Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Acting Head of School Report
Fri 03 May 2024It has been a really enjoyable week at Oakwood, with lots of great learning going on!
Once again our Nursery children worked with our friends from Eastbourne Gardens Care Home. This time, our children went on the minibus to visit the residents in their home - and it was a wonderful morning for everyone concerned. The children were beautifully behaved as well! Well done to all our Nursery children.
There has been fantastic work all around the school again. Year 6 were doing some amazing drama work in the hall that linked in to their History unit on Smugglers. Several of the children showed me examples of their written work that had been inspired by what they had done. They told me that the drama had helped them gain a better understanding of the various 'roles' involved in smuggling.
Year 4 shared some great work they have been doing as well. I saw wonderful 'Helping Hands for the World' which will hang in their classrooms. On them, the children made five pledges (one on each finger) regarding how they will help preserve our planet. This involved recycling more and not wasting water.
Oakwood are currently at the top of the table for the Aurora Schools Times Tables Rockstars challenge! There is one more week to go - so keep playing those multiplication games as Heron Park are very close behind us! Well done especially to Parks class who are the leading class in the challenge so far!
Today's celebration assembly saw our 'Stars of the Week' receive their awards, and the winners are named on this week's bulletin. Rashford class won the Golden Lunchbox due the their outstanding lunchtime behaviour, and Stephenson class have taken the lead in this term's attendance challenge. Well done to Noah C (number 34) who won the individual attendance raffle.
I hope you all have a wonderful bank holiday weekend and hope the sun shines for everyone!
With my best wishes
David Sharp
Acting Head of School
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Acting Head of School Report
Fri 26 Apr 2024We have enjoyed a really positive week at Oakwood!
The children have continued to show positive behaviour in and around the school, which has led to some excellent work being produced in all year groups!
Our Nursery had more special visitors this week, thanks to our friends at the Eastbourne Gardens Care Home. This time a range of super heroes visited (Super Reader, Super Recycling and Super Fitness) and worked with our children during the morning! It is a fantastic partnership that Mrs Stiles (our Nursery Manager) has developed, and we look forward to seeing it grow even more in the future.
It has also been a special week for Year 1, with their trip to Lewes Castle that links to the current History unit. I am delighted to report that all of the children behaved in an exemplary manner, representing Oakwood in the best possible way. They also had a fantastic time and managed to wear out some of adults as there were a lot of steps to climb! I suspect all our Year 1 children slept very well on Thursday night - I know the adults that went did!
All around the school I have seen some great work - from children who have worked really hard to improve their handwriting and presentation, to wonderful art work. Year 6 have produced some very moving pieces of writing that demonstrates real thought and emotion. It has been wonderful to see so many proud children showing me their fantastic work.
Today's celebration assembly saw our 'Stars of the Week' receive their awards, and the winners are named on this week's bulletin. Nightingale class again won the Golden Lunchbox due the their outstanding lunchtime behaviour, and Park's class have taken an early lead in this term's attendance challenge. Well done to Sebastian West (number 233) who won the individual attendance raffle.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing your children back for more fantastic learning next week!
With my best wishes
David Sharp
Acting Head of School
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Acting Head of School Update
Fri 19 Apr 2024It has been fantastic to welcome the children back after their Easter holidays - and we have even had a bit of sunshine as well!
The children have been demonstrating excellent behaviour, both in the classrooms and around the school this week. Everyone is trying to be the best version of themselves and there has been a calm and purposeful atmosphere around the school. Well done to everyone - and keep it up!
Our special friends from the Eastbourne Gardens Care Home visited our Nursery again this week (minus the bunny costumes!) to help our children plant seeds. I have heard a rumour that some super heroes may be visiting our Nursery very soon!
Year 5 were fortunate to receive a visit from John from the Table Top Foundation. They engaged in some food tastings and discussions around food groups. This project will continue over the coming months to teach our children about healthy foods, kitchen skills and jobs within the catering industry.
Children have been working hard across all classes this week and I have witnessed some fantastic art work again in Year 6 as they study their latest artist Laetitia Yhap. Some fantastic lessons were observed in Read Write Inc in Year1 and 2 this week as well. Children across the school have been completing their initial pop quizzes for their new units, which they will repeat again at the end to show how much they have learned.
This morning we had our usual celebration assembly, and the list of the 'Stars of the Week' winners can be found in this week's bulletin. Congratulations to Nightingale class for winning our Golden Lunchbox (for great lunchtime behaviour), Roper class for winning the term 4 class attendance voucher and to Ciaran Domican who won the individual attendance raffle.
