NEWS

Summer Review 2018

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Everyone deserved a well earned rest after the whole school production of The King and I at the end of last term. We hoped that the weather would be less wintery when we returned but it was still touch and go. Year 9 got thoroughly drenched on their visit to Spring Wood and a Year 10 practice Duke of Edinburgh was held in a blizzard! That’s hard to believe now as the sun shines and summer is definitely upon us.

In no time at all we were saying goodbye to Year Eleven in a wonderful celebration Mass. The Leavers Celebration Dinner was held at The Fence Gate Inn and we had a fantastic evening enjoying excellent food, company and conversation. Most of Year Eleven stayed in school for the next four weeks and worked hard for their exams.

One of the strengths of Oakhill is undoubtedly our pupils and the pupils have a strong voice in their respective Student Councils. This term the Senior Student Council have held a successful sport and tea evening and are looking at ways in which we can reduce our plastic footprint. The Prep Student Council have focused their fundraising efforts on cake sales to raise funds for the THOMAS group and collecting pennies for St Joseph’s Penny.

There have been the usual number of trips with visits to Leeds Bradford Airport for a careers event, a trip to Quarry Bank Mill and trips further afield. A group of children from year 5 to Year 9 went to experience all things French on a visit to Chateau de Warsy; a group of Senior pupils went on a cycle trip to the battlefields and another group went on a visit to Lourdes. There was also a popular staycation alternative held in and around school.

A highlight of the Summer Term for me is watching the class assemblies in Prep and I have been so impressed by the talents of our children and the staff who teach them. Reception took us on a trip to the planets and Year 5 wowed us with their fluent French in a re-telling of Snow White. Years 1 and 2 presented the story of St George and Year 6 amazed us with their knowledge of life processes. Year 4 got us all interested in the world cup and impressed us with their language skills and Year 3 drew on their reading of Fantastic Mr Fox to talk about teamwork.

Throughout the year a group of children have been preparing to take their First Holy Communion and in June a group of five pupils from school celebrated this special day at English Martyrs in Whalley and then celebrated in a beautifully sung Mass here at school.

Over the summer a group of pupils and staff from Seniors will be going to Peru to

help build a classroom in a school before going on a camp on the Amazon. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we wish all of those involved all the best. We look forward to hearing all about it on your return. We wish all of our school family a well earned summer holiday and look forward to seeing you again in September along with all our new starters.

With every best wish,

Principal Carmel Crouch.

Welcome

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Celebration to Remember!This year’s Leavers Meal was held at The Fence Gate in their private room. Pupils arrived by various modes of transport ranging from a Rolls Royce, two red Ferraris and an original 1966 MG B Roadster.

After enjoying a beautiful meal, Head Girl and Boy and Deputy Head Girl and Boy, Phoebe, Giles, Molly and Tyler thanked the staff and even told an amusing tale about one or two!

To end the evening Mrs Crouch compared all the pupils to flowers and of course showed the obligatory baby photos of each of them which had been kindly and eagerly handed in by parents!

We are all incredibly proud of our pupils and it really was an evening to remember. All the staff at Oakhill wish them the very best in their GCSEs.

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Swords, Dragons and Castles…?

Learning about Mini Beasties

My Daddy is a Super Hero!

Pre-prep enjoyed their visit to Clitheroe castle. The children took part in a sword routine and learnt all about dragons. They listened to stories and had a tour of the castle.

We had an amazing day.

Pre–School have been looking at habitats, in particular mini beast environments. The children searched our extensive grounds to discover and investigate insects and spiders. We then made insects in lots of creative ways in the classroom.

Toddlers have been doing lots of superhero activities, in relation to Father’s Day! We have made superhero masks, played in ‘magic sand’ (cloud dough) and made a Spider-Man web outside!

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Creative Painting withOur BodiesBabies have been very busy this term being creative with paints. They have been using their feet, their hands, pom poms and brushes.

They have also being looking at creepy crawlies.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! It be a Pirates Life for Us, Argh!Nursery have had great fun learning about pirates and what’s under the water.

The children experienced what it’s like to live under water when they were surrounded by a giant bubble!

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Our Very Own ‘Fantastic Beasts’A new version of the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ book from the Harry Potter series has appeared in Year 6. This version, written by the children themselves, contains new and previously undiscovered creatures! Which one can breathe ice to make its nest? Which creature’s wool is used to make Hogwart’s uniform? Which leaves a trail of magic dust? And which one has venom so powerful that wizards use it in deadly potions?

