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Issue 5 - October 2022

ISSUE 5 - October 2022

NATIONAL PRIZE WINNERS!

Oasis Academy Sholing students win national prize after sharing their ideas for reducing their carbon footprint.

Students at Oasis Academy Sholing have won a national prize after sharing their ideas on how to reduce their carbon footprint and then proving their commitment by introducing changes across their school.

Plant+ Finer Diner is a Global Partnership between Sodexo and the WWF who have been working together for over 10 years, talking to young people about important topics which are dear to them regarding climate change and the environment. The project helps people to make better choices and decisions around their food choices and their diet. There are new Plant Based Dishes information packs to support teachers and students to help put their vision into practise.

Oasis Academy Sholing was one of the schools that piloted the project with their Student Environmental Ambassadors sharing and developing their ideas. They then spoke with fellow students and staff about small changes everyone can make to help. Fixing food choices is key to help reduce the loss of natural environments and climate change, focusing on sustainable diets which will help Sodexo’s vision for their Better Tomorrow Commitment Campaign 2025.

There were 15 schools involved with the project, and combined they sold over 12,063 plant-based meals and had over 1120 student pledges to try a more plant-based diet moving forward. Each school was competing for a Plant+ Trophy and a £1000 Eco Prize to be spent on an initiative within their school to continue promoting sustainable diets, and to help more young people learn about our nature and climate change.

The overall winner was marked by the percentage of students making a new pledge on the school’s pledge tree, the number of meals sold, and evidence on how the students’ knowledge of sustainable eating had increased over time. A panel from the WWF judged the schools and awarded the prizes.

Oasis Sholing Academy was the winner of the Eco Prize and funding 2022 with Eton College finishing second. The school also received an A frame with the 350 pledges that the school had collected and displayed with a plaque congratulating the Ambassadors and school.

In the coming week’s the school’s Environmental Ambassadors will be coming up with ideas on which to spend the Eco Prize money.

Year 7

Year 7 have made a fantastic start to their secondary school career, and I am very proud of them.

Four of our students, Ciaran Miller, Erin Bourne, Freya and Lily Tennent were confident enough to speak during the Open Evening on 27th September 2022. They were able to explain what it is like to be a student in Year 7 here at Sholing to an audience of Year 5 and Year 6 students and their parents. The Year 7 students were amazing and a credit to the year group!

Currently Year 7 are top of the school for attendance and for the number of positive reward points. I am very proud of the positive attitude to learning displayed by all members of the year group during lessons and tutor sessions. The top ten Year 7 students with the most reward points are listed below.

Since the start of term, students have been accessing new technology through their iPads and various learning apps as well as learning new skills and new subjects. For example, students have been learning how to make shortbread, scone pizzas and Jalousie in Food Preparation and Nutrition lessons and how to meet and greet people in their French and Spanish lessons. Students have also had the learning cycle explained to them and how their long-term memory works.

As part of their Cultural Capital sessions, Year 7 students have been remembering the Queen, learning about what it means to be part of a community and how to be a good role model for others. The Fire Brigade also visited and delivered an assembly about fire safety.

Last week all Year 7 students participated in The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly run by The Diana Award as part of Anti-Bullying week and each Year 7 tutor group has elected a Tutor Representative and an Anti-Bullying Ambassador. Our Tutor Representatives and Anti-Bullying Ambassadors are listed below. They were all very excited to accept their position of responsibility and they are incredibly keen to get started in their new roles.

Now that they are feeling more confident, I am hoping that Year 7 will take the opportunity to join some of the wide ranging free extracurricular clubs that are available. Please see the website for more information.

Well done Year 7. Keep up the good work!

Mrs Rolls, Head of Year 7

Year 8

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Head of Year 8, Mr Macdonald. It has been my pleasure to take Year 8 through their first half-term. They have begun this year with tenacity and vigour, making fantastic progress across the school. We have taken inspiration from Heather Small (of M People fame) to form our year group mantra “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”. For my part, our Year 8 students are certainly making me feel proud. Their successes, for one, are demonstrating their work ethic and are certainly something we can all take pride in. I am also incredibly impressed with the sense of community they are showing towards each other, and positive impact it is having. Our year group have had the opportunity to get involved with numerous afterschool clubs and involving themselves in the school community with gusto! It’s lovely to see them enjoying their time here at Oasis Sholing, and if the science club agenda is anything to go by, there are many more exciting events coming their way.

I’d like to give a shout out to some our Stars of the Week so far for their outstanding contributions to life at Sholing.

