2018 end of year Teaching and Learning Bulletin

17th December 2018Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

We are now approaching the end of what no doubt seems to many as being a very long term.  Of course, it has been a very full and exciting one too.  The paragraphs that follow in this latest learning bulletin will serve in giving you a sense of just how active and involved Oathall students have been over the past few weeks.

I was delighted to able to attend the Youth Speaks public speaking competition held here at Oathall recently.  The standards were extremely high and the performances of all our teams were outstanding.  I look forward to seeing how they progress in the future rounds of the competition next year.

There is a theme threading throughout this bulletin revealing how our students actively engage in activities that support others. A variety of learning mentor programmes see benefits for all involved and I am really pleased to see that the ‘Them and Us’ project is developing so well.

The last few days of term always feels particularly busy. Just two nights ago we held a splendid winter concert.  I received many exclamations of the breadth and indeed depth of the talent amongst Oathall students across all year groups.  It really was a wonderful evening and my thanks go to all those involved.  The Christmas lunch and our traditional ‘Carols in the Barn’ will seal the end of another successful term at Oathall.

On behalf of the governors and staff, may I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a very happy 2019

Mr Edward Rodriguez – Headteacher

Learning in a variety of ways

Geography Homework interpreted differently – Alice Burwell explains the homework
This term in geography, we were given a sheet with a range of projects to choose from and given roughly two weeks to complete a series of tasks. The activities were categorized into three different levels, there was a starter, main and dessert. It was compulsory to complete a task from the main course. The tasks ranged in ability, we were encouraged to try the hardest ones. I chose to create a 3D model of a volcano and the other task I did was research a volcano and write a fact file on it. The volcano I chose for the fact file was Mt Vesuvius in Italy. I was among a number of students who were chosen to show their homework to Mr Rodriguez.  I know we all felt very proud of having achieved this honour.  

Carla Muskasa and Jennifer Woods made a video of ‘Tectonic Poetry’ to demonstrate their understanding of the topic and Niamh, Bella and Alice wrote a poem.

Art students have embraced a Masterclass to stretch their knowledge
A group of seven brilliant Art students have been coming to a lino printing masterclass after school, namely Isla McPherson in Year 7, Paige Nesbitt, Mollie Hooper, Annabel Gale, Sarah Galt, Finley Jenner and Charlie Rouse in Year 8. They are working through the process of designing and creating lino prints of animals. They start by transferring their drawings onto lino and then cut the design away using lino cutting tools. They have then used printing ink to print them and some have created colourful backgrounds too. I think you’ll agree that they are beautiful!

Peer Mentoring helps our younger students learn from our older students
Language Mentors
The Language Mentor scheme runs every Friday during afternoon registration. Keen and able students in Years 8 and 11 were nominated at the start of the year by their language teachers to take part in the scheme. Every Friday we meet in the library and Year 11 students lead language learning tasks with our Year 8 linguists. There is always a fantastic atmosphere and Year 11 students have shown creativity and flair in their leadership of the activities.

Maths Mentors
Our mentors have been doing a fantastic job for the last two years in supporting students in achieving their full potential, and in sharing and developing in others their love for learning maths. With the arrival of the December mocks, their work has come to an end and we are looking forward to selecting students in Year 10 that would like to continue their efforts.

The maths mentoring scheme is a very successful one where students in Years 10 and 11 support some very able mathematicians from year 7 students in theirs. Their work ranges from extending Year 7 work by working on higher topics, revision sessions and preparation for the junior maths challenges. If you would like to get involved speak to Miss Calleja or your maths teacher.

Reading Mentors
This year sees the third anniversary of the library reading mentor scheme. It takes place during Tuesday and Wednesday tutor times and is designed to encourage reluctant and struggling year 7 readers.

Mentees are identified through their Accelerated Reader scores and paired up with year 9 and 10 mentors. The mentors have volunteered for this role and received training to equip them. During the 20 minutes available to them, year 7s read to their mentors, who will listen, clarify, help, ask questions and encourage. It is an informal time, but students are still expected to read and they do engage very well with the format.

Our mentors are highly motivated as there was oversubscription for the role and some of them were mentees themselves three years ago and have now come back to the scheme to encourage and support the new year 7s with their reading. As the year progresses, we will start reading in larger groups; we will read plays and poetry, flash fiction and, of course, books on the Accelerated Reader programme. There are currently over 30 year 7s on the programme, all of whom really seem to enjoy the experience and the relationships they are building.  

Rewarding and helping

Maths goes to the movies – Ms L Griffiths
On Tuesday the 27th of November the Maths department held a film night for our Year 10 girls. We watched the incredibly inspiring film Hidden Figures. The film tells the story of three brilliant African-American women working at NASA who served as the mathematical brains behind the USA’s launch into orbit  They had to overcome many barriers due to their race and gender.

Maths students enjoying the film, The Christmas Chronicles.

In a largely male-dominated field, we want to encourage our girls, to demonstrate that there are no obstacles standing in their way that they cannot overcome. If they want to have a career in the sciences it is so important they know they can achieve this. And of course, it wouldn’t have been a successful night without bags of popcorn!

On Tuesday the 4th of December the Maths department held a Key Stage 3 reward evening. Each teacher selected a handful of students who had consistently shown outstanding effort in Maths this term. 45 students from Year 7, 8 and 9 came along to an evening of popcorn, sweets and the new Netflix film The Christmas Chronicles. It was a really enjoyable experience to acknowledge all their hard work!

Them and Us, the ripple effect

Tutor group 7ELMS wrote a thank you postcard to a member of staff who has helped them settle into Oathall or who has inspired them in lessons.
Ms Sandford received a beautiful card from a Year 8 student to say thank you for helping her. Ms Sandford said, ” I was delighted as it was so unexpected!”
A lovely gift from a student in 7VAS which is going into one of our Christmas boxes for the YMCA DownsLink Group. The student has donated 5 books and has written this note in each one.

Rewarding Readers – Mrs D Perrin
Students who have read over a million words on the Accelerated reader scheme were rewarded with certificates in their House assemblies. Congratulations to the following students, you are all amazing! To find out more about Accelerated Reader, please read the library news further on in the bulletin.

Two of our Year 8 students have achieved outstanding word counts on Accelerated Reader. To date, Niamh Chapman has read 8,277,770 words and Tasha Lawrence has read 7,956,724. Well done girls, I suspect these numbers will have increased before long!

Tasha & Niamh, word multi-millionaires

Word Millionaires in Year 7
Archie Ramsden, Bobbie Clark, Dan Polhill, Ebba Wilson, Emily Jones, Freya Josephs, Harry Musson, Isobel Dupee, Megan Williams and Olivia Beck.

Word Millionaires in Year 8
Anna Bedingham, Harry Banks, Jake MacMahon, Marissa Joseph, Niamh Chapman, Tasha Lawrence and Bea Carter.

Word Millionaires in Year 9
Amie Moxon, Bobbie Steel, Deacon Stephens and Henry Tucker.

Challenging other schools

Taking part in ‘Youth Speaks’ – Ms C Slade
On Monday 26th of November, Oathall hosted the annual Youth Speaks competition with the Rotary Club. Youth Speaks objectives are to:

  • Challenge your public speaking abilities and perform, persuade and entertain the audience with your display of wit and knowledge of a topic.
  • In teams of three participants present arguments and points of discussion, before taking questions from the judging panel who are, themselves, skilled orators.
  • Participants can select a topic which is important to them, giving them an opportunity to delve deep into research, formulate ideas and build confidence.
We had four teams in this heat and they were obviously keen to go through to the next round, especially competing on home turf! The teams had been working really hard after school and in their lunchtimes in order to be ready – the juniors, in particular, were against some pretty tough competition.
Senior team 2 – Ben McDowell, Henry Forrest and Felix Carter are through to the District round, winning the overall competition in their age group. Ben McDowell also received Best Speaker, Kitty Underhill got Best Chairperson and Felix Carter got Best Vote of Thanks.
In the Junior competition – Oathall 1 – Molly Jordan, Matty Mackay and Tom Underhill beat Great Walsted A and B teams to go through to the District round! Matty Mackay took Best Chairperson, Bea Carter took Best Speaker and Great Walsted took Best Vote of Thanks.  Mollie McConnell also deserves recognition, after her teammates dropped out in the early stages of preparation, she could not compete but she chose to turn up to every practice to coach and work with the others. She also attended the evening to support all the teams. Well done Mollie!

Entering the ‘Senior Maths Challenge’ – Miss M Calleja
Following the success from last year, fifteen Year 11 students took part in the Senior Maths Challenge with over half of them obtaining a bronze award or better.  The Senior Maths Challenge is run by the UK Mathematics Trust and is supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. It is aimed at those in Years 13 and below and mostly taken by students in Further Education so we are very pleased with the success of our students. Our pupils achieved 2 silver and 8 bronze certificates in this competition taken by over 80,000 students from across the UK. A special mention should be made for Toby Watkinson and Jack Townsend who obtained silver awards. We wish our students good luck and further success in these competitions!

Matt Curtis, Jon Harper, Eliana Harrison, Harrison Kane, Alex Korniotis, Teddy Kell, Ted Maslin, Ed Mason, Rachel Neller, Alex Rhys-Williams, Mehul Rodney, Lauren Schou, Georgie Tingley, Jack Townsend, Toby Watkinson, Aoife Wright.

Demonstrating sporting prowess against Millais School – Ms Z Froud
I would like to congratulate the Under 12 Girls football team for holding Millais to a 1-1 draw in the County League recently. Both teams were unbeaten going into this match and it was a nail-biter! Player of the match nominated by the Millais team was Goalkeeper Millie Hopkins who made some exceptional saves. She was thrilled as I am sure you can imagine.

Under 12s Girls’ Football Team

Oathall Big Sing 2018 – Mrs C Mactaggart
We were very privileged to welcome international tenor Andrew Rees to lead our Oathall Big Sing 2018. What a brilliant morning of beautiful choral and contemporary singing by our primary feeder schools, led by the Oathall School Choir and accompanied by the very talented musicians from the College Jazz Band, Orchestra and Rock Band.

Miss Holmes from West Sussex Music who also attended the morning was very impressed by the standard of musicianship on display. She was able to promote vocal and instrumental lessons which are offered by West Sussex Music in schools across the County or at the Saturday morning school at Oathall, to inspire our next generation of musicians.
Mrs Mactaggart, Head of Music at Oathall commented on how much she is looking forward welcoming the Big Sing 2018 attendees to our choir and ensembles when they join the College next year and encouraged the wonderful young singers to consider joining the local Cora Nuova Youth Choir which is directed to Andrew Rees to further their skills.

Big Sing 2018

Oathall Marks the Centenary of World War One
The centenary of the end of World War One was marked by staff and students in a number of ways this year.  Mr Parry organised our ‘Field of Remembrance’ which gave students and staff the opportunity to honour and remember individuals from a number of past conflicts by donating to the Royal British Legion and dedicating a wooden cross to a particular soldier. The subsequent field of crosses in our piazza area provided a focal point for our remembrance and it was here we held a short ceremony on Friday 9th November, led by Mr Rodriguez.  Against the poignant backdrop of our ‘Field of Remembrance,’ we held a one minute’s silence and Felix Carter (Year 10) played a rendition of The Last Post and the Reveille in this incredibly well-attended ceremony.

Year 9 also gathered in the hall on 9th November to watch an advance screening of ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’, an Imperial War Museum film commissioned to mark the centenary of World War One where original footage from the trenches was brought to life with the use of colour and sound technology.

Other activities included a poetry competition open to all year groups, tutor time activities and House assemblies led by Mr Hastings. Our students have, as always, impressed us with their response to the various remembrance events and we were honoured to have played our part in commemorating this important anniversary.

Winners and runners-up of the poetry competition received prizes, certificates and House points from Head Teacher, Mr Rodriguez.

Cuckfield Remembers concert
Students from Oathall Community College and Warden Park Academy joined forces to perform Holt’s Mars and Elgar’s Nimrod at the Cuckfield remembers Community Concert under the batons of Carol Mac Taggart and Martijn Van Galen. The pieces were well received and students were complimented on the high standard of the music as well as the respectful and friendly conduct of our students. We are all now very much looking forward to the launch of the WISDOM orchestral day to be held at Oathall on the 11th January 2019 where all the local Mid Sussex schools will be performing together like a symphony orchestra in a project led by local Heads of Music and the West Sussex Music Hub

Library news
The library has been as busy as ever, supporting our students with their reading and research during lesson times and encouraging them to engage in a variety of activities at break and lunchtimes. There is a lovely atmosphere in the library, it’s a busy place with lots going on.

