Happy Easter!

Just a quick blog post to wish everyone a really Happy Easter!

Here are a few photos from our Easter Service at Lordshill Church this morning. The children represented the school very well on the walk and the readers did a really professional job!

The singing was some of the best we've heard at the church - thanks to Miss Patchett and her flamboyant conducting...



We're really pleased that the Easter story is part of our curriculum every year - it's so wonderful that all children know such a long-lived story with so many important messages about how we should look after one another.

Have a peaceful weekend.

Minstead Day 3

Our last full day, and it couldn't have been busier!

The day started with a bit of a song and a reminder about the purpose of the seven Minstead Beads and what they stand for. Remember to ask your child about the importance of the Thenga! The children then went off to the last of their three special session, earning their fifth bead.

After a brisk lunch break everyone donned their warmest and driest clothes before embarking on the journey to... THE BOG! The Bogs play a key role in the development of the beautiful new forest countryside and after finding out why from our guide and leader, Chris, the children (and teachers) braved the wobbly and unpredictable moss.

All the children enjoyed the final evening's camp fire and are looking forward to the morning activity and making their way home.

Oakstead's visit to Marwell Zoo

The Oakstead pupils enjoyed a chilly but thrilling day at Marwell Zoo.
They experienced first hand contact with a Royal Python and a giant thorny stick insect, whilst learning about various species of animals under threat across the world.
They had a brief play time and a chilly lunch before they moved onto discovering which animals were deciding to brave the weather and appear for the public.

Year 5's Biscuit Business Sale

Last week, Year 5 held a biscuit sale to complete their Biscuit Business topic. Both classes had a fantastic time baking their biscuits, decorating their stalls and selling their products.

Overall, 5SL raised £70 for Cancer Research UK and 5TA raised £80 for the Testlands Support Project. Well done, Year 5!

Biscuit Boos!

As well as having a great time designing recipes, baking biscuits and selling them to raise money for charity, Year 5 have also had time to tell you their stories in their own words. We said that we would give you more to listen to on our blog, so enjoy this mini radio station of Biscuit Boos!

Minstead Day 2

Breakfast!

Cereals, followed by beans on toast and/or homemade jam, with juice - A great start to Day 2 at Minstead 2013.

Having earned their Purple ‘Biodiversity’ and Yellow ‘Energy’ beads for their necklaces during day 1 at Minstead, Tuesday brought about the beginning of the childrens’ quests to earn the Blue (Water), Red (Reduce, Reuse Recycle) and Green (Food and farming) beads.

There were sheep to look after, and wool to transform into felt. Pond dipping and insect identification galore and MUD, MUD, MUD! There was even time to fit in a walk to the Minstead Church where Sherlock Holmes author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is buried and all before dinner!

After pasta bake and garlic bread with veg, and bananas and custard for pudding. The evening activities involved making Minstead inspired bandanas, clay faces and podcasting. The children also enjoyed the visit from Mr Taylor who popped in for dinner.

Here's our walking route from today - click the map to have a closer look!

oakwoodwoodywalk

2.9 miles / 4.6670976 km

Created 03.26.13 by Minstead

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.

Apprentice Club: Cinema

We knew it would be tough to beat the £30 profit made by the BC Landline Cookie Company, but the Howlers Cinema was extremely popular. So much so, that it will be running again next Wednesday too!

Listening to Oakwood!

We're finally getting the hang of making sound clips at Oakwood!

We already share lots of photographs and videos, but you should be hearing a lot more from us in the future too!

Pupils and teachers are learning to use Audacity, a program which lets us edit sound clips, music and sound effects. We can then upload these to Audioboo - a great service which means the sound clips can be played on the web:

listen to ‘Sea City Museum’ on Audioboo

or tweeted about like this:

Oakwood Live! Further-a mystery story by Alice in Year 6.: listen to ‘Further’ on Audioboo(functio... tinyurl.com/a5uk74h New Blogpost!

— Oakwood Junior Sch (@oakwoodlive) December 7, 2012

We can also give you a playlist of our latest audioboos, like this:

Listen out for more chances to listen!

Year 3 In2Music Concert

Thanks to the hard work of Year 3 pupils and the staff of Southampton Music Services, our In2Music concert showed off more Oakwood musical talent and promise!



It's that time of year when every Year 3 pupil has to decide if they want to carry on learning a musical instrument in school. We currently offer a very wide range of choices and nearly 30% of years 4, 5 and 6 are still learning!