Cross county Week 4

Whilst everyone else was busy celebrating the start of the half term break the cross country team were busy taking part in week four of the Cross county league. Week 4 turned into a bit of a mixed week, lots finding it tough going, but with others making huge gains; but it was definitely a week for the girls!

Boys results: (+/- position from best previous best position)
Ethan - 6th       (-1 places)      
Owen - 9th        (0 places)
Alex - 12th       (0 places) 
Reece - 13th     (+3 places)          
Dan - 20th        (-3 places)  
Jenson - 22th     (-3 places)   
Sonny - 30th     (+15 places)
Rhys - 40th       (-6 places)
Marcus - 43th   (-5 places)
Nathan - 44th    (-7 places)
Oliver - 58th     (-2 places)
Jola - 83th      (+32 places)  
Craig - 122th    (-12 places)   
    

Girls results: (+/- position from best previous best position)
Amy - 4th              (-1 places)
Libby - 9th          (+4 places)
Renae - 18th          (+9 places)
Monique - 20th      (+10 places)
Caitlyn - 27th         (+43 places)
Shannon - 28th      (+17 places)
Sophia - 53th         (-9 places)
Phoebe - 82th        (-3 places)
kayla - 90th            (-26 places)
Ellie - 95th           (+14 places)
Abbie - Injured        
Katie - Injured           

Buddy classes meet

During the last few weeks Year 2 have been learning 'The Three Little Pigs' song as part of their 'Twisted Tales' topic. Today they performed it to their buddy class in Year 3 and Year 4.

Their hard work paid off as they all did a brilliant job of acting and singing! Well done to Year 3 and 4 for joining in too. 

Year 3's VE Tea Party

War is over! Thank you to all the parents and friends who made this the most successful Tea Dance ever: your cooking, sense of fun and willingness to help out made it so easy for us. So many children said how much they loved showing their dancing off and how pleased their parents were. They really enjoyed tucking into the wartime snacks they made themselves and pointing out their own contribution to the giant propoganda posters which decorated the hall. Because of their wonderful dancing and superb behaviour, they made their teachers so proud!

Bread as a symbol in Year 1

This week the children have been exploring the RE concept of symbol with a emphasis on bread. They have tasted various breads from around the world, designed their own symbol and made this with bread.

Today Year 1 were excited to welcome Liam and Amanda from Christchurch Southampton. They entertained the children through the use of drama and interactive story telling to teach them all about how bread is used as a symbol. The children also were given the opportunity to be creative with a follow up activity to deepen their understanding.

A huge thank you to Liam and Amanda for bringing the topic alive!

Into the woods....

Year R have been exploring the woods and today decided they would like to build a house for a squirrel and a fox! They worked together to design and build each house, thinking carefully about what materials to gather. They made a sign saying, "the squirrel house" so that the squirrels would know it was for them (hopefully they can read).

Blitz Poems by Year 3.

In English today Year 3 wrote a short descriptive poem about experiencing the Blitz in WW2. Have a read:-

Year 2 fairy tale picnic

This week the children have been cooking in preparation of their fairy tale picnic,which they were invited to by the three little pigs, to celebrate the big bad wolf leaving!

The year group baked bread, made rocky road, cut vegetables into small pieces and made delicious fruit smoothies.

Have a look at our photos to see how much we enjoyed eating and celebrating at the picnic this afternoon!
 

Wire figures tell a message.

A first exhibition of completed work from Year 3 and 4 after school art club is currently in the foyer of the KS2 building. Using garden wire and papier mache the club members have created small wire people-each with their own unique messages. Look out over the next few weeks for more exciting creations, including wire, bead and paint sculptures. Well done Art club!

Year 3 Wartime Posters-Loose Lips Beware!

After analysing propaganda posters from WW2-the message, layout and artwork, Year 3 children worked together in teams to produce their own. Take a look-we think they have done a pretty good job!

Oakwood 5-0 Newlands Primary

Team Oakwood played their final Autumn league fixture of the year against Newlands Primary School this evening.

In a rather one sided match, Oakwood found it difficult to take advantage of having the vast majority of possession. By half time the team had only managed one goal, having missed 2 penalties! The team regrouped at half time and changed tactics slightly managing to score four in the second half.

Whilst the team found it difficult to break through the packed Newlands defence it was their goalkeeper who time and time again made save after save to frustrate Oakwood.