Accelerated Reader
This is our second year using the Accelerated Reader programme. Over the next few issues of the bulletin, we would like to take the opportunity to explain in more detail what this means for your child. All year 7 & 8 students, plus a few additional students in years 9 & 10, are enrolled automatically on the scheme. So far this year, students have completed two STAR tests (multiple choice quiz style test) and they now have their reading ranges from which to chose a reading book. We have purchased books to support readers at all levels and we encourage students to challenge themselves to read a variety of genres.

Students on the Accelerated Reading scheme have read over 84 million words in 1,669 books since September, an amazing achievement.

Here are some reading suggestions for over the holiday period you might like to share with your children.

Puffin Books reading suggestions  

Winter reading challenge here  

Geography faculty suggested reading

https://www.readbrightly.com/why-reading-aloud-with-older-kids-is-best/

TV programmes based on books being shown over the Christmas period have been shared by a librarian colleague and can be found  here

Battle of the Books
We have also started up a new book club this term called Battle of the Books. Based on an American competition that has been running since the 1930s, it is a reading incentive programme where students read chosen books, organise themselves into teams and then ‘battle’ against each other to see who knows the most. Each question starts ‘in which book’ which eliminates potential confusion and there is a bonus if teams can remember the author of the book. Students from Year 7 and 8 have been reading since October and we now have five teams ready to start ‘battling’ in the new year. Our highlight will be when we ‘battle’ a teacher team during World Book Week in March. The students have been a delight, they are keen and organised – a librarians’ dream.

Scholastic Book Fair
We also had an incredibly successful Scholastic Half Price Book Fair where we sold over £815 worth of books. Not only do your children benefit by getting everything at a 50% discount, but the library can then chose books to the value of £81, all at half price. We are thrilled with our selection and they are now available for your children to borrow.

Lindfield Life
We are also lucky to have the opportunity to submit book reviews for the Lindfield Life magazine. If your child wants to see their name in print, all they need to do is to write not more than 250 words about a book they have recently read and email it to the librarians at [email protected] and we will do the rest. When it is published, they can come and collect a copy of the magazine.

Fun in the library
The idea that a library is a place of silence, that librarians go around saying ‘shush’ all the time is well and truly gone. Libraries are a hive of activity, the only rule being that your noise doesn’t impact on someone else’s activity. During break and lunchtimes, our library is transformed into a bustling place, full of students swapping their books, checking their homework, printing out whatever they need for their studies, reading our magazines and chatting to friends. They also play chess and yu-gi-oh plus there is a drop-in, student-led origami club on Fridays.

Happy Christmas from all the staff at Oathall

Winners of the best jumper award went to the Maths faculty.

Teaching and Learning Bulletin – Back to School 2018

22nd November 2018Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

We have had a busy start to the autumn term and our latest teaching and learning bulletin provides an insight to much that is new in the school.

Significantly, I was so pleased that our new Maths and Science block opened on time for the start of the new academic year. This major project has seen these critical facilities in the school completely transformed. The recent formal opening of the block was an excellent event and I am so delighted that Sir Paul Nurse FRS was able to attend as our guest of honour. Discussing science and sharing practical experiences with a Nobel laureate are not everyday experiences and will certainly become a cherished memory for all involved, both staff and students. The evening welcomed many visitors to the school including a number of parents and donors who had supported the school so generously through our recent PTA organised crowdfunding event.

Our whole-school ‘Drop Everything and Read’ (DEAR) programme is really turning Oathall into a ‘Reading School’. Pioneered by Ms Chinn in the English faculty, an almost eerie silence descends on the school during those allotted periods when students and staff take out a book from their bags and read. Developing a reading culture is critical in so many aspects of learning and I am delighted to see how quickly this practice has become embedded in the school.

In many ways, DEAR is part of a strategy to enhance our school culture. Very much on that theme is the ‘Them and Us’ project launched by Mr Parry earlier in the term. I am really excited by the potential of this work and look forward to seeing this develop over the coming weeks at Oathall.

A celebration of Whole School Activities

Drop Everything And Read, otherwise known as DEAR time, happening around the school.

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“Them and Us” Launch

Mr M Parry

This week, we have launched the “Them and Us” programme at Oathall. It is an exciting project being run in hundreds of schools across the country with the intention of helping young people understand those who are different to them. It focuses on 3 areas – Kindness, Respect and Living Without Harm. We will be focusing on Kindness and Respect with sessions being run in tutor groups to explore the importance of treating everyone with kindness and respect. Projects will be running throughout the school year such as “Random Acts of Kindness Week” when students will be encouraged to carry out small acts of kindness to anyone and everyone. Staff and students are excited about what this will do to our school atmosphere and community as a whole. It has already begun with students helping staff pick up litter without being asked, teachers, receiving gifts from students and a little hum of excitement which feels like it could develop into a roar any day!

Thanks go to this group of students who picked up litter without being asked.

Using the new Science & Maths Building (SAM)

Ms E Costelloe

We have had a great start to the year back in the SAM building. The facilities are fantastic and we are loving teaching and learning in our brand new rooms. Year 7 and 8 have been busily getting their bunsen burner licenses and our fortnightly Science club is oversubscribed with budding young scientists. So far they have made bath bombs, slime and set alight to gas bubbles! We are extremely grateful for the fundraising by OPTA and the new equipment is starting to arrive. Mrs Isley and Mrs Pringle particularly enjoyed showing our visitors our new thermal imaging camera on Open Day!

 

Full circle farms project

Ms A Murray

We started our ‘Full circle farms project’ two weeks ago.  Tom Morphew, who is a former Oathall student, asked us to get involved.  He runs his own sustainable food company that uses waste from top London restaurants to make compost.  He then grows amazing vegetables, spices and herbs with this compost to sell back to the restaurants to use as ingredients in their tasty meals.  In our first week, we planted over 4000 seeds!  It has been great to start to see the seeds growing and we are looking forward to tasting the finished product.  Tom has recently appeared on Saturday Kitchen on BBC One to talk about his company.

National Poetry Day

Ms P Sullivan

On 4th October our students celebrated National Poetry Day in the style we are accustomed to: with one of our termly Open Mic Sessions! 

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Students from across the years came to read out poetry – some that they had written themselves and others that have been published. There was a fantastic array of poetry and excellent readings, with a couple of brave souls reciting their chosen poem from memory.

Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to David and Josh in Year 10 for setting up the sound system for us.

Freshers Fair

Ms L Gyngell
Year 7s were given the opportunity to attend our first ever ‘Freshers Fair’ this half term.
Clubs were represented by Oathall students and staff, giving Year 7 the perfect opportunity to find out more about the vast array of clubs on offer at the college from War Hammer to Maths Digit Doctors!
For more information regarding the clubs on offer please visit our website and click on the link ‘School Life‘.
Great to see a Harry Potter bag at the Library stall!

Investigative, creative and physical learning throughout our faculties.

In Music 

Mrs C Mactaggart

Oathall musicians in all years are very busy rehearsing for the performances this term. We are looking forward to performing at The Big Sing with our local primary schools on the 30th October, Cuckfield Remembers concert on the 10th November and of course our own Christmas Concert and Carols In The Barn in December.

In Science 

Ms K Pettingel
This half term as part of their energy topic, year 8 have been investigating the best materials to insulate a house. Through a series of lessons, students have tested different materials and looked at heat loss in buildings using our new thermal imaging camera’s. Students then designed and built their houses and tested how well the house contained the heat through quantitative tests and observations with the thermal camera. In our final lesson, they presented their ideas to each other and showed off their fabulous work. Fantastic investigation skills year 8!

Ms Z Froud

Year 8 gymnasts explored different forms of sports acrobatics and partner and group balances this half term to produce an outstanding final piece for their assessment. They showed maturity, teamwork, focus and resilience to perform some stunning balances.

The Under 12s played their first game of the seasons (and for some their first ever game of Football) at Burgess Hill Academy last night and secured an emphatic victory 7-1. All players were marvellous, Player of the match was Ella Chatfield who scored 5 goals!

Under 12s football team

The Under 14 Football team gave a fantastic display of resilience, determination and dedication during their 3-3 draw against Sackville in their first game of the season. This was the first time the girls had played collectively as a team and some Year 8 students even played up a year group. They went behind 3 times in the game but would not be beaten!
Player of the match was Molly Aplin selected by the Sackville players.

Under 14s football team

 

The PE department’s extra-curricular programme has had a fantastic start with great numbers of students from all year groups attending a range of clubs from Dance to Football and Fitness to Frisbee. Here are the Football girls after a training session in the sunshine. Keep it up, girls!

Football girls

Year 7s making a start…

In English

Ms L Fisher

Continuing with their creative journals that they began over the summer, many Year 7 students created their own Coat of Arms in English lessons. The students drew inspiration from famous Coats of Arms, such as Queen Elizabeth’s and Meghan Markle’s. Ultimately, each student’s Coat of Arms exemplified their unique origins through symbols, colours, and mottoes. The students explained each part of their Coat of Arms in writing and then displayed their finished work using a gallery experience during the lesson.

 

 

In Music

Year 7s have gotten off to a cracking start in the Music Department at Oathall and we have been delighted to welcome them as new members of the school orchestra, various choirs and our Jazz Band. They were treated to a wonderful performance by one of our school bands as well as watching a presentation from West Sussex Music teachers designed to introduce the instrumental and vocal lessons on offer to them at the College.

In the library

Mrs D Perrin
Our Year 7s have now had their induction into the Oathall library. Over four lessons they have learned how the library is organised and how to chose a book that is right for them; they have taken the STAR test which has given them all their individual reading level for the Accelerated Reader scheme; they have learned about the library software system, done two library quizzes and finally, put it all into practice by taking part in a Roald Dahl Treasure Hunt around the library. Lots of fun and lots of learning took place and we are delighted that they are discovering the books we have on our shelves and are excited about borrowing them.

2018: The Year Of Engineering – Women In Engineering Conference – Mathematics

Mrs P Gaston

On Thursday 20th September 2018, a group of our talented Year 10 female mathematicians headed off to the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, Kent for a one day “Women in Engineering Conference”. The Year of Engineering aims to encourage young people to realise the potential of a career in engineering. 
 
Our wonderful group of students stood out for their excellent prior knowledge, their teamwork and their great respect for the highly acclaimed lecturers, speakers and organisers. 
 

Students had the opportunity to meet leading Female Engineers from Universities, from Industry and from the Engineering division of the Army. They had a chance to develop and use Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics during a series of practical workshops. There was also time to visit the Royal Engineers Museum during the day

. The practical activities were interspersed with inspirational talks from female engineers who all had links with the Trust, the Museum, STEM Ambassador Hub South East England, and the University of Greenwich at Medway
 
The event was organised by our Mathematics Enrichment Leader Ms Calleja as part of the National Year of Engineering.
The students were accompanied by Mrs Gaston & Mrs Ransom who were thrilled to report that Oathall students were “totally engaged in the subject and interesting & polite company for the day”. A number of the organisers made a point of complimenting our students on their behaviour and positive attitude. A truly great experience!

TEACHING AND LEARNING BULLETIN – SUMMER 2018

30th July 2018Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

I write as we approach the end of another busy and successful term.  Just last evening we hosted our annual celebration evening in the college hall. It is so important that we are able to stand back and say well done to all our students who have worked so hard throughout the year, contributed so much, made excellent progress and achieved so highly. I was delighted that so many parents could join us for this evening of celebration.

The most exciting news to share of course is that the major re-development of our maths and science block is now complete with the building being handed back to school last week. The final pieces of new furniture and equipment are currently being installed and staff are busy ensuring all is ready for the students to return in September.

The new facilities really are exceptional with 8 brand new maths classrooms, 8 brand new science laboratories and a computing suite.

As you know, our extraordinary Parents’ Association managed to raise a staggering amount of money to provide additional equipment that will significantly enhance the learning of the students. I am truly humbled by and profoundly grateful for the generosity of so many people.

Whilst the block will be open for teaching from the first day of the autumn term we are currently organising an official opening event that will take place later in the term. I look forward to sharing more details of this in due course.

In meantime, do enjoy reading the articles in this latest teaching and learning bulletin and on behalf of the governors and staff at Oathall, may I wish you and you families a restful summer break.

I look forward to seeing everyone again when we return in September.

