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!

Oriana clinch the House Cup!

This year, the House Cup was a really close run thing...

Over the year, children earned a grand total of

100,424
House Points!

And yet only 341 points separated 2nd place from first!

Oriana's House Captain accepted the House Cup this afternoon!

The Last Breakfast!

Lots of our Year 6 Leavers' gathered early this morning for a final breakfast together as they faced the tears and emotion (we hope!) of their final day at Oakwood.

Thanks to Mrs DiMaiolo's superb negotiating skills (and determination!), all the food and drink had been donated by Tesco (Every Little Helps!) and Sainsburys (Whatever their slogan is...!)

It was a really lovely way to end the term and the start of a day of celebration and remembering...



We will miss you, Year 6!

(And in other news, 6CD's lunch trolley made it to the end of term! Hooray! - see photos above!)

Oakwood makes the World's Oldest Newspaper!

We quite often get mentioned in newspapers and publications, but we think we have really done well this time!

Lloyds List is the World's oldest newspaper, first published in 1734 - nearly 300 years ago!

It's published every day of the week and keeps people in the shipping and maritime industries up to date with latest developments - so it's a particularly important read for lots of people who work on the ships which come in and out of Southampton docks.

We made a recent edition because of our Year 6 visit to Whitaker Tankers. Here's what they said...

"SEAFARERS of the future were put through their paces at the Whittaker Merchant Navy base in Southampton.

Year six pupils from Oakwood Junior School, Southampton, have paid a visit to Whittaker Tankers’ Whitchallenger and Solent towage tugs Tenax and Apex as part of an educational awareness scheme led by Whittaker’s director, Ashley Jenkins.

The pupils experienced the workings of merchant vessels, including navigation, seamanship, engine room and pump room operations. Youngsters had the opportunity to don a fireman’s outfit, learn a few knots and to round it off,watch the tugs depart with fire monitors running.

The programme could now be extended to other schools and colleges."

You can read the article from the actual paper too!

Rites of Passage...

It was another special day for Year 6 today in a week of special days!

Monday was their very entertaining final performance, Thursday will be their Leavers' Service at Lordshill Church and Friday is their last day at Oakwood...

And tonight was their Prom! Their parents and friends brought them to this very classy evening and waved them off as they went in, all dressed to the nines, and then met them for photos afterwards.

But they didn't see what went on inside...

...so here's a glimpse of what they missed!

Thanks to everyone who helped to give them a very memorable evening!

We'll miss you, Year 6!*

*Still two more days to go, though!

Going out with a smile and a song!

Year 6 have put on their last performance at Oakwood tonight as they go out in style this week.

They have been rehearsing long and hard for their production of....



...which is a tale of school trips, important visitors, teachers and TAs, all told from a typical family breakfast table.

It has great songs, a lot of laughs, a few home truths about family and school life and a headteacher getting gunged! (Nearly!)

As you might expect, there were one or two tears in the audience as children took their very last Oakwood Bow!



Well done, Year 6! You have been a real credit to us, your parents and yourselves!

Oasis Band Challenge

Year 5 had a rocking time at Oasis Academy on Friday afternoon, performing in a Rock Challenge and competing against pupils from Fairisle Junior School...



They had been practising for a while, but the disc kept breaking down, so thanks to Paul Ibbot at Oasis for keeping us supplied with extra ones!



A great time had by all! Well done, Oakwood, and thanks, Oasis!

The evidence!

As mentioned in a previous Knapp blog, group 14 completed the 'Towers of Hanoi' game in the quickest time so far this summer, even beating all the Secondary school children! Here is the proof...

Sizzling Summer Sports Day 2010

WOW! What a fantastic Sizzling Sunny Summer Sports Day!

Last year it rained twice and a couple of years ago it was just too hot, but this year's Sports Day went off exactly as planned, with everyone having a fantastic time!

There were some individual events, such as javelin, discus and shot put and some more traditional sports day events, such as the hurdles, sprints, skipping and the egg and spoon race.

Every child got to have a go at every event, scoring points for their House Team as they went along...

We would like to say a huge thank you to the Sports Leaders from Oasis Academy Lord's Hill, some of whom are ex-Oakwood pupils, for their professionalism and support during the morning.

It was a close run thing, but this year, Aurora pipped the other three houses and came out on top!

Well done to everyone in Aurora - a new name on the House Cup this year!

RE Extravaganza!

Year 6 had an amazing week with Chris and the team from Southampton City Mission.

We learned all about Christian beliefs through the telling of the Christian story, which started with Creation, moving onto how things changed with the story of Moses and the 10 plagues, finishing with how Jesus came to help people put things right.

Some of the exciting activities we took part in were: designing a dream city, making a magic 'flicker' book and helping 'Eggbert' to climb a mountain, parachute safely back to land and fly as far as he could to reach home!

When you look through the photographs, look out for a trick being played on Miss Denton too!

Miss Denton, Mrs Collins, Miss Beavill and all the year 6 children would like to say a huge thank you for all the hard work Chris and his team put into making this such an exciting week for us all!