Connor Wright, Jayden Affleck, Tippi O'Reilly, Jared Wright, Caleb Groom, Sara Khan, Emma Marshall, Finley Huntley, Beau Heath, India Worrall, Emily Parratt, Endeavour Poore, Finley Smith-Hoar, Mylee Harris, Holly Bailey, Ellie Blunt, Megan Elton, Eva Roper, Sukhmani Kaur, Joshua Jones, Taylor Parker

We have a long roll call of students who have maintained 100% attendance so far this term, and long may it continue! We strive to maintain a high attendance rate to support our students with their progress and achievements, and this is focus point for our tutor sessions.

Oliver Hayward, Jack Hickman, Stanley Shacklock, Olivia Shinn, Frankie Smith, Emily Spake, Thomas Wilkins, Esmae Besnard, Finley Huntley, Jessica Neary, Iga Neter, Harley Wareham, Luke Drummond, Simona Dukste, William Fletcher, Caleb Groom, Endeavour Poore, Bobby Potter, Haydon Clifft, Charlie Colverson, Jake Gloyne, Imogen Olsen, Titas Pacesa, Elijah Palmer, Thomas Vass, Eli Brown, Megan Elton, Haden Hunt, Olly Pont, Jack Simmonds, Albie Smith, Layton Wardle, India Worrall, Sidney Sutcliffe, Jared Wright, Ruby Yeates, Ellie Blunt, Corey Grubb, Aaron Ladher, Jack Miadowicz, George Miles, Lola Roles, Finley Smith-Hoar, James Fox, Ryan Gritt, Sukhmani Kaur, Sara Khan, Taylor Parker, Amy Stewart, Evie Wilkinson.

The Year 8’s have been racking up some very impressive Reward Points totals this half term, showing us how amazing they are and what upstanding members of our community they can be. Below are some of the students from each tutor group with the top reward points so far.

Jessica Neary, Caleb Groom, Sara Khan, Tippi O'Reilly, Jake Gloyne

I look forward to the next instalment so I can keep you updated with the story of our marvellous Year 8’s as they forge forwards into their bright futures.

Mr Macdonald, Head of Year 8

Year 9

As the new head of Year 9, it has already been a privilege to see so many keen students returning to school after the summer. They are a hard working, respectful and enthusiastic group of people. Here are our some of our top students in terms of reward points: Archie Whiting, Emily Knight, Laila Bonney, Sophie Lac, Ella Rowe, Thomas Mcintyre, Grace Burgess, Liam Ryan, Leon O'Leary, Darcey Jenkins & Jimi Herbert.

We look forward to seeing who gets invited to the rewards event at the end of this half term.

In order to promote student leadership, tutor groups have elected tutor representatives. Their primary role will be to meet with myself every few weeks to discuss what we can do to make our school experience even better. Here are some of our tutor groups reps...well done for being the voice of your peers.

Sophie Lee, Samuel Rowlinson, Georgia Hall, Erin Juby, Harpreet Singh, Annika Van Leeuwen, Taylan Hart, Evie Carr & Ella Benfold

We have been given a fantastic opportunity to work with the Saints Foundation on an enterprise project. The following students are some of those who have been chosen to take part: Brennan Payne, Isaac Benham, James Humby Farmer, Molly-Sue Richardson, Brayden Evans & Ruby Rowe.

I'm hoping they come up with some great ideas while working on the project.

We have had two of our year group selected to enter a national Oasis leadership program: Jake Curtis & Charlie Pack.

We look forward to their work on the program and the benefits it will bring our community.

Finally, here are some quotes from the students:

'We are doing circle time and we are loving it! It is helping us get better at working as a team and communicating with each other too.'

'Our lessons are going well this year and we are enjoying them.'

'I'm really pleased I've got 100% attendance.'

'I enjoy my afterschool activities.'

'I'm glad to be back with my friends after a long summer break.'

Miss Sothinathan, Head of Year 9

Year 10

I have been very impressed with the way that Year 10 have returned to school this half term and settled into their new GCSE courses. I remind them weekly in assembly that they attend school to “be the best they can be”, so that they are in a position be the best versions of themselves that they can be at college, university and in life beyond education. When the year group joined the school in September 2019 I asked them to think of where they would be 10 years from then, at the age of 21, and was so impressed with the ambition that so many of them showed with their visions for what they saw themselves doing for work, where they would be living and so on. We continue to ask our students to reflect on their vision for the future. It’s inevitable students will change their career choices over time, but it should never be for the reason of “it will be too hard to get there”. On the subject of careers, I am pleased to say that our students will have an opportunity to participate in work experience in the summer term and there will be more information about this available soon. It was great to see many year 10 students visiting the careers fair held on site here at the end of September to gather more information on pathways into various college courses and careers and develop their understanding of what they need to do. The Year 10 tutor team and teachers will be pushing all our students to be the best they can be and to meet their potential every day and in every lesson right up to the day of their last exam at the end of Year 11 so that they do themselves justice.

