Oakfield Social Media Channels:
Now more than ever it is vital to subscribe to our social media channels to keep updated on all things Oakfield by using the following links:
Follow our Instagram feed for photos, links, stories and more, including plenty of stuff which doesn't feature in our newsletter. If you are Instagramming photos of what your children are doing and making at home then do feel free to tag it as #OakfieldAtHome. Let's make it viral!
We are uploading many more videos to our YouTube channel including our brand new Story Time video series where different Oakfield teachers will be sharing some of their favourite children's books!
We hope you enjoyed Sports Challenges 1 - 6 last week. You can now find the second part which is Oakfield Sports Challenges 7 - 10 and is on our YouTube channel now! Check it out by clicking and subscribing below.
Reflections from our Head
We have now reached the end of our second week of our ‘new look’ Summer Term, and I want to share with you how upbeat and excited we as a staff are feeling to see the inspirational way in which our children are engaging with their learning and showing such creativity, independence and innovation. Teachers and children are sharing examples through photos, videos and messages every day, and it is so encouraging to see the range of skills and character development that is emerging. I could not be prouder of our whole community – children, families and staff. Well done, team Oakfield!
Whilst it is important to remain positive, we must also acknowledge that there are times and days when we all feel less so; sometimes anxiety, stress, worry, frustration, feelings of isolation and just plain sadness come to the fore. This is as true for children as it is for adults. When these challenging times come, it is crucial that you do not feel under pressure to press on with learning or to complete tasks. Education is important, but so are happiness, mental health and wellbeing.
It is entirely to be expected that there will be times when emotions are high, and children may well be feeling and expressing all kinds of different things. Allowing them to have time to themselves in a particular space in the home, if possible, could help them to manage their emotions without being overly probed or questioned – such times can be great for developing reflection and providing space to just play, read or think.
I say at every Oakfield Open Morning that a happy child learns, and it is more important now than ever to maintain their emotional security and safety as the first priority. Continuing to build self-esteem, emotional confidence, resilience, empathy, talking and listening skills will have enormous long-term benefit.
Along with the importance of staying connected with friends and family, keeping as active as possible, taking time just to chat about how everyone is feeling, and finding opportunities to explore and learn new skills together, I think it is also vital to keep encouraging the children at the end of each day to reflect on what has been positive, enjoyable and even wonderful, and in so doing develop the skills of appreciation and gratitude.
Wishing you all a restful weekend with lots of down time and no expectations whatsoever! Stay safe and well and look after yourselves and your loved ones.
Moyra Thompson
Remote Learning Survey
All parents and carers should have received a remote learning survey via the portal. It is your opportunity to let us know what you feel has been working well and what could work better in our remote learning provision. If you can please complete the survey by 5pm on Tuesday 5th May that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Do please check out the list of great online resources we have collated and listed on our Oakfield website below which you can use to supplement the online learning provision and provide inspiration and entertainment for children and adults alike during time at home!
Rainbow Displays
We had some fantastic responses from our call to see some of the rainbow displays you've made at home. Have a look at the ones below for inspiration - one even got on the primetime news!
We would love to see more so please do send them to bgolden@oakfield.dulwich.sch.uk
LOWER FOUNDATION
Lower Foundation are thoroughly embracing their new topic ‘Commotion in the Ocean’.
This week the children looked closely at rock pools. They were given lots of different challenges to complete – just look at these fantastic pieces of work!
Fun facts – did you know a starfish has no brain or blood and there are over 4,500 different types of crabs!
UPPER FOUNDATION
This week has been another great week in Upper Foundation. We have all worked hard writing letters to the Three Bears to say sorry for stealing their porridge and breaking Baby Bear's chair. We have also written recipes for porridge and had a go at making our own delicious breakfasts. We looked at the 'oi' sound in phonics; perfect for then writing, 'boil' in our recipes!
In maths, you have all been looking at doubling and halving and interpreting this in your own fabulous ways; making pizzas out. of play dough and cutting them into halves, or counting out different amounts of objects.