Mr E Rodriguez

Headteacher

Radio Two’s “500 Words” success

At 5am on 8th June, we jumped onto our bikes and cycled the 3 miles along the towpath to Hampton Court Palace to go and watch the final of Radio 2’s competition “500 words”.  I had submitted my story as my English holiday homework and couldn’t believe my eyes when an email came through inviting me to be part of the audience.
On arrival, we were greeted with a massive queue which we joined wondering whether we would ever make it in as it was moving so slowly.  Before we knew it we were weaving our way to our seats.

A jester warmed the audience up practising cheering and clapping for the show and then Chris Evans and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I got to see 3 live bands and watched famous people reading out the talented winners stories.  It was such an exciting morning and being so close to the live radio show action was a real experience.

The icing on the cake was being able to meet some of the famous people. My favourite story was The Poo Fairy read by David Williams. I also got the chance to have my photo taken with some of the famous people most excitingly with Malorie Blackman because we have just read her book Noughts and Crosses in our class. It was a morning that I won’t forget for a long time.

By Joby Barnaby

With Malorie Blackman
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
With Dara O’Brien

Showcasing Art in the wider community

At the National Students’ Art Exhibition 2018

We are delighted that Oathall’s Year 11 Art GCSE work was recently selected to be exhibited at the NSAE, Mall Galleries, London. The opening of the exhibition was the 18th of July and it celebrates the best of students’ artwork from across the country.
Mr C J Russell, Founder NSAE, “The standard of submissions has again been extraordinarily high. It is a marvellous accolade for the artists and schools selected”.
Congratulations to Honey Latter, Molly Watts, Maddie Wareham and Nina Kashdan who all had their work exhibited and well done to Mia Jones whose pieces were highly commended.

Ms J Smith-Hashim

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At the Haywards Heath Twinning Association Community Art Project

This year Haywards Heath celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Twinning with Traunstein and the 20th Anniversary with Bondues.

To mark this special occasion Haywards Heath Twinning Association created a Community Art Project on the theme of “Friendship”.

Lead by textile artist and teacher, Jan Hunt, three wall hangings were produced which express the theme of Friendship between Haywards Heath and the two twin towns. Oathall students and local Primary schools participated in workshops with Jan. Community groups also took part making the project uniquely intergenerational.

Year 9 student Izzy Hateley created original graffiti lettering designs and year 10 students Bradley Turner, Izzy Bain, Lily McDonald, Freya Smit, Lottie Brooks, Kerry McCarthy and Emily Brock created impressive textile art pieces.

At a formal ceremony on the 30th June, two of the wall hangings were presented by Mayor Jim Knight to Mayor Christian Kegel and Mayor Patrick Delebarre as symbols of their enduring relationship.   The third wall hanging will be displayed in the Town Hall.

 

Learning to care for the next generation

Year 10 girls recently completed their child first-aid course over two lessons in the Albe for part of their Child Development course. They all did really well and had lots of fun doing a practical element to the course. They learnt CPR, how to treat cuts and burns and dealing with choking both on a child and a baby.

Mrs S Kirkpatrick

Learning by experiencing 

At Hampton Court Palace

Over two days, 115 Year 8 students recently visited Hampton Court Palace on a History school trip.  We spent the day participating in a variety of educational activities, including team building skills, fact hunting and exploring the historical palace and grounds.  We enjoyed getting lost in the oldest standing maze in the country. We discovered a range of intriguing and interesting facts.  For example, did you know that back in the Tudor era, the residents and guests of the palace drank an astonishing 600,000 gallons of beer in only one year!
Ms Z Froud
 A Year 8 student said, ‘visiting Hampton Court Palace has made me more enthusiastic about History and has inspired me to take it for GCSE.’

In Ypres

On Friday 8th of June, a group of around 30 students and some teachers and teaching assistants went on a history trip to the battlegrounds of Ypres in Belgium. After a five-hour coach journey, our first stop was the Hooge Crater Museum. It was very interesting as we got to see a lot of the weapons used in the First World War, as well as things like medicine in those times, gas masks and the soldiers’ uniforms. We also stopped for a while to be shown where we were on a map and how the Battles of Ypres progressed around the Ypres Salient. We then went to Hooge Chateau, which was an old battleground, where we got to walk through some of the old trenches.

After that, we went to the Hooge Crater Cemetery, where 5,916 World War One soldiers are commemorated. We found the gravestone of H.S.Tindall, who was a British soldier in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. We found out he lived on Oathall Road, which we found was very interesting. We laid a cross on his grave to commemorate him. Then, at Essex Farm, we found a Muslim grave, which I found very interesting; to show respect, instead of putting flowers around it, people place stones on top. We also found the grave of a fifteen-year-old soldier, Valentine Strudwick, who died fighting.

Then we went to Tyne Cot Cemetery, where there are records of 11,956 people who gave their lives in WW1, 8,369 of which are unidentified. There were hundreds of white marble graves, but there was also a long wall around one edge of the cemetery, commemorated to those whose bodies were never found. It was very emotional to see all the thousands of people who died fighting for their country: for all of us.

Finally, we went to Ypres town for dinner and for the Menin Gate wreath ceremony, where Felix and I got to lay the school wreath in front of a crowd of people. It was a bit scary to do it but I was glad we got to pay tribute to all those who gave their lives for us. It was a very fun trip and I was glad I got the opportunity to go on it as it was very interesting and gave me a much better insight into what actually happened in the War, and it gave us a much better idea of the vast amounts of sacrifices made.

By Esme Brigden

In the west of France

Travelling along the motorway to the beautifully stunning La Rochelle provided our students with their first opportunity to practise their French as we stopped for a traditional French breakfast of pastries and coffee at the service station.  Although some were initially timid, all students spoke with their best French accent when purchasing their products.

After dinner at the hostel, Auberge de Junesse staff and students experienced the delights of La Rochelle harbour, beach and evening market.

When presented with a myriad of ice-cream(s) to devour on the golden sands of Les Minimes beach, students couldn’t wait to use their French to order the delights on offer.

Students found the seafront night market an exciting occasion to immerse themselves in traditional French culture, products and atmosphere.

Following an early morning start on Tuesday, students learnt about the historic three towers of La Rochelle while waiting for the boat to Ile d’Oleron.

The journey to Ile d’Oleron took us past the historic 17th Century Fort Boyard.

Ile d’Oleron gave students the chance to mix history and culture.  Visiting the traditional French indoor food market in the market town of St Pierre d’Oleron, walking through the cobbled streets surrounded by picturesque stone buildings was a real treat.  Here students explored the vast amount of products on offer and independently used their skills to buy gifts, order food and navigate their way around the area.

Puy du Fou Grand Parc was a truly exhilarating and memorable experience.   Experiencing five events in one day was a challenge planned with military precision by Monsieur Henri which resulted in all students and staff watching wonderful and amazing shows.  Each show was narrative as well as visually spectacular thus students had to use their knowledge of spoken language to understand the plot.

The aquarium in La Rochelle was beautiful and fascinating.  To learn about the creatures students were encouraged to read the information provided next to each marine feature.

Our final destination was Futuroscope – wow, a genuinely unique, stimulating and thrilling experience!  Entering a world of 3D, 4D and now 5D is an adventure not to be missed.  Within the theme park, students had to use all their speaking, listening and reading skills to either understand the stories/information being told on the rides, ordering food, understanding what an attraction offered or simply navigating where to go.

 At Cuckmere Haven

120 students from Year 7 went to Cuckmere Haven to study a variety of geography themes including river meanders and management, the impact of tourism on the area and the geology and erosion of the coastal cliffs.  Students also scaled the chalk cliffs / first peak of the Seven Sisters cliffs to experience the amazing view of the whole Cuckmere Valley.

Year 10 Work Related Learning Week

Oathall’s Year 10 students have recently enjoyed a week of work-related learning experiences.  The week allowed students a taste of college/university life as well as an insight into possible career paths.

Monday – The week began with college taster days at Crawley and Plumpton college and the University of Sussex.  The students participated in subject taster sessions of their choice at Crawley and Plumpton.  The Motor Vehicle session was reported as being fantastic!

A most enjoyable and informative day was had at the University of Sussex.

Tuesday – We were very pleased to welcome back some former Oathall students: Sarah Caddy (Post-doctoral Research Fellow @ Cambridge University), David Amor (Computer Games designer), Ben Higgins (Head of Human Resources at Societe Generale), Hilary Cornish (Research, Evidence and Learning Adviser at Christian Aid), Petr Esposito (Architect at MATT Architecture) and Rebecca Cooney (Attorney/Lawyer at Floran Glennon).  They came to talk to our students about their career paths and work experience and are all members of the Oathall Alumni Association, which allows us to keep in touch with our former students.

Wednesday – The students spent this half term preparing for ‘mock interviews’.  We had many business volunteers who acted as interviewers for our Year 10 students.  Our mock Interviewers were very impressed with them and commented that they were well presented, personable and polite, enthusiastic, very engaged and asked some good questions.  The employers enjoyed the experience and said it was a pleasure to meet such lovely young people and that the school should be very proud.

Apprenticeships – In the afternoon we were visited by an education expert who delivered a presentation on apprenticeships.  This gave our students an opportunity to understand how the national apprenticeship programme works.

Thursday – Our visit to the Big Bang fair was a great experience for many of our students as they were able to find out about various vocations in the world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Friday – Work observation day – The students organised their own work observation days where they were able to observe a parent, friend or relation at work.  As part of this, the students completed a world of work survey.

Mrs K Ferros

Public Speaking competition results

Winners of the Year 7 public speaking competition. From the left: Tasha Lawrence (end), Paige Nesbitt (joint 3rd), Ben Tame (1st) and Matty Mackay (joint 3rd).

Year 7 winners

 

Winners of the Year 8 public speaking competition. From the left: Ella Tingley 93rd place), Molly Aplin (2nd place) and Dominika Knotkova-Hanley (1st place).

 

Year 8 winners

Well done to all the finalists who represented their classes. They did themselves proud.

Ms P Sullivan

Mid-Sussex sports

Mid Sussex Athletics competition

On Thursday 28th June Mr Mills along with 19 Sports Leaders from Year 8 organised a ran the Year 7 Mid-Sussex Athletics competition at Broadbridge Heath.
The leaders were absolutely superb and ran a seamless competition demonstrating great organisation, fantastic communication and a level of maturity beyond their years.
In addition to this, I am also extremely pleased to tell you that our Year 7 boys team came first in the event beating 11 schools from the Mid-Sussex area. A fantastic achievement. The girls’ team were stretched due to injury and illness of a number of the team so didn’t place on this occasion. They did, however, do Oathall proud and should be commended for their attitude and commitment.
Ms Z Froud

Festival of Sport

On Wednesday, 6 June. 50 students in Years 9 & 10 were given the opportunity to attend The Festival Of Sport at the University of Chichester. The Festival offered an arena for students to try out different sports, learn about the effects of exercise on the body and discover what facilities and courses were on offer.

 Students were able to learn from world-leading researchers and external experts from local and national organisations. Students participated in activities ranging from climbing, blind football, wheelchair hockey and rugby, alongside the biomechanical and physiological effects of physical activity. Activities were run as either drop-in sessions in which students could dip in and out of, and throughout the day and scheduled for 30-minute sessions.

 “Many Thanks for leading such a wonderful trip today. I and many others were able to enjoy the day and work independently on activities we wanted to whilst also having fun and enjoying ourselves. I for one found it very inspiring to see the different careers available in a sport as well as participating in the practical side of sport.” Year 9 student.

Ms C Avery

Junior Maths Challenge Success 2018

Pupils at Oathall achieved 8 gold, 13 silver and 16 bronze certificates in this year’s UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. Over 260,000 pupils from across the UK sat the Junior Maths Challenge with roughly the top 6% receiving a gold certificate, the next 13% silver and the next 21% bronze.

Students with the highest results are invited to sit a follow-on competition: up to 1200 top JMC scorers are invited to take the Junior Mathematical Olympiad and the next approximately 7000 take the Junior Kangaroo. Congratulations to Daniel Reed (7VMT), Ella Tingley (8VRB), Afdhal Azard (8VRB), Molly Hord (8DSA), Nathanael Brown (8ESML) and Toby Colvin (8PCAS) as they qualified for these follow up rounds. A special mention should be made to Toby Colvin and Daniel Reed who achieved a merit from Junior Maths Kangaroo and Olympiad, respectively. Daniel is our youngest student ever to go on to qualify and succeed in the Olympiad round!

