Coast: Issue 12
Welcome to the December issue of our COAST magazine.
Year 7
This half-term Year 7 Tutor Reps have met as part of the Year 7 Council to share their views of life at OAS and they have also taken their places on the Whole School Parliament to meet with Mr Brown. Our Year 7 Reps have been very articulate in expressing their ideas and opinions and they have taken their positions of responsibility very seriously.
Our Year 7 Anti-Bullying Reps are on duty in T7 during lunch and they are available for anyone who would like to come and have a chat.
Year 7 Tutor Representatives and Anti-Bullying Ambassadors are listed below.
Tutor Groups have also elected students to become their Eco Reps and their GROWTH Mental Health and Wellbeing Reps. It has been lovely to see how many of our Year 7 students want to be involved in making a positive difference to our school community.
During Kindness Week, I set Year 7 the challenge of earning 210 Acts of Kindness Points, which is one point per Year 7 student. I also asked staff to catch Year 7 being kind. Both the staff and Year 7 took up my challenge and Year 7 surpassed my target as they managed to earn 234 Acts of Kindness Points during the week!
Currently Year 7 are top of the school for attendance and for the number of positive reward points. At the time of writing this, Year 7 have a total of 3258 points including 312 Acts of Kindness Points. The points per group is as follows.
7AN = 344 / 7AS = 309 / 7IN = 492 / 7IS = 431 / 7TN = 367 / 7TS = 577 / 7VN = 391 7VS = 347
I am very proud of the positive attitude to learning displayed by members of the year group during lessons and tutor sessions. The top ten Year 7 students with the most reward points are listed below.
- Lily Hull
- Brooke Wolfe
- Luke Adams
- Talaina Barnard
- Ford Gatehouse
- Dani Biggs
- Scarlett Smith
- Amelia Heaton
- Jack Carter
- Oscar Sutton-Smith
The Top Tutor Attendance for Year 7 is 7VS with 95% and joint second are 7TN and 7VS with 97%. Thank you to everyone for working so hard to make it into school on time this half-term. We appreciate all of your efforts and are very proud of you. Mrs Cull our Attendance Lead came to a Year 7 assembly to hand out Amazon vouchers to 5 lucky Year 7 winners as part of the whole school "in it to win it" attendance challenge.
Year 7 students have continued to make progress in their language lessons and I have had the pleasure of giving out language certificates during a recent assembly. Well done to our aspiring linguists!
Year 7 have nearly completed their first term at OAS and it has been a pleasure to watch them grow in confidence as they settle into their secondary school education.
Well done Year 7. Keep up the good work!
Mrs Rolls, Head of Year 7
Year 8
As Christmas is approaching and nights are getting dark, we are now in our second term. I must admit I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know all the Year 8s. I feel privileged to have such a lovely year group who exemplify all the Oasis habits. My motto with the year group is RESPECT and HONESTY, these to me are true core values which will give them key tools as they navigate through secondary school. I am very proud to say they are demonstrating these values every day. 😊
We were lucky to host researchers from the University of Southampton who delivered a presentation on the aurora in the night sky, and here is an excerpt from Dr Saunders about the amazing experience they had!
“Did you know that the Northern Lights or Aurora is caused from particles of plasma emitted from the sun interact with our atmosphere?"
Depending on the elements present determine the colours of the aurora. So, the green and red colours often observed are caused by the presence of oxygen. If you are really lucky you may see purple colours, but these are much rarer and are caused by the presence of nitrogen and tends to only occur at solar maxima.
A group of Year 8 students has been working with the researchers from the Astrometry Department from the University of Southampton. During the initial visit Year 8 students were given the opportunity back in October to visit the astrodome, learning how to tell stars and planets apart in the night sky and an introduction to the aurora.
A smaller group of students then spent time with the researchers helping on a citizen science project assisting the research team to classify the shapes of different auroras observed and recorded at Svalbard. Anyone can have a go at this www.aurorazoo.org and there are full instructions on the website. This project will finish with a final visit from the research team in December.
The wellbeing of my students is very important. During assemblies I often say, If our students leave school, well rounded human beings who contribute towards society, they will also teach these values which are so important in today’s climate. It takes seconds to be kind and thoughtful towards others.
Please take a few minutes to read below, I know sometimes we can all get caught up with life and situations beyond our control, and I know I most certainly have, but it is so important to remember the positive and not to focus on the negative.
