We were invited to join Julian Clegg on his breakfast radio show at BBC Radio Solent today. Oakwood were represented by two members of our Pupil Council who spoke brilliantly about the Plastic Free Day and how we can reduce our use of plastic! Have a listen!
The whole school took part in an Interhouse assault course competition a few weeks ago. All classes competed for their house to get around in the quickest time. Bonus time deductions were given for team effort and sportsmanship. Thank you to our amazing house captains for organising it!
As part of our 'Save our World' topic, year one went on a walk around Sandpiper Road to look at ways we might want to improve our local environment. Despite some litter and graffiti, we felt that the area was well maintained. We were, however a bit disappointed with the park area. There were only 2 swings and lots of litter! After the walk we wrote letters to the local councilor suggesting ways to improve the park.
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!
The school councils of Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools have chosen our logo competition winners.
They chose two designs and then a designer used their ideas to come up with our new logo.
The new logo will be on uniform ready for September and will be used by Oakwood Infant School and Oakwood Junior School.
If the two schools become a primary school, then the new school will use the logo too.
Congratulations to Sam, Ben and Ollie on their winning ideas!
Today saw the launch of Oakwood Junior School's brand new stationery shop, organised and run by the School Council.
Not only can pupils replace lost or damaged school items such as handwriting pens and whiteboard pens, but they can also choose from a range of colourful and interesting stationery items at very reasonable prices!
Items are priced from 10p up to £1.70 and come with a free name label if requested.
We will be running our second stationery shop next Tuesday. Have a look at some of the stock we are selling:
We have had a very busy and democratic week at Oakwood this week!
On Wednesday, the four House Captain Candidates from each House presented their speeches to their House members.
On Wednesday 12 May 2010, two year 5 school councillors went to the Mayor Making Ceremony at the Guildhall in the city centre of Southampton.
The Mayor Making Ceremony is where people elect a new Mayor for the city of Southampton. The new Mayor is the 788th Mayor of the city and her name is Carol Cunio.
Local councillors nominate and second the Mayor. When the Mayor walks on to the stage soldiers line up on either sides of the seats. The Councillors and the new Mayor walk inbetween the soldiers and walk up to the stage.
When the Mayor is on the stage she goes behind the curtain to the right and changes from her blue Sheriff's robes into her red Mayoral robes. When she is seated, the Town Sergeants walk up to the table she has in front of her and put a gold sceptre on a stand on the table.
After that a school choir sings for everyone. This year, the school was from St Monica Junior School.
Afterwards, the Mayor gives her first speech. Before the Mayor speaks the Town Crier says "All stand!" When the Mayor has walked to the table and when she has sat down, she says "Please be seated."
After that she signs declaration of acceptance of office as requied by law.
As School Councillors, going to the Mayor Making Ceremony made us realise what a real Council works like. We would like to thank Mrs DiMaiolo for taking us to the ceremony.
By Navraj and Paige
Last Thursday OJS School Council made themselves heard!
During our last school council meeting, we learnt how pupil voice needs to be heard, not just in schools, but also in our city.
Southampton Youth Parliament have four new candidates who want to represent the views and opinions of children living in OUR area.
We split into four groups and researched each of the four candidates; Nathan King wants to lower the voting age to 16, Miriam Hall hopes to organise more gigs and shows for young people, Grace McPherson plans to give children rewards for excellent achievement, whilst Danielle Townsend has strong views on child abuse.
We presented each of our four campaigns to year 6, who used this information to vote for their candidate interactively using the 'MiVote' system.
Who do you think should be the next candidate to join Southampton Youth Parliament?
Year 6 and the school coucil have had their say....now have yours!
The School Council had a very busy Friday helping Mrs Handley-Garland set up for the Christmas Fair!
Tables, decorations, a helpers' rota and a very secret room all had to be organised ready for Monday's Christmas celebrations!
Everybody had a part to play in preparing for the Fair - from gathering ideas for the stalls and making posters, to organising helpers and setting up the secret room, we have had lots of fun and are looking forward to everyone enjoying the Fair on Monday!
By Rhian, Sean and Miss Denton
Yesterday, we had a fantastic time representing Oakwood Junior School at the Biannual School Council Conference 2009!
We started the day by taking part in a team-building exercise with lots of other schools also at the conference. We successfully built a newspaper bridge to hold our egg safely! Mrs Bevan-Mackie and Mr Honeybone were glad we didn't get egg on the carpet!
After break, we improved our communication skills with Mr Honeybone and had a tour around the stadium! We discussed with Mrs Bevan-Mackie what makes a good school councillor. We also had time to share our work on anti-bullying with other schools and 'magpied' a few ideas to bring back to OJS.