The Junior Maths Challenge is run by the UK Mathematics Trust and supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. It is aimed at those in Years 7 and 8 and is sat in schools The UKMT is a registered charity whose aim is to advance the education of children and young people in mathematics. It organises national mathematics competitions and other mathematical enrichment activities for UK secondary schools pupils. Further information about the Trust and its activities is available at www.ukmt.org.uk

“The Maths Challenges provide material to provoke student’s mathematical thinking and test their problem-solving skills in an accessible and yet challenging way. Many congratulations to Oathall Community College on their success in the Junior Maths Challenge; it is great to see achievement in mathematics recognised.”

Rachel Greenhalgh, UKMT Executive Director

Sample question from this year’s Junior Maths Challenge (answer on UKMT’s website)

Gill scored a goal halfway through the second quarter of a ‘teachers versus pupils’ netball match. At that point, what fraction of the whole match remained to be played?

A  ¼ B ⅜ C ½ D ⅝ E ¾

If you could work out the answer to this problem and you will be a year 7 or 8 student next year, then you may have the desired skills to succeed in this competition. Oathall’s maths faculty also runs the Intermediate and Senior Maths Challenges for years 9, 10 and 11 with similar success.  Letters will be sent home soon with more details about these competitions. For more information, you can ask your teacher or speak to Miss Calleja

Ms M Calleja

Reading activities in the classroom and in the library

At Oathall we’re thrilled that our Year 7 and 8 students have engaged so well with the Accelerated Reader scheme. We’ve found that on the whole students have enjoyed silent reading time within their English lessons and a chance to explore new authors and the range of books that we stock in the library.

In the last two weeks, we have awarded certificates to students who have made progress in terms of the amount that they have read in their spare time and those who have read the most words in their year group.
Year 7 winners
Some Year 8 winners
According to our Renaissance software, Molly in Year 7 has managed to read 5,949,661 words this year (71 books). Well done Molly!

Ms A Chinn

For this final term in English, Year 9 students have been exploring Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s seminal story “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the issues around it, such as mental health and gender roles. Students were assigned an independent creative project that linked to the story. Miss Evans and Ms Fisher were treated to a wide range of interpretations including displays, film trailers, new excerpts, art, research, and speeches. Hopefully, this will inspire students to read more widely in preparation for the challenge of GCSE. Please visit the English corridor to marvel at our students’ excellent work.

Ms L Fisher

Summer reading suggestions

Keen to keep your child reading over the long summer break? Why not try reading as a family? Here are some suggestions of how you can make reading fun and spend quality time together. Summer can be a time to relax together as a family,

  • Start a family reading club. Each person chose a book, promote your book to each other and then everyone votes for their favourite book. Read it aloud to each other or silently to yourself, draw characters from the book, make up a different ending, draw an alternative cover – have fun with the book.
  • Get a book of science experiments and have a go – remember, everyone must help clean up afterwards!
  • Play an audiobook to everyone in the car on a long journey
  • Talk about what you are all reading around the dinner table, share what you are reading as well as finding out what your children are reading
  • Watch a film based on a book you’ve read and then compare which you prefer and why.
  • Use the public library, it’s free!
  • Enter the Jacqueline Wilson writing competition
  • https://www.penguin.co.uk/puffin/articles/competitions/the-jacqueline-wilson-creative-writing-prize-20

Here are some useful links for book titles

Mrs D Perrin

TEACHING AND LEARNING BULLETIN, SPRING 2018

7th June 2018Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

Our latest bulletin, as always, provides an insight into the breadth of experience and opportunity made available to Oathall students. Their continued commitment to all that is on offer never fails to impress.

The practical examinations in Photography and Art signal the start of the formal GCSE season. Students often tell me how their 10 hour examinations seem to ‘fly by’ as they get so completely absorbed in their work. As always, I have been so impressed by the quality of the pieces they produce. It was a real joy to see work on display in the college hall in an exhibition enjoyed by students, parents and carers, and the wider Oathall community. The art and photography was exhibited together with samples of work from Design Technology and the contribution from our Food & Hospitality students made this a real faculty event.

If you have passed through the college reception recently, you would have seen the display of Oathall’s winning submission in the recent Mid-Sussex STEM challenge. I am very proud to say that Oathall students were awarded both first and second place in this inaugural event against very stiff competition from local schools. My congratulations to all those involved in this project.

Whilst working under somewhat challenging circumstances this year, the science department has certainly not shied away from giving students a practical experience in their learning; the ‘Race for the Line’ challenge being a case in point. However, it is fair to say that they, along with their mathematics colleagues, are very much looking forward to moving into their new accommodation. I am delighted to confirm that the constructors are still reporting that all is proceeding to schedule and anticipate a completion date in early July.

I am so grateful for the work being undertaken through our parents’ association to raise additional funds to provide exceptional resources to enhance the teaching and learning in this new block. I am struck by the generosity of so many people whose contributions will have a profound impact on the experiences of Oathall students. Further details of the crowdfunding website can be found here.

Mr E. Rodriguez

Headteacher

GCSE Art, Photography and DT Faculty Exhibition 2018

Well done to our talented Art, Photography and Product Design Year 11 students who recently exhibited their exam work in the main hall. Students’ work was celebrated with a private viewing, well attended by students, their families and their friends. Year 10 GCSE Food and Hospitality students made canapes for the event which were delicious!
Thank you to all who attended and supported the event.

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Visit by Dr Who Author Daniel Blythe

By Ms Fogarasi

We were very excited to host Daniel Blythe at Oathall on the 24th April. Daniel has written over 20 books for adults and young adults, both fiction and non-fiction, Dr Who books and books for reluctant readers.

In the morning assembly, he told Year 7 students how he grew up in a small town and used to go ghost-hunting with his friends. He told them how he used to sit on his swing and make up stories and then he showed us his very first attempt at writing which was a cartoon strip about  a character called Techno Mouse. Oathall students were fascinated by his stories, short videos and pictures of him growing up. At the end they had a lot of questions to ask about his influences and advice for budding writers. Students also had a chance to ask him further questions at the book signing.

Later in the day some Year 8 and 9 students had the opportunity to take part in an ‘Outrageous Openings’  writing workshop led by Daniel. Together they discussed what to include in the opening of a book or essay and how to structure and develop their ideas. Students wrote their own opening paragraphs inspired by their choice of fascinating pictures provided by the author. Daniel gave ideas and advice and some students were even brave enough to read their openings out loud. Other students, who had already made a start on writing projects, had the opportunity of running their creations past Daniel and receive his advice.

Both students and staff had a brilliantly inspiring day with Daniel Blythe; we learnt about the writing process, where ideas come from and staff were treated to a little trip down memory lane. Students are encouraged to pop into the library to borrow any of our Daniel Blythe books: we have all his young adult and reluctant reader novels and, of course, his latest Dr Who adventure. We’re already planning our next author visit, which we’re super excited about, so watch this space!

Food, Glorious Food…

By Mr Parry
Year 8 has been conducting an in-depth study of fast food companies as part of their work on healthy eating during PSHE (Personal, Social, Health, Education) classes. In delivering presentations to their classmates, they have been considering whether fast food companies or their customers are responsible for health issues caused by eating that type of food.
The speeches have been of an extremely high standard demonstrating strong research skills, teamwork, analytical thinking and confidence building. Some students even brought in samples of fast food and home cooked food to demonstrate the lack of decomposition in fast food after 3 weeks. An imaginative, if a bit stomach-turning, idea!

and…

By Mrs Slater

If you were at the recent Art/Design Technology exhibition and enjoyed the canapes, you might be interested to know they were made by our Year 10 Food Technology students.

Canapes made by Year 10 Food Technology students for the Art/DT exhibition
Canapes made by Year 10 Food Technology students for the Art/DT exhibition

Creativity in the English Faculty

Adventures into the mystery of Harris Burdick.

By Mrs Evans

Creativity has been bursting across the English Faculty as students across Years 8 and 9 have been exploring the ‘Mystery of Harris Burdick’. Harris Burdick walked into a children’s book publishers and said “I have an idea for a book. I have drawn some pictures for it. What do you think?” The publisher was very interested. The pictures were amazing! Harris Burdick said “I will come back tomorrow with the words.”  He never returned…

Students were then challenged to create a piece of creative work based on the pictures. It could be a story, a cartoon/storyboard, a news report, a script for a play, another picture to add to the collection or an interview with the mysterious Harris Burdick. Students worked individually or in teams and set about creating a range of interesting and exciting projects. Ms Fisher and I were then treated to sensational performances alongside a gallery of superb images and stories. Books became killers, pictures came alive and wizards roamed the classroom.

Class 8CD2
Class 8CD13
Class 8CD15
Class 8CD16

As always, the students of Oathall rose to the creative and imaginative project with glee. If you want to find out more and read more examples of work around this mystery, I recommend this weblink…if you dare…

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/harrisburdick/index.html

Celebrating Excellent Homework

By Mollie Macconnell, Year 7

“For our Geography homework, we were asked to complete tasks from a grid to earn stars. Our aim was to earn at least 15 stars. The tasks covered topics ranging from Fairtrade, Kenyan tribes, Silhouette Art and Book Reviews through to Tourist Guides. I learned many interesting facts about the Maasai Tribe; which foods in the supermarket are Fairtrade and how this impacts Kenyans working on the farm; how lots of children in Africa still do not get a good education as well as what traditional Kenyan homes really look like. This homework was great because it gave me an insight into other countries cultures and how different they are from the UK.  I also enjoyed how we could choose the tasks that interested us, which for me was all of them, and we could present them in written form as well as more exciting ways such as designing posters, models and artwork. I was thrilled to be able to share and discuss homework with Mr Rodriguez”.

Explaining to Mr Rodriguez

Skills Recognition and Reward

By Mrs Holmes
Dan Rouse received this honour recently.  Mrs Holmes awards this honour to one Year 10 history student each fortnight.  The winning student has a purple velvet cushion to sit on and a robe and crown to wear.  It is awarded for effort, attitude and contributions to the lesson.

Historian of the Month Dan Rouse, wearing his robes.

and…

By Mr Van Galen
The Tech Team say farewell to Thornley Thomas-Atkin who is moving on to 6th form. He has been a team member for nearly five years.

Back row: Thornley Thomas-Atkin (Year 11) David Wheatley (Y9) Joshua Bullimore (Y9) Front row: Monty Goodyer-Deen (Y8) Okan Erdem (Y9) Jamie Padgham (Y8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The team prides itself on providing professional technical sound and lighting support for the end of term assemblies, special Oathall guests, poetry readings, productions, concerts, dance productions (Rock challenge) and any other sound and lighting needs. The team learns and becomes proficient in sound mixing, light programming, proper microphone placement, professional standards for equipment care and setup, health and safety awareness as well as an understanding of the arts that they are supporting. They pride themselves on their work ethic which is needed in order to do the job correctly. Alumni of the S&L (sound & light) team have been hired and are currently working for professional sound and light companies demonstrating that the skills and positive professional approach that is nurtured at Oathall are welcomed by our community.

Competing In The Community

By Mr Robinson

In March, six teams from Oathall, Warden Park Academy and St Paul’s Catholic College took part in the final stage of the Mid Sussex STEM challenge. Both Oathall teams got through to the final stages where they had to present their business plan for their electric bikes to a panel of judges in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ scenario. Both teams presented well, answering some really tough questions from the panel which included local MP Sir Nicholas Soames.

At the end of the presentations the Oathall team, ‘The Cycling Five’ were victorious with the ‘Hairy Cyclists’ our other team, taking second place.

The students were presented with a shield by Sir Nicholas Soames at Mid Sussex District Council offices on Friday 23 March.

Sir Nicholas said: “I was thrilled to present the Mid Sussex STEM Challenge Award to Cycling5 from Oathall Community College in Haywards Heath, whose other brilliant team, the Hairy Cyclists, were runners-up. It was a remarkable display of skill and business acumen in the design of an electric bike.”

and…

‘Race for the Line’ Regional Final

By Ms Costelloe

In May four industrious Year 7 students (along with Mrs Isley) attended the ‘Race for the Line’ Regional final at Brambletye School. Violet Smith, Abigail Hartfield, Oliver Faulkner and Ed Rosling competed with 23 other schools from East and West Sussex and Kent.

Cars were engineered from blocks of polymer foam and wheels and axles added. Our team name, ‘Oathall Fire 2,’ was emblazoned across the car along with the obligatory ‘go-faster’ flames.

After the cars were made they went through a rigorous quality assurance process and we passed with flying colours!

The cars were raced with rocket motors and our car reached an astonishing 32.657 mph, coming fourth overall.

We had a fabulous day and met lots of other students from other schools. The event was organised by Dendrite, a STEM organisation running projects with schools all over the UK.

