Dear OFS Community,
I really can’t decide whether this feels like the start of term, the end of term, the end of the start or the start of the end but I do think it's time to wave a chequered flag against an optimistic blue sky...
However, what I do know is that Monday felt AMAZING, the school literally breathed back into life with energy, noise, excitement and joy!
Mr Du Plessis opened the week with a whole school focus on Greenpower, our pupil led initiative to fund, build and race 2 battery powered cars around the country. Teachers have built links in as many of their lessons that pull back to the creativity behind this great project and I include just a few highlights below but please do talk to your children as I simply cannot include everything from this bumper week in this post!
Maths
One of the amazing collaborations was monitoring the telemetry that could be relayed back to the driver about their performance – do look at the short clip below that captures extraordinary data for pupils to interpret and then to communicate…
Science
In Science, students have been using the Greenpower car to collect data which they then analysed in class. On a glorious day, we collected distance and time measurements, which will be used to scale, plot and draw graphs and eventually compare and contrast gradients and draw conclusions based on real life observations.
Drama
Mrs Gascoigne had her classes running the commentary on a Formula 1 Race…I think that the aim was to leave no pauses, although I fear that Niam might have been fuelled on Red Bull...?!?
Art
Year 5 & 6 designed possible paint jobs for The Goblin, the smaller of the Green Power cars.....will one of them be used on the car itself? Inspired by the TV programme, Pimp My Ride! An edition of the show featuring a 1961 Morris Minor played in the background. We talked about spray cans being very bad for the environment, but how more and more companies are producing eco alternatives with plant-based properties. Also touched on how rather than scrapping an old banger, salvaging parts from the crusher is a good form of recycling.
English
In English lessons Year 6 pupils wrote adverts selling the vision of Greenpower.
ICT
In ICT Year 2 and Year 4 created Scratch Greenpower Video Intro animations to accompany marketing work being done in English and Art. Pupils learned to remove backgrounds and then animate images in sequences to bring titles to life.
Headmaster's Commendation
Trust for Sustainable Living
This year pupils were invited to take part in an international competition that Miss Welsh and Mrs Llewelyn highlighted through the Trust for Sustainable Living
TSL were delighted to receive a record 1,350 entries in their 2021 International Schools Essay Competition. 290 Teacher Champions from 213 schools, across 59 countries around the world, have enabled their students to share their ideas to help protect the Earth’s precious biological diversity.
A huge congratulations to Sienna Patel in 5F!
Sienna Patel, 5F, was invited to represent the UK in the International Primary debate on the issue of Biodiversity. This will be taking place on Monday 5th July and livestreamed across the world! We are very proud of her and wish her all the best in the debate!
It feels as though we have had it all this week, sunshine, gales, showers and a real yo-yo in temperatures and yet nothing has dampened the joy of being able to have our whole community back on site. I overheard strangers on South Hill Avenue talking about how lovely it was to hear the unique noise of a buzzing school...well, that's certainly one way of putting it! We've had a fantastic week that feels so overdue and here's to that chequered flag flying in the sunshine…
Tim Calvey