Announcing the 2020-2021 Senior prefect team

19th October 2020J Godbolt

Left to right: Oscar, Molly, Nicole, Isla, Lola, Katie and Wahi.

We are especially pleased to announce our 2020-2021 Senior Prefect team. Our selection process was delayed by several months after the school closure and restrictions arising from COVID.

The normal process of applications, interviews and voting took place this term and we are pleased to announce that our school captains are Isla and Lola.  Our team of vice-captains are Katie, Molly, Nicole, Oscar and Wahi. They have already begun to contribute by assisting with Zoom Q&A sessions for families of students in Y6 who are thinking of joining Oathall next September. Congratulations to all of them.

Watch last year’s Open Day film

16th September 2020J Godbolt

In 2019, some of our talented students produced a film of our Open Day event.  We hope this gives you a flavour of what you have missed.

And alongside that, why don’t you have a look at the presentation we put together for our students who joined us this September. We hope these two short films begin to give you an insight into what Oathall is all about.

Battle of Britain Memorial Day

15th September 2020J Godbolt

Tuesday 15 September is Battle of Britain Day.  To commemorate this day, on Monday 14 September, students from Oathall remembered a local Battle of Britain pilot by laying a wreath and holding a small ceremony at his graveside in Western Road Cemetery in Haywards Heath.

Flying Officer Richard Plummer was born in Haywards Heath in 1912. Joining the RAF in 1937, he was shot down over Thameshaven in Essex on 4th September 1940. He later died of his injuries and is buried here in his hometown.

2020 sees the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and while a larger commemoration of the event is of course not possible this year, students and staff at Oathall Community College were keen to mark this occasion. History teacher Mr Jim Hastings and two Year 11 students, led the tribute by laying a wreath on behalf of the College.

Mr Hastings said of the event,

We as a school are keen to embrace the actions of local people in the past. Richard Plummer fought at the height of the Battle of Britain but sadly died never knowing that he had helped secure victory for his nation. Our history students paid their respects in a manner which epitomises the best of their generation, at the graveside of a man who epitomised the very best of his. They were eager to hear Richard Plummer’s story, from Haywards Heath to joining the RAF, fighting in Norway to his Hurricane being hit over Thameshaven. We feel honoured to have been able to remember a local war hero and share his story with our school community.

Oathall House Distance Challenge results

6th July 2020J Godbolt
The results are in!
Thank you to everyone for participating in the Distance Challenge. We had such a great effort from everyone with students, families, staff and even pets taking part.
A big thank you to Mrs Blyth, who took responsibility for managing the scoring which was not an easy task looking at total distances:
Here are the scores and running order:
  1. Pioneer: 3039.82 points with 1102km achieved
  2. Voyager: 2133.31points with 1012.76km achieved
  3. Endeavour:1353 points with 410km achieved
  4. Discovery: 1103.43 points with 364.24km achieved

Thank you, everyone, and keep up with the exercise over the summer

Teaching & Learning bulletin

13th June 2020J Godbolt

Welcome to our latest Teaching & Learning Bulletin and its new format. Whilst we continue to work under the most unusual of circumstances, it is clear that our students have engaged with their learning in very creative ways. We wanted to create a space to display examples of students’ outstanding work, undertaken whilst working away from the school. To do justice to this, we have given this bulletin its own mini-website; do explore the various tabs at the top to find out about activities from all areas of the curriculum. A number of students have continued to attend the school site, and during Easter and half-term, various alternative activities were undertaken by them.

I would like to extend my thanks to all our staff for their hard work and efforts in developing resources and programmes to continue to engage their students but significantly to you, our parents for all that you do to support the learning of your children during these extraordinary times.

Edward Rodriguez

Headteacher

Sue Cheung visits Oathall

11th November 2019J Godbolt

We were really thrilled and delighted to welcome author Sue Cheung to Oathall on Monday 11 November. Sue Cheung visited to speak to Year 9 students about her latest book ‘Chinglish’.

The book is about the up’s and down’s of Jo Kwan a teenager growing up in 1980s Coventry with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents’ Chinese takeaway.

Told in diary entries and doodles, Jo’s brilliantly funny observations about life, family and char siu make for a searingly honest portrayal of life on the other side of the takeaway counter.

 

Oathall’s act of remembrance

8th November 2019J Godbolt

Our School captains represented the school at the Haywards Heath Schools’ Remembrance service At St Wilfrid’s Church on Friday 8 November.

To mark Armistice Day and Oathall’s act of Remembrance, students and staff gathered on the piazza around our Field of Remembrance. Half of the crosses this year have been dedicated to soldiers, sailors and airmen lost in conflicts such as the Falklands and Northern Ireland. Assemblies this past week, delivered by History teacher and British Army veteran Mr Hastings, have reflected this and enabled staff and students to understand these conflicts better as well as the individual sacrifices made by members of Britain’s armed forces.
As always, our students showed great respect for the Remembrance proceedings which makes this now annual ceremony very special to be part of.