Well done to Violet, Abigail, Oliver and Ed (Team Oathall Fire 2) for a very successful result.

and…

Well done to all the students who entered the Rotary Club Annual Photography Competition this year. We selected six students to be entered into the district stage of the competition.
We are delighted that Esme Brigden achieved 3rd place in the district intermediate competition, a fantastic achievement. Here are her photos.
Congratulations also go to these talented photographers:
Key Stage 3 Oathall Winners
3rd – Tamia Morton -Yr 7
2nd – Olivia Fisher Yr8
1st – Esme Brigden Yr9
Key Stage 4 Oathall Winners
3rd Matilda Pardoe – Yr10
2nd Holly Taylor – Yr10
1st Lukas Blackman – Yr10
The judges were very impressed with the quality of our students photography and the clever interpretation of the theme ‘A Different Perspective’.

Also…

Our Under 13 Cricket team are celebrating after beating Sackville recently in the Sussex Under 13 Cricket league. The score was Oathall 93 and Sackville 70. A great all-around team performance but a special mention to Emily Stockwell and Molly Hepburn who made their Oathall cricket debuts.

Connecting With Other Schools

All Year 10 students have been visiting local Primary schools developing and mastering their leadership skills which they have been working on since September. Sessions have involved multi-skills, striking and fielding and athletics. The leaders have been excellent role models and ambassadors for Oathall and the young people they have been working with have enjoyed their sessions greatly.

 A huge thank you to the Primary schools for giving Oathall this opportunity, the Oathall PE department for their hard work and of course our fantastic leaders from Year 10.

Broadening Our Horizons

By Mrs Sandford and Mr Henri

At the beginning of this term, Oathall celebrated the European Week of Languages in a variety of ways.

Year 7 students took part in Oathall’s very own Eurovision song contest. Each class learnt a song in either French, German or Spanish. Rehearsals took place and students diligently learnt their lines and their dances. We then recorded each song and all students voted for their favourite tune. Voting was a very tense affair, however, Mr Henri’s class,  7ab/Fr2 group won the competition with their song ‘Magie dans l’air’. Féliciatations!

During the week, Year 8  students were invited to play detective, taking part in a ‘hello’ competition. Students had to identify a member of staff who could say hello in any of the languages on their card. Best detective prize went to Amy Pinchard, who won the competition.

Other groups completed a quiz about Europe, designed by the Learning Resource Centre (Library) team.

Finally, everyone had the opportunity to sample some different dishes, thanks to our wonderful canteen staff who laid on à Spanish themed menu.  Students and staff enjoyed the famous ‘paella’ rice-dish and churros for dessert.

Information about trips

We are looking forward to our upcoming languages trips to France and Germany.

Dates for your diary: La Rochelle students and their parents are invited for an information evening on Tuesday 12 June at 6.30 pm.

Looking ahead to July 2019, Y9 and Y10 GCSE Spanish students will be enjoying a one-week Spanish residential, which will include visiting the magnificent cities of Barcelona and Girona. The trip will combine both cultural and water-sports activities as well as  Spanish language sessions.

 

 

 

TEACHING AND LEARNING BULLETIN, WINTER 2018

29th March 2018Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

Greetings from Edward Rodriguez, Headteacher.

This latest Teaching and Learning Bulletin provides testament to a very busy and productive term at Oathall.  Our cross-curricular themed weeks have provided the stimulus for some truly imaginative learning experiences that have really challenged our students.  Moreover, you will read examples of a plethora of enriching opportunities that students from Year 7 to 11 have enjoyed.

Whilst the weather did its best to interrupt proceedings earlier in the term, I am pleased to report that the substantial renovation of our science and maths block is still on schedule for its July completion.  A number of visits have taken place this term with students, staff, and parents.  The project is really progressing very well indeed and with plaster on the walls, second fix electricals being completed and flooring being fitted, there is a real sense of being on the ‘home-straight’ for this major development.

I have to commend the Oathall science staff in particular for the manner in which they have secured excellent learning experiences this year for the students; despite the additional challenges they have faced teaching in somewhat unconventional settings.  I know they are very much looking forward to moving into their splendid new accommodation.

I am also grateful for the hard work and commitment of our Parent Teacher Association who are striving to secure additional funds to augment the facilities in our new maths and science block.  Following recent mailings, they are currently leading a number of student assemblies and I would like to thank you all in advance for your support of their fund-raising efforts.

We now focus our attention on our year 11 students as they approach their final few weeks with us at Oathall.  I am sure that you would want to join me in wishing them every success in their forthcoming examinations.

May I wish you a restful Easter break and I look forward to what promises to be a very exciting summer term at Oathall.

Teaching & learning outside the box

Oathall has embraced cross-curricular themes since the New Year. They give us an ideal opportunity for our students to appreciate that their learning takes place through several disciplines and viewpoints. We want to challenge them to take something they have learned in one subject and apply it in another.

The whole school has participated in various cross-curricular week themed learning in the Spring Term. We have had lots of exciting activities going on which encouraged our students to think around their subjects in a new way.

The English faculty did some fantastic written work around art designers, as can be seen below. A display of the work has been put up along the English corridor.

The Geography faculty capitalized on the students’ love of English, using  Harry Potter to teach contour mapping in an innovative way whereas the library chose to take traditional maps and challenge students to think about the information on them

Here are the maps produced by the library staff

Different world maps challenging our students to look at the world in a different way

A map of the London Underground showing the average salary at each station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Maths faculty joined forces with DT, as they like presenting maths in a real life context and to open our students’ eyes to a current world where maths is used in numerous disciplines. For example looking at how maths can help support different jobs such as the construction industry. 

In English students were writing mathematical poems taking inspiration by using its digits as a template for the number of letters in the words that made our poems. Some of the best poems written by our students went on display in the library

Pi poems

 

In Humanities students were given the opportunity to learn more about map skills and combined maths knowledge to support them. They used scales and six-figure grid references to find places of interest in the local area and bearings to describe directions. Our students feel confident with these very important life skills!

In Art and DT students investigated maths elements of tessellation and in particular the work of Escher, where they designed their own display poster of tessellations in an artwork.

Tessellation

Teamwork was the focus of the Performance Faculty, and during this week students took part in a number of challenges during lessons, working together to solve more complex problems and mathematical challenges. Teachers ran mathematical relays and activities where teamwork and communication skills were essential.

Maths Teamwork

Students have enjoyed being given the opportunity explore different aspects of Maths in the context of other subjects, and we are very much looking forward to taking part in the upcoming cross-curricular weeks.

A DATE WITH SUCCESS

By Ms Bird

On Friday 12th January, Year 9 students attended the annual Careers Speed Dating event where they had the opportunity to speak to business representatives from across the county and beyond.  It is organised to inspire our future workforce about real jobs; practise those all-important communication skills, and hopefully dispel some myths and challenge gender stereotypes.   This event complements the Year 9 options process and students’ feedback is always very positive.

In fast-paced 5-minute slots, students asked a barrage of questions of the 32 different volunteers representing a wide range of employment sectors including banking, engineering, medicine, hospitality, hairdressing, publishing, veterinary medicine, uniformed services, scientific research, sport, childcare, geological surveying, nursing, retail, architecture, physiotherapy and many more!

Speed dating

Feedback from the employers has been extremely positive.  Year 9 students did themselves proud.

Reflecting on his first experience of Oathall’s Careers Speed Dating, Jon Parry – Geologist commented: ‘I was genuinely impressed by the level of engagement and enthusiasm of the students.  Thank you for inviting me to take part in the experience, which was both enjoyable and rewarding.’

Sarah Breeze – an Architect, said: ‘The students had some great questions.  Many were interested in creative subjects, especially art and design technology, and we discussed various careers that are linked to these.  They were also interested in university life and also travelling as part of a job.’

Claire Batchelor – Primary School Teacher (and a former head girl at Oathall) commented: ‘The students were a credit to the school and showed interest and respect the entire time.  It made me feel proud to be a teacher and after selling the profession to the students, I came away remembering why I do the job.’

Thank you to all the business volunteers for giving up their time so generously to support our students.  It was especially pleasing that some of the participants were former Oathall students and members of the school’s Alumni Association.

STEM TRIP for girls

By Ms Calleja

Fifteen Year 8 girls students attended the Girls do STEM conference at the AMEX stadium in Brighton at the end of January. This event was run by Albion in the Community, the official charity of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club. The aim of the conference was to get more girls inspired to choose STEM-based subjects such as computing, ICT or media when considering their GCSE options, and to “open their eyes” to what they could achieve in the place of work and how studying a STEM-based subject could support and enhance their own future career. Also, very importantly, that these subjects and exciting job roles are not just for men!

These fifteen lucky students met several female role models in meetings that took a form similar to a speed dating event. Our girls felt really fired up and inspired after meeting some very successful women in different STEM careers.

STEM trip for girls

Making words come alive

In Zine Club…

by Ms Sullivan

Zine club runs every Friday. Last term, the students compiled a Year 7 zine as part of House Challenge Week. This term the group are producing some pages for their own zine.

Zine Club
Zine Club
Zine Club
Zine Club

…and through reading

By Ms Chinn

All Year 7 and 8 students have been taking part in the Accelerated Reader reading scheme we launched in October of last year. They are reading books within one set lesson which is timetabled on a fortnightly basis. After finishing a book within their level, they take quizzes on the library computers to prove their understanding of what they have read. As they accumulate quiz results the computer is able to recommend a new level based on their results and the system figures out how many words they have read so far in total.
Well done to 7AB3 and 8CD2 who have done particularly well this term!
We are pleased to announce at this stage that we have a number of ‘Word Millionaires amongst us!
Word Millionaires in Year 7
Tasha Lawrence, George Hughes, Niamh Chapman and Jacob Grey
Word Millionaires in Year 8
Molly Gaydon, Theo Billson and Alex King

According to recent data we are also proud to announce that the whole cohort has read over 42 million words!

Team Oathall!

Some team competitions are sports based but this term as well as celebrating lots of sporting achievements we also share news from the Maths faculty on their team success and the Science Faculty as they entered “Race for the Line”.

By Ms Froud

Congratulations to the Under 13 Girls Cricket team who have progressed through to the County finals of the Lady Taverners Indoor Competition. They convincingly beat Sackville, Millais and Birchwood Grave schools.

Under 13 Girls Cricket team

The Under 15 Girls Cricket team competed in the Sussex Schools Indoor cricket championships this week. They won convincingly against Millais School and Ardingly but narrowly lost to Warden Park by 7 runs. A great team effort and yet again the most wonderful displays of sportsmanship from all involved.

Under 15 Girls Cricket Team

The Under 12 Girls Football team showed grit and determination to beat The Weald School 1-0 in the West Sussex League.
Players of the match – Eva Marley, Alice Burwell and Millie Somerville.

Under 12s Girls Football Team

The Year 7 boys represented Mid Sussex in the County finals of the Indoor Athletics Competition at the Triangle last week. There were over 100 competitors from all over success and the team managed to secure a Bronze medal. What a fantastic achievement.

J Sullivan, L Keane, E Roslin, A Hale, J Wood, Bronze medal winning team representing Mid Sussex

 

By Ms Calleja 
Not all maths competitions take the form of a paper. Every year students take part in team maths competitions which combine mathematical, communication and teamwork skills. The competitions consist of different rounds where students can demonstrate these skills when solving problems and cross-numbers in their team together with relay and shuttle rounds.
Two teams entered the regional competition of the Year 10 Maths Feast Team competition run by the Further Maths Support Programme. Our teams achieved third and sixth place. A further team formed of two Year 8s and two Year 9s took part in the regional round of the team maths challenge run by the UKMT. The challenge took place at Lancing College and our students competed with many other schools in the area, achieving 8th place. Well done to all students involved

During the spring term, our students have entered individual and team maths challenges and competitions achieving multiple successes. 60 Oathall students entered the individual maths challenges. These challenges are run by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust as a way to stimulate interest in maths and give students the opportunity to solve interesting mathematical problems in multiple choice question papers.

 

57 students from Years 9-11 entered the Intermediate Maths Challenge achieving the best results in recent years. Over half of the students that entered this competition received an award: 2 students received a gold award, 17 obtained a silver award and 14 obtained a bronze award. Moreover, 8 Year 11 students took part in the Senior Maths Challenge, designed for students of up to year 13, with half of them obtaining a bronze award.

A special mention should be made for Leon Lochan who obtained gold and bronze awards in these challenges respectively. Leon was best in school for both papers and he has qualified for the next round of the Intermediate Challenge. Hence, he will be sitting the Pink Kangaroo challenge in March. We wish Leon good luck and further success in this competition!