It's been lovely receiving your book covers and even how you make 3D shapes out of different materials in your houses, and wow are your ICT skills becoming impressive!
We are so proud of how you are all managing to produce the most fantastic learning during these challenging times and we are so looking forward to being reunited.
Upper Foundation Teachers
Year 1
Year 1 have wholeheartedly thrown themselves into their online learning this week.
Well done to everybody for their collaboration with their families and resilience amidst all the change!
It is our second week into Summer Term, and we are so proud of the Year 1 children and their attitude to their learning. They are engaging in artistic projects too and it has been lovely to see what different families have been up to this week. With milk-bottle elephants, playdough crafts and flowers from toilet rolls!
We loved our class calls this week as we explored some of the big questions of life through the vehicle of Philosophy for Children (P4C). The children grappled with their ideal place to live, work and travel to. We also looked at some incredible artwork - wow!
Dates to remember:
Microsoft Teams meeting week beginning 4th May:
- Wednesday 6th May 11.15am
- Friday 8th May 11.15am
Microsoft Teams meeting week beginning 11th May:
- Wednesday 13th May 11.15am
- Friday 15th May 11.15am
What great #OakfieldAtHome examples were sent in by Year 1 this week! Here was a just a flavour of their creativity and inventiveness this week:
The Year One Team
YEAR 2
This week in Maths Year 2 have been learning about capacity. We were learning about Wizard William and Witch Winifred's potions and the capacities of their magical ingredients and Beth was inspired to try making some magic of her own!
YEAR 3
We were treated to an amazing video sent in by Dennis and his brother Maksim speaking Spanish with amazing confidence and we loved the creativity that went in to the video. Check it out below! Do share more of your amazing #OakfieldAtHome examples!
Year 4
To our wonderful Year 4 parents and children,
We have been blown away with all of the inspirational things you are getting up to and have LOVED seeing the photos of what you have been up to - please keep doing this, it brightens up our day!
Thank you for working so hard and for also being patient with using the new Portal system. We have been working hard to try and make it as easy for you to do at home.
Keep up the great work,
The Year 4 team
Year 5
Taylor in 5AZ is aiming to raise £1,000 to help the poorest people in India protect themselves and their families from the impact of the coronavirus by cycling 250km in a month. If you would like to donate to the amount he is raising for The Karuna Trust please feel free to do so by clicking the link below. Go Taylor!!!
Noah made this great musical number in his spare time. What a great example of coding and perfect for a Friday!
And if that wasn't enough musical entertainment check out Liam's Ancient Greece rap!
Drama
We have recently started Perform At Home - online drama classes for Reception to Year 6 children. These are 30 minute interactive sessions led by our Perform teachers in small groups featuring singing, dancing, storytelling and drama.
You can read more about it here: https://www.perform.org.uk/classes-courses/perform-at-home.
We are currently offering a FREE TRIAL SESSION for any interested child and wondered if you were able to pass this on to your parents in case any were keen to have a go. We will be exploring Peter Pan with KS1 and The Greatest Showman with KS2. So far the feedback has been excellent and we've just opened more spaces. If you are able to share the information with your parents, we would be very grateful.
For further information, please call 0207 255 9120, email us on enquiries@perform.org.uk. You can also visit our website www.perform.org.uk.
In the meantime, sending all the staff and children our very best and hope everyone is keeping safe.
With best wishes,
Lucy Quick
Perform For Schools
Reading
There is a free publication called the Book of Hopes designed for children, to comfort, inspire and entertain them during the Covid-19 lockdown. It is dedicated to our heroes on the frontline and has contributions from 110 artists. Click on the link below.
ART
Sketching Challenge: Film Posters
It's been great to meet your pets this week, they all look so well behaved. I bet they are enjoying having you at home a bit more. Take a look at some of the amazing Pets that the children shared by clicking on the Flickr album below!
So, I was wondering what you've all been getting up to this week. It's been a bit more rainy and cold and I wonder if you have been indoors more instead of in the garden.