I would like to wish you all a fantastic weekend and we will look forward to seeing the children on Monday morning.
With my best wishes
David Sharp
Acting Head of School
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Deputy Headteacher Update
Thu 28 Mar 2024I hope you will find this Newsletter informative and an opportunity to celebrate the learning from across Term 4.
We have held our Term 4 Curriculum Events this week and, as always, they have been brilliant! The staff have worked hard to think of the activities, workshops, and performances to share and the children have really enjoyed inviting so many parents to the events this week. They have been really well attended. On behalf of all the pupils, ‘Thank you’ for joining us – we hope you have enjoyed sharing in our learning! For me, this opportunity to invite parents and families into school is a real highlight, and an opportunity to bring the school and the community together.
The Curriculum Events round off a term’s worth of hard work and effort from all of the children. I am always impressed with how dedicated our pupils are and the pride they have in their work. We continue to work hard on providing the very best units of study for all of our pupils, across all of our subjects, so that children’s focus and engagement remains high. I know our pupils are looking forward to their local studies next term.
The end of a term is also a great opportunity to say, ‘Well done’ and ‘Congratulations’. In this week’s Celebration Assembly, we acknowledged our very latest ‘Stars of the Term’, who have demonstrated each of our four values – Knowledge, Equality, Determination, Achievement – this term, and who are proud custodians of their trophies and superb role-models for others. Thank you to our Term 3 winners who handed over the trophies today! Our full list of certificate winners can be found in the Newsletter!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Oakwood staff for their hard work and dedication across the term.
Finally, ‘Thank you’ to all of our parents for your support. It is always appreciated by the staff. The children have worked hard this term. I am always very proud of them and looking forward to finding out what they will learn and produce in Term 5!
I hope everyone enjoys a restful Easter break, and I look forward to welcoming pupils back to school on Tuesday 16th April!
Best Wishes
David Sharp
Deputy Headteacher.
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Deputy Headteacher Update
Fri 22 Mar 2024The children and staff have enjoyed another great week of learning at Oakwood - and we have had some special visitors as well!
On Monday, we had a very prickly guest, when a hedgehog visited us to work with children from Reception to Year 4! The children had a wonderful time and produced some wonderful written work on the back of the visit. Graham, from the Hedgehog charity also wrote to us afterwards to thank the children for their outstanding behaviour and care that they showed. Well done everyone!
The Easter Bunny also hopped into our Nursery this week, along with his friends 'Chick' and 'Big Carrot!' They shared some time (and snacks) with the children before leaving the Nursery with some lovely new books. Thanks Easter Bunny (and the Eastbourne Gardens Care Home!)
Then on Thursday we were all very silly! But it was for a good reason as we had a wonderful time with the 'Silly Science Workshop' that visited our school. All the children enjoyed some thrilling experiments both inside and outdoors, A great time was had by all!
Children have been working hard across all classes this week and I have witnessed some fantastic art work in Year 6 and some very persuasive writing from Year 5 children. Year 6 children have continued with their preparations for their forthcoming SATS assessments and they are showing a fantastic attitude to their learning.
This morning we had our usual celebration assembly, and the list of the 'Stars of the Week' winners can be found in this week's bulletin. Congratulations also to Serenity in Year 6 who won our writing competition for a great story about a bear with special powers.
Next week is the last week of term (we finish on Thursday) - but it is as busy as ever. We look forward to welcoming many of you to our popular curriculum events and we know your children love to share their learning with you.
I hope you all have a fabulous weekend (whatever the weather!) and we look forward to seeing you all for the last week of term.
With my best wishes
David Sharp
Deputy Headteacher
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Deputy Headteacher Update - Friday 15th March 2024
Fri 15 Mar 2024It's been another great week of learning at Oakwood this week. I have seen some wonderful examples of writing and art work produced by some very proud children!
After last week's British Heart Foundation fundraiser, we have this week raised money for Red Nose Day - and had great fun in bouncing for this worthy cause. Thanks you for all your contributions, they are greatly appreciated.
The week began with some visitors to the school who were looking at reading provision across all ages. They left greatly impressed with the confidence and effort of the pupils as well as the skill of the staff.