I am looking forward to celebrating the end of this half term with a rewards afternoon for the students who have achieved the highest number of house points with excellent attendance. Well done to Leo Shacklock, Layton Gillette, Grace Benge, Konrad Lejman, Skylah Geddes, Lacie Eden, Rodrigo Goncalves Saboia, Erin Smith, and Louie Downes for being in the top ten for house points, with a special well done to Ethan Louw for coming top with 138 points. I would also like to congratulate the 79 students who have maintained 100% attendance throughout this half term, with a special mention to Benjamin Davidson, Konrad Lejman, Eddie Lin, Jakub Neter and Kiaran Shotter whose 100% attendance record is unbroken since at least the start of Year 9.

We look forward to meeting parents at the meet the tutor event after the half term holiday. In the meantime please do get in touch with your child's tutor in the first instance if you have any questions, or email us on year10@oasissholing.org

Mr Wilkinson, Head of Year 10

Year 11

A very warm welcome back Year 11 after a restful summer break. I cannot believe we step into our final year together after what seems a lifetime. We have so much to look forward to this year and next, including PROM! WOW, I think I may be slightly more excited than yourselves. With this in mind here is a little of what we have been doing so far.

We had our first charity event on the 30th of September where we raised over £200 ponds selling cakes and other goodies. This went down a treat and all the money raised was for Macmillan Cancer, such a worthwhile charity. Well done to our Senior Prefect Team for organising this fantastic event and of course our wonderful parents who also contributed lots of cakes. We will be holding further fund raisers throughout the year, so watch this space.

KEEP CALM AND REVISE

Year 11 Mock Exams start on the 31st of October and all students have received a copy of their timetable plus they have a course information booklet. This is extremely useful as it contains all the relevant information the students need to prepare fully, including some websites for extra practice alongside

Revision classes have been up and running and the turnout has been fantastic. There is such a buzz after school, and I always make sure I can pop in to let them all know how proud of them I am. The fact they want to stay in school until after 5pm is a real testament to not only themselves but you as parents who are always encouraging them to do well, a huge thank you. Let’s keep up the excellent work Year 11.

Miss Sydenham, Head of Year 11

SEND Coffee Morning - Friday 21st October, 8:55- 9:45am

This section is written in the ‘Open Dyslexic’ font which is used increasingly in school to reduce visual stress.

SEND Coffee Mornings
Our first Coffee Morning is on Friday 21st October 8:55- 9:45am. If you wish to drop in and speak to a member of the SEND Team about any questions you may have- be it advice, information or support with your child, please do come and meet us. Of course, free tea, coffee and biscuits will be available.
SEND Keyworkers
You have had, or are about to have, email contact from your child’s Keyworker in the SEND Team. This is in place to ensure you have a point of contact for email communication. Keyworkers also advocate for your child to ensure we keep up our standards of support, plus you have someone to go to whenever you have an update, a worry or concern
Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
Some young people find it hard to leave home and come to school. We know that the earlier difficulties are identified, and support is put in place, the more successful we are at developing young people’s ability to cope with their anxiety, come to school and access improved attendance and ongoing life opportunities. There is a small amount of support outside of school so, in answer to this, we are working with the Southampton Educational Psychology Service to develop workshops for parents and carers. This will be additional to the work done by our excellent Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Kate Vasey. More news to follow soon.
SASS
We continue to work closely with this local autism charity and will soon announce new after school drop in dates. In the meantime, Bodil Richards has written the following: ‘Please email me with any ideas of things that you think would support you and your child. We work with the school, and I will make sure that ideas are discussed and considered with the SEND team at the school as they may be able to help as well. My contact details are: bodilrsass@gmail.com’

Y7: Year 7 have spent this half term learning to navigate computers and being introduced to the Oasis Horizons project, this means that all students now have their own iPad to support their learning in and outside of school. More recently students have learnt about e-safety and cyber-bullying finishing the half-term by producing some amazing presentations.

Y8: Year 8 have continued to develop their programming skills this half-term, using Scratch. This has included students designing and programming their own computer game, wow!

Y9: Year 9 have researched how computers store data, using a system called binary. This includes how numbers, text, images, and sound can be stored.

Y10: Year 10 Computer Science students have developed their programming knowledge further, using Python. Secondly students have developed their understanding of computer systems including the purpose and running of CPU, RAM, and secondary storage elements.

