It has been a very busy but enjoyable term so far with lots more to come as we race towards Christmas! We have enjoyed having greater interaction with parents and being able to invite you into school for many more events.
November started with a fantastic night of fireworks and I would like to extend my thanks to the PTA for their hard work and dedication in putting together such a popular and successful event for the Oaklands School community. In addition, I would also like to say two special thank-you’s. Firstly, to my Deputy Headteacher Mr Holland, who compered the evening so well and secondly to Rebecca, our Head Chef. Rebecca took time out of her busy working day to provide training for the PTA so that they were able to use the new ovens and other cooking equipment in the Junior kitchen, allowing them to pre-cook food for the evening.
The weekend of fireworks was followed by Remembrance week, where our Year 6 children collected money for the Royal British Legion by selling poppies in school. The week concluded with the whole school taking part in an assembly outside in the playground to mark Armistice Day on Friday 11th November. I would like to thank the McCauley family who laid a wreath on behalf of Oaklands Infants and Juniors, at the local Remembrance Service.
Throughout November many of the children have attended various sporting activities including cross-country, indoor athletics, tag rugby, netball and boccia. You can read more about some of these later in the newsletter.
Rehearsals are now fully underway for our Year 3 children in preparation for their Christmas Nativity production on 13th and 14th December and the rest of the school are beginning to prepare for the Christmas Carol Concert on 15th December. Decoration Day this Monday marks the beginning of Christmas for the whole school.
We have several new members of staff in school and I would just like to say a warm welcome to Mrs Koufopoulou and Mrs Hine, who are jointly covering 4D as Class TAs during Mrs Winter’s maternity leave. In addition, we have welcomed Mrs Balague and Mrs Plonka who have taken on support for named children during Ms Dyer’s maternity leave.
Finally, we have some exciting news: Ms Dyer gave birth to a beautiful boy, Stefan on 28th October, weighing 9lb 2oz. Mrs Winter also gave birth to a beautiful boy, Charlie weighing 8lb 5oz. We wish both mums, babies and families good health and happiness, along with many congratulations!
Best wishes to all our families.
Hazel West, Headteacher
December Dates for Diaries
To find out what’s happening in school throughout December pleaseclick here.
Children in Need
Thank you to everyone who took part in The Great SPOTacular on Friday 18th November. Our school raised an amazing £274.63.
Sports News
Wokingham Leadership Academy Challenge
Following their training in October, the Sports Captains attended a Leadership Challenge on Thursday 10th November. Sports Leaders from nine schools each organised a fun challenge course for younger children from each school to enjoy. Oaklands took along eight Year 3 children who rotated around the different activities, being led by the Sports Captains. They entered whole-heartedly into every race and had a fantastic time. Our Sports Captains also enjoyed another chance to lead, and it was great to see them encouraging the younger children.
Cross Country Event – Lightwater Country Park
On Thursday 17th November Oaklands helped host our second TVRL cross country event. Mrs Alexander would like to thank all the parents who helped make this event successful by volunteering to help out with the many jobs: looking after the children; making sure they got to the start; taking the children and parents around the course beforehand; marshalling and running round the course as a backmarker.
We came 1st in the girls’ Year 3 / 4 race, 1st in the girls’ Year 5 / 6 race, and 3rd in the boys’ Year 5 / 6 race. Overall, out of nine schools, we came a fantastic 2nd! All the children threw everything into their running and had a great time as well, negotiating mud, puddles and hills! It is worth giving individual mentions to Jack (3/ 4) and Thomas (5 /6) who both came first in their races, Lucy who came 4th (5/ 6) and Joseph who came 3rd (3 /4). Eric, one of our Sports Captains deserves a mention as he stopped his race to help someone who had fallen over. We are all so proud of the children who ran, for their enthusiasm and sportsmanship.
Summary Report from our Wokingham LA School Visit 21.11.22
On Tuesday 22nd November we had a visit from Jim Mathieson, who is our Wokingham School Improvement Officer – here’s what he had to say about our school.
“Oaklands Junior School is alive and very well! The devolved leadership model in place works effectively, and staff feel valued and appreciated. Staff have remained at the school because of this appreciation of what they have to offer. The Thinking Schools initiative has given the school a unique selling point and the OfSTED inspector rightly saw the effects this has on pupil understanding. The work on the curriculum, whilst on-going, is proceeding well with progression across the school in place for most subjects, and excitingly, links across subject areas being made. The school presents a calm and purposeful learning environment. Pupils are engaged in their learning. Work displayed on walls is of a high standard, especially the artwork in Year 6. The school strives to provide its pupils with a range of learning experiences within and beyond the formal curriculum. As noted by OfSTED it also has a psychotherapist and a family support worker to provide pastoral support to children and families.”
Crowthorne Carnival Calendar 2023
Representatives from the Crowthorne Carnival Team will be selling copies of the Crowthorne Carnival Calendar 2023 together with a small number of Carnival tea-towels in the Junior playground after school on Monday 5th December. The calendars are made up of photographs from this year’s carnival and are being sold to raise funds for next year’s carnival.
Christmas Dinner
The menu for this year’s Christmas Dinner on 15th December is now available to book by logging into your ParentPay account. To view the menu, please click here.
School Uniform
A gentle reminder that we expect school uniform to be in accordance with our prospectus; a number of children have been wearing scrunchies that are large and not in school colours. Please ensure that hair is tied back appropriately (girls and boys) with blue or yellow school coloured ties of a small size.