Year 1 have been doing some practical science work and looking at how changing the size and shape of a boat's sail can make it move faster in the water. They were having a lot of fun when I saw them! Year 5 have continued with their craft based careers project. They have been fully engaged in the design and making process as well as developing a greater idea of a range of career opportunities. Year 6 continue to work very hard in their SATS preparations, but have also been very creative and produced some amazing art work in the afternoons.
Although we had no celebration assembly today due to the bouncy castle, we still presented 'Stars of the Week' and the list of winners can be found in this week's bulletin.
It was fabulous to see so many of you at our Parents' Evening consultations this week. There were lots of proud parents and happy children around on Tuesday and Thursday. If you were unable to make an appointment this week, please do speak to your child's class teacher and they will make arrangements to see you at a time that suits everybody.
We have another exciting week to look forward to next week, with some events carried over from science week - including a hedgehog visiting some year groups and a 'Silly Science' session for all!
Also, we have extended the writing competition into next week to give as many children as possible the chance to enter. finally, do look at the bulletin for the dates for our popular curriculum events which take place in the last week of term.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone next week!
With my best wishes
David Sharp
Deputy Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 1st March 2024
Mon 04 Mar 2024Welcome to this week’s Weekly Update!
We’ve had a fantastic week at Oakwood this week. Some amazing learning and lots of proud smiles – it’s been great to see.
‘Thank you’ to all of the children who wore something red in support of the British Heart Foundation and healthy hearts, today. We were inspired by the story of our brilliant Harvey, in Year 6, who shared his own, and very brave, story of important heart health.
I have seen some excellent writing this week. All of Year 1 Nightingale Class came to visit me on Thursday, to share their best ideas for helping a friend – everything from buying flowers and playing games, to just giving a smile. I had just enough stickers for them all!
Our full list of this week’s ‘Stars of the Week’ can be found in this week's Bulletin – ‘Well done’ to all of this week’s certificate winners. Our ‘Attendance Challenge’ has been reset and has started again for Term 4. All classes had attendance better than 90%, and two classes achieved 96%, or better, which is excellent! The 10 points went to Year 2 Roper Class this week. We are certainly seeing some improvement in our attendance percentages, so ‘Thank you’ to you all for your support with this.
You will have hopefully received a letter inviting you to our upcoming Parents’ Evening consultations. This is an opportunity for you to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss their progress in class. I encourage all parents to make a booking and I look forward to welcoming you to in school across these two days.
We certainly have a busy week ahead. On Thursday 7th March, it is ‘World Book Day’! This is a highlight event in the school calendar, and one I know that staff and pupils really enjoy. There is no expectation to dress up or buy a costume for your child – an accessory, clue or a book will be just as good! Teachers are planning reading activities for the day and I hope the children will enjoy lots of learning and fun with books and reading. We are also running our ‘Short Story Competition’ this year – please encourage your child to take part this year!
Just a reminder that it’s a four-day week as we have an INSET Day on Friday 8th March 2024. Both the school and nursery will be closed to all children. School will reopen again on Monday 11th March 2024.
Have a great weekend and week ahead!
With my best wishes!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update Friday 23rd February 2024
Fri 23 Feb 2024Welcome to this week’s Weekly Update!
A warm welcome to Term 4, to all of our pupils and their families! It has been lovely to see the children back at school this week and I hope everyone feels refreshed and ready to go, after a week away from school.
The prospect of Spring isn’t quite with us yet, and the children have been very resilient in what has been some truly horrific weather across these first few days! They have been finding out about their new learning journeys and sharing their termly homework projects with their classes – we’re looking forward to seeing so many more of these over the coming weeks.
Everyone has settled back into school, working hard an giving their best. I’ve seen some excellent Year 6 diary entries this week and know I’m going to be treated to some excellent learning and some proud smiles.
‘We held our first ‘Table of Awesomeness’ today. The children had a great time. There is a picture of them later on in the Bulletin. ‘Congratulations’ to Year 6 Williamson Class who are the Attendance Champions for Term 3 and collect £20 to spend on something for their classroom. The scores are reset, and we will find out who starts Term 4 with 10 points next week. ‘Well done’ to Hallie C won the ‘100%
Attendance Raffle’ this week. It’s set to be a busy term ahead. In the last run up to the end of key stage assessments, our pupils in Year 6 are working hard and giving their best. Attendance at the Maths Club has been fantastic! Please reach out to your child’s class teacher, should you need to in the coming weeks.
We will also be hosting our Spring Parents Evening this term, on Tuesday 12th and Thursday 14th March. This is an opportunity to take a temperature check on your child’s progress and their effort in school. We will write to you shortly with all the information as to how to book an appointment with your child’s class teacher.