Y11: Year 11 Computer Science students started the term learning the three main programming constructs: Sequence, Selection and Iteration including implementing these. Secondly they have developed their understanding of both Boolean and arithmetic operators.

Y11: Year 11 Creative iMedia students have developed their planning skills, including producing a work plan. Additionally, they have learnt to effectively analyse a client brief, preparing themselves to complete their next coursework assignment after half-term.

Extra Curricular: In Computing and Robotics Club, some students have been independently making scratch games and playing each other’s games. Excitingly, we have a team in the early stages of planning their submission for the PA Raspberry Pi programming competition. Any student wishing to join this club should speak to their Computer Science teacher for further information.

DRAMA

Drama students in KS3 are working towards their end of half term performance assessments next week. In Year 7 students have impressed with their creativity in producing their own silent movie performances using the skills of mime, stock characters of the Hero and Villain, genre conventions of placards, comedy chase scene, and plot structure. Students have brought their characters to life through application of acting skills demonstrating their characters emotions, environments and reactions to others.

Next week, in Year 8, students will bring to life on stage their own original devised Science – Fiction performances! Students have used the stimulus of Ray Bradburys ‘A Sound of Thunder’ to come up with their own original storylines using the moral of “Actions have consequences” as a guiding plot line. Through applying the genre conventions and theatrical techniques learned in lesson, students have come up with fantastical adventures through space, time, and beyond which challenge the audience to consider the consequences of our own actions in the real world.

Students in Year 9 have been working on their creative adaptations of the Novel and Playscript of ‘Lord of the Flies’. Students have been studying skills and techniques to create dramatic tension and status on stage exploring themes of society, democracy, survival, bullying and community. Their own original adaptations utilising short extracts of scripts from the play are being performed for assessment in lesson next week.

In KS4 GCSE Drama students have been studying Blood Brothers in Year 10 – building on their knowledge and understanding of the characters, storyline, and themes. Following the characters of Mrs Johnston, Mrs Lyons, Mickey, Eddie and Linda, the play explores the themes of nature vs nurture, class divides in the 1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s England, as well as challenging the concept of fate. In lessons students have been working towards a whole class performance of their own version of the play.

Year 11 students have revisited Component 1 this half term in preparation for their written mock exam on November 11th 2022. They have been studying theatre job roles, staging format types and stage positioning for Section A. For Section B, building on their knowledge from last year of Blood Brothers, students have honed and refined their own practical performance ideas for each character in the play, in preparation for questions requiring them to describe and explain their own creative visions for the production. Finally Section C is their Live Theatre review, as students will be evaluating the practical performance skills applied, in a performance they have seen.

Over the October half term, on Monday 24th and Wednesday 26th additional revision is taking place for Year 11 students for the written exam in CA1.

In November, Component 3 Text in Practise is launched with Year 11 Drama students. Students will be in groups studying their own playscript, exploring the characterisation and performance possibilities ready for their 20% practical performance of two extracts from their script to a visiting examiner next year.

All Year groups have been invited to audition for the school production – Well done to all students who took part in the audition process! All year groups have impressed with their skills in acting, singing, and dancing – they are a wonderful, talented cast and look forward to rehearsals commencing!

Our vision is to explore a sense of place, embed skills, spark curiosity and encourage empathy.

This half-term Year 7 geographers have been learning about their place in the world, exploring different maps and locations. In Year 8 students have learnt about the growing world population, and megacities. They have focused on Mumbai as a megacity, discovering the opportunities and challenges within the city’s slums. Year 9 have understood that our world is interconnected by examining topical issues such as global crime, Covid and migration.

Year 7 Geography Shout Outs

Bonney Sadat – Excellent place knowledge and curiosity / Amalie Ransley – Excellent attitude

Year 8 Geography Shout Outs

Willow Spencer – Excellent demonstration of skills and curiosity / Amaya De La Cour – Striving for excellence

Year 9 Geography Shout Outs

Matthew Collin – excellent attitude and great curiosity / Grace Burgess – striving for excellence

In GCSE geography students have focused this term on human geography units. Year 10 learning why some countries are LICs whilst others are HICs, and solutions to supporting countries to develop. Year 11 have studied life in Rio, especially the favelas, and were encouraged to show empathy for the residents. Students have also discovered the history of industry in Woolston and how the area has changed over time.

Year 10 Geography Shout Outs

Jayden Wright – great attitude and focus in lessons / Alfie O’Toole – great curiosity and questioning

Year 11 Geography Shout Outs

Theresa Bates – excellent focus and attitude / Rion Fielder – strives for excellence in his work

Science this year are offering a range of extra-curricular activities. Our Big Ideas group (regional winners last year in Solutions for the Planet National competition), are busy planning how to expand their project into junior schools and currently drawing up plans for a new mindful garden at the school.

