Our first week back has seen the unveiling of our super shiny refurbished hall and new fencing!
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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
Welcome back everyone, to the new term and academic year at Oakfield. It has been wonderful to see the children coming into school with happy, excited faces and settling so quickly and positively into their new classes and routines. I am especially proud of those who have joined us for the first time and may I extend a particularly warm welcome to all our new families as we begin this new adventure together.
I look forward to continuing to meet and catch up with you all over the days to come and I know that the staff will be delighted to see you at the Teams Curriculum Evenings next week. Thank you for all that you are doing to observe social distancing in order to keep us all safe and at school - I know that we will all remain vigilant with this in the light of the new restrictions from Monday and as we move forward into the Autumn and Winter months to come.
Moyra Thompson
Editorial from our Head
I also wanted to share a sneak peek of an editorial we will be publishing in the Autumn/Winter issue of Absolutely Education: Prep and Pre-Prep. I hope it proves to be positive weekend reading:
The challenges that we as schools and society in general have faced over the last six months due to Covid-19 have been truly unprecedented, but I am sure that we at Oakfield Preparatory School are not the only ones to have also recognised the positives that have emerged in these difficult circumstances.
Adversity can often bring out the best in people and reveal hidden character traits that may well surprise us. One example, clearly evident in recent months has been that of kindness, and as I reflect on the events of lockdown I think it is no exaggeration to say that kindness, compassion and thought for others have never been so important.
There were of course the shining examples set by Captain Sir Tom Moore, Marcus Rashford and others, who sought to address need on a national scale, as well as the many small acts of neighbourliness, support and co-operation that we witnessed in our streets and communities. One of our 6 Core Values here at Oakfield is Care, and we as a school are convinced that the more we display empathy, kindness and understanding towards each other, the happier, healthier and more fulfilled we become.
I could therefore not have been prouder when our children shared examples of their initiative and how they pushed themselves in order to benefit others during lockdown. They undertook running, cycling and rowing challenges to raise funds for NHS Charities Together, MIND and the Karuna Trust (supporting disadvantaged communities in India suffering from coronavirus). One pupil taught herself to sew and created a huge banner for the NHS that featured on the frontpage of the Guardian. Meanwhile, our video ‘Heroes in Blue’, expressed through both music and lyrics, our sincere gratitude to NHS staff.
We place great importance and focus on developing character in our children, and this approach has been strongly vindicated over these last months. As they returned to school in stages during the summer term, it was wonderful to see their resilience, independence and adaptability as they interacted once again with their classmates, as if they had never been away. Despite this, we cannot ignore the fact that Covid-19 has, in different ways, placed great strain on the mental health and wellbeing of all members of our school family.
As we move forward into yet more uncharted waters through the term ahead, it is important to remain mindful of the need to extend kindness and care to staff, pupils and parents. As a starting point we must be kind to ourselves and avoid unrealistic pressure and expectations. From there we should remember to thank and compliment each other, listen and show interest in people’s lives and ideas, and notice and offer help when someone needs it. Modelling this to the children and, indeed, learning it from them, will help reduce stress and anxiety, and ensure our schools become more relaxed, harmonious and emotionally intelligent places. Let us allow a culture of kindness to take shape and lead us onwards together.
LOWER FOUNDATION
LFLS first music lesson with Mr Howes took place. Lots of smiles and lots of choons!
UPPER FOUNDATION
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome to a fun year ahead in Upper Foundation. We are so proud of how the children have settled in this week. A big thank you to all the parents for your support in this transition.
This week we have started getting to know each other through circle time discussions, playing games and independent exploration and story times.
We have been making self-portraits, discussing the golden rules and the stories that accompany each one. We have also been practising taking turns and sharing through play.
The children all have had their first music lessons with Mr. Howes and Ms. Coles, Spanish with Ms. Morel, as well as Gym and PE sessions with Mr Heasman and Mr Bower.
In Upper Foundation, the children are only required to bring in enough food for a morning snack. The afternoon snack is provided by the school. We are finding that some of the snacks sent in are so large, the children are not getting through them. Please only send enough for a healthy, light morning snack. Please remember, no nuts, including sesame.
