Roll up, roll up! Oathall Bake Off 2026 competition launched

27th April 2026Nathan Davidson
Bake Off 2026, featured image

The theme for the Oathall Bake Off – our every-popular, annual in-school live baking event – has been confirmed, as has the deadline for entries – and the date for the bake off itself.

The theme this year is The Circus. Think Big Top. Clowns. Trapeze artists. Fire eaters perhaps?

If you are one of the eight students selected to participate on the day, the school will provide the main ingredients, they’ll just need to bring any items to decorate their cake and a cake board and box to take it home in.

The deadline for entries – photos of your cakes and recipes please – is Monday 1 June. The live event is Friday 12 June.

Entries should be emailed to Mrs Kirkpatrick

Ready, steady…. bake!

Oathall’s Rugby World Cup Bake-Off

5th June 2019J Godbolt

Each year, the Rotary Club sponsors the Oathall bake-off competition. This year’s competition theme was the Rugby World Cup – Japan 2019.

17 students entered by baking a cake at home and sending in a picture for consideration. These entries were then judged on creativity and skills with 8 being selected to enter the final competition.

The competition took place on Tuesday 4 June with competitors being given 4 hours to bake & decorate their cake from scratch. The cake ingredients were provided by the Rotary Club & the decorations were provided by the students.

At the end of the competition the cakes were judged by a panel made up from WI members, Kate Kent and Julia Vokes, Mike Hoare and Nigel Vokes from the Rotary Club, Emily Hughes and Emma Brown from Oathall’s catering team, as well as Emily Brock, three times previous Oathall Bake-Off winner.

Cakes were judged on appearance, skill level, taste & texture as well as on creativity and originality. The winning cake came top in all of the criteria. The judges were particularly impressed by the original use of Yuzu a Japanese flavouring in the filling as well as the creativity and professional finish.

Every person who entered received a whisk and wooden spoon with the final entrants receiving an apron and recipe book. The top three entries also received gift vouchers as their prize.

A display and information about the event will also go up in the WI tent at the South of England Show.

DRONE 500 Challenge

2nd October 2018J Godbolt

Oathall students and staff have attended the launch of this year’s Mid Sussex STEM Challenge. The event took place at Mid Sussex District Council offices and was officially launched by the High Sheriff of West Sussex Caroline Nicholls. The Drone 500 challenge has been developed to encourage an interest in STEM subjects amongst young people and to help them understand how these subjects will be applied in industry in the future.

In the first year, the challenge was won by Year 9 students from Oathall. In this, the second year of the competition, more schools from across Sussex have entered for the chance to win. Over the next six months, each school is being tasked to build a drone for £500. The drone will be required to meet a number of very specific requirements which will be tested at the final next March. As well as this each team will be required to produce a business case which they will pitch to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style panel. Each team will be supported and mentored along the way by members of the local business community.

Head of Art and Design Technology, Pete Robinson said,

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to gain an insight into the world of engineering and design. Not only does it encourage an interest in STEM but it develops team building and a work ethic at an early age. We will, of course be working hard to retain our title!”

 

 

 

Students get a taste of work at Nestle

12th June 2015J Godbolt

On 5 June, eight handpicked students spent the day at the Nestle offices at Gatwick. The visit was a follow-up to a Design Technology workshop held earlier in the year. On that occasion, Nestle staff visited students in Product Design classes. They worked alongside our students to talk about the design and manufacture process.

Following that workshop, Nestle selected eight of our students to visit their offices at Gatwick. They made their selection based on students’ problem-solving skills and leadership potential.

NestleThis visit was a competition to win a summer paid work-experience job with Nestle. Students worked with other young people from secondary schools and FE colleges completing activities and challenges and practising interview skills.

Accompanied by DT teacher Mr. Maier, the group found out more about Nestle, their product range and the career opportunities in their industry.

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Rocket Challenge 2012

17th December 2012Mr P ROBINSON

In June a team of six year 9 students visited the NPL in Teddington to compete in the 2012 water rocket challenge . This was our first year and out of 35 schools we came a respectable 9th and claimed the prize for the best uniform.