Excitingly this year we have relaunched Science club, being run by Miss Waller every Wednesday after school for years 7, 8 and 9. Week one they made rockets (which we’re not so successful!). Week two it was rat dissections and you could hear the excited voices from down the corridor as they learnt about rat’s anatomy. One student said;

“I feel absolutely sick, but it was the best thing I’ve ever done”

The rat’s heart
Inside of the rat

Recently all students in Year 7 and 8 participated in a special lesson to celebrate International Space week and built landing craft! Later this term we are excited to be welcoming one of the Science Advisors from the recent Jurassic World movie to speak to the students.

Examples of landing craft students designed

What have our students been learning so far this year?

Year 7

What are substances?

The unit started by introducing the most central concept in chemistry – ‘the substance’, establishing that most materials are not ‘chemically pure’ but are mixtures of substances. Students then studied changes of state, using the particle model to explain the observable properties of matter in different states. The unit explores further evidence for the particle model by developing students’ knowledge of filtration and Brownian motion.

Year 8

Why do things move and change?

Returning to particles and forces, students were introduced to the relationship between pressure and depth, and pressure and area. Students then described real life examples of pressure on solids, in liquid and in gases and how products are designed with pressure in mind. Further, students reinforced their understanding of the units of measurement required when completing pressure calculations.

How does information and energy spread?

Students moved on to learn the different types of waves and can give examples of each. They studied the vocabulary and visual representation of waves, then strengthen their mathematical abilities by performing wave calculations as part of the relationship between wavelength, frequency and wavespeed.

Year 9

What are substances?

Revisiting the particle model as our means for explaining the described properties of solids, liquids, and gases, the unit then extended this model to explain why we classify substances as elements, compounds, and mixtures. Students developed their practical skills and knowledge of the practical equipment that scientists use to separate useful substances from their mixtures.

Students then learnt the history of the development of our model of the atom, following the discoveries by scientists following the Scientific Method over hundreds of years.

What gives substances their properties?

Then, students studied the history of the development of the periodic table and the scientific principles behind its construction and layout, and then applied this learning to explain the properties and trends of three critical groups of the table, namely groups 1, 7 and 0.

Year 10

Students started this term by linking their knowledge of animal, plant, and bacterial cells to new knowledge around how those cells release energy for life processes through a process called respiration. They then went on to develop a comprehensive understanding of the anatomy and physiology of human organs including those in the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems. They learnt about the impact of coronary heart disease, and other non-communicable diseases, on health. Students got hands on in their study by completing a dissection of a heart!

For the rest of this half-term students will continue to develop their understanding of organs and organ systems by understanding the role of specific enzymes in digestion and carrying out a number of practical’s to investigate how enzyme function can be impacted by environmental changes and how to test foods for certain food groups.

Year 11

Students started their journey into Year 11 by understand how crude oil is made over millions of years before being extracted and processed into useful products. Students considered the impact of using finite resources and how they can be processed to ensure they are being used most efficiently. Students then went on to learn about how cracking can break less useful long chain hydrocarbons into useful shorter chain fuels.

Students are now spending the latter part of this half-term by understanding the fundamental structure and function of DNA and how it is found in every cell of every living thing. They will learn what stem cells are and how they can be used in treating diseases. Using their understanding of genetics students will then learn how we inherit characteristic from our parents including how inherited disorders are passed through families.

En classe de Français

Year 7: This half term Year 7 have been looking at the topic of school. It was lovely to see our students settled so well in their French classes. Through their study of classroom language in this first module of year 7, students are able to communicate with their peers and teacher, to build a classroom culture and explore the community of their new classroom and school. Students will also learn how far reaching the francophone world is and will discuss the importance of learning a language.

Our French stars this half-term are: Chloe Carrington & Joe Chick

Year 8: This half term Year 8 have been recalling some of their knowledge from Year 7 when they studied town and applying these to the topic of house/home. We have been very excited in Year 8 discovering how houses look very different in France and use our knowledge to form outstanding sentences using snazzy structures and expressing ourselves comparing housing.

Our French stars this half-term are: Jack Hickman & Megan Elton

Year 9: We have opened our Year 9 French studies with the topic of Holiday. This has taken us to complete an extended piece of writing on where we have been and done and what we would like to do in our future holidays.

Our culture awareness has also taken us on a tour of Paris which is very exciting as some of us will be visiting this beautiful city later on in the academic year!