Man of the Match - Dan
Goal Scorers; Sam 1, Oliver 1, Reece 3

Year 4 Roman Celebration Day

Year 4 have been transported back to the Roman era today. In fine Roman costume, we have been soldiers eating porridge (lumpy of course), marching in our legion and attempting to recreate a tortoise maneuver. We have learned all about the table manners of the Romans, which are not the table manners we expect from our children today and then eaten some stew using a Roman recipe. After all the hard training and eating our Year 4's required a bath in the public baths, using drama and imagination to learn about the strigil and different areas of a Roman bath. Finally, they were fit for some entertainment at the nearest amphitheatre, where the Gladiators put on an excellent show.

 

Personal Best day

Last week all of the children from key stage 1 and Early Years took part in their first Personal Best Day of the year! The children worked through different activities linked with ball skills.

They practised using a hockey stick, dribbling the ball through cones, passing and bouncing a basketball and balancing and bouncing a tennis ball on a racket. The children had lots of fun and were able to improve their ball skills and learn new ones!

Thank you to the TMC coaches who coached the children throughout the day.

Cross Country Week 3

Week 3 of the School Games cross country competition took place on Friday after school. Although the weather was slightly colder than the previous weeks, Team Oakwood was once again red hot! We also welcomed a number of new runners who were keen to test themselves.

Boys results: (+/- position from best previous best position)
Ethan - 5th       (+1 places)      
Owen - 11th        (-2 places)
Alex - 12th       (+1 places)           
Dan - 17th        (+7 places)  
Jenson - 19th     (New runner)   
Rhys - 34th       (+3 places)
Marcus - 38th   (+0 places)
Nathan - 37th    (New runner)
Sonny - 45th     (New runner)
Oliver - 56th     (New runner)
Craig - 111th    (New runner)   
Jola - 124th      (-9 places)      

Girls results: (+/- position from best previous best position)
Amy - 3rd              (+0 places)
Libby - 13th          (+6 places)
Renae - 27th          (+10 places)
Monique - 30th      (+18 places)
Keisha - 32th          (+27 places)
Shannon - 45th      (+7 places)
Sophia - 51th         (-7 places)
Katie - 53th           (-24 places)
kayla - 64th            (+17 places)
Caitlyn - 70th         (New runner)
Phoebe - 79th        (New runner)
Ellie - 121th           (-12 places)
Abbie - 127th         (New runner)

Year 1 Fire Safety

Year 1 were lucky enough to have Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service come to them.

Throughout the day the children were engaged in many different activities to promote the awareness of road and fire safety.

These activities included:

Seeing a firefighter in his special protective clothes.
Learning a rhyme and drill to remind children about what to do in the case of a fire.
Explored a fire engine simulator and put out an imaginary fire.
Listened to stories about fire safety.
Played a game called hoses and ladders where the children had to answer questions on road and fire safety.

What a fantastic day! Thank you to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service for visiting us.

Remember... GET OUT, STAY OUT, CALL 999!

Oakwood Boards The Titanic!

Year 5 have had an eventful day aboard our very own RMS Titanic. The day started with the final preparations for our voyage (ticket and passport making). Followed by a cat walk show in our new linkway to show off our outfits.

This afternoon we set sail, celebrating with afternoon tea and dancing entertainment. Putting into practice our historical dance PE unit, dancing the waltz and Irish jig. We then found out the fate of our passengers that we have been writing our diaries in the role of (our English unit).

There were some fantastic costumes and it was a spectacular day.

The Titanic Count Down Begins!

With Titanic day on Friday Year 5 spent the day preparing. We made lots of items to decorate the hall (our Titanic) including: portholes, bunting, place mats and menu cards. We also baked some tasty scones in the kitchen ready to eat on board on Friday.

We are all really excited for our Titanic day, watch out for our passenger photos and an update of our exciting day.

Bounce Bounce Boogie Pedal!

Year 3 enjoyed a fun packed, exercise-filled morning at Oasis today - trampolining, dancing and enjoying the benefits of the high tech sports facilities. Thank you to Mr Newman and all the sports leaders for their guidance and support - we had a terrific time.

Oakwood 4 - 2 Tanners Brook

The school football team registered their forth straight league win of the season after school tonight following their exciting 4-2 victory over Tanners Brook Primary School.

A mistake early in the 1st half allowed Tanners Brook to take the lead, but with the half time looming, a mazy run by defender and team captain, Reece, ended with him coolly slotting the ball home.

A sensational 10 minute period at the start of the second half saw Oakwood score three quick goals. Robbie tapped home a rebound from close range, and following excellent passes by midfield man Sam, Ethan scored twice more.

For his two goal brace Ethan picked up the man of the match award.

Well done Team Oakwood!

Exploring our senses

This term Year 1 have had fun exploring their senses. They have participated in a range of activities which have included:

Finding out what it would be like to be blind folded without the sense of sight.
Exploring sound with lots of different instruments as well as creating loud and soft sounds ourselves.
Investigating our sense of smell with our "smell pots".
Testing sense of taste by tasting different biscuits.
We used our sense of touch to guess a mystery item!