Well-being & Positive thinking
Did you know your brain has something called a ‘negativity bias’? This means that you are more likely to give time and attention to negative things than positive ones and this is just the same for children. It’s why they often remember being told off more than praised and it is why problems can seem bigger and more important to them than they are. It is thought that our brains work like this because in prehistoric times if we paid more attention to danger, we were more likely to survive!
Well, we can work on that with our kids and help them develop more of a positivity bias by asking the right questions such as "What are they grateful for today?" What went well today? What made them laugh?
Deliberately giving attention to the good things in their life will help your child strengthen neural pathways in positive thinking and looking at things more positively will become a natural response. 😊
Stars this half term are:
100% Attendance
Nominations - Head of Year Award for Compassion
Sarah Corbin & Xavier Nanson
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas
Miss H Sydenham, Hear of Year 8
Year 9
As the nights draw in and the days shorten, we find ourselves at the end of the first term. The time of year to cosy up, keep warm and reflect. We have a great many things to be grateful for, to be proud of and to take forward into the year ahead. As ever, I’m always impressed with how our students are maturing and finding their way in the world with strength and fortitude. Rising up to meet the challenges of each day and succeeding in their goals, wants and ambitions. It is these attitudes that I know will make them achieve and be the amazing people they are!
The Year 9’s have been producing some fabulous work across the school. The aromas from the cooking rooms have been delicious indeed, and I hope these skills are finding their way into your kitchens at home! I have seen some beautiful art work cropping up their sketch books and listened to some cracking acoustics from the music department. There have been some excellent linguistics down the languages corridor – and the Duolingo app is very prevalent on the iPads! Some very skilled scientist are cropping up, demonstrating excellent technique in the laboratories.
Alongside the students making great strides in their progress, the school is too! Each day we arrive, a few more developments to the building works appear, so we are all very excited to see the final result when it comes.
Once again, we have a long roll call of students who have maintained their 100% attendance, which is wonderful news! We continue strive to maintain a high attendance rate to enable our students to have access to the learning they need to make their best progress and give them the best opportunities for the future. Our current 100% attendees are as follows:
The reward points are stacking up incredibly well! You can keep a close eye on these using the ClassCharts app, and it goes to show how well our Year 9’s are doing with being on task, supporting others, outstanding achievements in lesson, and just generally being their great selves. Below are the students who currently have at least 200 positive reward points:
Wishing you all a wonderful festive holiday and I hope it brings you cheer, I look forward to seeing the students return in the sparkly New Year!
Year 10
We are now at the end of the first term of Year 10, and I’m pleased that students have settled calmly into their new subjects and are enjoying studying the subjects they have chosen in more depth. When they joined in September 2020 they were asked to imagine where they wanted to be ten years on. They were challenged to have suitably ambitious visions for themselves, to create a vision that was the best version of themselves that they could be and where they were happy and we keep reminding students about this in assemblies and tutor times. To realise this vision students will need the best set of GCSE’s that they can get, and this comes down to hard work in lessons and excellent attendance at school. DfE research shows that students with 100% attendance achieve approximately 1 grade higher in their GCSE results than students on 90%. We know that it can be hard for students to get out the door and into school when they are feeling under the weather, we are there to support.
We have begun the process of informing students of the exciting education opportunities available to them when they leave school at the end of Year 11. We are excited for the students to organise their upcoming work experience and are organising visits in from Itchen College and Barton Peveril College. Some students have been working with Saints Foundation on their health and wellbeing, while others have been introduced to the Oasis Aspirations programme where they will work with a dedicated youth worker on CV writing interview skills and local opportunities.
A big well done to the 33 students who have managed to maintain 100% attendance over the entire term.
David A, Ahmed B, Summer B, Laila B, Brendin B, Caitlyn C, Macey C, Ethan E, Ellie-Mai F, Olivia F, Nathan G, Georgia H, Taylan H, Timothy H, Lenny H, Daniel J, Darcey J, Ethan J, Adam K, Alexander K, Jack L, Blessy L, Oluwatuntise O, Moyosoreoluwa O, Charlie P, Shiya Samir P, Raul P, Samuel R, Sarah S, Ethan S, Whitney W, Archie W, Dixen W
I’m also really pleased to recognise the achievement of the following students who have the highest number of reward points in the year group:
Whitney W, Lilly S, Olivia F, Ella R, Taylan H
Have a lovely Christmas break, and as always if you do have any questions, please do get in touch with us by contacting your child’s tutor or emailing year10@oasissholing.org
Best wishes,
Laura Ahern - Head of Year 10
Year 11
As we fast approach the Christmas Break, it has certainly been an extremely busy time for Year 11. It was great to see so many Year 11 parents at the meet the tutor afternoon and I enjoyed talking to those who attended the “how to support your child with their exams” session. The next parents evening is on Wednesday 3 January. The evening will take place online and appointments can be made here. This will be an important opportunity for you to speak with your child’s class teachers and they will be providing you with feedback on their mock exams and discussing what they need to do to prepare for the final GCSE’s.
