Ambulance Crew Visit

The children of Oakwood had a very unique and special experience today, when the Ambulance Crew parked an ambulance in the school playground!

All children had a chance to look on board, turn the siren and blue lights on, and most importantly, learn about the important work that ambulance crews do.

Some children had the chance to take their own blood pressure, wear a neck brace and measure their heart rates.

All the children had a very exciting and informative visit, and would like to thank the Ambulance Crew for giving up their time to allow them to have such a special hands-on experience.

Bringing WWII to Life!!!

What an exciting week Year 3 have had!!

On Monday we were paid a visit by Mr Strahan, who told us his first hand account of life in WWII. When the war started he was only 5 years old, and lived in London. Along with millions of other children he was evacuated to the countryside, and stayed there for most of the war.

He shared lots of interesting stories-some very sad and some very funny!! One key message came through very clearly, and that was how communities rallied together and looked after one another.

On Tuesday Year 3 visited the D-Day musuem. Here we had the opportunity to handle real WWII artefacts and take part in an interactive workshop, which helped us learn even more about life during the war.

Spectacular Spitfires!

Did you know that the first Spitfire made its maiden flight from Eastleigh, and that Spitfires came in all colours- even pink? Well Year 3 do now!!

Yesterday Year 3 children stared their exciting Spitfire project with local artists Wooden Tiger. Not only did they make and paint their own Spitfires, but they learnt lots of interesting facts about one of the most famous aircraft of our time!! This then inspired them to write some brilliant acrostic poetry!!



Later the children will be using their planes as a stimulus for some creative story writing, and sharing their stories with others in our new outdoor story garden.

Making a difference in the World!

You'll probably remember that we did our Sport Relief run earlier this year in aid of Smutsville school in South Africa.

We raised a massive £1100 and we're pleased to announce that the money has got safely to Sedgefield, where Zoe Harrison presented the cheque to Mr Stephaus Dogh, their headteacher.

Zoe has very kindly sent this report from their local paper...


(click the report to make it easier to read!)

Well done to everyone at Oakwood!

School Council runs Anti-bullying Drop-in Centre!

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!

Children in Need 2008

We filled in a big picture of Pudsey Bear with coins.

We have collected a lot of money for children in need!

Year 3 Remember...

Yesterday Year 3 remembered those who fought in the World Wars.

Each child made a poppy which we then arranged into a wreath. Yesterday the wreath was carried with pride to the World War One memorial at Hollybrook Cemetery. The children were accompanied by our new PCSO and a number of parent helpers. Just before 11.00am the wreath was placed on the memorial and we observed the two minutes' silence.



The children showed great sensitivity and maturity, as they reflected on the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers who fought for the country.

Mad Science Day!

We had some very special guests in Year 3 yesterday. Have a look at some of our "Mad Scientists" below!


It was all happening - screaming balloons, gloopy slime, colour changing milk, invisible ink...



It was great fun (and very messy!) and children and teachers learned lots about the magic of science!

Everybody Writes Day Grand Opening

What an exciting week! Years 3 and 4 had the opportunity to work with a "Poetry Slam" workshop earlier in the week. They wrote their own poems and performed them with actions. Year 4 even extended this by reciting some poems using our new Macbooks, using Photobooth software.

Today, Years 5 and 6 were lucky enough to work with Ali Sparkes, local author of the "Monstermakers" and "Shapeshifter" series of books, as well as many others. She was our special guest at the grand opening of our story garden that the Year 5 children have been working hard on over the past few months.

She was honoured to be asked to officially open the garden, and then to be the first person to read from our Story Throne. She read an extract from her forthcoming book, "Frozen in Time", which will be available in paperpack in January 2009.



Wooden Tiger came along, as well as Sue Bence, Literacy Advisor for Southampton. When Ali finished reading, some of the Year 5 children read their own writing about the garden and performed some poetry for us all to enjoy.



We are very proud of the children who have all worked extremely hard on our new garden area, and we hope you all agree, it is a fabulous success. We hope the whole school will be able to enjoy the new area, both at break and lunchtimes as well as during lessons.

Successful Start to the Football Season!

Our three football teams have all made a very successful start to the season.

Our Girls' Squad played brilliantly in their first league game against Abbotswood winning 3-2. They also represented the school really well at a 6-a-side tournament at Wide lane.

Well done to Megan, Caitlin, Emily, Olivia, Amy, Jessica, Chloe, Katie G, Katie M and Katie C !

Our U10 Boys' Squad won the first round match of the Hampshire Cup against Orchard 3-2. They also won their group stage at a 6-a-side tournament at Wide lane and got to the quarter finals. A real achievement, especially as the games were only 4 minutes each way!

Oakwood work hard to ensure they keep the ball out as it comes in from the corner!

Well done to Kieran, Sean, Lewis, Aaron, Kane, Billy, Jake, Ben, William, Elliot and Henry !

Our U11 Boys' Squad won their first round match of the Hampshire Cup against Locks Heath 2-1.

They have also won all three league games so far (8-1 v Bassett Green, 7-0 v Mount Pleasant and 1-0 v Hollybrook).

On Friday they also won 2-1 in the first round of the Southampton Cup!

Well done to Matt, Alex, Mitchell, Dalton, Ryan M, Jack, Ryan O, Jordan, Harry and Oliver !

Good luck to all the squads for their future games and thank you to Paul and Gary (our football coaches).