Which sense do you enjoy using the most?

Year 4's Amazing Vaulting

This half term Year 4 have been working on their vaulting skills. Their confidence has grown through the weeks as the horse heights have increased. They have learned to squat on mount and pencil jump dismount. Well done Year 4!

Second Group of Evacuees Arrive at Testwood Lakes

Yesterday, the second group of evacuees arrived at Testwood Lakes and quickly set about learning some of the skills that would help them during their stay with potential host families. From raking the land, making charcoal, doing some shopping, helping the local ARP warden with a spot of espionage and building a shelter, they were kept very busy. Take a look:-

Year R and the Little Red Hen

We have been reading the book, "The Little Red Hen". We have been retelling the story using puppets, by sequencing pictures and by doing drama with our teachers. We have been baking delicious bread, just like the hen! We have learned about where the flour for our bread comes from. We have also made some lovely collages of the hen and some of us even tried to write, "hen". In maths, we have been learning to find 1 more or less than a number. We had to help the hen unmuddle her bread recipe by finding 1 more or less of each ingredient.

Mystery Stories on the way!

Year 6 have been learning how to write mystery stories. Having listened, planned, discussed and explored we are now turning our hands at being the next big thing in mystery writing! Prepare to be mystified!!

The Mystery of the disappearing SATs papers...

The Y6 teachers would like to say thank you to all the parents who visited us this evening, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone else tomorrow.

However...

We put some sample SATs test materials on a table in the Y6 shared area with the children's books, for parents to have a look at. But we only had one copy of each of the tests and lots seem to have gone for a walk...If they came home with you please can you return them to school!

Thank you!

HUGE thanks for your donations for our Harvest Festival!

We have had one of biggest collections ever and, thanks to your generosity, many families will be able to receive food from the Basics Bank right through the winter.

Matt and Duncan let us know that they have been able to deliver nearly 10,000 individual food parcels - and hope to do even more this winter...

Thanks to them both for leading us in celebration this morning.

Launch of the Attendance Bike Competition

In Assembly today our Federation Attendance Officer and the owner of The Hub cycle shop in Shirley, helped Mr Taylor launch our exciting Attendance Competition.

Every child in Oakwood has the opportunity to win a brand new bicycle, along with a goody bag of safety equipment including a lock, a water bottle and a stylish helmet!

Every Friday, every child with full attendance for that week will be given a raffle ticket to enter the prize draw. The more weeks that they come in on time without missing a day, the more raffle tickets they will be able to enter.  The winner's name will be drawn from a tombola at the end of the year.

So keep trying your best to come to school on time, and good luck!      

Y3 Modern Dance with TMC

Here are the children from Y3 performing a 'Love Story' dance taught by the TMC coaches.

First Group of Evacuees arrive at Testwood Lakes.

Yesterday, the first group of evacuees arrived at Testwood Lakes and quickly set about learning some of the skills that would help them during their stay with potential host families. From raking the land, making charcoal, doing some shopping, helping the local ARP warden with a spot of espionage and building a shelter, they were kept very busy. Take a look:-

Year 3 War Research!

Last week Year 3 were set a speaking and listening task to try and find out more about how WW2 had affected members of their extended families. Well, what a terrific research team they have proved to be! As they delved into the wealth of family stories, they have amazed us with not only the breadth of information they have discovered, but also with the passion they have shown as they uncovered one interesting story after another. We have heard recounts of daring bravery;  been lucky enough to see real medals awarded to real heroes; learned more about what it was like to be evacuated and live through the Blitz-we even discovered that a street was named after a Year 3 relative. We would like to say a BIG thank you to all the families of our Year 3 children for sharing these wonderful stories and artifacts with us all. Real stories about real people-thank you.

They've been at it again!

The cross county team were at it again after school today.

It was week two of the Southampton Schools' Cross Country league, and Team Oakwood were looking to build on their great 1st week.

There were some really impressive runs and again everyone did Oakwood proud.