It is imperative that Year 11 continue to attend weekly revision sessions after school. This will not only give them confidence but also the necessary skills to succeed in their final exams. We will be launching the Prom passport after the Christmas break where students will be gathering evidence that they are working outside of their timetabled lessons to prepare for their exams. All students will need to have completed their prom passports to be eligible to attend the prom, which will take place on Thursday 4th July.
Last week Year 11 Food Preparation and Nutrition students completed their technical skill dishes towards their GCSE final grade. They produced a range of dishes and displayed a wide range of practical skills. I was very impressed by the thought, dedication, and independence of them all and their food looked delicious.
I am always pleased to hear about the achievements of our students outside of school and was really pleased to hear that Kiaran Pearman was shortlisted for an award with the Royal Yacht Club and received an certificate presented personally by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. Well done Kiaran!
Finally, I wanted to say a big well done to the students who have managed to maintain 100% attendance this term. We know that attendance has a massive impact on attainment in the final exams so it’s a big well done to the following:
Have a lovely Christmas break.
If you have got any questions please do contact your child’s tutor or email year11@oasissholing.org
Mr Wilkinson, Head of Year 11
Student leaders from the Oasis academies in Southampton joined others from around the country for the first Student Leadership Residential.
Six student leaders from the Oasis academies in Southampton joined others from around the country for the first Student Leadership Residential. Held at the Pioneer Centre in Kidderminster, they took part in a full leadership course designed to allow them to grow and develop their leadership skills, with training, workshops, project planning and the opportunity to spend time with senior leaders within Oasis.
The residential was led by Andrew Smyth, Jon Needham and Kat Simmonds with input from other Oasis leaders including the founder Steve Chalke, and supported by staff from the Oasis academies and community teams.
Karen Dawkins and Paul Woodman accompanied the Southampton students and said;
"We were very impressed with how well our students bonded with each other and with those from other academies around the country. They were enthusiastic in the sessions and thoroughly enjoyed their time learning about leadership in this environment."
Louisa from Oasis Academy Sholing said;
"It was amazing to hear Steve Chalk’s stories on how Oasis was founded and how cats saved Oasis Enfield!"
Jake from Oasis Academy Sholing said;
"Getting to talk to students from other academies around the country was really interesting. I learnt a lot about leadership and the evenings were great fun – I won an inflatable unicorn!"
Regional Director, Joanna Lawton praised the students saying,
"I’m very proud of the way our students collaborated and participated in this leadership training. They have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills during this residential program. Their achievements reflect the high standards of excellence that define our academies. I look forward to seeing the continued impact of their leadership in the academy environment and beyond."
News in Brief
Students from OAS attended a celebration event at St Mary's Stadium on Friday. The event was hosted by Saints Community Champion Sam Roberts, with a guest appearance from SFC legend, James Beattie.
We are so proud of Ben Davidson in 11VN, who led his troop of cadets during remembrance again this year!
The Spring 2023 Oasis Encounter referrals is now live!
High Prior Attaining Students
Every year, we select 24 prestigious students to embark on a challenging course of study working with The Brilliant Club called The Scholars Programme. Last year, our Scholars students worked with Dr Yusuf Suleyman on an academic journey into law, exploring the significance of the justice system and how it forms the bedrock of society. Despite graduating from Oxford University at the end of last year I was approached last month and asked if we could obtain consent to print the work of Year 10 student Emily Knight in their publication, The Scholar -their annual publications which celebrates the work of the most outstanding students across the country. Emily and her family were delighted to be asked if her academic essay could be printed and we wanted to share it with you today.
This year's Year 9 and 10 Scholars students will begin their course of study in January.
Well done Emily and the rest of the Scholars Team.
Mrs Gale
Our Eco Council, other environmentally motivated students, and our Sodexo canteen have earned an international accreditation this academic year, recognising their amazing work in making our Academy more environmentally friendly and raising eco-awareness in fellow pupils.
