Art from the farm
The art department has a long standing partnership with the school farm. Many students have a story about how a pig has nibbled their sketchbook or nudged them while being drawn. U
sing the farm environment and the animals for first hand observation is a highly valued resource and offers our students a far richer learning experience than copying from photographs in the classroom.
Tickets for the remaining performances of A Christmas Carol are now sold out. Doors open for the performances on Thursday and Friday at 7:00 pm and the performance will begin at 7.30 pm.
Pippa with her award on the night
Former students and their families gathered in the school hall on the evening of Thursday 14 November for our annual GCSE certificate and award presentation evening.
Special guest Sir David Davies CBE presented the certificates and afterwards he gave a potted history of his varied career and an overview of his roles as President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and as a special advisor to the Ministry of Defence.
He finished with some words of advice about the future saying: “Think broadly and think long term about your futures. In all likelihood you will be working for the next 50 years, perhaps even longer. Things will change in your career and if you have the right skills and an open mind who knows where life will take you next.”
A lamb being weighed on the farm
In the summer term all Year 7 maths students produce a statistics project in which they primarily investigate which factors affect the growth of lambs born on the farm.
Following on from the Ofsted inspection last week, the report of the inspection teams findings will be published within the next few weeks. As soon as we receive the report parents will be notified and copies made available. In the meantime, the college would like to thank everyone who was able to complete a questionnaire on the Ofsted parent’s view website. Results of Oathall’s questionnaire are still available for viewing. We would also like to extend our thanks for the many messages and gestures of support that we received from parents during the inspection. We are truly grateful for your kind thoughts.
Oathall music students were once again invited to participate in the fabulous orchestral day at Ardingly College. Music students joined up with other schools in the area to take part in workshops with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This was a unique opportunity for our young musicians to learn from and play with top professional orchestral musicians. The day culminated in a public performance of the works studied during the day in the beautiful chapel at Ardingly College.
Squealer and Snowball sharing secrets on our ‘Animal Farm’
The school farm provides a valuable resource for many aspects of learning English.
Speaking and listening skills are enhanced by visits to the farm. The introductory talks illustrated by live visual aids provide a stimulating environment for listening/ recall skills.
Milking on the farm helps students get to grips with microbes
The farm is an extremely valuable resource in the study of science; it is used across all year groups and across specialisms.
One of the real benefits of the farm is providing a practical or visual focus for topics which would otherwise be seen on TV, read in textbooks or just discussed cold.
Once again an intrepid band of Y9 and Y10 students headed to Traunstein for the last 9 days of the Summer Term, accompanied by Mr Powell and Mrs Wells.
Students had got to know their partners over the previous 6 months via e-mail, text, Skype, Facebook and even real letters with photographs! This enabled them to hit the ground running as they settled into their partners’ families in and around Traunstein.
We spent one morning visiting lessons in our partner school. Then there were sightseeing visits to Munich, Salzburg and BerchtesgadenNational Park, including the salt mine and boat trip and swim in the Königsee. The weekend was spent with host families with boat trips to King Ludwig’s Chiemsee castle and cable car rides in the mountains.
The Traunstein Quiz was completed very successfully, so it was ice creams all round! The reception in the Town Hall was another highlight, with our students all asking questions in German and showing great interest in the mayor’s replies.
Several students commented on how much they felt their German improved during the trip. Some have organised private visits back to their host families. Certainly there were many panda eyes on the bus as we left, cheered only by the knowledge that we would soon see our families again and that our friends would be back with us in September.
While in Haywards Heath our German guests visited London, Brighton and Eastbourne. They were also hosted by the mayor, town councillors and members of the twinning association at a very informative session at the Town Hall.
Recruitment is now underway for the 2014 exchange. See me if interested!
D Powell
Teaching and Learning Manager