Your challenge this week is to make a poster of a film that you have seen recently. You will need to include the title of the film, a character or two, and maybe a clue to the story too, I'll leave it up to you.
Can you guess which films I've been watching?
Mrs Fidler
SPORT
Ella (Y6), Abi (Y6) and Rose (Y4) planned and delivered a PE lesson to the rest of the key worker children in school this week! This is her write-up below!
"On Wednesday 29th of April, Rose, Abigail and I led a P.E lesson for the rest of the kids at school.
For the Warm-Up we did with 5 star jumps; 5 jumps off your choice for the Year 2 's and under, for Year's 3+ did 5 tuck jumps; next, everyone touched their toes and stretched up before we did 5 more jumps of choice. Whilst Rose and I ran the Year 3+ Skills Test, Abigail did the Year 2 's and under.
For the Year 3+ Skills Test, we demonstrated by throwing a tennis ball against a wall, catching it, and putting the ball back down before doing a jump of the our choice. The participants could do a different jump or same jump every time. They just had to jump.
For Year's 2 and under, Abigail got them to practise their throwing and catching skills by throwing soft balls against the net, also helping their reaction skills. For Year 3+ there was an obstacle course in which they had to do the following things: Grab their team's ring (one of which I am holding above); run up to the cone; run around the cone; grab the hoop, still holding the ring; and as they ran to the end of the playground, roll the hoop alongside them. Once the competitor had reached the end, the end, they had to place the ring and hoop down before doing 5 star jumps, pick up the hoop and ring before running as fast as they could, still holding the ring, and without rolling the hoop remembering to put the hoop back down by the cone. That person and their teammate had to do the course 3 times!
For Years 2 and under, they had to run through ten hoops; put a counter in the Giant Connect - 4; and run back to the awaiting teammate, still carefully running in the hoops. The team with the most counters in the hoops wins!
We hope that everyone had lots of fun and enjoyed the lesson since I did and am sure that Abigail and Rose did, as well".
And as mentioned earlier in the newsletter check out the 2nd part of the Oakfield Sports Challenges on our YouTube now.
Composer of the Week
Bonjour musical voyagers,
Composer of the Week returns to full strength this week with a touch of the digital and more than a little of the robotic. Daft Punk, the French duo responsible for Around The World, One More Time, Get Lucky, Star Boy and many more (such as the incredible Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust), turned their hand to composing with their score for Tron: Legacy. Blending an 85 piece orchestra, recorded in London, with their usual palette of electronica, they created something completely epic and original. However, this was not the robots' first foray into music for film, after creating Interstellar 5555, the first "house-musical", which set their album Discovery to an animated movie. You can find an HD version as part of a free trial on Amazon, but I'll include a YouTube link below.
Birthdays and House Points
Happy birthday to these children from this week:
- 28th Anoushka 3HB
- 28th Luella LFSL
- 30th Reuben 3CF
- 3rd Benjamin UFSP
And the current House Point totals are as below - keep up good work and good behaviour to increase your House totals!
- Baird: 9677
- Pearsall: 9663
- Ruskin: 8984
- Webster: 9343
Credits:
Created with images by Bruce Röttgers - "Flower Power" • Scott Graham - "Brainstorming over paper" • Alex Jackman - "Rainbow Sidewalk Chalk" • Anastasia Taioglou - "Sunrise in Greece" • Chris Chow - "Bears at work. This image was taken during a parade celebrating the bicentennial of the city of Kidron." • Amy-Leigh Barnard - "Tower Bridge, London, United Kingdom" • Paige Cody - "Double, Double, Toil & Trouble" • Frank Vessia - "plane toy over a world globe" • John-Mark Smith - "untitled image" • Paul Green - "untitled image" • Thought Catalog - "poetry from “salt water” by Brianna Wiest" • Guilherme Stecanella - "cotton sea" • @plqml // felipe pelaquim - "untitled image" • Lysander Yuen - "untitled image" • MARK S. - "Vinyl + Grado Headphones" • Nikhita Singhal - "Birthday cake" • 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum - "untitled image"