After a quick lunch, we drove to the Civic Centre and presented a speech in the Council Chambers,we did this in front of the Mayor and all the other school councils! We felt quite nervous standing in the middle of the chamber but everybody was really interested in our explanations about Committee Afternoons at OJS.
Finally, the Mayor and the Town Sergeant gave us a tour of the Mayor's Suite. It was a brilliant day!
Sean really liked seeing the picture of the first Asian Mayor of Southampton, Alisha loved trying on the Mayor's clothes, Lewis found the tapestry of WW2 fascinating and Caitlin enjoyed comparing the old and new pictures of Southampton!
Thank you to the Mayor, Mrs Bevan-Mackie and Mr Honeybone for making our day so special. We can't wait for the next conference!
Written by Lewis, Alisha, Caitlin, Sean and Miss Denton
Our second Committee Afternoon passed in a blur of planning and preparation for the school council, as we continued to put our Play Ranger plans in to place, whilst also preparing for the Christmas Fair!
We have now completed our recruitment drive for Play Rangers and selected candidates begin their training with Mrs Le-Bas next week. We are all looking forward to seeing the new Rangers supporting children on the playground and also showing us how to use the new playground equipment.
We also met with Mrs Handley-Garland to help her organise the Oakwood Junior and Infant School Christmas Fair, which will be on Monday 30th November, from 5-7pm. We have all chosen jobs to help with the preparation and running of the Fair - come and see us in action!
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!
HELLO!
We are the School Council and we are on a mission to find two new school governors!
Today, during Committee Afternoon, we interviewed Mrs Larder, a school Governor, to find out what a School Governor's job really is!
She explained that a Governor is someone who really cares about the children at OJS and voluntarily gives up their time to check that we are being given a good education and that we are happy and healthy at school!
The Governors meet every six weeks to discuss things like; how we spend the school's money, who we want to work at the school, how well we are all learning at OJS and what experiences we are being given.
All the staff and parents already on the Committee are really friendly – Mrs Larder explained that all a new Governor needs to bring is enthusiasm to help our school be the very best it can be!
SO...COULD YOU BE ONE OF OUR NEW SCHOOL GOVERNORS PLEASE?
We can’t wait to hear from you, please speak to Miss Denton or any one of the School Council members if you are interested!
Thank you for reading this,
The School Council
Harvey
Taylor
Rebecca
Charlotte
Olivia
Ben
Billy
Chloe
Aimee
Ben
Angela
Connor
Matthew
Kaitie
Courtney
Ewen
Joel
Carina
The School Council has worked really hard to promote Anti-Bullying Week. We organised an Anti-Bullying Drop-In Centre on Tuesday 18 November in break and lunch. We wanted children to come and get advice if they were worried about being bullied and also find out about Anti-Bullying Week.
We made lots of advice leaflets and posters and handed them out around the school. Our Anti-bullying bands were really popular too!
Connor's Anti-bullying competition was amazingly popular and results will be announced in assembly next week!
We are really pleased to report that we had lots of children joining in with our efforts, hardly anybody thought bullying was a problem in OJS! It shows we really look out for each other!
Today Oakwood Junior School have had their first Committee Day - and what a busy day it has been! The Read All About It! team have been roving reporters this afternoon, finding out what all the committees have been up to during the day. Here is a brief summary of the key features that each committee have been working on.
Generation Green have made energy posters to inform our pupils of ways of saving energy. They have used the internet to research energy, using videos, games and text. Their future plans include introducing compost bins for break and lunchtimes, so we can recycle our fruit cores and skins.
Have you ever tried to balance one marble on 20 straws? Well, that's one of the activities that challenged the EC Team today (that's the Exciting Curriculum team). They are planning to divide into sub-committees so that they can concentrate on making our curriculum even more exciting.
A visitor came in to talk to the TT Team (Totally Travel). Wendy Graham came in to talk to the team about travel in the area. They are also planning for future visitors, like a truck saftey team. "It was fun", said one member of TT.
Healthy food was top of the agenda for SNAG (School Nutrition Action Group). They have been creating posters of healthy food, and designing logos for their group. We expect to smell lots of lovely cooking smells from them in the near future.
Oakwood Groundlords have been thinking about improving the outside space around school. They have even started to create their own song! Elliot said, "My favourite part of the day has been designing our own logos". Their future plans include gardening and writing letters to companies to see if they can donate plants.
The Olympic and Paralympic games have been a focus for the Fitness Fanatics. They also had a visitor, Julia, who came from the Sports Partnership and is trying to encourage more children to take part in sports. Sports Day arrangements are top of the list for future committee meetings.
Back to the Future are working on technology. They have researched different ways in which technology is used in school. They have made powerpoints to present their findings. One member commented that they have really enjoyed meeting and working with new people today.
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