Oathall farm wins national farming award

18th May 2021J Godbolt

The hard work of students who help to run the college’s farm has been rewarded by being successful in their entry in the Social Farm & Gardens 40th Anniversary Awards.  At the virtual awards event, Oathall won the school farms award for ‘the best involvement in running a school farm’.

Head of Farm, John Blackholly, said:

Despite 2020 being a unique and challenging year we decided to enter the school farm awards competition. I am delighted that we won the award and I am particularly proud that the involvement of our students has been recognised in this way.

The Cube challenge – the results are in!

2nd March 2021J Godbolt

The Cube house challenge week is now over. The response from students and the community has been brilliant with 245 entries from students, friends and families. it’s clear from the entry videos that there was a lot of fun had by everyone who took part.

The PE department is thrilled to announce that Voyager house were the outright winners with 179 successful entries. Well done to everyone who took part.

Miss Calleja’s Bizcocho cake & maths challenge

2nd March 2021J Godbolt

Just before half term, all students in KS3 were invited to take part in a maths competition with a difference. The challenge involved recreating Miss Calleja’s recipe for a Spanish sponge cake, Bizcocho 1, 2, 3 using volumetric ratio.

The recipe is easy: You need 125g of yoghurt, follow with oil, sugar and flour in the volumetric ratio 1:2:3. Add three eggs and a teaspoon of baking powder. The challenge was for students to make their recipe their own by adding their own ingredients or twist to this basic recipe. Additionally, students could look at changing the recipe for a different number of people and the ratio calculations for weight, instead of volume.

The winners were Francesca and Flora in year 7, Lucy in year 8 and Grace in year 9. Prizes were also awarded for best presentation and ‘most out there’ decoration.

Congratulations to the winners!

Oathall PE – The Cube challenge

10th February 2021J Godbolt

Starting on Monday 22 February, Oathall students and their families, as well as Oathall staff, are invited to participate in the Oathall PE department’s, ‘The Cube challenge’.

Each day, there will be a new challenge to complete. All the details including instructions and embedded links to videos can be found here. Participants will need to complete this short entry form and upload video evidence to demonstrate that they successfully completed the challenge. Anyone who is successful will be awarded points for their house. The house with the most points at the end of the week will be declared the winner. Good luck to everyone who takes part!

The Oathall PE team reserve to right to decide whether a participant has been successful in completing the challenge.

Students’ artistic talents on show in lockdown

1st February 2021J Godbolt

Students may not have access to the full range of school art resources at present but that hasn’t stopped them from getting creative at home.

In their remote lessons, students in key stage 3 and key stage 4 have been working on a number of topics and creating a range of pieces using photography, video, painting, drawing and collage.

Year 9 students have been tasked with creating a digital drawing using the Banksy artwork ‘Girl with a red balloon’ as inspiration, whilst students in year 7 were asked to observe and record the views from their windows in a media of their choosing.

This presentation gives you a flavour of some of the amazing work that has been created.

Getting creative in the great outdoors

15th January 2021J Godbolt

Students at Oathall have recently benefited from a generous donation from the Fairfax “Building Young Futures” education support programme. The programme has helped to fund a new outdoor learning hub on Oathall’s farm where students will be taught to develop skills using the Forest Schools ethos of learning. The new hub and resources will be used by students across all year groups helping them to develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on activities and experiences gained in an outdoor setting.

An activity week is also being planned for summer 2021 where young people will be able to enjoy a week of fun and challenging activities, all provided by Fairfax.

Mr Blackholly, Head of Farm, said,

“I would like to thank the ‘Building Young Futures’ initiative for their generous support of Oathall students. We are especially grateful to Mr Peter Chisholm MBE for his help and support for this project. We are looking forward to inviting him and Fairfax representatives back to Oathall to see how their support has helped to transform young lives”.

 

Autumn into Winter 2020

17th December 2020J Godbolt

Welcome to our final Teaching & Learning bulletin of the year. At the end of what might be considered, a long and arduous autumn term, it is so important to remind ourselves of the many positive events that have been taking place. Not least, the excellent news below of the school’s success in being selected to name the first operational turbine situated off the coast of Brighton. Well done to Mrs Lindsley and the EcOathall group.

Like others, the school has clearly faced many challenges this year. Regardless, it has been so good to see our students back at school, engaging with their learning so positively and interacting in person once again with their teachers and friends. The Oathall school community has demonstrated resilience, patience and optimism. Please explore, via the links at the top, examples of such positive experiences across the school.

As always, thank you for your continued support.

On behalf of the staff anf governors of the college, may I wish you and your families the very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Edward Rodriguez
Headteacher

 

Christmas Jumper Day 2020

14th December 2020J Godbolt

Staff and students entered into the Christmas spirit in the run-up to the end of term by wearing a Christmas Jumper to raise money for the NSPCC. Everyone was asked to make a small donation in exchange for wearing a Christmas outfit.

Top marks went to Mr Parry for his Christmas tree outfit and to Mrs Parry for her homemade ensemble featuring Christmas lights and crocheted Christmas puddings.

We expect to raise over £1000 for this very worthy cause.

Oathall wins competition to name wind turbine!

8th December 2020J Godbolt

Rampion Offshore Wind Farm’s first operational turbine in the array off the Sussex coast will be named Veranzio Turbine.

Veranzio Turbine was the name put forward by Oathall’s Year 7 eco-club, EcOathall and which went on to win a public vote.

“We are delighted to have a really worthy name for the first operational turbine at Rampion and would like to thank everyone who suggested some fantastic names and all those who voted this week,” said Katie Scanlan, Rampion Visitor Centre Manager.

The team at Rampion Offshore Wind Farm’s Visitor Centre shortlisted 5 names for turbine F04, the first operational turbine installed in the array off the Sussex coast.  Oathall’s year 7 Eco club had its entry to name the turbine chosen & shortlisted for a public vote.

Fausto Veranzio was a Croatian inventor interested in science and engineering. He described one of the first-ever wind turbine designs in his book Machinae Novae published in 1616. He also wrote about solar and water energy; truly ahead of his time.

Geography teacher Mrs Lindsley said

“It’s fantastic that Oathall students have named Brighton’s first operational wind turbine in the array offshore. 953 votes were cast and ECOathall secured 70% of the vote. The wind farm technicians will put the name on the actual turbine in the spring when the weather conditions and accessibility is better. The students also are invited for a visit to the visitor centre and will each get a goody bag!

Thank you to everyone for supporting us, ECOathall members are over the moon – such a lovely end to a tumultuous year for them.”