You are a Champion!

9th July 2021J Godbolt

The English team at Oathall is so excited about year 6 joining us in September that they thought the perfect way to share their love of reading was to present all of our new students with the gift of reading in the form of Marcus Rashford’s newly released book, ‘You are a Champion’.

The English team put a lot of thought into our choice and believe that ‘You are a Champion’ will inspire the new cohort to read; that it will build their confidence and self belief, and ultimately that it will help them to see that they can achieve whatever they want to with the right mindset.

The English team can’t wait to meet the next set of champions.

 

Oathall’s outdoor learning hub

19th May 2021J Godbolt

After a year or more of stops and starts the Oathall forest school programme is now up and running and an established part of the curriculum at Oathall.

The programme based predominantly on the farm offers short courses to students in years 7 and 8. Students are encouraged to take part in outdoor learning activities with cooking over an open fire being a big hit. Students are responsible for fire lighting and using hand tools to build resources and cooking tools from wood. Equipment and resources for this new addition to the curriculum have been supported by a generous donation from Fairfax Properties ‘Building Young Futures programme’

Mr Blackholly, said

I am delighted with the way that student’s are progressing and we are hoping to develop the resource further making it into an outdoor learning hub for the school.

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.

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.