Oaks Bulletin 27/05/2022
22 May 2022
Entering the summer term, we continue to support our Year 11 students with their preparations for their GCSE examinations, and we wish them every success. It is also that time of year when we are preparing to welcome our new Year 7 children for their new intake day. There are also several organisations coming into school offering enrichment activities this term. These include the National Citizenship Service, local employers carrying out mock interviews, work related learning experience days, activities arranged by Crewe Lyceum Theatre, and football with Crewe Alexandra FC.
We are constantly striving to improve our facilities and recruit talented teachers. Due to our continued rapid growth in student numbers, we are recruiting several additional teachers as well as investing in our infrastructure. Currently, we are building a new Learning Resource Centre and library, known as the LRC. The LRC will have learning zones for careers, fiction, non-fiction, IT and a revision hub. We have appointed a new LRC and Literacy Intervention Manager to run our LRC, and she will be starting in September with a focus on improving standards of literacy and promoting reading.
We are also modernising and reequipping our learning spaces and classrooms, including the Design Technology suite, with new and improved facilities for Resistant Materials, 3D Design, Photography and Textiles. We are also adding another IT room and improving the main and student receptions. This is part of a 3-year project to improve the whole site. We intend for these latest developments to be ready for September. We will be holding our annual Open Evening in late September, and you are very welcome to some and experience for yourselves these new developments.
We have been delighted to invite in several local primary head teachers and colleagues to visit classrooms as well as representatives from the local authority, colleges and employers. All our visitors comment on how calm and orderly the school is and what a purposeful working environment school offers to its students. We have been praised for the work which we have done in terms of raising standards of literacy and received another very favourable report this week.
Next year will be welcoming several additional staff members due to rising student numbers and as a reflection of our growing popularity with parents and the local community. We are currently experiencing a ten percent growth in student numbers year on year.
We will continue moving forwards next September developing our approach to learning and relentlessly driving for the highest of standards in all we do.
Again, many thanks for your ongoing support.
Peter Kingdom
Academy Updates
Upcoming Events
- Friday 27th May – Break for Half Term
- Monday 6th June – Back to school
- Friday 15th July – Additional Inset Day
Additional Inset Day
Careers May 2022
Careers
Over the last half term there has been lots of planning taking place for Careers.
Our vision is that all students will achieve their true potential whilst being fully prepared for their transition into the ever-changing world of work. The intent of our Careers Curriculum at The Oaks Academy is to provide a stable careers programme where all students are provided with the opportunity to prepare for their transition into the evolutionary world of work. We intend to raise their aspirations, improve social mobility, develop 8 employability skills and enhance knowledge of labour market information whilst providing them with the access to all career pathways. Students will experience a range of encounters tailored to their individual needs and circumstances which will include encounter of workplaces, and employers, an insight into further and higher education establishments and opportunities for personal guidance.
At the start of May we had the great pleasure of welcoming in to school several local employers and education providers so support our year 10 students with having the opportunity to sit a mock interview. In preparation for the day students worked on their CVs and learnt about successful interview techniques in their PSCHE lessons. All students then sat a 15-minute interview which was followed by written feedback. We were so proud with how they rose to the challenge and embraced this opportunity and the feedback from the interviewers was amazing, commenting that our students were articulate and well prepared for the future. Well done year 10!
We continue in earnest with another busy half term for careers with many exciting opportunities coming up for all our students. In the first week back after the holidays a number of our year 9 students have been selected to take part in a Forest school / raising aspiration programme. This day will see students explore learning in an outdoor setting and is aimed at developing confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.
All of our year 10 cohort will also explore a 2 day post 16 experience at Cheshire College South and West, having the opportunity to take part in a variety of courses they will start to consider their opportunities for the not-too-distant future! A select group of students will also explore a Reaseheath college and the courses that they offer. We look forward to learning about their future aspirations when they return.
Please see the below links for any upcoming open evenings for year 10 & 11 students.
Open Evening – Cheshire College – South & West (ccsw.ac.uk)
Open evening for September 2022 applicants – Reaseheath College
After half term students will be completing the Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ). This will help us evaluate the school’s careers programme, plan future careers activities and target students who may need additional support. Students will complete the 15-minute questionnaire which asks questions on their career related knowledge and skills. This should be an enjoyable activity for students and encourage them to begin thinking about future careers and next steps after school. We use a third-party tool called Compass+ to administer the questionnaire. All student data is processed in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and you can find more information about how Compass+ collects, uses and stores personal data in this privacy notice for students. If you wish to know more about the careers programme in school and/or would like to get involved please contact Mrs Abberley.
Parent and carers options matter to us to, we would therefore like to collect information from home to support us with planning. Please could you take 2 minutes to complete the below parent careers survey. Your feedback is invaluable in terms of supporting our careers programme progression for next academic year.
Job of the Week
Primary Enrichment
Over the next few weeks we are delighted to invite a huge amount of our local primary school into The Oaks to work with our staff on exiting projects. Year 4 & 5 children from our feeder schools will get the opportunity to explore Science in action, create tasty food treats and get creative in a carnival extravaganza! We look forward to sharing the outcomes of these activities in our next newsletter.
Enrichment
Sting like a Bee- Boxing programme
We are 3 Weeks into our boxing programme, and the effort and enthusiasm shown by all of the students, and several staff members is outstanding.
The 8-week programme focuses on a different skill each week until week 8 when we will have the complete boxer!
A massive thank you to Andy, the trainer and Woody for their commitment each week.
Chester University STEM day
“On Friday the 13th of May students from year 8 set 1, 7 Sets 1 and 3 were given the opportunity to take part in a STEM outreach day which was run by Chester University. The reason events like this are so important for students, is that STEM is more essential now than ever before. This is because it provides students with the knowledge and skills to support their educational and carrier development in future. The skills learned through STEM is not just for future scientists, inventors, and engineers but the wide range of skills learned can be applied to all areas of our everyday life. The activities run help students build confidence, critical thinking, problem solving skills as well as an interest in their subjects. The day was catered around Virtual reality technology. Students got the opportunity to take part in three activates which included touring the school using an oculus VR head set, engaging with Augmented reality and having a lesson on how to fly a drone. During each session students were given information about how the different technologies work and how they are used in different carriers across the world. An example of this is the soft wear used to create the VR experience is used by a lot of design and architecture companies. ”
Crewe Alex visit
We were fortunate to be invited to take part in a football tournament at the Mornflake stadium on Gresty Road. It was a dream come true for our students to actually play on the pitch of their local football team that so many support. This was a reward for the support the students have shown the Premier League Kicks by attending the sessions on a Thursday after school.
Students enjoyed playing on the pitch, a tour of the changing rooms and coming out the tunnel on to the pitch.
Creative Writing Club
This half term our Creative Writing club has started working on a short story entitled “The Countdown”. We have a variety of story ideas from video games and car chases, to kidnap and spy plots! We have been understanding the process of brainstorming, drafting, editing and re-drafting.
The Countdown
Celebrations
At the start of this term we were delighted to take a group of students to Ninja Warrior in Stoke on Trest. This trip was a reward in recognition of their high standards of work and attitude to learning. A great time was had by all, even if the staff were a little sore and battered the next day!
Ninja Warrior in Stoke on Trest
Star of the Week
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