The Eco-Schools programme was established in 1994 and is now delivered in more than 70 countries across the globe. More than 1 million pupils attended an Eco-School in England in 2022-23.
Last academic year, our students reformed our Eco-Committee, then collaborated with staff to conduct an environmental review, assessing how eco-friendly their school is. They reviewed everything from biodiversity within their school grounds to how pupils and staff members travel to school. Building on their findings, our Eco Council then planned a year of action designed to advance their school’s green credentials, improve their local environment, and protect our planet.
We look forward to renewing our Eco-Schools Green Flag at the end of this academic year and, this time, it is our ambition for to achieve the award with Merit.
Well done Oasis Academy Sholing Eco Council!
In KS3, we have begun the year with a variety of interesting texts. In Year 7, we have started our ‘Heroes’ year with Greek Myths. This has been a new and exciting start to Year 7 as we introduce them to some of the most infamous heroes and villains in history. Year 8 and Year 9 have begun this year with Shakespeare—a familiar topic for our students. Year 8 are exploring conflict in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ through our tragic heroes; Year 9 are learning how ‘Othello’ addresses societal issues such as racism and sexism.
We’d like to say a huge well-done to our fantastic Key Stage Three students.
Year 7: Dani Biggs for always wanting to contribute in lessons and really dedicating herself to her studies.
Year 8: Jamie Lane shows a real enthusiasm in his studies of Romeo and Juliet - volunteers to read frequently and shows a real passion for Shakespeare
Year 9: Megan Elton is excelling in English and consistently produces excellent work that is not only considerate of the text but also of the wider context surrounding 'Othello' and how the characters interact, and are influenced by, the wider world.
At KS4, our students have been studying or revising our rigorous GCSE texts. Year 10 have just been introduced to Macbeth—this is their third Shakespeare play since beginning their English studies at Oasis Academy Sholing. This is another opportunity to build upon previous knowledge and stretch their understanding of Jacobean context.
Year 11 are continuing to study new content for the poetry section of their English Literature exam. As mocks begin after October half term, we are also spending time revising key quotes, concepts, and exam techniques. Good luck to our Year 11 students on their next round of assessments.
We’d like to say a huge well-done to our fantastic Key Stage Four students.
Year 10: Evelyn Cox is a focused and diligent student who constantly strives to improve and produce the best work possible. Her contributions in class are excellent and show her drive to succeed.
Year 10: Imogen May is diligent and dedicated within her English studies focuses. She engages in lessons and is a delight to teach.
Year 11: Keira Williamson for her work ethic and positive, resilient attitude towards her studies.
Year 11: Louie Downes consistently makes positive contributions to lessons, offering interesting insights and interpretations to the texts being studied. He is able to link previous knowledge to new knowledge through frequent revision and is eager to share his ideas with the rest of the class.
Extra-curriculars
The department runs a Debate Club every week to challenge and stretch our students. This is a wonderful opportunity for our learners to practise their fluency and articulacy. It allows them to share their viewpoint and learn about other people’s viewpoints in a constructive manner. Students also have a lot of autonomy in this club and so it is also instilling independence in all members.
As a department, we will be entering the Rotary Club’s Young Writer Competition for another year. We have had some success at a regional and district level over the past few years. We look forward to this next writing challenge.
Lastly, we have a wonderful Year 8 team who are preparing to participate in the Rotary’s Youth Speaks competition early next year. We wish them all the luck.
Literacy
Reading Plus has been successfully launched across the school. This is a new piece of software that all pupils have access to and it will run alongside Accelerated Reader. It will enable them to access a vast range of new and exciting texts to boost their reading ages.
Each KS3 year group has a reading club that is run weekly by one of the members of the English department. This is a great opportunity for our students to read and discuss a challenging text to which they might not always have access.
Our Librarian was so excited when the Book Buzz books arrived; she fashioned them into a festive Book Tree in the library before delivering the 416 books to our Year 7 and Year 8 students. Students chose one of 16 books to receive, paid for by OAS in conjunction with Book Buzz, to ensure that every Year 7 and Year 8 student has a book to read this festive season.
If your child is looking for a new read over the holidays, then tell them to pop into the library as our shelves are packed with lots of new books! Choose from YouTube World Records 2024, manga hot off the press, sequels to The Sad Ghost graphic novels, choose your own story books, short stories, books on mysteries, medicine and the Aztecs and of course, the latest Christmas books to curl up with. We’ve something for everyone!
