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 local church, on Remembrance Sunday. This year our Knight family kindly agreed to do this and we would like to extend our thanks to them. We are so proud of both boys for representing us so well.
Thank you also to our families and staff on behalf of the Royal British Legion for supporting Remembrance through donations and wearing poppies. We had a very moving 2 minutes’ silence in the playground on the Friday before Remembrance; luckily the rain stopped long enough for us to be outside to play ‘The Last Post’ and we displayed a beautiful table of poppies, made by Year 5 for all to view. ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them’.
Anti-bullying week followed with Monday 13th November being ‘odd socks’ day. It was lovely to see so many brightly coloured socks as we celebrated being ourselves and embraced being different. Oaklands’ Schools became Spotacular as we all took part in the Children in Need day on Friday 17th November which is always fun and raises money for a very worthy cause. Thank you for all donations, whether this was online, loose change on Pudsey in the playground or through a donation for non-uniform day. Every donation makes the world of difference. We raised £255.29.
As we move towards the end of November, we are very much looking forward to welcoming parents and grandparents into school for our Decoration day on Friday 1st December. If you would like to be involved then please do complete the link on my previous letter so that classes know who will be visiting to help with all the wonderful activities. We generally have many, many fantastic mums who already help in school and it would be even more fantastic, if we could also encourage dads and grandads to join us on that day too. Looking forward to seeing you all in your festive jumpers or hats!
Best wishes,
Hazel West, Headteacher
Dates for your diary
For the latest dates for your diary please click here.
News from Year 3
Year 3 have had a busy month as we begin preparations for our Christmas play. We have been very impressed with the children’s singing and learning of their lines.
It has been a pleasure to have Mr De Nijs teaching the children to play the viola. We shared the videos in assembly and hopefully you have had a chance to watch them too.
Diwali Day
On Friday, our Year 5 children took part in Diwali Day celebrations. In the days leading up to it, they made diya lamps out of clay and cooked some delicious food to eat during the festivities. On Friday, we painted the lamps and lit the candles. The children developed and performed some fantastic choreography for their stick dances and told the story of Rama and Sita in a workshop by West End in Schools. Our thanks go to our PTA who kindly funded this workshop for us.
We had a brilliant day and the children embraced every part of it with enthusiasm and respect.
Year 5 Christmas Fundraiser
Yesterday a group of enthusiastic, determined and passionate Year 5’s held a Christmas fundraising event in the Junior School playground. The children who had planned the whole event, ran a Christmas sale which included handmade gifts, cookies, cakes and treats. We would like to say a big thank you to the children concerned – Francesca, Gracie, Harriet G, Harriet W, Isabella, Megan, Mia, Polly, Priya, Sophia and Victor (and their parents who were on hand to help) for all their hard work. The sale raised an amazing £313.46.
Reverse Advent
If you are able to support our Reverse Advent initiative which starts next week we would be most grateful. For full details please click here.
A Musical Space Odyssey Music Competition
Children in Years 4 and 5 were invited to enter a Music competition at The Abbey School. The finalists got to spend a morning at The Abbey school, and experienced what it was like to produce a music video. They recorded their vocals in a studio, performed in front of a Green screen and learnt how to use Logic Pro software in an editing suite to bring it all together. A fantastic and memorable experience for all those involved.
Crowthorne Late Night Christmas Shopping Evening
Many of our children participated in the poster competition organised by Crowthorne Parish Council as part of its activities for the Crowthorne Shopping Evening taking place this Friday 1st December.
We are delighted to announce that Alexi from Year 4 has been awarded a prize for his entry which he will receive from the Mayor of Bracknell Forest at the Christmas Shopping Evening itself.
All the brilliant, bold and colourful entries that our pupils submitted to this competition are now on display in Crowthorne High Street.
For more details on the Late Night Christmas Shopping evening please click here
If you are planning on attending this late night shopping event, then why not go and support our group of children who are members of the Juniors’ Choir and Belleplates clubs. They will be singing / playing a selection of Christmas carols which will undoubtedly spread the festive cheer. The group will be completing a 20 minute session at the performance area which will be located between Lidl and The Prince public house at 17:45.
Oaklands Junior School Pupil meets Theresa May
On Friday 24th November, Amelia from Year 6 attended the re-launch of the Age Concern Twyford & District Day Centre, where she presented flowers to the Rt Hon Theresa May. What an amazing opportunity for one of our pupils, we are very proud of her.
Culinera Christmas Menu
The Christmas menu for Tuesday 12th December is now available to book. For full details click here.
Class Containers
For health and safety reasons, could we remind all parents / carers that glass containers should not be brought in to school as part of a packed lunch / breaktime snacks. Thank you for your help with this matter.
Could you benefit from some additional support feeding your family?
