Minstead Day 1

Having been waved off at school by all the parents we completed the short journey to Minstead Study Centre with no problems. After arriving the children had some time to unpack their things and settle into their home for the next 4 days.

The first activity was the Monday woods walk and despite the bitterly cold weather and even a bit of snow we had lots of fun exploring. Where we encountered; ditches, puddles, bogs, rivers, leaf monsters, ponies, and the beautiful New Forest countryside - just the ideal spot for a picnic!

After a delicious dinner of sausages and roast potatoes with veg followed by apple and plum crumble and custard we headed to the classroom to prepare some lanterns for later in the week.

We also walked to the round house to enjoy an evening of songs and stories around the fire.

School OPEN (Monday 21 January)

We are fully intending to open the school as normal on Monday 21 January.

The path from the wooden gate on Sandpiper Road will be open and clear, and we suggest you use that route into school.

Children can come in via reception rather than going to their classroom doors, which may still be inaccessible.

We will try to clear other paths to the side entrances during the day.

Please take care on your journeys in, as some roads and pavements may still be icy.

Once again, apologies for the closure due to snow on Friday, but thank you for the excellent snow pictures you sent in! If you have any more, please email them to snow@oakwoodlive.net and we'll blog them.

Your Snow Pictures

Thanks to those of you who sent in snow pictures!

If you've got any more, please send them to snow@oakwoodlive.net, and we'll add them to this album!



Thanks to Jas, Oliver, Jacob, Abbie, Oliver, Nathan, Toby, Sophie, Luke and Sam, Robbie, Maisy and Georgia, The Peggs, The Walkers, The Handley-Garlands and the Worleys!

Snow Things!

If you are out in the snow today, we'll be offering a prize for the best "snow-thing"!

This could be a snowman, snowlady, snowdog, snow dinosaur or something else equally creative!

There will be a prize for the most creative snow sculpture and another for the biggest, so get working...

Wrap up warm and send us your pictures...

Send them to snow@oakwoodlive.net and we'll publish the best ones on the blog.

Here are some pictures staff took of the school site this morning...



And thanks for the lovely email we have already received from a parent:

"As ever Oakwood, good call and thanks for letting us know nice and early.  

I for one know you don't take these decisions lightly, but today I think you would have been fighting a losing battle with the snow!

Hope all the staff who came in get home safely as it's much worse now than it was when they came in. "

Friday 10 February 2012: Schools Open

The Oakwood Schools will be open as normal today, Friday 10 February 2012.

There has been some snow overnight, but the roads seem to to be generally clear, and we see no major problems with staff getting to work or pupils getting to school.

Roads and pavements may be icy, so please take care on your journey and allow extra time.

We may need to keep some pedestrian gates closed, but the gates from Sandpiper Road will be open. We welcome your understanding if you can't use your normal gate.

Thank you!

Friday 10 February: Schools Open

The Oakwood Schools will be open as normal today, Friday 10 February 2012.

There has been some snow overnight, but the roads seem to to be generally clear, and we see no major problems with staff getting to work or pupils getting to school.

Roads and pavements may be icy, so please take care on your journey and allow extra time.

We may need to keep some pedestrian gates closed, but the gates from Sandpiper Road will be open. We welcome your understanding if you can't use your normal gate.

If your child is at Minstead, we will update you during the day - they did have snow last night, but at the moment, we don't see any problems with the journey back.

Thank you!

Snow at Minstead

No Snow!

We're pleased to say that Southampton seems to have escaped the snow so far, so unless we turn into Narnia by morning, the Oakwood Schools will be open as normal and the visit to Minstead will leave on time.

If your child is going to Minstead, please remember gloves, scarves and extra socks for warmth. It's still going to be cold!

If it snows...

As you will know from the letter we sent home yesterday, and from the weather forecasts, it's just possible that Southampton and the surrounding area may get some snow over the weekend.

If there's snow, we will do our best to make sure the Oakwood schools open on Monday as normal, but we will let you know as early as possible if we can't open.

We'll update this blog and send texts either late Sunday evening, or very early on Monday morning.

For those children going to Minstead on Monday, we'll need to check that Minstead is open and safe, that the coach company can get us there safely and that we can follow all the safety regulations which the City Council and Hampshire County Council put in place.

We will make sure information about Minstead is also posted on this blog.

The current forecast for Southampton suggests that temperatures will stay just above freezing over Sunday night and that rain and fog are more likely than snow by Monday morning, but obviously things could change.

Thank you for your support. Keep your eyes on the blog and stay warm!

SCHOOLS OPEN - Monday 6 December

Both Oakwood Schools will be open as normal on Monday 6 December.

There may be still one or two pavements, and possibly some paths on the schools' site, which have ice on them, so please take care on your journey to and from school.

Thank you for your understanding last week when we weren't able to open because of the snow. As you can see from the pictures taken by Mr Barrett, it would have been almost impossible to clear safe paths around the site, and journeys to and from school for your families and the staff would have been dangerous.

Snowmen and a Snowem!

Thank you to Sam for the very first photo of a Snowman!

Mr Barrett also gave me a photo of two snowy pupils who made it to school despite the weather - he said they had been waiting there all night to see if the school was open...

And who is that messing about in the snow...?



I also had a snowem from Charlotte called The Shivering Snow...

White as an iceberg,
As deep as the icy cold sea.

Trees covered in little white snowflakes,
Gracefully falling to the freezing ground.

The ground as cold as ice.

