Respect Aspire Achieve Enjoy

It was such a pleasure to have been in the college hall earlier this term to witness the orchestra bringing together the musical talents of the young people from 5 local secondary schools. The quality of sound resulting from more than one hundred young musicians was something to behold. My thanks go to Mrs Mactaggart and all those involved in producing this wonderful event at Oathall.

This latest bulletin again highlights the breadth of experience at the school. This may well, of course, be through the usual curriculum subjects but significantly sees students engaging with opportunities beyond the classroom. The “Tenner Challenge” is particularly exciting and I am looking forward to hearing some of the students pitch their ideas after the break.

My congratulations to the junior team for winning the latest round of the Youth Speaks public speaking competition who now move on to the district finals. I wish the intermediate team every success at their competition next week. Sporting successes have also been notable over this term; well done to all involved.

Movement to Music

Mid Sussex Orchestra Day at Oathall Community College 

Mrs Mactaggart

Oathall musicians joined forces with musicians from Downlands, St. Paul’s, Warden Park Academy and Burgess Hill Academy to work on learning and performing five pieces of music in just one day!  We are very privileged to have several experienced instrumentalists and musical directors in our local schools who, between them organised the event and conducted the pieces as well as providing expert support for the strings, brass, woodwind and percussion sections in the orchestra.

The aim of the project was to enrich and broaden the musical experience of our orchestral players by providing them with an opportunity to play in a symphony orchestra under the direction of expert musicians in a positive, inclusive and social environment. This aim was well supported by West Sussex Music and musicians from Ensemble Reza, violinist Andrew Thurgood and cellist Sarah Du Bost-Carvalho.

The final performance at the end of the day was fabulous and was well supported by parents and friends. Students mentioned how exciting (and a bit scary) it was to see their head teachers in the audience as well and Mr Rodriguez remarked on how proud he was of Oathall’s musicians.

Feedback from all was very positive and plans are already underway for a repeat performance in 2020. Some comments received were:

“Congratulations to you all for a fantastic day indeed. I am very impressed with the quality of the concert the orchestra gave after only a half day rehearsing together”;

“I found the idea to join forces between all local secondary schools in a big orchestra a fantastic one and a great success (including the different conductors for each piece).”;

“It was brilliant and inspiring to work with you all…”;

“That was the most fun ever!”

“My students mentioned how much they enjoyed the experience of being conducted by different people! Each had different approaches and I think this has been hugely beneficial to them”.

“Many congratulations on achieving such a valuable and high-quality musical experience for your young musicians. It was a real treat to be at Oathall this afternoon to witness the fruits of your labour – it was a powerful image seeing 100+ musicians in performance. I’m sure it’s an experience that none of the pupils will forget”.

Youth Speaks

Ms C Slade

Movement in Science

I have really enjoyed this half term’s topic as it has been really interesting and fun to see the applications!’

Words in Motion

Shakespeare Whoosh! Words flying across the library.

Shakespeare Raps

Ms Fisher

Another one looked out for thy danger,

Another one fell ere he could ev’n think,

Let me go along! Me and a stranger,

No coward will run when their world will shrink.

Hey! Finally I’m gunna get the last,

Quickly now another one bites the dust!

As always, our Oathall students expressed important issues with creativity, sensitivity, and flair.

Students will be bringing their entries in after half-term and displayed in the English corridor for all to admire.

Words are lifted off the page thanks to innovative ways of presenting poems.

Walking-Talking Mock session

Ms Evans

Delving deeper into Mathematics

Mrs Griffiths

In Maths our Year 7 students are currently following a mastery curriculum. The mastery approach ensures that students acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. Students at Oathall are being challenged by a deeper analysis of the mathematical content and by applying the content in new and unfamiliar problem-solving situations. In our most recent unit of work, we are investigating fractions. Students are getting a deeper understanding of the topic through a variety of questioning and teaching techniques. Our students are also being supported in their understanding of fractions by using our new equipment bought with the money fundraised by the OPTA.

Learning from the Workplace

Visiting Jeremy’s 

Mrs Slater

Recently, Year 10 Hospitality and Catering students visited Jeremy’s restaurant at Borde Hill, click here to find out more.

The Tenner Challenge, a national competition for young people aged 11 – 19.

Mrs Griffiths

The Maths Faculty is delighted to be taking part in this year’s Tenner Challenge, a national competition for young people aged from 11 – 19 years. 

Taking part in the Tenner Challenge will help our students to develop crucial employability skills and financial experience alongside an important insight into how core curriculum learning will serve them well in this fast-changing world of work. Students will work in small groups to come up with a product or service they believe will grow into a successful small business. Students will pitch their ideas and one group will be chosen from each class to be part of the challenge. Each student from the winning group will then be given £10 from the Tenner Bank and this will be used as start-up capital to get their enterprise off the ground. Students will be pitching their ideas after half term!

Visit from Alumni

Mrs Griffiths 

Sporting Prowess

Ms Froud

It may be too frosty or wet to use the sports field for athletics, but that doesn’t stop our athletics students from competing. Recently, the Under 12s athletics team took part in the Mid-Sussex round of the County Athletics Championships and were thrilled when the Year 7 girls’ team won the event! The boys’ team came a credible 5th and we are proud of them both.

Both teams celebrating together

Year 8 boys on winning the 1st round of the indoor athletics competition at Sackville

Linking Learning

Book Clubs

Mrs Perrin & Mrs Fogarasi

Two new book clubs have started recently in the library, aimed at taking a deeper look into specific titles to enhance and enrich students’ understanding and enjoyment of reading fiction.

The Amazing Book Awards club is for Year 9 students and follows the fastest growing book awards programme in the UK, click here for more details. The club meets monthly after school on Mondays until 3rd June, after which the group will go to the finals at Shoreham Academy. It has been a hugely successful club in the past and we are thrilled that three of our year 11 students have loved it so much that they are still attending and reading the books. We aim to build lifelong readers and these three prove that happens.

Following the delivery of our free books from BookTrust, we have set up a book club for Year 8 students. Following a similar pattern to the ABA club, it meets monthly and looks at five different titles. They are Boy 87 by Ele Fountain, A Good Day for Climbing Trees by Jaco Jacobs, Star by Star by Sheena Wilkinson, The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson and Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. In June, we will collectively decide our favourites, probably by having a Balloon Debate, giving students the opportunity to use their powers of persuasion to keep their book in the air.

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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

“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

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! 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Great to see a Harry Potter bag at the Library stall!

Investigative, creative and physical learning throughout our faculties.

In Music 

Mrs C Mactaggart

In Science 

In PE 

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

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

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

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

Mrs P Gaston

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 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!

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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…

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

Historian of the Month Dan Rouse, wearing his robes.

and…

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…

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.