Miss Bray
What a long and busy half term!
We've welcomed new families and children in YR who have settled beautifully, along with new teachers and assistant teachers. Our Junior Leadership Team is taking shape with all roles now filled. Our Play Leaders and Wellbeing Ambassadors are present everyday on the playground to support children to have successful playtimes, while our School Council have already been busy pulling together ideas for our new school menu (coming in Spring).
Harvest Festival was a very proud moment for me, watching how the school team came together and seeing our children shine doing what they do best.
Thank you for your patience and support this half term as we forged our new team. We have amazing staff who really care about your children and are always looking for new ways to help and support.
Have a restful half term ready for the busy run up to (shhh Christmas!!)
Introducing our new School Ambassadors - Imaan and Arthur, who were voted for by the staff.
They've had some very important roles to fulfil this half term; recording the answer message on the school phone, speaking in front of prospective YR parents for 2024 and leading Harvest Festival.
Our School Council have elected their Chairperson and Secretary and held their first meeting! They also delivered leaflets to the houses in the local community to invite them to our Macmillan coffee morning.
Our Play Leaders have been busy setting up and leading games at lunchtime.
Class teachers have chosen two Class Ambassadors who will greet visitors to their class and explain the learning taking place.
The School Librarians have been working hard at lunchtimes ensuring the books are tidy and in the right places!
At our last count you had raised £596.12 for our school!
We are absolutely thrilled by this; thank you so much. The money will be put towards equipment and activities for the children. There is still a month left, so please keep scanning your rewards when you shop!
We welcome Miss Bates and Miss Hayter to our team as Assistant Teachers. Miss Hayter is working with Mr AJ in Year 5 and Miss Bates is in Year 6 with Mr Cooke.
Thinking of applying for a younger child in 2025? Or do you know someone with a child who will be starting school next year?
Come and see us at our next Open Day or Open Evening:
9.30am or 2.30pm on Thursday 14th November
5.15pm on Wednesday 27th November
Please email admissions@oakfield.academy to book.
We look forward to meeting you!
Sports Events
Some children from Years 5 & 6 took part in a 3G Boys Football Festival, developing their teamwork, resilience, and football skills.
The boys never stopped running, tackling, encouraging each other and smiling.
So great to see more children representing Oakfield in the right way! Great job team!
Some very keen KS2 children attended a Boccia Festival at Testwood School, despite knowing very little about the game beforehand! They left as experts, having learnt a range of skills before putting them into a game situation.
It was wonderful to see their skills develop throughout the day not only in the game, but also in showing respect, encouraging others and demonstrating resilience.
Some Y5 and Y6 girls have been doing football training at lunchtimes, and Mr Cooke took the team to a local competition to compete against many other schools from the area.
The girls played fantastically and competed well against their opposition: dribbling the ball, passing to teammates and making some fantastic saves (shout out to Esmae in goal!)
It was great to see the training sessions that had been delivered to the girls being put into practice in a match situation.
YR have had a fantastic start to the year. They love using their outdoor area; building obstacle courses, tiger traps, and even performing as a band on the stage! They had lots of fun with the Tiger that Came to Tea, and made an emotion wall where the children can move their face to match how they are feeling, and created new colours and emotions for the colour monster.
They've also been looking at patterns, to see if they can spot whether something is a pattern or not!
Y1 have been getting rather muddy while learning about foxes and badgers in OWL, and have linked their topic of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to many different subjects; acting out the story and writing their own stories based on it, learning how to make porridge, creating bear houses. They've also been busy junk-modelling, den-building, fruit shopping, learning about the Six Stages of Life, and painting colour wheels. They walked to and from Totton Library where they listened to stories, played a game, and even got stickers!
Y2 have been Super Scientists, making some ‘Marvellous Mixtures’ to discover whether things dissolve, mix, sink or float in the mixture... and which soap makes the best bubbles! In Art they've been working on their colour mixing by using different amounts of primary colour colours to create different hues, examining famous artworks to spot the primary and secondary colours, and thinking about how the pictures and colour choices made them feel.
Y3 have made some excellent mammoth collages for their topic of the Stone Age. In writing, they've started to discuss and write about their own animals! They've explored the food we need to keep our bodies healthy and labelled the main bones in the human body on a skeleton (and on each other...). They've been working on their addition and subtraction skills while thinking about place value, and developing their number facts to help them work out 'greater than' or 'less than'.
Y4 have have been learning about the digestive system; what parts it has and what each part does... they tested the action of the teeth by eating apples! They’ve also been learning about the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, why they came to Britain and what the consequences of that were; making some beautiful posters in groups. They visited Butser Ancient Farm where they spun some yarn, did some archaeology, and helped to build a ‘clunch wall’ out of chalky limestone. They’ve also been creating watercolour paintings, considering how the colours they use would influence the viewer; and perfecting their column addition in maths.
Y5 have been learning about different types of forces that affect movement (such as gravity and friction) and went to a Forces Workshop at Paultons Park. They've studied tints, shades and tones in art, made some ‘Oracle Bones’ used by the ancient Chinese Shang Dynasty to ask questions of the gods, and created some beautiful ephemeral art using natural items they found in the playground.
Y6 have learnt all about the circulatory system, investigating which exercises would raise their heart rates the most, and dissecting a pig's heart! OWL has given them lots of opportunities to light fires, build shelters, and practise tying knots. They have also been historians; writing their own propoganda and exploring the reasons why men volunteered to fight in WW1. They even recreated the Schlieffen plan - Germany’s failed attempt to conquer Europe in 1914.
To celebrate the amount of reading our children did over the summer, we held a Reading Celebration. The children chose a story to listen to and then took part in a craft activity; decorating their own bookmarks. This was followed by an ice lolly and extra playtime!
We held a coffee and cake morning to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, with parents and staff donating cakes.
The School Council worked with Miss Bray to plan the event, inviting local residents and sorting out refreshments. On the day they were involved with setting everything up, making decorations, welcoming visitors and ensuring the milk was replenished. They raised £157.56!
What a fantastic celebration we had for our Harvest Festival! It was lovely to see so many parents join the whole school at Testwood Baptist Church. Thank you to our wonderful children who amazed us with their fantastic harvest themed learning - they were all superstars. A special shout out to our School Ambassadors for leading the celebration. Thank you to everyone who donated to the Basics Bank - we are so lucky to be part of such a generous community.
Parent Meetings
In the first week after half term we have our parent/teacher meetings planned, which you can book now on Arbor.
Tuesday 12th November 3.30 - 5.30pm
Wednesday 13th November 3.30-6.30pm
All meetings will take place in the classroom where there will be an opportunity for you to look at your child's work and chat to their teacher about their progress and targets.
Scholastic Book Fair
Are you thinking about Christmas presents yet?
We have our Scholastic Book Fair visiting between 19th and 26th November. This will include our annual Bedtime Story Party on Wednesday 20th November at 4.30-5.30pm.
There will be some great books available to purchase from the fair.
The School Age Immunisation Service will be visiting us on Thursday 5th December. If you would like your child to receive a flu vaccination at school (via a painless nasal spray), please complete an E-Consent form. https://www.hampshirehealthyfamilies.org.uk/nasal-flu-vaccination-programme
Our school code is SH147021.