Tesco Community Grant Schemes
In our June update earlier this year, we announced that two of our applications to the Tesco Community Grants Scheme had been successful and our projects would be put forward to a customer vote in Tesco selected stores. Voting took place in these stores from the first week of July 2023 until the end of September 2023.
On Friday 17th November we were delighted to welcome Louise Jedras, Community Champion from Tesco Wokingham into our school to present us with a cheque for £1,500 in support of our project entitled “Educational Psychotherapy and Parent Support Service”.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in our community who voted for this project.
Dads on Decoration Day (Friday 1st December 2023)
Did you know that children do better at school if their fathers read and play with them (according to The University of Manchester on 20/9/2023)?
Or that children benefit from better relationships and emotional well-being when dads and mums are involved in school? (2020 Scottish government report)
Why not join us on Decoration Day? As Mrs West said in her recent letter, “We look forward to seeing lots of dads/grandads joining the many mums/grandmothers who join us on this festive occasion.”
And if you’d like some ideas for Christmas fun at home, try Dadsnet’s ‘Elf on the Shelf Cheat Sheet‘. Ho ho ho!
Louise Mullier, Educational Psychotherapist
Thanks from the PTA
Our PTA have asked us to share the following with you.
We are writing to say a big thank you for your support of our fireworks this year. We had lots of positive feedback on the night and saw lots of happy smiling faces, which made all the hard work worth it. The fireworks really is our biggest fundraiser of the year and this year was our biggest yet!
We raised an incredible £7,501.90 on the evening with an additional £1,000 in match funding from one of our brilliant volunteers. Giving us an incredible total of £8,501.90!!
THANK YOU to our team of fabulous volunteers – setting up on Saturday, clearing up on Sunday, and on the evening itself. We really couldn’t do any of this without you and we really appreciate your time and effort.
THANK YOU to the stars of the show – Mike Humphries & his team of amazing volunteers for putting on another incredible display. We think it topped last year (which was epic) and it seemed to go on for such a long time.
THANK YOU to everyone who bought tickets and supported us by attending the event. We really hope you had a fantastic evening! We had lots of guests from the wider Crowthorne community and beyond, we hope we showed everyone that Oaklands are the best schools in Crowthorne!!
If you’d like to give us some feedback, we’d love to hear your thoughts (positive and negative!). We’ll be back next year so please help us understand how we can improve, what worked well and any other ideas to make it a fantastic evening. Please share your thoughts here: https://forms.gle/kxHYDfmX8phMd23G6. (All feedback is anonymous.)
Roll on Christmas!
The PTA x
School Uniform
We would like to remind all parents / carers that hairbands, “scrunchies” or hair clips, if used, should be in the school colours of blue or yellow and of a modest size. In addition, any plain / dark black / navy blue tracksuits that are worn by children for PE when the weather, should be unbranded or with a discreet logo.
Parking
We have recently received complaints from local residents regarding inconsiderate and unsafe parking during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. We would like to ask all parents / carers who drive to school to park safely and responsibly. Residents have stated that they are finding parents / carers are parking too close to the entrance of driveways making it difficult for them to exit their properties safely. Please think how you would feel if it was you about to leave to collect your child from school or go to a medical appointment, how upset you would be if someone had blocked your exit from your property. Being late is not an excuse for parking on yellow lines, or across someone’s driveway.
Just Play Sports
Don’t forget that Just Play Sports will be running their Christmas Holiday Camp at Oaklands Junior School in December. Please note: their discount period has now been extended to 10th December. In addition, Just Play Sports have informed us that they are now set-up with Wokingham Borough Council and the HAF scheme. To find out more click here.
Reading Rockets Ticket Offer for Oaklands Schools
To find out more about this offer please click.
My Journey Christmas Challenge – Bling Your Bike
Why not join in the My Journey Christmas challenge to bling your bike, scooter or even yourself in the most festive way possible for the journey if you walk, scoot or cycle to and from school?
Take a picture of your festive creation and send to myjourney@wokingham.gov.uk before 13th December 2023.
You could be in with a chance of winning a £25 Decathlon voucher and there will be some My Journey goody bags, including a two family swim vouchers, for use in Carnival Pool, for two lucky runners-up.
To find out more go to the Local Community Information, Activities and Events section on our website or click here
Local Community Information, Activities and Events
In the build up to Christmas there are a number of activities, clubs and church services taking place in and around the local community. To find out what’s on offer including an initiative from Wokingham Leisure Centre called Born to Move, please visit our web page below which is updated on a regular basis.
Local Community Information, Events and Activities
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
Parent Support Advisor: Nikki Lenon
Telephone: 07748 415 285
Email: nlenon@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.
Raising a concern
Parents-Carers-and-Visitors-Conduct-Policy-Including-Raising-a-Concern
Governing Body team
Governors Profiles