As light as a feather the snow
Swiftly falls from the old grand trees.

Keep up the good work. Hope to see you all on Monday!

PS. I made a snowflake:



You can make one too!

SCHOOLS CLOSED - Friday 3 December

Both Oakwood Schools will remain closed on Friday 3 December.

This is out of concern for the safety of pupils, parents and staff travelling to and from school.

Tonight's weather is likely to lead to exceptionally bad travelling conditions tomorrow morning. The temperature is forecast to dip to -6°C just before dawn, which will make refrozen roads and pavements treacherous. On top of that, freezing fog is forecast, which is likely to make visibility very poor.



The forecast for Saturday is much warmer - a balmy 5°C! - and so should see a good deal of the snow and ice thawing.

Both schools expect to be open as normal on Monday morning, barring any worsening of conditions.

We realise that this closure will inconvenience some of you, but we do not take the decision to close lightly, as you will remember from when we were open in the snow in January. This fall of snow has been much heavier and safety has to come first. We thank you for your continued support.

Please keep your eyes on the blog for news about re-opening.

Oscar here...!

Hello! Oscar here! Just the sort of weather us bears like!

Make sure you stay safe and warm today in the snow while the school is closed.

I reckon most of you will be out in your gardens or the park later today having a snowball fight or making a snowman! If you make a really interesting snowman, email me a picture: oscar@oakwoodlive.net and I'll try and put it on the blog later. (I might even have a prize for the best one when we get back to school.)

If you've got the internet (and you have because you're reading this!) there are lots of things you can do to keep yourself occupied and stay learning. You can log into e-City using your oakwoodlive ID and password - there are lots of activities for you to do there.

If you're feeling poetic - how about a snowem? (That's a snowy poem!) If you write a really good one, I'll put it on the blog too - especially if you can email me a picture to go with it!

I'd also be interested if you do any snience (snowy science - keep up!) There are lots of activities here!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Oscar

SCHOOLS CLOSED

Both Oakwood schools will be closed today (Thursday 2 December) because of the considerable overnight snow.

Police have warned people not to travel. Many bus services are cancelled and lots of local roads have not been gritted.

Please keep your eyes on the blog as we hope to update throughout the day.

We expect that the Guildhall Concert tonight will also be postponed or cancelled, but we will post information later in the day.

Severe Weather Warning

The City Council has advised us to remind you of our procedures for severe weather, especially if this causes the schools to close.

As you may be aware, very low temperatures have been forecast for southern England this weekend.


Although it is not clear how badly this will affect Southampton, it is likely that the city will see some snowfall, and that staff and pupils may experience difficult travelling conditions.

Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools will remain open if at all possible, but if conditions mean that it is unsafe for staff or pupils to come to school, then closure may be necessary.

We will make any decision as early as possible in the event we need to close.

Information will be available on the school website blogs, BBC Radio Solent, and Southampton Online. You may also receive a text message from the school.

If the bad weather doesn’t arrive, you can assume that we will be open as normal unless you hear otherwise.

Thank you for your continued support.

Severe Weather Warning

The City Council has advised us to remind you of our procedures for severe weather, especially if this causes the schools to close.

As you may be aware, very low temperatures have been forecast for southern England this weekend.


Although it is not clear how badly this will affect Southampton, it is likely that the city will see some snowfall, and that staff and pupils may experience difficult travelling conditions.

Oakwood Infant and Junior Schools will remain open if at all possible, but if conditions mean that it is unsafe for staff or pupils to come to school, then closure may be necessary.

We will make any decision as early as possible in the event we need to close.

Information will be available on the school website blogs, BBC Radio Solent, and Southampton Online. You may also receive a text message from the school.

If the bad weather doesn’t arrive, you can assume that we will be open as normal unless you hear otherwise.

Thank you for your continued support.

SAM at the Zugspitze

Hello! I hope you are enjoying your holidays!

Today, I travelled through the inside of a mountain on a train in Germany, sat in some snow in the middle of summer, went on a cable car through the clouds and walked into another country!



The Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany - it's in the Bavarian Alps.

(Have go with the buttons on the map to look around and see a satellite view...)

It's normally covered in snow as lots of people go skiing here in the winter. To get to the top, you can either walk - that takes two days and it's not good if you have paws - or you can go on the special railway line which goes through a tunnel inside the mountain.

You can then go on a special cable car down again.

Here is the view from the very top. On a clear day, you can see into four countries...



...but for a special prize when you get back to school, email me at sam@oakwoodlive.net to tell me which other country I walked into at the very top... (There are clues in the pictures...!)

See you in September!

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.

MONDAY 11 JANUARY 2010 - Open as Normal

Both schools will be open as normal on Monday 11 January.

Although there is still some ice on certain pavements and roads, the weekend has shown that the vast majority of people have been out and about, taking care with their journeys.

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

We will expect all children to be in school by 9.30 at the latest. Children arriving after this time will be marked late.

Please use the paths from Sandpiper Road and Plover Close, as these will be clear and gritted. We will try to clear other paths to the side gates during the day if possible.

School lunches will be as normal, but if the playgrounds are still icy, we will have break times indoors. Kidz Club will be open both before and after school.

Because of the improvements in conditions, school will finish at the normal time of 3.15pm. We anticipate no need to pick children up early.

Thank you for your understanding!

Please Note: The Y6 Parents' Meeting about the End of Key Stage Tests (SATs) which was due to take place at 5.30pm has been postponed and we will let you know a new date.