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As usual please log on to the Parent Portal and remind yourself of all the important updates and messages that have been posted this week.
Note from our Head
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team. (Phil Jackson)
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it. (H.E. Luccock)
Unity is strength. . . when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. (Mattie Stepanek)
Some of you were kind enough to say that you enjoyed the quotes I used in my message earlier this term, so I have included a few more for today! One of our Core Values here at Oakfield is that of Collaboration, and I want to take a moment this week to pay tribute to 'Team Oakfield' as we near half term.
The children have settled back extremely positively into school life and clearly enjoy those vital social interactions amongst themselves and with adults that serve to strengthen relationships and provide a platform for respect, trust and the impetus to challenge themselves and take risks in their learning. They are enjoying the opportunity for plenty of collaborative work, open-ended questioning and independent research - important skills to build resilience and a growth mindset.
I had the privilege of joining the OAFs Annual General Meeting earlier this week, which also served to highlight those close bonds of partnership, support and co-operation between the parent body and the school. I am so grateful to Sylvia Prince and the outgoing committee for their tireless energy, creativity and sheer hard work which benefit our children so hugely and I look forward to working with the new committee as this year goes on.
Never has teamwork been as important as during these last months as we have travelled the uncharted road of our Covid-19 journey in 2020. My staff members here at Oakfield, whether teaching, support, admin or the Senior Leadership Team, have faced every new challenge and request made of them with total professionalism, commitment, positivity and a prevailing 'can do' attitude. They have supported and encouraged each other and me with a smile, humour, boundless energy and wisdom. They have never lost their ability to think creatively and be forward-focused, which is so important as we remain mindful of the need to be continually evolving and planning ambitiously for our future.
You may not know that due to the current guidelines, staff are undertaking more duties than usual throughout the day and yet they still manage to balance this with their normal workload, to ensure that the children are learning and progressing. I take my hat off to each one of them and thank them so much for everything that they do each day.
I wish 'Team Oakfield' a very happy and restful weekend. Please stay well and safe.
Moyra Thompson
Cauliflower Card Design
Everyone has been hard at work creating their design for their Cauliflower card this half term and today is the big reveal!
In Pre-Prep the teachers have worked with the children to create some very cute images that we're sure you will love; Year 2 teachers have been busy supporting the children as they have cut and pasted some very intricate designs, well done to all of you.
In Key Stage 2, the card designs have been inspired by the work of various famous artists and the techniques they used to create their masterpieces.
Year 3 has studied Kandinsky and have practised using compasses, rulers, set squares, protractors and their precision cutting skills to create new galaxies; Year 4 has been looking at Hundertwasser's wonderful colourful work and practising their skills of colour mixing using powder paints, adding tints and tones to create the most wonderful colour explosions. Year 5 has researched the ancient art of printing, exploring the work of Japanese artist Hokusai. Using first poly tiles and then lino, the resulting prints are very impressive. (Although they are currently A5 size, the design will be enlarged by the Cauliflower card company). Year 6 has ventured into the paper cuts world of Matisse. They have been attempting to create landscape scenes by overlaying a variety of different papers, developing depth of image (background, middle ground and foreground). The results are very atmospheric.
We hope you enjoy seeing the work the children have produced and that you decide to order some cards to send out to friends and family. All proceeds go to our wonderful OAFs, buying extra equipment for the children and helping to support exciting events at school.
Please follow the guidance on the form and place your order (marking the form accordingly), then return the design to school by Wednesday 14th October so that it can be collected by the company at the end of the week.
Thank you.
Lisa Fidler, Art Teacher
PLACE2BE FUNDRAISER
WELL DONE MR BOWER!
Thank you to everyone for helping me get over 'the line' last Sunday. My two children improvised and used a loo roll as a finish line tape - a unique way to finish the race!
It could not have gone better...or so I thought! My watch showed me finishing in 3:36 - a new personal best - prompting celebratory photos, hugs and high-fives with my nearest and dearest. Only then did I check the official app which showed that I stopped 100m short!! This prompted a painful final sprint and my official time of 3:39:27. A lesson learned! My official PB remains 3:38 but I remain positive I will beat it one day. There is always next year!
Owing to my timing hiccup it also means that we now have 2 winners of the predicted time competition - HOORAY!
Official and Unofficial Time Prediction Winners
- Official- Sophia
- Unofficial- Samuel
Enjoy spending your vouchers!
Mr Bower
UPPER FOUNDATION
Dear Parents/Carers,
This week we have been thinking about what sometimes worries them and reading the book Silly Billy by Anthony Browne. The children have been talking about their worries and even making their own worry dolls to take home.
In Maths, we have been looking at ordinal numbers and trying to remember first, second, third etc. We worked together with our friends to put people in the correct order when waiting at a bus stop.
We also made our Cauliflower Cards. They were sent home in the Reading Folders on Wednesday. If you would like to purchase an order of them, please do return them as soon as possible. These must be returned by Wednesday 14th October next week.
Next week, our focus will be ‘Animals around the World’. We will be looking at different habitats and matching the animals to their environment. For Show and Tell, we’d like each child to bring one animal and be able to tell the class one fact about the animal, e.g. its habitat. We will be learning about our artist of the term, Matisse, and recreating his famous snail, as well as looking at the book The Journey Home by Frann Preston Gannon.
With best wishes,
Miss Treppass and Mrs. Barrett Nnochiri
The Upper Foundation Team
Year 2
Safety First
Year 2 know how to keep safe when using the internet and other devices!
The children watched Kim and Lee’s adventure with interest:
All the children in Year 2 decided on rules they think are important when using the internet, agreed to the class rules and signed the pledge.
The children had fun making masks and acting out different characters from the story.
YEAR 5
PSHE
In 5NA's Jigsaw (PSHE) lessons this term, the children have been thinking about different members of society. They have learnt lots about Refugees, Migrants and Asylum Seekers and some of the International laws and rules relating to these different groups. This week, Miss Francis gave 5NA a bag of random items including a tape measure, a ball, plastic frogs, a book, a dice, some house points, a maraca, etc. Their task was to work together as a group to make up a class game involving as many of the objects as possible. They quickly realised that for a game to work, they needed clear rules. We compared this to society and decided that rules are there to keep us safe. Rules are needed to help make the world a more harmonious place and to help us all live a more civilised life. Well done 5NA!
YEAR 6
Bones 4 U
In Year 6 we have been combining D&T and Science to make models of our hands. The straws represent the bones, and the cotton represents the muscles, and the model shows how the muscles work to move the bones when we use our fingers.
Oakfield Discount for Lantana Books
Mira’s Curly Hair which was on our Black Lives Matter reading list is published by Lantana Publishing; they focus on publishing children's books for early years by authors from under-represented groups. Their books focus on diversity and inclusion, social and emotional learning, and environmental sustainability in support of an inclusive curriculum.
The kind people at Lantana have kindly offered the Oakfield community (parents, carers and staff) a 15% discount on books purchased from their website. See details below!
LAST WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
A musical message to our Oakfield pupils with birthdays from this week with our Head Boy Sam and Head Girl Izzy!
Credits:
Created with images by Eric Prouzet - "untitled image" • Rana Sawalha - "Travel. Learn. Teach" • Evgeni Tcherkasski - "Challah" • Christian Wiediger - "LED-Keyboard" • Kyle Glenn - "untitled image" • Harlie Raethel - "X-Ray" • JESHOOTS.COM - "untitled image" • Stacy Marie - "untitled image" • Becky Fantham - "untitled image" • 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum - "untitled image"