variety show carols by candlelight & festive singalong...
TRANSCRIPT
Number 5 11 December 2015
Christmas Tree!
A big thank you to Hyatt of
West Sussex Showground,
who kindly donated a real 7ft
Christmas tree. Not only does the
tree provide a sensory experience
by perfuming the room for our PMLD learners,
it also enables the students with the wonderful
sensory tactile activity of dressing it. The class
enjoyed a trip out to choose the tree and bring
it back to school.
Carols by Candlelight & Festive
Singalong Songs - 16 December
This will take place from 6:00pm to
7:30pm at Oak Grove College.
Please come along with your children and enjoy a
festive fun evening. Refreshments and mince
pies will be available. A selection of students
will be performing (your child will receive a
separate letter if they are involved).
Variety Show
A huge thanks to everyone that came to
support our excellent Variety Show in
November. We were lucky enough to enjoy
some very high quality and entertaining
acts which included magic, music, drama,
dance, singing and comedy. All the
students worked extremely hard - many
of them in their own time - and should be
very proud of their efforts and talent!
‘Link to Hope’ Christmas shoe box appeal
A massive thank you to everyone who either
donated a shoe box or supported the appeal
by sending in items. We are very proud to
announce that we dropped off a whopping 36
boxes at the depot… the most to date!
Thank you everyone. Class CA.
Christmas Fair
Thank you to everyone who came along to
support our Christmas Fair on Saturday.
It was well attended by families, elves and
even Santa! £594 was raised, thanks to
The Friends of Oak Grove College. Thanks also for supporting the Special
Olympics stall at the Christmas Fair - we
raised over £250, which will go towards
the Nationals in Sheffield.
6th Form raise £147.52
The 6th form ASDAN group
raised £147.52 for this year’s
Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
Well done.
Paraplay Day
Eight Koa students attended
Paraplay Day, which was run by
Brighton F.C. and Chichester
University. All students were
fully engaged throughout the day
and took part in a range of
different activities, including
football, blind target games,
tennis, boccia, rounders and
wheelchair basketball.
Students had a fantastic time.
Well done Thomas, Shami,
Alessia, Felicity, Maisy, Hakim,
Barnaby and Connor.
Boccia Tournament
Nine students competed against
twelve other teams in the Boccia
tournament last Monday. They all
played very well and used the tactics
they had been learning. Our top team
of Ammie–Leigh, Befinn and Holly
came second in their pool and went on
to the play-offs where they drew the
Angmering A team, comprising of
national players. They put up a good
fight and narrowly lost 3-2. Overall positions:
Oak Grove A Team - 8th
Oak Grove B Team - 4th
Oak Grove C Team - Joint 11th
Wheelchair Masters
Eight sports leaders went to the Olympic Park in London
on Friday to watch some wheelchair tennis. They
travelled by train and got a chance to go on the high
speed service from St Pancras to Stratford
International. Once in the park, they had to learn how
tennis is scored, find out what the difference is
between wheelchair tennis and able bodied tennis, and
listen for the umpiring phases. Students were met by
volunteer Margaret who took them round the venue and
to the court for the match. Afterwards, the students
got to go to the activity zone where they played a
variety of games which they will practise, then deliver
to year 7 in the summer term. They also got to meet
and play tennis with John Bercow (Speaker of the
House of Commons).
Bad Weather Procedures
As the winter brings the colder weather,
please ensure that you listen to the local
radio (Heart FM, Splash FM & Spirit FM),
where news of school closures due to
snowfall will be broadcasted.
Should you have concerns about whether
school will be open, please check the
school’s website
www.oakgrovecollege.org.uk which will be
updated by 7:00am on each morning of
possible closure. We will also send a text
to parents – please make sure we have
your most up to date mobile number.
If county transport is not running, do not
bring your child into school unless you are
prepared to collect them too.
Puzzle Day
Last Tuesday we had our annual OGC Puzzle Day.
The whole college swapped lessons for a jam-
packed day full of problem solving and team
building activities. Students spent the day in
their family groups, meeting new friends and
working together. Animus students started off
in The Space with some giant board games
before heading off to Rebound Therapy for the
morning. Students enjoyed completing jigsaws
of staff with their silly selfies and getting tied
up in knots during the rope challenge. Both staff
and students across the college took on the
challenge of building 3D structures with Kapla
bricks. Things got competitive with geocaching
and speed stacking challenges. We had special
guest 'The Puzzle Man', and ended the day with
a whole school assembly with Dan the Hat.
Para Triathlon
The final total raised from the Para Triathlon, which took place during the summer term, is
£2254. This will be shared with the school to buy outdoor gym equipment. Please note 7th
August 2016 in your diaries to take part again next year. Below is a link for you to see what
we did and inspire you to join in. There is also a video on the second page which shows our
students taking part. http://www.tribalseries.com
Christmas Post!
The Christmas postbox is back and
our Literacy elves are primed to sort
and deliver your festive good wishes.
Please remember to help them by
adding: Surname
Class or Family Group Many thanks,
The Christmas Post Fairy
Friends of Oak Grove Well, the Friends have been busy since September! To start the term, we managed to secure all the funding for the
Acheeva bed which has now been purchased and is being used in the
PMLD classes. We then focused our efforts on the Christmas Fair.
Thank you to everyone who donated toiletries and chocolates on the
two mufti days. We were inundated with donations, and a team of
mums and staff helped sort and label all the items ready for our
tombola stall. We also ran the café at the fair on Saturday and we
were delighted to raise £594 across both stalls and the sale of the
DVDs. We are very close to raising the £6,000 needed for the outdoor PE equipment and we are
hopeful that by the end of the year we will be in a position to order the equipment. The
next item that the college have asked us to help purchase is a new minibus! They have
already been successful in a bid from the Lord Taverners charity, but they have to match
fund an amount of £14,000 to qualify for the new bus. Although it is a huge amount of
money I think the “Friends” can rise to the challenge with the help of everyone at Oak
Grove College, and raise this money so that all our children can go out into the community
more. We have already got lots of exciting things to share with you. Early next year we will be
launching “Lucky Lotto” where you can pay a £1 a week and choose a number and every
week someone will win £30. We also have a mufti/activity day on Friday 29th January in
school and a race night is booked for Friday 11th March. More details will follow in the
New Year, or you can keep up to date with all the news on our Facebook page. If you are
not already a member please go to the page and ask to join and we will happily approve
you. https://www.facebook.com/groups/oakgroverparents/ For now though, we all wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year. Debbie May (On behalf of the FOG Committee)
Forthcoming dates for your diary:
16 December Carols by Candlelight
17 December Carol Concert
18 December Last day of term, non-uniform
21 December — to 1 January Christmas holidays
4 January Return to school
22 January Inset day
26 January KS3 Parents Evening
9 February KS4/5 Parents Evening
15 to 19 February Half Term