Our French stars this half-term are: Caitlin Culvert & Lewis Smart

Year 10: Our students have settled very well in their upper school French studies and have started their GCSE course by looking at the topic of Mobile Technology which resulted in some great discussions about how they use their mobile phone and what they think of the influence of social media and reasons why they like/dislike it. Some mature approaches to the topic resulting in students being able to argue their point of view in French to a great extend for some!

Our cultural awareness this half term was music and the students enjoyed listening to some unfamiliar tunes and discuss their opinions in great length about French artists.

Our French stars this half-term are: Louie Downes & Jack Baldwin

Year 11: Our current Year 11 have been busy with the topic of Life at school and Future plans. They have been also started to prepare for their first full set of French Mocks (Listening, Reading, Writing and their Speaking).

Although finding it quite a challenge at times, our Year 11 have always expressed themselves through the use of a wide range of tenses, numerous grammatical points and WOW structures across our current topic.

Since September, learning has been reinforced after school on Wednesdays with the help of a few sugary delights to attract more greedy learners and our students have also got free access to EXAMPRO to deepen their linguistic skills.

See you on Wednesday for your targeted French revisions!

Our French stars this half-term are: Amelia Hopkinson & Sophia Meffen

Español

Año 7 – in class

In Year 7 this half-term we have been learning about school and different ways of asking questions in Spanish. Our amazing students have practised school rules and are getting confident speaking in the target language. They can now confidently say how they feel and why! We welcome all our new linguists, they are making impressive progress.

Estudiantes Excelentes: Niamh Allen & Harvey Seagrave

Año 8 – My house

This term we have been learning different rooms in Spanish. Students have practised how to describe their houses and give their opinion about it. They have also learnt to say where they house is located, and to express where they would like to live in the future. Our great learners are recalling all the knowledge from last year and putting it into practice this term, well done!

Estudiantes Excelentes: Archie Thorne & Luke Drummond

Año 9 – Holidays

Year 9 students have been learning about holidays. They have been using different complex structures to express where they would like to go on vacation, and where they would prefer to stay. Right after the summer it is also the perfect occasion to talk about where they have been and all the activities they did. We are very proud of their progress this half-term, well done!

Estudiantes Excelentes: Jake Sydenham & Scarlett Young

Año 10 – Mobile Technology

In Year 10 this half-term we have been learning about mobile technology: from music to social media, students have learnt to express their preferences when it comes to technology, using complex structures that will help them succeed in their GCSE.

Estudiantes Excelentes: Iza Kurowska & Alfie Gateshill

Año 11 – School and Future Plans

Year 11 students have been learning about jobs, the Future and Conditional Tenses in Spanish to express what they would like to do when they finish school. Furthermore, they have compared the advantages and disadvantages of going to university or doing an apprenticeship. All set for the future! We encourage all our students to come to Revision sessions on Wednesday, they are key for Mock exam preparation!

Estudiantes Excelentes: Jack Bourke & Georgie Butler

In KS3, the students have been indulging in Literature that portrays a snapshot of life in the 19th Century. Fuelled by the exploration of life in these times, the students have honed their vocabulary and learned how to write analytically about prestigious texts from the literary canon.

Year 7 are dipping their toes into the Dickensian world of Oliver Twist: exploring a text that helped pave the way for reformation for poor provision in the Victorian Period. They have been reading about the Artful Dodger, kind Nancy, malevolent Bill and of course following our protagonist, Oliver through his most vulnerable moments as an orphaned pauper on the streets of London.

Year 8 have dived into the undercover realm of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, enjoying some of the most iconic stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet, The Red Headed League and finally The Blue Carbuncle. The students have witnessed Holmes transform himself into a vicar to trick ‘The Woman’ into revealing where a coveted photograph resides and track down the infamous Red Headed League making mind blowing deductions that even Dr Watson struggles to keep up with! After half term, they’ll take the plunge into the story of the unusual Blue Carbuncle…

Year 9 have submerged themselves into the childhood experiences of Jane Eyre. They’ve watched in horror as John Reed, Jane’s malicious cousin, attacks poor Jane, resulting in her punishment in the infamous Red Room of Gateshead Hall. As Jane is about to start school, the students find themselves asking if Jane’s fortunes are about to change for the better?

In KS4, the students have been immersed in dividing their time between studying their newest Literary endeavours: the Power and Conflict cluster of poetry; and their language instruction: investigating two contrasting non-fiction texts.

The students are exploring how the Romantic poets viewed the world around them, and how they constructed their poetry to challenge the Age of Enlightenment.

In Language, the students have been investigating the clues that lead to giving away a writer’s true thoughts and feelings regarding the texts they write.

Lots of investigations happening this half term, and not all restricted to the study of Sherlock Holmes!