 

Year 7 – Race for the Line

“During our science week we made Rocket Cars to race as part of a national competition. We carved, decorated and had lots of fun in our teams and, when the racing day came, blocks of foam were completed masterpieces. The military rocketeers came to the school to launch our cars across the finish line. When they were set off they made a huge bang and went so fast that some of them lost their wheels and snapped in half. We really enjoyed our science week project”.

By Bethan Steel and Rosie Walker (7TS)

 

Image result for race the line

 

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TEACHING AND LEARNING NEWS CHRISTMAS 2017

19th December 2017Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

Greetings from Edward Rodriguez, Headteacher.

We are now approaching the final few days of what has been another busy and successful term at Oathall. Whilst our students and staff are looking forward to a well-earned winter break it is important to reflect on all that has been achieved over the past few months.

As always, the students have shown excellent commitment to their studies and have enthusiastically engaged with all that is on offer at the school. This has been the first full term in which we have operated in somewhat constrained circumstances due to the extensive building work that is being undertaken to our science and mathematics block. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the students and of course, their teachers for how well they have adapted to the changes in the school.

I am pleased to report that the building work is on schedule and we are very much looking forward to enjoying these excellent new facilities from September next year. It is very satisfying to see that the new roof and the fenestration are all but complete, along with the new exterior finishes. We hope to see the scaffolding being removed early in the new year with the focus very much moving to the internal build. This is also progressing rapidly and, with all internal walls constructed, mechanical and electrical installations are now well underway. I have been really pleased to take a number of students on tours of the site. Observing a building in this state of construction has been of particular interest to our GCSE engineering students, of course.

Our Year 11 students are now approaching the end of their mock examination period. They have worked hard and will no doubt use their experiences to focus their efforts as they look forward to their final weeks of study next year.

I write following another outstanding Christmas concert, in which the depth of talent at Oathall was so richly displayed. We look forward to our college Christmas lunch this week and of course our celebrated ‘Carols in the Barn’ on Monday evening. Our final traditional Christmas assemblies on the 19th December signal the close of a long autumn term.

On behalf of the governors and staff at Oathall, may I wish you all a very peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Oathall remembers

By Jo Godbolt

This year, staff and students in Voyager House have come up with a special way of marking the Remembrance period and supporting The Royal British Legion, their chosen House Charity at the same time.

Inspired by the 2014 ‘Blood Swept Lands’ art installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, Voyager House decided to install a Field of Remembrance – a small patch of ground where pupils and staff could plant small wooden crosses dedicated to individuals who died as a result of armed conflict. This installation dedicated to the fallen will help focus minds during this period of remembrance.

Field of Remembrance

The whole school is involved as the Field of Remembrance sits in the middle of the school grounds and everyone will pass by it several times a day. Staff and students have been asked to dedicate a cross to family members or people of personal significance. Students in Voyager House will be assisting Mr Parry, Head of Voyager House in placing out the crosses and maintaining the installation over the time it is in place.

Field of crosses

Mr Parry said,
“I am very grateful to everyone who has supported this idea with their kind words and donations; in just one week we have raised over £100 for the Royal British Legion which is outstanding. ”

The crosses will be left in place until next week after which they can be taken away by the individuals who dedicated them.  Any remaining will be moved to the Haywards Heath War memorial.

Students in the field of remembrance

 

Creativity at Oathall

Year 8 Geographers have been making volcano models.

By Kim Garrick

We’ve had a huge variety of models ranging from those made of wood, clay and papier mache to those made out of cake! Students made a huge effort to ensure their models represented real life volcanoes and some of them even erupted.

Joshua Goodwin
Georgiana Beck
Holly Hughes
Theo Billson
Rose Worsley

 

Year 10, Symbolism and Christingles

By Mike Parry

Year 10 GCSE Religious Studies class learning about symbolism in Christian celebrations of Christmas by making Christingles.The students enjoyed reliving their primary school days making Christingles and exploring different interpretations of the nativity story.

Christmas has turned scientific in S1 with our beautiful (non-acidic!) Chrismas Chemis-tree! 

By Debbie Isley
O Chemis-tree, O Chemis-tree,
How acidic are thy branches….
Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas from the Science Faculty

Oathall in the community

By Penny Sullivan

On 27th November, three teams of Oathall students represented the school at our annual Youth Speaks event run by the Haywards Heath Rotary Club. Our topics were: ‘An Experience in Voice Acting’, ‘Why the Voting Age should be lowered to 16’ and ‘Inspirational Women’. The students all fulfilled their roles of Chair Person, Main Speaker and Vote Of Thanks giver admirably and did the school proud.

Well done to Molly Hord, Abigail Cooper, Kitty Underhill, Henry Forest, Tom Underhill, Ben McDowell, Bea Carter, Felix Carter and Tasha Lawrence.

Youth Speaks participants

 

Year 11s on the A Christmas Carol trip.

By Emily Evans

On Wednesday the 14th of December, Year 11 English students and Year 10 Drama students were treated to an interactive performance of A Christmas Carol in Brighton. Performed at The Spire (a converted church) students were left musing at the sense of hope and message of redemption suggested in the play which is apt at all times in the year. Students danced along with the cast and enjoyed the experience immensely.

Marden Sayers, a Year 10 drama student, reflected “It was very good. The lighting was superb especially when the ghost of Christmas Future was towering over Scrooge.”

Oathall students showed brilliant behaviour and were a credit to the school.

The girls’ cricket team competed in the first Under 18 Sussex Cricket event of the year at Bede’s school, Upper Dicker. This was a friendly event with Oathall playing teams from Millais, Brighton and Hove High School and Bedes. It was an opportunity for them to practice and develop their skills and they also had an opportunity to meet the England Ladies Wicket Keeper and Batter Sarah Taylor, pictured above with the Oathall team.

Oathall debates

By Mike Parry

Mr Parry’s Year 9 RE/PSHE class has been fully engaged in learning about the arguments that surround the legalisation of drugs. They particularly enjoyed putting forward different points of view and so they decided to hold a debate.

Oathall makes music

By Carol MacTaggart

Oathall musicians have been working very hard arranging and rehearsing their music for the Christmas Concert, and Carols in the Barn Service, with over 120 students taking part. Mrs Mac Taggart, Mr Van Galen and our guests who attended the performances enjoyed them immensely. A highlight was the showcasing of the music videos presented by Year 9 students.
The choir
The orchestra
Rehearing

Staff, students and ex-students taking a well earned dinner break having set up the sound and lighting for the concert in record time.

Staff and students in Performance are very much looking forward to beginning work on the school play, Macbeth in January 2018!

Oathall excels

Celebrating Outsanding work with Mr Rodriguez

By Faye Hatchard

This term Year 8 geographers have been busy learning all about tectonic plates. The following students were selected to show their amazing earthquake homework to the Headteacher; Eleanor Barnes, Hannah Taylor, Simonne Gautron, Isla Mustin and  Erica Marriott-Tremlett. Isla explains in more detail below:

“This term, for our geography homework we were asked to design and research an earthquake-proof building or home. We could complete this project however we wanted; some people made posters, models, booklets or sketches. I chose to create a large poster, with a drawing of my earthquake-proof offices, lots of information about the importance of earthquake-proof buildings and the effects of an earthquake. From this project, I have gained the knowledge and understanding of how these structures are formed, as well as developing my architectural skills. I was very pleased and excited when I was chosen to see Mr Rodriguez, to show him my homework, because it is very satisfying to know that all of my hard work had been recognised and rewarded. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this homework, as I was able to showcase my skills, as well as receive acknowledgement from senior members of staff.”

By Isla Mustin, Year 8 Student.

 

Adapting to our surroundings

Science – Year 7 has been learning all about British mammals. 

By Debbie Isley

Students have reseached about their favourite British mammal and presented their information for others to learn from. What they eat, what eats them, where they live and adaptations to living in their environment were all studied.

 Fabulous work was completed by everyone but a special mention must be to Ellie Bennett who did her work on Deer, Olivia Fox who studied the Red Fox and Sam Kelly’s excellent work on Grey squirrels. Well done everyone.

The Science Faculty is adapting to its temporary accommodation.

By Emma Costello

As you can see, we have been keen to still do as much practical science as possible despite being in temporary accommodation this year. Here is one of our portable Bunsen burners in action!

 

Oathall library news

By Debra Perrin

The library continues to be a centre for all our students, be they reading, doing homework, revising for tests and exams or just finding a space to hang out at break and lunchtimes or to catch up with friends.

We are seeing an impressive increase in borrowing of books thanks to the Accelerated Reader programme that has been rolled out for Years 7 & 8. The reading programme has made it much easier for students to find books which are the right level for them and, as one student who usually struggles to find a book told me recently, “this book is just right for me. I can read it. I can’t wait to turn over the page and find out what happens next” The smile on her face and the joy in her eyes was a privilege to experience.

Bookshops are full of attractive displays, especially at this time of year, promoting books but if you would like some suggestions, here are some lists which might help.

For reluctant readers, try any on this list from BookRIot

The Guardian best books of 2017 are here

The UK’s top book award winners for 2017 are here

Young Adult books that are being made into films next year include

  • Eleanor And Park by Rainbow Rowell
  • A Tale Dark And Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
  • Fallen by Lauren Kate
  • Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor
  • Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
  • Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness
  •  The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black
  •  Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

Thanks to everyone who supported the Scholastic Half Price Book Fair last week. We sold over £550 worth of books, posters and stationery. The library gets 10% of that figure to spend on books and we chose these fantastic titles which will be ready for students to borrow after the holidays.

 

Extracurricular at Oathall

Year 7 Science Club

By Emma Costello

The new Year 7s have proved themselves to be enthusiastic scientists with a record number of attendees at this terms Science Club. The highlight of the term must have been making slime with over 40 keen students giving up their lunch break to discover the magical ingredients that are used in the making of slime. Another session found the students making and lighting their own sparklers in preparation for November 5th. Other popular activities have included making glass, salt flames, bath bombs and rainbow fizz.

The club runs every Weds A from 1.20 to 1.45 in S4 and is open to all of year 7. Please see Mrs Pringle if you are interested in joining.

 

Sports news

By Zoe Froud

Girl’s Cricket

The girls’ cricket team competed in the first Under 18 Sussex cricket event of the year at Bede’s school, Upper Dicker. This was a friendly event with Oathall playing teams from Millais, Brighton and Hove High School and Bedes. It was an opportunity for them to practice and develop their skills and they also had an opportunity to meet the England Ladies Wicket Keeper and Batter Sarah Taylor, pictured above with the Oathall team.

 

Sports Ambassadors

On the 13th December, a small group of sports leaders were chosen to become Sports Ambassadors and to attend a Sports Leaders’ training day at the Sussex cricket ground run by Mid Sussex Active. They were picked because they had shown excellent skills in coaching and leadership over the past 18 months within their primary schools.
Schools from the whole of Mid-Sussex attended the day, including Sackville, Burgess Hill Academy, Warden Park and Downlands.
The pupils had a fantastic day at the ground where they learnt the importance of being a leader, and how they could be the best leader possible. They all got given a free sports leaders hoodie and received training by the Sussex cricket coaches on how they should teach cricket in primary schools.
They had a fantastic day and are now looking forward to planning events.

 

And finally….

Staff raised £50 for the NSPCC after paying to wear a Christmas jumper on the last Friday of school.

 

Teaching and Learning News, Back to School edition, Autumn 2017

2nd November 2017Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

Dear Parents

The opening few weeks of the Autumn term have once again been very busy with students enthusiastically engaging with their learning and all that is on offer to them here at Oathall. The concluding week to the half-term saw students, in all years and across all subject areas, actively involved in House challenges. The final, whole-school assembly provided a fitting occasion to celebrate all that had been achieved as well as support the healthy competition developing between the houses.

Much work had taken place on the site during the summer break to ensure that we were ready to start the academic year, following the closure of the Science and Maths block at the end of July. The mathematics faculty moved into 8 fully refurbished classrooms in the main school block and practical science activities have been accommodated via the commissioning of a number of dedicated areas in the school. Both areas have been supported with the installation of the latest interactive technologies. I am very pleased to see how both faculty staff and students alike have responded following these changes.

A redesigned and newly equipped ICT classroom in the Art & Design Technology faculty has been completed to support, amongst other things, our new Engineering GCSE course. This has been joined by another new ICT suite built next to our Learning Resource Centre.