We have some new staff who will be joining us this term. ‘Welcome’, to Miss Blaber, who has joined our MDSA team this week.
Finally, we love hearing about your child’s achievements and successes outside of school, too. So, if there is something that they have completed, that they would like to share, please let us know.
I look forward to seeing you in school across the coming weeks. Wishing all of our pupils a very successful Term 4!
Mr. Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 9th February 2024
Fri 09 Feb 2024Welcome to this week’s Weekly Update!
Quite unbelievably, we find ourselves at the end of Term 3! It’s a term which has flown by and represents the midway point of this school year. This is, arguably, my favourite week of any term, as it’s an opportunity for all of our pupils to share their learning with families and friends. If you have joined us for one, or more, of our Curriculum Events for this term, I am extremely grateful to you and want to thank you for giving up your time. It means so much to our pupils, adding a real purpose to their learning (a wide selection of photographs from the week can be found on p. 8-13). From those of you I have spoken to, I think some of you have enjoyed the events more than the children. I hope you will continue to support these in the future. In Term 4, we head into our Geography studies.
The end of term also represents the opportunity for further celebrations, as we announced our ‘Star of the Term’ Award winners for Term 3 (you can see the children with their trophies on p. 4-6). As always, we celebrated our Stars of the Week and updated our Attendance Challenge Leaderboard, where Year 2 Roper Class remain at the top – we will find out whether they are able to hold onto their narrow advantage when we return in Term 4!
‘Congratulations’ also must go to the 79 children with 100% attendance this term.
We also found out who will be joining our first ‘Table of Awesomeness’ in Term 4. As part of our ‘Happy Lunchtime’ initiative, some children have been invited to attend a very special and privileged lunch sitting, for demonstrating exceptional lunchtime behaviour or for being brave or determined, trying new foods or lunchtime games. Miss Russell will be the first host.
‘Thank you’ to our pupils in Year 1, who shared their learning in assembly, today. They spoke about their fabulous wallpaper designs, inspired by the artist William Morris – they were exceptional. Our pupils in Year 5 showed their brilliant Mayan masks!
Today, we say ‘Goodbye’ to Mrs. Hendy, who has supported our pupils in the lunch halls, in her role as MDSA, and to Allen, our Kitchen Chef, who is also leaving his company. I would like to take this opportunity to wish them both well.
Finally, I’d like to wish all of our pupils, their families, our staff, and the whole Oakwood community a safe and happy half term break. I look forward to seeing you all in Term 4.
Mr. Laker
Headteacher
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Headteacher Update - Friday 2nd February 2024
Fri 02 Feb 2024Welcome to this week’s Weekly Update!
We have had lots of fun with ‘Numbers Day’ today – there have been personal Maths challenges around school, for children to enjoy, as well as lots of Maths and number activities in classes. Our Reception children have been rolling dice, matching numbers and creating number-block towers. Across the school, it’s been brilliant!
Year 6 Parks Class shared their learning in today’s Celebration Assembly – some fantastic Sci-fi stories, knowledge recall of the Space Race and a celebration of ‘body image’ and self-respect. The children presented superbly and had an attentive audience too.
We celebrated a huge number of certificates today – Mathematicians and Writers of the Week and our ‘Stars of the Week’ too (the full list can be found on page 4 this week). We also awarded our very special ‘Lunchtime Awards’ too. ‘Well done’ to all of our amazing winners this week! The 'Golden Lunchbox’ was won by Year 1 Nightingale Class this week, who have a class reward to look forward to next week!
Year 2 Roper class picked up the 10 points in this week’s ‘Attendance Challenge’ and lead the way this term…Can they be caught?
Our pupils in Reception have been talking to all of the staff this week, finding out about all of the different jobs that all the people at Oakwood do. There are some pictures further on to show you who they spoke to.
Unbelievably, we have just one more week of Term 3 remaining. We are really looking forward to welcoming you to our Curriculum Events next week! The children have been busy planning and preparing for your visit…you are in for a real treat! We hope you will enjoy sharing your child’s learning…they are excited about you seeing them in school.
We will also find out who the Term 3 ‘Stars of the Term’ will be, so lots to look forward to!
Just a reminder that the last day of term is Friday 9th February 2024, returning to school for Term 4 on Monday 19th February 2024!
Have a great weekend!
Ryan Laker
Headteacher