Read the book to find out these answers and discover more about the curious beasts on display. Oh...and look out for our super sentences containing parenthesis and relative clauses too!

Year 4 put on an amazing show with their recent class assembly which linked with the World Cup and their All around the World topic that they had been learning about within their geography lessons.

They also sprinkled it with a multitude of different languages and the audience were even greeted with Liverpool’s finest footballer of the moment “Mohammed Salah!” Bravo Year 4!

As part of their religious education lessons Year Two having been finding out all about the Holy Spirit.

They created headbands of fire to help remember the first time all the disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

A Holy Gift

Outsmarted by a Fox…Last Friday Year Three did their class assembly. As they are studying Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl in lessons they performed scenes from the story and then highlighted the importance of teamwork through a game, a presentation and three video performances.

Everyone agreed that their assembly was ‘Fantastic!’

World Cup Talk

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Poetry in Motion

Our Very Own ‘Fantastic Beasts’

Year 5 pupils are always ready for a challenge and this time they are putting their art skills to the test by entering a Lancashire School Games Cultural Competition.

They have designed and created a piece of artwork, in the form of a flag. Inspired by sport, in particular the Olympic and School games, and their values, they have worked in pairs or individually to produce their own unique design. They have considered the values of respect, determination, passion, honesty, teamwork and self belief, and drawn upon their own experiences of school sport at Oakhill. The winning entry will be selected based not only on the skill and technique demonstrated by the children, but also the inherent meaning and inspiration of their final design.

Well done, Year 5! We wish you every success.

Reception visited Breda Murphy’s restaurant in Whalley.

They looked at the menu, gave their order to the waitress and then paid, using their own money.

After that, they enjoyed some time on the park in the sunshine. Everyone had a great time. A big thank you to all at Breda’s!

Bossy Verbs and Sticky FingersYear 1 have studied all kinds of instructions this term. They have followed them, identified the bossy verbs and written some of their own using time connectives.

But of course they had to test them to see if they worked!

Here they are following their own instructions to make a jam sandwich, there are some very sticky fingers and smiles.

Flag Work

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To Grow or Not to Grow…

Thirsty Work at Yorkshire Water!

Facing the Elements

Year 7 enjoyed learning all about sunflowers in their English lessons last term.

They learnt about how to make their writing more interesting and demonstrated this by writing as though they were sunflower seeds. After analysing how the seed-packet instructions had been written, they planted their own sunflowers - most of which are still growing their way to victory in the class competition.

Year 7s own sunflower poems contained lots of figurative language - visit the English classroom to check them out!

Year 10 visited Headingly Water Treatment Works, one of Yorkshire Water’s main sites for supplying drinking water to Yorkshire which has an excellent education centre.

The new GCSE Chemistry topics cover the treatment of waste water and the processes involved in making water safe to drink. It was an interesting day as pupils found out more about the three main steps of filtration, coagulation and sterilisation before touring round the site to see all the main steps in real working order. We were lucky to be able to see one of the filter beds empty - a rare occurrence - which enabled our pupils to appreciate the depth and internal structure of the bed.

A great learning experience for all our year 10s.

Year 8 enjoyed a Geography field expedition to Malhamdale to look at the limestone features and to climb the infamous Gordale Scar!

Despite the wind and rain, spirits were high and the pupils emerged onto the vast emptiness of the tops surrounding Malham Tarn. A challenging two mile trek followed and we were rewarded with magnificent views towards Pendle Hill as we stood on the top of Malham Cove.

After a quick descent down the 398 steps back into the dale we briefly saw the nesting place of the Peregrine Falcons before heading back to Oakhill.

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Thirsty Work at Yorkshire Water!

Facing the Elements

WW1Belgium

Battlefields

Our Trip to Lourdes

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Turning Back the Clocks…

Did Year 8 Find Out Who Dun’it?

Together We Fly Further!

This term Year Three travelled back in time and spent the day as Victorians. They travelled to Quarry Bank Mill in Manchester, a restored Victorian mill. Everyone had a turn at cotton spinning and weaving using techniques and tools from Victorian times.