Literacy

All students have begun the year with a reading test using Reading Plus, to show what progress they may have made over the summer and to give their new teachers an insight into their reading abilities.

Reading Plus has been used by all KS3 students in DEAR time and in tutor, to provide them with interesting non-fiction texts and allow them the opportunity to win house points and prizes. Well done to the new Year 7s, who have managed to keep the average number of points high for their year group after the first few weeks! A literacy competition for Reading Plus will soon begin, run by the library and our enthusiastic librarian. Students are expected to do 5 reading lessons a week on Reading Plus, but the more they can do the more points they will gain!

Excitingly, the winning entry for the Oasis National Poetry Competition was from Annika Van Leeuwen in Year 9. She wrote a fantastic poem about the environment, which managed to beat all competition as the overall winner from all Oasis schools – huge congratulations to her. More writing competitions will be coming soon for all year groups, with more opportunities for poetry and for short story writing.

Year 7

Over the last few weeks we have welcomed our new Year 7 cohort. This half-term we have been busy recapping our number knowledge from primary school. We have looked at the four operations and ensured we are confident using column addition and subtraction, for multiplication we have introduced a different method called Napiers bones. We have looked at different types of numbers such as square and prime numbers., as the difference between factors and multiples.

Our Stars

Oliver Connis, Harriet Fairclough, Chloe Price, Lyla Thompson, Harpreet Kaur, Poppy Yeates, Mitchell Roles, Chloe Bennett

Year 8

Year 8 have started the new year off with a deeper look at algebra, they have been applying their understanding of position to term rules to find the nth term for a given sequence. As the half term has moved on they have looked at solving equations in more depth, developing their skills by applying their understanding to forming equations in a variety of different contexts.

Our Stars

Emily Spake, Brandon Edwards, Demi-Louise Harris, Kaidyn Wilson, Thomas Vass, Kadir Yurt, Emma Marshall Jack Miadowicz

Year 9

Year 9 started the year off recapping co-ordinates in all 4 quadrants. They moved on to combining their understanding of algebra and co-ordinates together to investigate straight line graphs and their equations. As the half term has progressed they have looked at proportion and how it is used in everyday life such as conversion graphs.

Our Stars

Evelyn Cox, Tom Allen, Dylan Meacher, Scarlett Young, Zhaklin Ivanova, Brian Witorozec

Maths Homework Club

Need help with your homework? Maths Homework club is on every Wednesday after school in the Library.

Year 1O

Year 10 have started their GCSE course, we follow the AQA specification and students will be following either Higher tier or Foundation tier. The year has started off with a focus on number, with all students looking at key ideas such as squares and cubes. This developed into working index laws and later applying his understanding to standard form. The higher tier also looked at surds and how we can use them to express irrational numbers, as well as calulate with them. As the half term rounds off we start to look at sequences and develop our understanding of number into the abstract of algebra.

Luke Groen, Josh Herring, Ricky Giles, Gracie Hurst, Ben Davidson, Iza Kurowska, Lucie-Mai Sheldon, Ethan Griffin

Year 11

In Maths, Year 11 have been looking at geometry topics. This started with a look at column vectors and how they are used to show a direction and magnitude. The higher tier then looked at vector geometry which requires mathematical reasoning and problem solving. We the moved onto angles reasoning and bearings, looking at how angles can be used t describe a direction. Finally we got to practise some practical skills using compasses and protractors to perform a variety of different triangle constructions and bisectors.

Mariama Barry, Simran Kaur, Lia Rose, Daniel Froud, Rubie Young, Hayden Searle, Jake Cashin, Angelina Korobeinikova

Maths Puzzles

Sparx Homework

This half-term we have introduced a new homework platform for maths called Sparx.

Sparx is an adaptive learning platform and adjusts to meet each students mathematical ability over time.

Homework is key to helping students consistently recall knowledge which in turn helps students remember more long term.

Sparx has videos that directly link to each questions to support students when they get stuck. If they continue to find it difficult they can speak to their class teacher or pop to Maths homework club on Wednesdays.

In this edition of COAST, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share one of the narratives that we include in our anthology when teaching the enquiry, ‘Abolitionists or agency. Why was slavery abolished?’ We use stories a lot in History. Stories and narratives can help bring the subject alive. By carefully selecting extracts written by historians not only do we hope that our students will remember more but they will also begin to understand how and why history is written and why historians interpret the past so differently.

