Term Dates for 2011-2012

Our term dates for 2011-2012 are now available.

Please look at them carefully if you are planning holidays for next academic year.

Our INSET days are also marked. The final INSET day is 23 July 2012. In 2012, the City Council has decided the last day of term in the summer should be a Monday. Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools have agreed that term will finish at the end of a full week on Friday 20 July 2012 for pupils.

Looking good in Oakwood's uniform!

We've sent a quick note home today about school uniform.

It's really great to see most children wearing the correct uniform, and we wanted to remind you that some items weren't allowed.

Here are our House Captains modelling proper uniform!



If you have any questions about what is or isn't allowed, please ask in the office.

This note contains more information about uniform, and what is and isn't allowed.

Thank you for your support!

At Home at Oakwood...

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...

Goodbye* Mrs Vaudin...

We wanted to make sure that we gave Mrs Vaudin a really good send off from Oakwood! In fact, so may people wanted to say goodbye, that we gave her two!

Firstly, we invited lots of people who have worked with her over 28 years to have a cup of tea and a bit of cake. We also surprised her with some of her family who turned up unexpectedly...

And on the very last day of term, all of the children and lots of parents came together for a special assembly, where we presented her with some special Memory Books.

Although it was a sad occasion, it was a very happy way of wishing Mrs Vaudin all the best for her retirement!

* We know it's not really goodbye - Mrs Vaudin will always be a very important part of the Oakwood family and we hope she'll soon be back as a governor!

A Look Back at Mrs Vaudin's Time at Oakwood!

As Mrs Vaudin starts her retirement tomorrow, we thought you would like to see some of the photos we've decorated the school with!

Mrs Vaudin thought some of these photos were lost forever, but...



...it's amazing what you can find if you look hard enough!

Schools Open

We seem to be through the worst of the weather now.

Both Oakwood Schools will be open as normal and we won't be posting daily updates unless the weather gets worse and we need to change this.



Thank you for your continued support and kind comments during the last couple of weeks!

WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY - Open as Normal

Both Oakwood schools continue to be open as normal.

This means the Junior School will open at 8.50, with a normal start time of 9.00am.

We know that journeys may take extra time today - please take care, as it may still be icy under the snow.

School will finish at 3.15pm.

Please also make sure that your children are dressed up warm for the day - there's going to be a chill wind! Boots and trainers are fine to wear in, but please bring school shoes to change into.

Please keep to the gritted paths as parts of the site, including the playgrounds, are still icy. The temperatures are due to rise considerably on Thursday and Friday, so this should see a thaw.

Thank you.

TUESDAY 12 JANUARY - Open as Normal

Both Oakwood schools continue to be open as normal.

Children are expected in school at 9.00am and school will finish at 3.15pm.

Karate is ON! Orchestra is ON!

Please keep to the gritted paths as parts of the site, including the playgrounds, are still icy.

Thank you.

EXPECTED OPENING - Monday 11 January 2010

These arrangements have now changed slightly as we move back to normal. Click here for the latest information.

Thank you very much if your child was in school today, Friday 8 January!

We were fully staffed and a very large number of you felt you could make the journey safely into school with your children. Obviously, we understood that conditions were still bad in certain areas, so there were many children not at school today.

Monday 11 January 2010

It's not possible to give you definite news about school opening on Monday 11 January until fairly late on Sunday afternoon.

If the weather doesn't get any worse and we are open...

We will open at 9.30 and expect all children in school. The late opening will be to allow more time for everyone to make a safe journey to school. We will expect all children in school. We need to get back to normal as soon as is safe and possible, and the weekend will give you time to plan how you will get your children to school. If we are open on Tuesday, we would plan to start at the normal time (8.50am).

We will have the main path from the entrance on Sandpiper Road gritted. We are only gritting the main path because supplies of grit are low, and the city cannot guarantee to deliver more. By gritting one main path, we make the grit last as long as possible.

We will close at the normal time (3.15pm) but allow children to be picked up any time from 2.45pm - this allows a longer "school run" time if Sandpiper Road is still icy.


If the weather gets worse...

If we have to close, we will try to let you know by 6pm on Sunday evening.

We will put an announcement on this website and on the school answerphone. On Sunday afternoon, we may not be able to get the information updated on the city's School Closures List or Radio Solent.

If the weather gets worse over Sunday night, and we have to make the decision to close early on Monday morning, we will try to make the decision by 7.30am. Again, this website and the school answerphone will be updated and an announcement will be made on Radio Solent.

Thanks for all the support and kind words of the last few days - they are much appreciated!

Your children can access E-City with their school email username and password. This has a range of activities which can be used at any time, but particularly if the school is closed! Details here...

Learning at Home

We have put many learning activities on E-City.

This is available to all pupils, logging on with the same username and password that they use for their school email.

Inside, you will find lots of educational activities, links to interesting and important websites, photos and pictures - including some linked to the weather we are having!

It's a good way of keeping your child learning if they can't get to school or the school is closed.

LIMITED OPENING FROM 9.30am - Friday 8 January 2010

We plan for both Oakwood schools to be open from 9.30am on Friday 8 January 2010 in a limited capacity.

Please listen to Radio Solent in the morning, check this website, or phone the school in case this changes.

Staying Safe:

• Whether your child comes to school or not on Friday is your decision and you are best placed to judge the conditions and safety of your journey.
• Please bring your children to the main school doors.
• We would not recommend allowing your child to walk to school unaccompanied.

If you feel it best not to bring your child in and would rather keep them at home, please do so.