In pairs they weaved a piece of cloth using a variety of materials. They discovered that lessons in Victorian times were very different from today. Girls and boys sat separately and there was no talking and no eye contact with the teacher.

We all learnt many new things about life in Victorian times. Life working in a Victorian factory was hard, dangerous and exhausting. Everyone appreciated how the lives of children have changed for the better since those days.

Our Oakhill team of Year 8 chemists headed up to Lancaster University for this year’s Salters Festival of Chemistry Competition.

In the morning, Isabella, Betsy, Leigha and Scarlett had to work out which suspect “Stole the Cup” in the CSI style investigation. They used paper chromatography and ion testing techniques as well as code breaking to decide what criminal the evidence pointed to. The afternoon session was the University Challenge where the girls had to try to produce the perfect spectrum by chemical methods.

It was a challenging day which stretches the most able of chemists and our girls did exceptionally well, being complimented on their practical skills and determination to achieve the right outcome.

At the end of the Easter term year 4 and 5 competed against each other to find out who could design the best glider. The team that flew their glider the furthest would go through to the next round if their flight distance was far enough.

“The Girlz” team won our heat with an impressive 9.75m which was more than enough to qualify for the Regional Final. Held at the Runway Visitor Centre at Manchester Airport under the wings of Concorde our team designed and constructed a new glider. The event is run by the RAF to promote STEM subjects in schools and culture an interest in aviation.

Our girls were determined to break new records and with their super TAG line “Together We Fly Further” they designed, then amended, then retested, then amended to make sure they were giving it their best shot. Each team were given three flights and the furthest out of the three counted. It was a really exciting event and although their glider didn’t fly the furthest our tremendous trio won the Most Innovative Design Award. Well done girls it was a real pleasure to spend the day with you.

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ChannelHopping

The French Exchange

Pupils from Years 5-8 have recently returned from an exciting and fun-packed educational trip to Warsy, France.

The children seized every opportunity to immerse themselves in the French culture. For many, it was their very first time away from home, let alone going abroad without family.

They were a credit to Oakhill and there is no doubt that they have created memories that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

We have been delighted to welcome two pupils from our link school, Jean Paul 2, in Rouen. Nathan and Emma have thrown themselves into all the opportunities they have had and have been a great help in prep French lessons as well as taking part in the normal Year 9 timetable.

All of the staff and students who have previously taken part in the exchange to Rouen were invited to a Cream tea on

Thursday where we introduced our guests to scones with cream and jam and buttered crumpets. A big thank you to our two host families who have spent the evenings and weekends showing Emma and Nathan different aspects of our region from ice hockey to Pendle Hill.

We are looking forward to hearing how the return trip to France goes in September. Bon retour!

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Oakhill Champions!

The Year 1 and 2 children participated in their own Olympic Games recently competing against schools from Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon resulting in Oakhill being crowned overall champions!

Teams from Years 7 to 9 took on the challenge of the interhouse orienteering competition this Monday at Gisburn Forest. Working in pairs from Martyrs and Scholars in each year, they took on a tough, overgrown course to find as many controls as possible. This involved reading the map at the same time as dashing around the forest.

All did extremely well, earning plenty of points for their houses. Scholars total was boosted by Ellie and Alicia from Year 9 who earned the best score, leading to a Scholars win of 175 points to 155 for Martyrs! Well done Scholars and all who took part. We look forward to more interhouse competitions over the next three weeks to decide this year’s winning house.

The first group of Year 1 & 2 pupils have completed their 5 week scheme of gymnastics at Flipside fitness with Coach Zoli.Each week they participated in a variety of gymnastic

activities which all focused on their core stability and body control. Well done to all involved and thank you as ever to Coach Zoli for making the sessions so fun, enjoyable and educational!

Oakhill, Once Again Showing the Way

The Flipside to Fitness

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X Country Inter House RaceAll of our Key Stage 2 children were lucky to have the presence of the sun on the morning of the annual Prep Cross Country Inter House race.

Our Year 3 to 6 girls ran first, the girls set off at great pace with many of our Year 5s leading the group. Once they got into the long straight of our top field they all began to bed in and put the race plans they had done in lessons into action.

The final results were:

GOLD - MAISEY (Year 6)

SILVER - POPPY (Year 6)

BRONZE - JAMIMAH (Year 4)

Next up were our boys and as boys do every year they set off like a bullet out of a gun! Sprinting to get into pole position and be the first to make it to the first corner.

