and thought provoking play written by one of the drama teachers at Oasis.

The play taught us a valuable lesson about road safety. The cast consisted of four students from Oasis - one of whom was a former Oakwood pupil. Even though there were only four actors on stage, they cleverly manipulated scenes and represented more than one character.

It was a flawless, professional performance that not only made us think but made us laugh too. We'd give it a 5 star rating and encourage all 8-12 year olds to go and watch it - it might just save your lives!



by Eloise and Maisie

Oakwood snatch late win!

The school football team left it late to collect all three points in their second league game of the season after school today.

Visiting team Bevois Town took a surprise lead and held on to go in at half time 0-1 up. Oakwood did fight back in the second half, and although again they went behind, 1-2, they kept battling and with the help of an own goal pulled level at 2-2 with a couple of minutes to go.

But super sub, Dan S, with almost his first touch of the game put Oakwood into a 3-2 lead, which they managed to keep until the final whistle.

Well done to man of the match, Ethan C. And scorers Reece G and Dan S.

Rights Respecting School Committee

Our Rights Respecting School Committee met for the first time today, with representatives from Year 1 to Year 6 all having a say in how we can improve how we respect rights at Oakwood.

We started all together, with a discussion about what rights are and how we are already respecting rights in school. We also talked about the adults' responsibilities in making sure we have these rights.

Then, Key Stage 1 children went off around the school in search of rights evidence. They took photos of our whole school charter, playground charter and displays where Articles are shown.

Meanwhile, Key Stage 2 children produced an information leaflet for parents and wrote a letter to our governors asking for one of them to volunteer to be part of our future committee meetings.

We will keep you updated with our progress throughout the year!

KS1 House Reps

Last week our new House Captains and Vice House Captains were voted in by the school. Not long after they put their badge on and polished it proudly, they were to undertake one of the first roles - a talk to KS1 children. In order to have a closer link with KS1 children, House Reps were needed from Y2. Children in Y2 put themselves forward and explained why they would be suited to the job. In accordance with the Rights Respecting Schools Article 12: Every child has the right to say what they think in all matters affecting them, voting took place, once again pupil voice was strong.

Our new House Reps for KS1 are very proud and determined to support their Captains and House!

First Meeting of the Playtime and Lunchtime Committee.

The playtime and lunchtime committee met for the first time this morning to set our agenda for the year. We looked at what we enjoyed about play times and things we thought we could improve together. We had loads of ideas to make outside break times and wet break times even better. Our ideas included: more seating areas for people to read and be quiet; a book trolley to wheel reading material out for breaks; bins and compost bins on the playground to reduce waste; water fountain for drinks on playground; design and create playground markings for games; more equipment for wet play times. We even had ideas on how to raise funds for any expenses that might be occurred. We are looking forward to achieving the goals we have made.



by Maisie and Eloise 6LD

All About Me!

In Year R we have been learning about our bodies, growing and changing. We used mirrors to look closely at ourselves and compared similarities and differences with those around us. We decided being different is a very good thing, otherwise we'd all look the same and it would be boring! We each brought in a baby picture to share with friends and tried to guess who each baby was! We noticed that we have changed in many different ways since we were babies and can now do things that we couldn't before. A mother and baby came to visit us and we asked questions to find out what the mum has to do to look after the baby. We have talked about 'families' and how each family is different, but what stays the same is the 'love'! This week we have been talking about becoming adults one day and thinking about what job we might like to do! Next week we'll be busy learning about how to keep our bodies clean and healthy! Stay tuned!