Boys results: (+/- position from week 1)
Ethan - 6th       (+3 places)      8:07
Alex - 13th       (0 places)        8:28
Reece - 16th     (+6 places)      8:39
Dan - 24th        (-1 place)         8.59
Rhys - 37th       (+7 places)     9.13
Marcus - 38th   (+31 places)    9.14
Jola - 135th      (-20 places)      11.30

Girls results: (+/- position from week 1)
Amy - 3rd              (+1 place)
Libby - 19th          (+14 places)
Katie - 29th           (+2 places)
Renae - 37th          (+64 places)
Monique - 48th      (0 places)
Keisha - 59th          (DNR)
kayla - 81th            (+18 places)
Shannon - 82nd      (-30 places)
Ellie - 109th           (+9 places)

Year 4 Roaming Romans for the Day

Year 4 had a fun packed and informative day at Fishbourne Roman Palace.  They developed their understanding of the Roman way of life by dressing up and exploring the remains and mosaics of the original Palace.  Super learning, super weather and super behaviour.  Well done Year 4, you all made it into the Gold Book.

Year 6 English

Some of our Year 6 children had a fantastic time this morning discovering the 'virtual classroom' on ICT. They managed to log in, watch a short film and complete a task - all on ICT! We are all very happy that our POSITIVE mindset has enabled us to do new things!

Krypton Factor Federation Maths event

Some of our able mathematicians from year 2 and 3 had the great opportunity of attending our Federation Krypton Factor maths event this week.

Redbridge Primary School hosted. Newlands Primary, Shirley Warren Primary, Mansel Park Primary and Fairisle Junior schools were also represented there.

Our Oakwood pupils were fantastic ambassadors for the school; they enjoyed working alongside the others and persevered with the maths activities, games and puzzles all afternoon.

The first activity was the Numberphile Brussel Sprouts game which they all loved!
Next the children were given time to explore seven different maths activities.

Well done everyone! It was so lovely to see all the children enjoying maths and meeting new friends.

Year 2 basketball festival

Today 8 children were chosen to go to Solent university to take part in a basketball festival. The children took part in six activities with other schools. They practised and learned how to dribble the ball, catch and pass the ball, they even had a go at shooting!

The children had lots of fun and showed brilliant enthusiasm. Well done to all of those who participated, you represented Oakwood very well.

Have you heard about the Road 2 Rio?

The Road 2 Rio committee have been working hard in school. We hope you have heard about our Road 2 Rio challenge?

Meet the Travel Team

These are the children who will be encouraging us all to travel to school without using the car. They will also be helping lead the school in staying safe when we are travelling around by being seen when it is dark, and learning the green cross code.

At our first meeting they designed posters to encourage healthy travel to school, which everyone can see in the ICT suite.

Roald Dahl in Year R

Year R had a wonderful time dressing-up as characters from their favourite Roald Dahl books! Children and parents were very creative when thinking of costume and prop ideas!!

Oakwood v Fairisle

Despite the horrendous weather the football team still took to the field to take on Fairisle Junior School in their 3rd game of the season.

The team did exactly what was needed in the driving rain and produced an excellent performance. There were goals for Rhys and Reece whilst both Sam and Robbie bagged 2 goals each. Well done to Man of the Match - Sam.

Final Score
Oakwood 6 - 0 Fairisle

(PS. Good luck to all parents cleaning the rather wet and muddy kit!)

Cross Country 1st League meet

On Friday after school whilst most children were already thinking about their weekend the Y5/6 cross country team were racing around the Sports Centre!

The team of 17 children children took part in the 1st league meeting (there are 3 more before half term) of the Southampton Sainsbury's School Games cross country league.

There were separate races for the boys and the girls, but both raced over the same course which was just under 2km in length.

The team have been training hard at school and it showed in the results which were excellent considering it was our first attempt at racing long distance.

Boys Results:
Owen - 9th
Ethan - 11th
Alex - 13th
Reece - 22nd
Dan - 23rd
Rhys - 44th
Marcus - 69th
Jola - 115th

Girls Results:
Amy - 4th
Katie - 31st
Libby - 33rd
Sophia - 44th
Monique - 48th
Shannon - 52nd
Kayla - 99th
Renae - 101st
Ellie - 118th

Some amazing results, especially when there were over 150 children in each race!!

Magical Multiplication

Year 6 children have been very busy during the last 3 weeks as they have started working in their maths sets for the first time. Over the last week the sets have been focusing on multiplication.

Mr Ackland's set were given some rather tricky 3 box challenges to solve. It's true 6 questions took us a whole hour but you'll never believe how many pages of jottings and calculations we went through!

Take a look at the pictures, can you solve them?

A Visitor from the Synagogue

In Year 3 we are finding out about Sacred Places, so Martyn Rose came in from the Southampton Synagogue to tell about Jewish sacred places. He also shared with us how modern Jews practice their faith and celebrate harvest at Sukkot.

Year 4 On the Road to Rio

Today, Year 4 took their first steps towards achieving their Road to Rio awards. Each child earned two stamps for their enthusiastic participation in trampolining and street dancing at Oasis Academy. We all had a great morning, as you can see from our photographs.