All of our contending boys gave it their all and the final positions finished:

GOLD - RAURI (Year 6)

SILVER - TAYLOR (Year 5)

BRONZE - ISAAC (Year 5)

Well done to everyone who took part.

All of Year 3 and 4 pupils took part in the annual borough dodgeball festival. We had 3 teams managed by 3 different members of staff.

The green team put in a sterling performance working very hard and tactically throughout the event. Although it was a fun and friendly event the greens managed to achieve great results winning all of their games. The Oakhill red team worked together really well and gave it their all during all their matches.

There was a fantastic team effort by the yellows. Well done everyone you represented Oakhill perfectly!

Dodge Like You’veNever Dodged Before

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Five pupils from Oakhill School have recently celebrated their First Holy Communion. Our sincere thanks go to Father Price and Father Kelly for their kind and thoughtful words as they co-officiated the Mass on this momentous occasion.

The sun shone brightly in Whalley as they took the next step on their important journey in the Catholic faith, at the English Martyrs RC Church. The whole of the Prep School then joined them and their families, with a Mass celebrated by Father Leo at Oakhill. The children were even treated to a very special afternoon tea.

Our sincere thanks are extended to the clergy who have helped to make this a very memorable time, and our prayers and best wishes are with Isabelle, Zakary, Jack, James and Jack.

First Holy Communion

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Raising Money to Help Others

All Smiles for Super Sport Event

‘Being You at Oakhill’

The latest prep school cake sale raised £80. This will be split equally between The Downs Syndrome Society and The Deaf Society. The Prep Student Council very much wanted to support two charities that help two pupils within the school.

Many thanks to the children downstairs who provided the cakes and to everyone in prep who supported the event. The cakes that were left over and still in date will be donated to The THOMAS Group in Blackburn.

Senior Student Council organised a super Sport and Tea social event for after school this term. Students could choose between three options: going for a run, football on the new 3G pitch or a Pilates class in the dance studio.

All options were popular and students enjoyed a good hour of exercise before joining another group of students who had cooked the tea. One group made dessert, a delicious banoffee pie, whilst the others prepared a BBQ. Despite the rain, staff and students enjoyed themselves and kept smiling. It was a lovely afternoon and opportunity to mix with other year groups.

Well done to Student Council for organising and thanks to staff who helped to lead the activities.

Senior School Student Council held another photography competition and this time the theme was ‘Being You at Oakhill’. There were lots of fantastic entries at a very high standard and judging was difficult for our panel.

Jack Monk won first prize for a characterful photo of his two sheep; Isabelle Pugh came second with her photo of Blackburn Cathedral where she sings in the choir and Georgia Lee came third with her atmospheric lakeside photo. There were also fantastic entries from Prep too with first place going to Rocco, second place to Jack and third place to Hannah. Thank you to all entrants and well done.

The Competition entry fee has also raised funds for Will’s Wishes, a local cancer charity.

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The Peru Mission

School and Nursery

Oakhill, Wiswell Lane, Whalley, Lancashire. BB7 9AF. Just off the A59

01254 823546 www.oakhillschool.co.ukPrincipal: Mrs C. Crouch B.A M.A enquiries@oakhillschool.co.uk

Back in December 2016 we welcomed Mr Joe Plumb – the Projects Co-ordinator and Honorary British Consul for Iquitos to Oakhill to speak to staff and Senior students about the work of the Peru Mission – a British based charity that helps to support need amongst the poor of the Amazon region of Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is the world’s largest city that is inaccessible by road and from the city you can look out to the Peruvian Amazon.

Part of the role of The Peru Mission is to enable visits from schools to work on projects in and around Iquitos. We have a group of staff, parents and students going to Iquitos in the summer of 2018 for two weeks to work on an educational project (building a classroom, for example) and to help with teaching English and other subjects in a girl’s orphanage.

The trip promises to be challenging – as staff and students will be working in tropical climes to a tight schedule. It is not a holiday but an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of poor indigenous people and to demonstrate gospel values by practicing what we preach. It should provide all those who go with an experience of a lifetime. Whilst in Iquitos, staff and students will have the opportunity to experience the Amazon jungle and safely meet some of the wildlife. It is also an opportunity for students and staff to practice their Spanish as they work and play alongside the local community.