Dear OFS Community,
This week our Year 8 pupils sat their exams and faced the easy questions, the ones that they’ve prepared for, the ones that tend to be a little boring, a little formulaic, the ones that exam boards set that rarely excite, provoke or stir emotions. On the first day as I passed Kian, I said...
try to enjoy them…
Enjoy them Sir? I’m not sure that anyone enjoys exams…!
As many of you will know, I put out a request for real questions to take to our pupils from parents. We have been looking to host a pupil led podcast as this would offer our ‘Studio One’ team more experiences to respond using media – I also think that streamed 'discussions' are gaining greater prominence in our video saturated lives - I do my ironing on a Sunday to 'The rest is Politics', a great podcast!
Really good questions should engage, provoke and stir us, they should leave us wanting to read more, to research deeper and go beyond…I like to call these…The Big Hairy Questions!
I was so impressed with the breadth and diversity of thinking that parents submitted that I decided to bring a few of your questions into Monday’s Assembly to get us firing on all cylinders at the start of the week! Here are just a few that generated lively debate that spilled over into lunchtime conversations…
We are going to gain a great deal from putting these questions to our pupils, who I know will surprise us with their insightful answers. In addition, we are looking to invite some senior school teachers as guests when it comes to managing tech as a lot of questions centred around management of media, the internet and gaming.
However, I would also flag this question, as sadly Mrs Loubon and I often have parents asking advice on this subject and we’re certainly not hiding our views…
We will be asking our children if they want additional intervention at the end of a long school day but more importantly, we’ll ask them how it makes them feel and what the longer reaching outcomes might be…teachers and parents might be surprised with the findings?
Portraiture
I dropped into a Yr5 Art / Design & Technology lesson on Monday – it’s wonderful having a flexible timetable that allows us to halve our classes with 10 pupils in each group, whilst maintaining studio time. There was a wonderfully industrious atmosphere across both studios and with two lessons a week, they can really immerse themselves.
In Art, they are learning to refine their observation skills, capturing the individual features of a family relative. I was so impressed with the likeness that was being captured as well as the confidence with line and tone - there are some budding Picassos in the making!
Product Design
In Design & Technology, Year 5 are looking at personalising key fobs using acrylic. From the intricacies of cutting complex shapes, they will be moving to filing and sanding to achieve a refined end product. They will then move on to using CAD/CAM for personalisation - we might have found a successor to Ray Eames...?
Ooooh la la!
Instilling confidence and a sense of fun are key ingredients when it comes to teaching languages, and we were treated to a wonderfully eccentric but inspiring workshop! I was so impressed with Yr5 who threw themselves into the experience fearlessly as there were hoots of laughter coming from the tipi!
I really enjoyed the French workshop. The funniest part was when we got sprayed with water. We also enjoyed the part where Mrs Roets was called up to help and asked to wear a tutu!
Hannah
I really enjoyed watching Pierre. I particularly enjoyed the part where he got Mr Skinner and Mrs Galan to dance and they couldn't copy the moves correctly! He also balanced a tall ladder on his chin and juggled with baguettes.
Sienna
I really liked the French workshop. There was only one person performing, speaking French to us. He involved the children and the adults. He performed circus tricks such as standing on one leg of a ladder and balancing on a cylinder.
Neal
U11 OFS Hockey Tournament
Last Saturday, we hosted teams from St. Benedicts, John Lyon School, Beechwood Park, Belmont and Notting Hill & Ealing, fielding two home teams for Orley. It was a gorgeous day and a great way to pack competitive game time into one day – these events see teams making huge progress as the play got better and better over the morning.
The standout games for me were when our girls met teams that were fielding girls two years older and the gritty and determined moments that came from these matches. Whilst it’s fun to win games, I want to see Orley pupils in adversity and how they respond - I was so proud seeing us fighting back in one particular game, we learnt something very special on Saturday!
The weather felt like it's starting to turn but this appears to do little to dampen or cool the ambitions of Orley pupils - another cracking week at the Farm!
Tim Calvey