Opening:

The schools will open later at 9.30am. This gives staff and pupils extra time to make a safe journey to the school. Please don't bring children to school before 9.30am. However, if you have to bring children in later than this, that's fine.

Closing:

The schools will both close at their normal times. However, please feel free to pick up your children earlier than this if you wish or you think it would make your journey easier. We will operate the same system as we did on Wednesday.

Lunches:

We anticipate being able to provide a normal school lunch service.

Breaktimes:

It is likely that breaktimes and lunchtime will be indoors on Friday, as we cannot completely clear the playgrounds of ice. Please keep to the cleared paths on site.

Kidz Club:

Kidz Club will not be open either before or after school on Friday.

Why are we opening?

Most of the teachers anticipate being able to get to work on Friday as the major roads are currently clear. Staff local to the school report being able to get around with care. We realise that many of you face problems if you are not able to go into work because the schools are closed for several days, and it's possible for us to open again tomorrow in this limited capacity. Once you have brought your children to the school doors tomorrow, they will be safe and warm.

Will we be open next week?

The forecast for the weekend is for no thaw and more snow on Sunday. This means there is a strong likelihood that we may need to close or have limited opening again next week if conditions stay bad.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Severe Weather Warning

As you may know, the Met Office has given warning of what they call "a high risk of an extreme weather event" in Hampshire and surrounding areas. Although it is not clear how badly this will affect Southampton, heavy snow is likely, meaning that staff and pupils may experience difficult travelling conditions on the morning of Wednesday 6 January 2010.

Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools will remain open if possible but if conditions mean that it is unsafe for staff or pupils to come to school, then we may need to close.

We will make this decision as early as possible on Wednesday morning and information will be available here on the blog, the school answerphone, BBC Radio Solent and Southampton Online. You may also receive a text message from the school, but our text provider has said that there may be a delay if lots of schools are using the system at the same time.

If the schools are open, we expect children to be in school as normal, although we appreciate they may be late.

Thank you for your continued support!

House Captains 2009 - 10

Not many people know this, but Mrs Di Maiolo, who works in our office, also works for Southampton City Council when they have council elections!

SO... she was the perfect person to organise the elections for our House Captains!

Firstly, she and Mrs Worley told us in assembly about how elections work.

On election day, she made sure everything ran smoothly and then counted the votes...



...and today, she announced the results and the Mayor of Southampton, The Right Worshipful Councillor Elizabeth Mizon, met our newly elected House Captains!

Well done to them all!

Welcome Back!

We're looking forward to welcoming everyone back at 9am on Friday (4 September) and to our new Year 3 children arriving for their first proper junior school day!

This is just a very quick reminder that, for the time being, Sandpiper Road is One Way only, while the School Zone roadworks are being completed.



This is mandatory, so please observe it for everyone's safety, especially your children. The City Council have said that the work will be finished by next Friday (11 September).

Thank you for your understanding.

When was that again?

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

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



...link on oakwoodlive.net

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



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

Oakwood's PosterShop

Great News!

We can now turn your digital pictures or other documents into

Giant A1 Sized Posters

using our new Poster Maker!



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

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

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

A1 posters cost only £5!

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

For an A2 poster, it's £4.

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

Mrs Vaudin's Big Day Out...

Mrs Vaudin had a very special day out on Friday.

You might not know this, but she has worked at Oakwood Junior School for 25 years!

This means that she knows you all very well, but also knows lots of your parents very well too, because they knew her when they were at school!

Southampton City Council gives a very special award and certificate to people who have worked in schools for 25 years and Mrs Vaudin got hers today from the Mayor at a special ceremony at the Civic Centre...



Remember to say Congratulations to her when you see her next!

Thank you for all your hard work, Mrs Vaudin!!

(PS She gets another one when she's worked at Oakwood for 40 years!!)

Sorry...!

We've been having a few problems with the blog over the last couple of weeks, and we've not been able to add anything new.

We are back in business now, so there'll soon be new posts about Wick Court, the RNLI Assembly, The Life Education Bus and French Day.

Thanks for visiting!

We're on the radio!

Here's a quick note we had from the people at Radio Hampshire! They came in to record some of our pupils for a programme next week and they were very impressed - listen out for them!

To Oakwood Junior School,

On behalf of Radio Hampshire, we would like to thank all the children who participated with our recording; to also all their parents who agreed to their participation and for Oakwood Junior letting us visit the school.

We found that the children involved were extremely friendly and polite; making us feel welcome. We would like to notify you of the times that the children’s voices will be appearing on Radio Hampshire:

Oakwood Junior School is Radio Hampshire’s School of the Week, beginning Monday 15th to Friday 19th October 2007.

The first four children who participated will each appearing each week day morning on the Breakfast Show at 7.15am.

The other five children will be on the Lunchtime Show. These children’s voices will be played for an hour on and off during the Game show ‘What is it?’ between the times 1pm and 2pm.

Thanks again,

Joe and Carly at Radio Hampshire

Gemma McParland
Presenter & Content Producer

Up, Up and Away!

Hello Everyone!

(Mrs Vaudin here...)

I thought you might like to see a few photos of my adventure today! The staff at Oakwood bought me my balloon flight for my "big" birthday last year and I've been waiting to do it since then.



It was very warm as they blew up the balloon. (It was also about 7 o'clock in the morning because they always do balloon flights in the early morning or the early evening.)



Once I had climbed into the basket, which was quite difficult, we lifted off ...



...and we were floating over Hampshire (somewhere near Alton).



The views were amazing - here you can see the shadow of the balloon!

I wonder if anyone can leave a comment to tell me the names of the two brothers who invented the hot air balloon? Without them, I wouldn't have had a fantastic adventure!