During the next few weeks, we will begin recording the children’s milestones and achievements and will also complete individual baseline assessments.
Please could you send in a family holiday photograph. We are going to use them for a display, so nothing irreplaceable. We are also learning about each other’s heritages, so please could you let us know if you or your family hails from different countries? Please could you send in some recycling materials for our junk modelling projects?
Next week, we will continue the focus of settling in and we are so looking forward to the exciting term ahead. We will also begin to send home individual reading books and where applicable their first sheet of the Magic 300 words, which are to be learned at home. There will be more information on these at the Curriculum Evening.
Reminders:
- All items of clothing must be labelled – especially jumpers!
- Please ensure all children have a snack bag with a handle, so they may safely carry them up the stairs to their classrooms.
- Please ensure all children have a named water bottle.
- Please ensure all shoe bags with white trainers and spare clothes are brought in on Monday at the latest. Please also bring in named art aprons and ensure that all rucksacks have school raincoats left in them at all times.
Curriculum Evening - Tuesday 15th September @ 6.00pm via Teams online.
With best wishes,
Miss Treppass and Mrs. Barrett Nnochiri
The Upper Foundation Team
Year 1
Spaghetti City and Fancy Fashion
The year 1 children were so excited to come back to school! During our first week we spent time settling, getting used to routines and enjoyed two team-building activities! Working in small groups to build a spaghetti tower and working with partners to create some very fashionable outfits for their peers.
Year 2
Oh the humanities
Year 2 have had a great start to the term and have enjoyed being in their year group bubble.
We have been looking at our first Humanities topic of Great Britain and in 2MF we worked as a class to create different landmarks using construction toys and shapes. Can you work out which ones we made?
YEAR 3
Are you tough un oeuf?
In Year 3, we spent some time on the first day of Year 3 completing some team building activities. For one of these activities, the children were asked to work in groups to build the ultimate 'Egg Protector!' using newspaper. There were several ideas including making a landing pad, parachutes, bags, nests etc. with about a 50% success rate! The children thought about gravity and air resistance to help slow the fall of the egg. They enjoyed working together to discuss and test out their designs!
YEAR 4
Year 4 have settled in really well! They participated fantastically well in team-building activities outside, working together and competing as classes. They have begun problem solving in mathematics and started learning about what humans needed to survive as early settlers . Well done Year 4!
YEAR 5
V for Victoria
Year 5 took a break from their assessments to make a fantastic start to their Humanities topic this term. We will be learning about the Victorians and in our first lesson, we found out where the Victorian era came in History. The period between 1837 and 1901 was known as the Victorian era because that's when Queen Victoria reigned over England. Until our current queen, she was the longest reigning monarch!
Bones 4 U
In Science this week, Year 5 have been looking at bones! We started off by finding out what we already knew about the human skeleton. The children worked in groups to draw and label the different bones they knew. We had great fun!
Did you know, an adult has 206 bones in their body?
YEAR 6
Year 6 have settled in well and are displaying a mature and focussed attitude towards their learning and baseline assessments. We have also had time for some teambuilding exercises including taking on the 'Tower of Hanoi' problem and the Great Balloon debate! We are looking forward to continue preparing them for their 11+ journey!
Friday Maths Challenge
Each shape represents a number.
The sum of each row is shown at the right of the grid.
The challenge is to work out the value of each of the shapes.
Email your answer to Mr Hancock at ahancock@oakfield.dulwich.sch.uk and remember to include your name and the house that you are in.
1 house point will be given for having a go and 2 for the correct answer.
Good luck everyone!
Credits:
Created with images by Hana Lopez - "untitled image" • Crew - "Hanging shirts and jackets" • Kimberly Farmer - "A collection of books. A little time. A lot of learning." • Caroline Justine - "untitled image" • Arièle Bonte - "grl pwr in lisbon" • Bernard Hermant - "untitled image" • Ashton Mullins - "untitled image" • Aaron Burden - "Hot air balloon on blue sky" • JESHOOTS.COM - "untitled image"