Work to the main Science and Maths block continues apace. Shrouded in scaffolding and safety netting, the replacement roof is almost complete and internal walls are now beginning to be constructed. The exterior will be transformed over the coming weeks as the thermally efficient windows get fitted. We are very excited to see the progress, over the coming weeks and months, of what will be excellent facilities for our students and staff.

No doubt, the bulletin that follows will give a flavour of the many exciting things happening at Oathall at the moment.

Edward Rodriguez

 

Exciting launch of “Oathall 8” and our “4 Pillars of Learning”

 

Staff used the two INSET days at the start of September to great effect when they were invited to think carefully about what constitutes an outstanding lesson. We also collaborated to consider what classroom routines we expect at Oathall from our students.

From this work, we are pleased to announce the “Oathall 8” which details student responsibilities as outlined below. All students have been introduced to these important elements and they are displayed and referred to regularly in lessons.

In addition, we have teacher responsibilities to ensure we give your children the best possible learning experiences

By Mrs Hatchard

Pillars of Learning

To ensure we deliver engaging lessons with positive outcomes we are focusing our staff training this year around 4 important areas. We are calling these our “Pillars of Learning” as they form the foundation of what is happening in your child’s day.

 

By Mrs Hatchard

Faculty News

English Faculty

In September, Oathall celebrated Poetry Week in what was our first cross-curricular day of this academic year. Staff and students embraced the opportunity to read and write poetry and take part in a host of poetry-related activities: an Open Mic Session in the LRC, chants in PE lessons, turning mathematical formulae into poems, to name a few. The English faculty held its annual poetry competition for years 7-9 as part of National Poetry Day; winners will be announced after half term.

By Ms Sullivan

Students’ poems

Library news

It’s been a busy start to the school year in the library. We celebrated Roald Dahl Day, using his books and life as the basis for a treasure hunt in the shelves to help our new Year 7 students find their way around the library. Lunchtimes have been a hive of activity, we’ve had a poetry slam, with students and staff reading their favourite poems; students finding places to read, playing games such as chess, doing homework or revision and this month has seen students planning for their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award expedition. We are grateful to have prefects in the library who take on Student Librarian duties, and this month they have been especially helpful in preparing our books for the Accelerated Reader scheme which will start after half-term; more news in the next bulletin.

By Mrs Perrin

Poetry Slam
Poetry Slam
Route Planning for Duke of Edinburgh Expedition
Reading and Homework
Chess
Working on book labelling
Some of our Prefects doing Student Librarian duties
Celebrating Roald Dahl Day 13th September
Quiet Reading

Humanities Faculty

Geography Department 

Year 10 Geography students recently spent a day studying coastal erosion and coastal management on the Seaford and Newhaven coast. Students were very busy measuring the beaches and the pebbles to find out how coastal management has influenced the natural processes of the coast.

Mrs Garrick

Studying coastal erosion

Year 9 Geography students recently spent a day in the honeypot village of Alfriston investigating the issue of tourism. Students conducted many tests looking at air pollution, traffic and footpath erosion. Visitors and business owners were also interviewed by our students to find out why it is so popular with visitors.

Mrs Garrick

Taking notes
Alfriston trip

Modern Foreign Languages Faculty

This year we marked 40 successful years of the German exchange with our partner school in Traunstein. Accompanied by Miss Stockley, Mr Moore and Mrs Newnham, 17 enthusiastic linguists from Years 9 and 10 headed to Traunstein for a week filled with German culture, sightseeing and language learning.

Students had been getting to know their partners since January which meant that meeting them for the first time on our arrival in Traunstein could be made just a little less daunting!  

During our stay, there were sightseeing visits to Munich, Salzburg and Berchtesgaden National Park, including the salt mine, and boat trip and swim in the Königssee.  The students then spent the weekend with their host families where they were able to enjoy a wide range of activities such as hiking in the mountains, visiting King Ludwig’s Chiemsee castle and socialising in a typical German environment.

Lots of the students commented on how much they felt their German language skills had improved during the trip and how much they enjoyed their time with their German families.  It certainly wasn’t just the teachers who were not ready to come home at the end of the week.

It wasn’t long before the exchange partners were back here in Haywards Heath. Whilst here, 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.

We are in the process of recruiting for 2018 so please come and see me (Miss Stockley) if you are interested.

Miss Stockley

Performance Faculty

There was plenty of activity in the Performance Faculty and in this bulletin, we would like to focus on our successful  Under 16 Girls cricket team, whose victory 79 Runs to 44 against Millais School was resounding, well done girls!

By Miss Froud

The victorious cricket team

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Last weekend, six teams of Year 11 students set off on their final Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. After a soggy start, the weather cleared and all the teams enjoyed their walks across either the Ashdown Forest or South Downs.

We are incredibly proud of the students for their teamwork and perseverance and are pleased to announce that all students successfully completed their expedition.

Miss Arlington

Thank goodness it’s stopped raining!
Consulting the map.
Which way up?
Hurrah! The tent is up!
Happy students, their tent is up!
Which way?

Oathall Student Voice

The Student Council has launched the ‘MakeYour Mark Campaign’ which involved discussing 10 key issues with their respective tutees.  Each member of the tutor group then voted on the issue they felt most passionate about with the collated results added to a National Database.

The top 3 issues our students voted for were:

Mental Health – Services should be improved with young people’s help

Transport – make public transport cheaper, better and accessible for all

Work Experience Hub for 11-18-year-olds – knowing where to find work experience can be challenging.  The Government should reverse the proposed cuts to schools so that each young person has an equal chance to succeed.

The issue that receives the most votes is then debated by the UK Youth Parliament at the House of Commons.

Thank you to the Student Council Members for their hard work in collating these results.

By Miss Gyngell

Cross-Curricular Weeks

I am pleased to announce this year’s  ‘Cross-Curricular Weeks’ are:

 

Faculty Theme Week Commencing Year
English Poetry 25 September 7-11
Humanities Maps 15 January 7-10
Art and Design Technology Influential designers of the 20th century 29 January 7-9
Performance Teamwork 5 February 7-11
Maths Data 26 February 7-11
Science British Science Week 12 March 7-11
MFL European Week of languages 26 March 7-11

 

Throughout the year each faculty has selected a theme and students experience lessons with a link to the chosen theme.

Thank-you to the enrichment team for their hard work in pulling this together, the staff for planning exciting lessons and indeed the students for ‘buying into’ the idea with such enthusiasm.

By Miss Gyngell

House Competition News

Congratulations to Discovery who emerged victorious as House Champions last year, with Voyager taking the Credit Cup and Endeavour the Attendance Cup.

We are hoping for another year of closely fought competition and this week 16-20 October) will be our first ever ‘House Challenge Week’ where our students will compete in various challenges within lessons in order to gain points for their House.  These challenges will range from team quizzes to solo assessments and can be mental, physical or creative tasks.

Click on the link to view the full list of competitions and the current standings in our  Championship Table.

Good luck to all the Houses!

Miss Gyngell

Extra Curricular Clubs

We have a vast array of clubs at Oathall for students in all years.

Please click on this link to see what is available.

https://docs.google.com/a/oathall.org/document/d/1SZSDaUYCj_y8GM00q8pHfJeICbGDg9bJHg1w6X_LzNE/edit?usp=sharing

By Miss Gyngell

Teaching and Learning News, Summer edition 2017

24th July 2017Mrs D Perrin

Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

 

The Fifteenth National Students’ Art Exhibition‎ 2017

Congratulations‎ to our Year 11 artists Holly Jones, Naomi Johnson, Jessica Laimons and photographer Katie Hastings whose work was selected to be exhibited in the NSAE held at the prestigious Mall Galleries under the patronage of The Royal Society of British Artists. We are delighted that eight pieces of work were exhibited by our students demonstrating the exceptional talent and commitment to excellence at Oathall. Art pieces submitted by Tristan Redgrove and Millie Brown were also highly commended.
Chris Russell, CEO, “It is encouraging to find that in times of serious funding problems, schools still want to celebrate their art at national level. Anyone seeing the impact of selection on the artists, teachers and parents will be uplifted, as they will by the enormous effort and commitment that goes into such an exhibition.”

Faculty News

Art and Design and Technology Faculty

GCSE Exhibition 2017

Congratulations to our Year 11 Art, Photography and Design Technology students who exhibited their GCSE exam work in our annual exhibition. The standard was very high quality this year and we are very proud of our students’ achievements. Thank you to students, parents and friends who attended the private view to celebrate.

Haywards Heath Horticultural Society Annual Summer Show 

The Oathall Photography Exhibition and our entries for “The Pot Competition” (open to all local schools) at the Haywards Heath Horticultural Society Annual Summer Show were both very successful.

The Mayor of Haywards Heath, James Knight, opened the exhibition and congratulated our students on their creativity and their high-quality work. He was particularly impressed by two of our students whose photographs he purchased for himself.

1st prize for the Best Pot – Ashton Baker
1st prize for Photography – Vicky Payne
2nd prize for Photography – Emily Brock
3rd prize for Photography – Molly Lowe
4th prize for Photography – Harry Emms

Year 7 and 8 Art Masterclass

Well done to our Gifted and Talented art students in Years 7 and 8 who were invited to attend a Master Class after school recently. Students created large scale ink and bleach observation studies in just over an hour. The ambitious pieces look fantastic.

Primary School Art Masterclass

Years 4 and 5 Primary students were selected from our feeder schools to attend an Art Gifted and Talented Master Class at Oathall. The focus was on printing, and students created a series of prints working from feathers. Students are invited to attend master classes in Art, Science and DT which we run every half term throughout the academic year.

Art and Design and Technology Cross-Curricular Week

Last week was the Art and Design and Technology Cross-Curricular week. The theme was ‘Designers and Inventors’. Every faculty took part, and activities took place mostly but not exclusively during lesson time. At Tutor Time, the students did a quiz, placing different inventions in their date order, which they enjoyed. Here are some photos from the English faculty where the students were reading a book set in Victorian times and involved the invention of the sewage system. They focused on Joseph Bazalgette, London’s first Chief Engineer. They also looked at other Victorian inventors over the two weeks.

English Faculty

Amazing Book Awards in the Library

This year, for the first time ever, Oathall participated in the Amazing Book Awards (ABA), which is a book award that was established by Sussex school librarians in 2011. Students from over 30 schools in Sussex are able to suggest books to go on the long list and then vote for their favourite five to go onto the short list. Then all participating students read all five shortlisted books and award them points according to their preference. All points are then added up, counted and the winner and runners-up are announced at a grand ceremony in June.

Fifteen of our Year 8 and 9 students signed up to be part of the after-school ABA read-and-rate book club held in the library and run by one of our librarians, Ms Fogarasi. Students considered issues prompted by the novels, such as ‘what would you do if you know you couldn’t die’ or ‘how might the layout of a book add to our reading experience’; we also looked at a range of themes from feminism, friendships, and relationships to mental health. The students remarked that this was their favourite part of the ABA experience.

The students met one of the shortlisted authors, CJ Daugherty, when she visited Oathall. The final part of the process was a trip to the actual Awards Night held at Shoreham Academy, where they could meet the authors. 

Ms Fogorasi said, “As a librarian, it gave me enormous pleasure to see these lovely youngsters come together after school, discuss the books and get excited about reading. We will definitely be running the club again next year – the ABA is already taking suggestions for the long list.”

You can read more about the ABAs at the following website: http://amazingbookawards.co.uk/.

English Speaking Competition

Congratulations to all the Year 7 and 8 students who were finalists in our annual Public Speaking Competition. Their speeches, in front of their entire year group, were based on the topic “Let me persuade you about…”. We had all manner of topics, such as: Playing the Guitar, Mantis Shrimps, Autism, and Never Giving Up.

The staff and judges were very impressed with the quality of all the speeches and the students’ thorough preparation and confident delivery.

The results are as follows:

Year 7

1st place:  Dominika Knotkova-Hanley, 2nd place: Zoe Downey, Joint 3rd place: Isla Mustin and Billy Reid

Congratulations to the other finalists: Milena Karwat, Bethany Thomas, Abel Thomas, James Upchurch, Lola Jones, Lily Ramsbottom, Joe Friere-Luaces and Holly Hughes.

Year 8

1st place:  Abigail Cooper, 2nd place: Felix Carte, 3rd place: Georgia White

Congratulations to the other finalists: Ben Rickman, Henry Forresr, George Stubbs, Ed Newey, Nathan Ozkan, Ewan Kemsley, Patrick Stedman, Josh Povey, Sam Brading, Isabelle Hateley, Lily Franklin

Harry Potter in the Library 

The Library has had a Harry Potter makeover to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publishing, on Monday 26 June, of the very first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Lindfield Life Book Reviews

In January we were offered the opportunity to submit book reviews by students to the monthly Lindfield Life publication. Our librarians approached keen students, and they rose to the occasion to be featured in four editions of the magazine.