The theme for Black History Month is 'Time for Change: Action Not Words.’ Instead of simply retelling the stories of well-known key individual who have championed tolerance, respect and equality this year their aim is to focus on the lives of ordinary people who work on the frontline of hospitals, care homes, schools, supermarkets and warehouses. We want our students to work in a fully functioning multi-cultural society. To make this happen we need to acknowledge that a black person’s experience has not always been a positive one. We need to learn about the historical legacy of colonialism and slavery and make sure that our students has the confidence to call out institutional racism.

Any student or parent wanting to find out more about Black History Month should firstly seek out the many interesting articles and films on the Newsround website.

Finally, before you sit back and enjoy reading the extract taken from ‘Black and British’ by David Olusoga we would like to give the following students a shout out. We were spoilt for choice this term so if you were not named then perhaps you will be in the next edition. A big well done and thank you to all our students from Mr Parsons, Mrs Jeffery and Mr Smart.

Year 7: Poppy Yeates and Amira Rahman | Year 8: Emily Parratt and Luke Blake | Year 9: Macey Cherry and Jake Curtis | Year 10: Bethany Westerman and Jack Baldwin | Year 11: Rahil Jamaranian and Dylan Sutton-Smith

Extract 2: Taken from ‘Black and British’ by David Olusoga

The campaign against slavery began as a mere rumbling of discontent among minority religious groups in the 1770s and 1780s. From those unpromising beginnings, it became a vast national movement. Within the span of a single lifetime the people of Britain would reject and repudiate a trade which their own countrymen had perfected and a plantation system that provided products upon which almost everyone relied upon to some extent. The traffic in enslaved Africans was nevermore detestable than in 1783 when the details of what took place on board the Zong became known in Britain.

The first anonymous reports of the case were spotted in the English newspapers by the watch full eye of Olaudah Equiano, a former slave, possibly born in Nigeria, who had purchased his freedom and was living as a free man in London. When the insurance case came to court in 1783 the cold, financial reasoning behind the massacre appalled all those who heard it, as instead of feeling any guilt for the killing of so many slaves, the owners of the Zong only cared about their loss of money. After hearing the evidence Lord Chief Justice, Mansfield privately admitted that the case ‘shocks one very much’. Mansfield found against the shipowners and did not grant them any insurance money for the slaves they had massacred.

Equiano, determined to help end the slave trade, knew exactly who to take news of this shocking incident to… Granville Sharp. Sharp had already spent the last twenty years fighting the cause of slaves in Britain, ensuring that enslaved Africans who made it to Britain could not be forced back to the New World to work on the plantations. He knew how to kick up a fuss and maximise the publicity. Following Equiano’s tip-off, Sharp attended court and recorded the speeches and testimonies given. These were then published, adding to the moral case against the slave trade that was slowly building in the public’s consciousness.

Sharp and Equiano also sought unsuccessfully to bring criminal charges against the crew of the Zong, but in this they were unsuccessful and no one ever faced trial for the massacre. Great Britain’s Solicitor General, Justice John Lee, refused to take up the criminal charges claiming “What is this claim that human people have been thrown overboard... Blacks are goods and property; it is madness to accuse these well-serving honourable men of murder… The case is the same as if wood had been thrown overboard.”

Yet the fact that the case had garnered so much publicity and shocked so many millions was significant in itself. The murder of the sick or the disruptive onboard slave ships was a routine practise as old as the Slave Trade. But never before have the details of so terrible a case had been brought to the attention of so many. For the first time, the majority of the British public had been shown some of the darkest secrets of the slave trade. The popular outrage that reverberated from the Zong affair made it the next milestone in the development of the abolitionist cause.

Although those who were responsible for the Zong massacre were never brought to justice, the event itself increased the profile of abolitionists such as Granville Sharp and Olaudah Equiano and brought new converts including Thomas Clarkson and Reverend John Ramsay to the cause.

Four years after the Zong affair, in 1787, (the trial was in 1783), Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson set up the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The abolitionist movement was formally born. Its place of birth was a printing shop at 2 George Yard, London, long ago demolished. On 22nd May, twelve men – nine Quakers and the rest Evangelical Anglicans gathered and formed themselves into the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

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Credits:

Created with images by memorystockphoto - "hot coffee and bean on wooden background. top view" • Tomasz Zajda - "Laptop Computer Work" • inankilic - "light and smoke" • Wirestock - "Incredible view of the city of Mumbai, India" • Leonid Andronov - "Favela Cantagalo in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil" • muratart - "Planet Earth with a spectacular sunset "Elements of this image furnished by NASA"" • rh2010 - "Landscpae view on the Eiffel tower and Seine river with tourist boat in Paris" • 135pixels - "Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain" • Africa Studio - "Fountain pen on white sheet of paper and wooden table background" • Cozine - "extremely selective focus a part of silver pencil and precision" • victoriap_107 - "Black History Month"