In addition, black DMs or Ugg boots are not part of school uniform. Keep these for the weekends and holidays. Please look at the photos on our website included under the section on school uniform to find out what is acceptable. If anyone has a medical reason for wearing a certain type of footwear, we would require confirmation from a medical professional/specialist for this to be allowed.
Under no circumstances should anyone be driving on to our school site for reasons of lateness or delivering children’s lunchboxes, homework or kit. Please be aware that you will not be allowed entry. Parking is available in nearby roads where you can then walk into school. If the pedestrian gates are closed, please press the buzzer to reach either the Infant or the Junior Office.
If, however, you have a disabled badge, you would be very welcome to drive on to site where we have one disabled parking space outside Reception. If you intend to do this, we would need to have confirmation of your blue badge, if you could bring this into the School Office so that this can be noted. You may also drive on to site if you are collecting a sick child. Thank you.
Use of the School Library
Here at Oaklands Junior School we are very fortunate to have a well-stocked library that all our pupils are able to use on a regular basis. We have 24 very capable school librarians (3 per class) who volunteer to assist in the running of the library, helping issue and return books; providing recommendations and generally keeping the library tidy.
The library houses a wide selection of books, all categorised under one of the following headings: Classics; Sport; Detective/Crime; Let’s Get Creative; Fantasy; Humour; Time Explorers; Out of this World; Magic and Wonder; Ourselves; Our Amazing Living World; World Explorers. In addition, we also hold publications such as “First News” and “The Week Junior” so that the children can keep up to date with current affairs.
Every child has the opportunity to borrow two books from the library for a period of 21 days, after which time the books must be returned to the library. Should, however, a child wish to borrow the book for longer than this period, all they need to do is return it to the library once the 21 days are up and ask for it to be re-issued.
Your child will be informed if their library book is overdue and asked to bring it into school (a note will be put into your child’s Homework Diary if this is the case). In the event that your child is unable to find the book, please notify their Class Teacher in the first instance. We will then double-check the library section to make sure the book has not been put back onto the shelf without being checked in. Should we be unable to locate the book, then you will be asked to either replace it or pay for the lost book.
Parent/Carer Administration for School Trips
Pre-booked school meals – If your child is going on a school trip which requires a packed lunch, and you have already pre-booked a school meal for the same day, please remember to cancel the meal before 8am on the morning of the trip. Failure to do so will result in you being charged for the meal.
Authorisation/consent – We require consent from a parent/carer for each school trip before it takes place. Please remember to do this by going into your Scopay account and ticking the consent box prior to paying for the trip.
Fixed Penalty Notices
We would like to bring to your attention the following important information relating to Fixed Penalty Notices.
As stated in our Attendance Policy, any unauthorised absences of 5 days or more within a 10 week period will result in this information being passed to our Education Welfare Officer and a Penalty Notice may be issued without further warning. Payment of a Penalty Notice within 21 days is £60 per parent, per child; between 22 and 28 days it increases to £120 and will result in prosecution for unauthorised absence if unpaid.
It is very important to note that there is a limit to the number of Fixed Penalty Notices that can be issued for a particular child throughout their combined primary and secondary school education. That limit is two. In the event that a third Penalty Notice needs to be issued, there will be no opportunity to pay a fine, instead the matter will be passed to Wokingham Borough Council’s legal department for prosecution in the magistrates court for the parents/carers failure to ensure their child’s regular attendance in school.
We strongly urge all parents/carers to think very carefully before taking their children out of school on unauthorised absences.
Why do people bully?
Anti-Bullying Week 2022 took place from Monday 14th – Friday 18th November with the theme ‘Reach Out’. In this BBC ‘Own It’ video ‘Your experience – why do people bully?’ (1min 30s), we hear how bullies often don’t feel very good about themselves. So what can they do about it? ‘Have you been mean?’ (2min 13s) suggests 5 things they could do to help themselves feel better:
Tell someone
Think about how you’re feeling
Say sorry
Learn from your mistakes
Get help
“Cold Weather Preparedness”
The attached flyers from Wokingham Borough Council’s Public Health Team may be of interest to you.
Local Community Information, Activities and Events
To find out what’s happening in our local community why not visit our website where you will find information on a selection of holiday clubs/camps; church services; competitions and other sources of information on activities and events taking place around and about over the coming few months. Click here.
Consultations on School Admissions
From time to time we are provided with details on consultation processes relating to admission arrangements for local schools and authorities. These can be found on our website under Secondary Schools. Click here to view.
CONTACT US
Headteacher: Mrs H West Address: Oaklands Junior School, Butler Road, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG45 6QZ
School Office Telephone: 01344 773496 Email: admin@oaklands-jun.wokingham.sch.uk
Chair of Governors: Charlotte Kieran Email: chairofgovernors@ojsgovernors.co.uk
Oaklands Junior School Governing Body
The Governing Body is ambitious for all children and infused with a passion for education and a commitment to continuous school improvement that enables outstanding outcomes. We oversee financial performance, challenge, support, and focus on the strategic direction of Oaklands Junior school.
If you want to raise a concern, please speak with your class teacher in the first instance. We welcome your feedback if you wish to contact the Governors, please email Charlotte Kieran, Chair of Governors.
Dear Parents/Carers, As part of Remembrance, Oaklands’ Schools always ask a family who have children in both Infants and Juniors, if they would be kind enough to lay a wreath on our behalf at the Read more…
Dates for your diary For the latest dates for your diary please click here. Year 3 Update Year 3 have continued to impress us with their keen attitude to learning and settling in with the Read more…
Dates for your diary For the latest dates for your diary please click here. Year 3 Update The Year 3s have done fantastically well since they joined us in the Juniors. As part of their Read more…