Thanks to Kate Garwood, Umarah Ahmed, Nate Parker and Dominika Knotkova-Hanley for their excellent reviews which you can read here. We look forward to continuing this partnership during the next academic year.

Summer Reading Suggestions 

The Times Educational Supplement has created a list of books they think students should have read before leaving secondary school. They have suggested 100 titles, many of which we have in our school library. We would like to encourage you to share this with your children and see how many they can tick off. Don’t forget: a lot of these books will be available at both Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill public libraries. You don’t need to buy the books to enjoy reading them.

Humanities Faculty

History FacultyTrip to Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace provided Year 8 pupils with many tangible examples of how the pursuit of power drove the Tudor dynasty forward. It combined the glamorous side of court life, such as the Grand Hall and Henry VIII’s apartments, with the functional mechanics behind the scenes that make such splendour possible, such as the Fish Court and the kitchens. They saw evidence of the conflict between Church and Crown: the Palace itself is very much a symbol of the Reformation. By incorporating William III’s apartments into the visit, students were able to experience the grandeur and expression of power from another dynasty, the Stuart / Williamite dynasty, as found in Year 8 studies of  “The English Civil War, the Restoration and Glorious Revolution”. They could see how things changed socially and culturally as well as in terms of religion, power and expressions of wealth between 1515 and the early 1700’s.

Modern Foreign Languages Faculty

Language Mentor Scheme

In October, a carefully selected group of Year 8 students met for the first time with their Year 11 language mentors. The Year 8 students had been identified by their language teachers as being keen and able linguists. Year 11 students were looking forward to developing their language skills in a fun and supportive environment. Every Friday, our language mentors would meet in the LRC to speak, write, listen and read in French, German and Spanish. The atmosphere was always purposeful, yet relaxed and enjoyable. Six months later, Year 11 students said goodbye to their Year 8 partners in advance of their GCSE exams. Year 8 students have taken their GCSE language options, and many of those involved in the Language mentor scheme have been chosen to continue with two languages. Well done everyone!

La Rochelle Trip 2017

Ooo la la! This year’s trip to La Rochelle has been a ‘tour de force’. From the very start, students have been immersed amongst French history and culture from the visit to the medieval city of Poitiers to the spectacular show at Puy-du-Fou.The influence of the Romans, the Vikings, Jeanne d’Arc and Napoleon are now recognised by students as historically significant of French culture. However, it is not just French history that has engaged our students but also the future.

Our visit to the Futuroscope brought us back to the 21st century with science in all cross-curricular links and the unique experience of advanced 4D technology. Not only did the students marvel at this inspirational environment, but their French language skills also made great leaps.

Each day, regardless of each place of interest, students had to listen carefully to narrative instructions in French as well as speaking. They had to ask questions requesting either ‘une glace’ or even ‘une gaufre au chocolat’ and asking more complex questions such as getting directions to various places.

Finally, to round off a trip of immeasurable value, we joined the National celebrations of Bastille Day with a grand finale in the form of a magnificent fireworks display.

Valencia Trip 2017

In the first week of July, the Modern Foreign Languages faculty took a group of Year 9 and Year 10 students to the vibrant Spanish city of Valencia in Spain. The students were able to practise their language skills with an immersive cultural experience.

On the first day, the students got to see a small piece of Africa in the heart of Valencia. At Bioparc they got to walk with the lemurs and learn about conservation of the planet.  After this, they got to explore the medieval old town taking in the architecture at La Plaza de La Virgen. They then got to dine on traditional tapas in a stone vaulted restaurant at the heart of the old town. After lunch, they were able to investigate the culinary delights found in the Mercado Central and practise their language skills in a real life situation.

On the second day, the group were able to relax at the water park Aquapolis in Cullera just south of Valencia. This was a chance to also be adventurous after such a busy first day.

 

The group spent the final day at the City of Arts and Science. The highlights of this packed day were a 3D-film at “el Hemisfèric”, an IMAX cinema; the amazing sights in the interactive displays of the Science Museum; and then a visit to Europe’s largest aquarium L’Oceanogràfic where students could contemplate so many amazing wonders of the oceans from  ‘las Medusas’ to ‘las Belugas’.

 

Performance Faculty

U15 stoolball champions

Following a local qualifying tournament, our stoolball team progressed to the Sussex School Games Finals at K2 in Crawley to represent Mid Sussex by beating Downlands, Sackville and St Paul’s.

The finals involved eight teams all representing a different region of Sussex. The Oathall team was determined to win and played with maturity and focus to see off the competition one by one, not losing a single match. Not only does this group possess a lot of physical skill, but they are also quick thinking and have a strong sense of teamwork, which is a perfect yet deadly combination!

Results

Region School Result
Brighton & Hove Dorothy Stringer 44-5 runs
Hastings & Rother Claverham 70-30 runs
Central Sussex Millais 61-31 runs
South Downs Ringmer 65-37 runs

The competition began in 2012, and Oathall has qualified every year and even more impressively, has received the G medal every year, barring one.

Congratulations to the following students for an emphatic win:

Kia Layne, Millie Herbert, Holly Herbert, Thalia Barnaby, Sophie Mitchell, Eliza Humphreys, Megan Sims, Issy Peacock and Imy Wilkins

Leading the Way in P.E.

Throughout the year, all of our Year 10 students have been training hard in P.E. lessons to develop their sports leadership skills. During summer term our students have visited our local primary schools to plan, organise and lead P.E. sessions to children in year 1-6.

Yet again our Year 10 students have done a superb job, and the children that have taken part in the sessions have been inspired by their energy, enthusiasm and empathy. Thank you, Year 10. We are so very proud of you.

Cross-Curricular Weeks

This year the Enrichment Team has been working hard to drive forward a new addition to our school calendar; ‘Cross-Curricular Weeks’. Throughout the year, each faculty has selected a theme, and students have experienced lessons with a link to chosen theme. 

Faculty Theme
Performance Teamwork
Maths & Science British Science Week
MFL European  languages
Art and Design Technology Designers and inventors
English Harry Potter
Humanities Maps

Thank you to the Enrichment Team for their hard work in pulling this together, the staff for planning exciting lessons and indeed the students for buying into the idea with such enthusiasm.

Work-Related Opportunities at Oathall

Engineering Day

Six Year 8 students recently attended an ‘Introduction to Engineering Day’ run by Rockwell Collins UK Ltd in Burgess Hill who manufactures aircraft training simulators. The students learnt about the various engineering job roles within the company and participated in practical activities including building a small projector, 3D modelling using Photoshop and making a large mirror using the same material crisp packets are made from. They also got to fly and land a plane!

Matthew Brennan, Esme Brigden, Zoe Nelson, James Polhill, Jessica Ruddock & Patrick Stedman

Enterprising Students at Oathall

Twenty-five students from Years 7 to 9 enthusiastically participated in the very first Oathall Enterprise Day in June. The event was organised by Madeline Mills from Young Enterprise and supported by four local business volunteers (air traffic controller, recruitment, IT manager, and a financial consultant).

The students created their own company name and logo and then had to address the following activities:

  1. An Innovation Challenge  – developing a marketing plan.
  2. Managing Credit and Debt – an introduction to the concepts of credit, debt and interest.
  3. The Trading Game – this activity developed their employability skills of teamwork, problem-solving, communication, negotiation and taking risks.

The students were full of innovative ideas from creating prototype headsets, which would talk to passing drones, to a fantasy unicorn experience!

Each team further developed many of the skills that they had acquired during Tenner Challenge. They impressed the business volunteers with their excellent communication skills as they negotiated better prices, politely coped with a range of unexpected events and challenged any incorrect change given to them!

The volunteers were so inspired by our students that they have all signed up to support other work-related activities in the school. A successful day was had by all.

Year 10 Work-Related Learning Week

Oathall’s Year 10 students have just enjoyed a week of work-related learning experiences. The week is designed to broaden their experience and understanding of the world of work and to support them as they consider their future career pathways.  

The students were immersed in a wide range of work-related learning activities:

Monday – The students chose to visit either Crawley College, the University of Sussex, or Plumpton College. The students toured the campuses, learned about what life would be like as a student and participated in subject taster sessions.   

Handling reptiles at Plumpton College
Metalwork at Plumpton College
Hairdressing taster at Crawley College
Media Studies taster at Crawley College

Tuesday – We were very pleased to welcome back some former Oathall students: Sarah Caddy (Post-doctoral Research Fellow @ Cambridge University), Sarah Fairbairn (training to become a criminal barrister), Jo Taylor (Head of Production at Label1 Television Ltd.), Trevor Butler (journalist), James Wilson (Director of a national charity), and David Amor (computer games designer). They came to talk to students about their career paths and experiences of the world of work. They are all members of the Oathall Alumni Association, which allows us to keep in touch with our former students.

David Amor in Computer Science
Sarah Caddy in Science

Wednesday – The year group visited the Big Bang Fair, an event that focussed on career opportunities linked to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Thursday – The students spent this half term preparing for mock interviews. We had many business volunteers who acted as interviewers for our Year 10 students. The mock interviews helped to prepare our students for their college interviews. The business volunteers were very impressed by our students, stating that they were mature, polite and came very well prepared. In the afternoon, the students all attended an apprenticeship assembly. This gave them an opportunity to understand how the National Apprenticeship programme works.

Friday: Work Observation Day – The students were able to observe a parent, friend or relation at work. The students had to complete a world of work survey whilst on their placement too. We always ask the students to evaluate the week. Here are some of the comments made:

  • “ Every aspect of the week was fun and educational.”
  •  “I really enjoyed my visit to Sussex University because it helped me decide what I want to do when I am older.”

Year 8 Students Lead the way in YoYo Project with Lloyds Bank

Thirteen Year 8 students are involved in Project YoYo (You Own Your Opportunities) throughout June and July. This is led and organised by Joe Turpin Antonio from Lloyds Bank in Haywards Heath.

In the first week, the students focused on team-working, first impressions and the qualities of an effective team. The students completed a colour questionnaire which helped to identify their default behaviour/character style. The Lloyds Bank team explained that they sometimes use this questionnaire when they create teams for specific projects.

During the second week, Oathall students went to visit the Lloyds Bank offices in Perrymount Road. The students thoroughly enjoyed the range of activities which helped them to develop their self-confidence. They all participated in a range of activities including a “Dragons Den” activity. Furthermore, the students were able to appreciate an office environment from undergoing the security checks to benefitting from the wonderful air conditioning as it was a very, very hot day!

Week three saw the students focus on “What makes you unique?” The students worked in groups on their unique selling points and how they could present this to employers.

Students involved:

Harvey Alcock, Ellie Easley, Henry Forrest, Sam Grant, Kirsten Jones, Charlie Lewis, Alex Martin, Ben Merryweather, Abbi Neale, Louie Toleman, Kitty Underhill, Amy Vaughan, Georgia White

Oathall’s Tenner Challenge – Ten Pounds, Four Weeks, One Goal!

Oathall students have participated for the first time in the Young Enterprise national “Tenner Challenge”. The Tenner Challenge has provided an opportunity for students to set up a business for one month. Over 40 Year 7 through 9 students participated selling a wide range of goods (see below). Each company was pledged £10 that enabled them to set up their business. They had four weeks to make as much profit as they could. Their products were showcased at lunchtimes in our school sports hall and at the Orchards shopping centre in Haywards Heath.

At the end of the four weeks, the companies returned their initial £10 and paid £1 as a legacy donation to Young Enterprise to support next year’s event. We are pleased to report that every company made a profit. The participants are free to keep any hard earned profits but special mention should go to Modern Upcycles who have donated their profits of over £500 to Chestnut Tree House, Professional Handmade Cards who have donated £156.50 to Cancer Research, Colour Collison who have donated £100 to Woodlands Meed School and Kawaii who have donated £25 to Macmillan Cancer Research. Well done to all involved.

And finally…

House Championship Competition Heats Up, Heading to the Grand Final!

The Oathall House Championship Points Table shows how close the race to be Top House has been! Check the school website on the last day of term for the final results. Whatever the outcome, be assured that we are proud of efforts each and every one of our students has put in for their House.
We wish you and your families a full and enjoyable summer and look forward to welcoming your children back in September for another jam-packed year of teaching and learning.