It’s been a great start to the academic year with the library issuing 539 books to 196 borrowers whilst e-platform (our digital service) has lent out 687 books (of which 162 were audiobooks) to 129 patrons from September to December. Our digital platform is becoming more and more popular. Please do encourage your child to download the E-Platform app via Self Serve on their iPad where they’ll have over 1000 titles at their fingertips.
Our Friday lunchtime book club has been gathering momentum this term. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch our Year 11 student run this club for all year groups. They’ve read One of Us is Lying and The Woman in Black so far and had plentiful discussions about their favourite books and authors as well as researched the origins of Santa’s red suit!
Lastly, what better way to end a busy week than to spend an hour with friends playing boardgames or Magic the Gathering? We’ve welcomed new Year 7s and been learning how to play Splendour, Mantis and Fluxx whilst some of our established board gamers from last year have learnt Magic the Gathering this term. Boardgames aren’t just a way to pass the time, you can meet new friends, improve your wellbeing and they help develop literacy and numeracy skills – all whilst having fun! The club runs Fridays from 3-4pm and there is no need to sign up.
Year 7
This half term Year 7 have built on their understanding of number by looking at negative numbers and their application in the real world such as temperature. We have then taken our knowledge even further by looking at how we can generalise ideas in maths using algebra, tackling some of the core concepts of this topic to build upon in future years. We got to revisit some of our key number concepts from last half term such as factors when we did factorising.
Stars
Amelia Heaton, Tiamo Texeira, Evie Harris, Max Applegate, Grace Boyes, Katie Venn, Malakai Gray & Aidan Blake
Year 8
Year 8 moved onto applying their algebraic knowledge to straight line graphs, they have developed an understanding of gradient and how this ties into the equation of a straight line. Following on from algebra, they looked at how they can use rounding to make numbers easier to understand and how to use this skill for estimation. They were introduced to the idea of a significant figure and how these are different to decimal places.
Stars
Jenson Lowry, Lilly Harris, Sophie Channell, Lewis Delves, Emily Jone, Kaci Brodie, Grace Barrett & Bianka Backai
Year 9
Year 9 have focussed on algebra during this half term, developing their algebraic manipulation skills in a number of ways. They have recapped expanding and factorising from previous years and developed this skill further to include double as well as single brackets. As the half term moved forwards they have consider how they can use balancing to not only solve equations but how it can be useful for rearranging formulae, a skill they will also need in their science lessons. Finally they looked at probability and how it is the chance of something happening, this brought in some of the number concepts form previous terms such as fractions and decimals.
Stars
Oliver Hayward, Sofie Legg, Lillian Brindley, Jared Wright, Hayden Hunt, Melissa Battagin, Amber Cannon & Neeya Patel
Year 10
This half term Year 10 have revisited and developed their knowledge of fractions and percentages. They have encountered all the core basics and applied these ideas in different concepts. They looked at a key area where we see percentages used everyday, such as in banking for interest. They considered different types of interest and how they can compare different investment offers from banks. Finally, they applied their knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages in the topic area of probability. They were able to explore set notation and Venn diagrams, before moving onto how we can look at probability where there is more than one event.
Stars
Louisa Adams, Matthew Collin, Alfie Booker, Macey Cherry, Reed Amey, Judith Milanzi, Jack Venn & Poppy Rochester
Year 11
This half term Foundation students have been looking at angles in polygons, bearings and inequalities. They have been looking at the idea of congruence and the differences between congruence and similarity. Moving on they have looked at graphs, both linear and non-linear. Remembering the specific shapes of some of the trigonometric graphs.
Higher students have also been looking at congruence and graphs, ensuring that they can draw the different trigonometric graphs and understand what they mean.
At the beginning of term Year 11 students sat their Maths Mock papers. These papers have now been assessed and for the final three weeks of term Sparx homework has been replaced by paper homework. Each homework is individualised to the student, looking at the topics that they struggled with in their Mock papers and giving practice with these to help confidence. Completing these booklets will help all students identify gaps in their knowledge and will help fill these gaps.
Stars
Matthew Lamprey, Brook Heath, Ethan Louw, Jack Bowers, Luke Cooper, Kornelia Bem, Cameron Howells & Cerys Collier
Sparx Homework
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. Students in KS3 are expected to spend around half an hour on their homework weekly, those in KS4 about 40 minutes
Students no longer need to remember their Sparx password, should they need to they can log on with their Microsoft account on their ipads.
Sparx has videos that directly link to each questions to support students when they get stuck. Students are also more than welcome to see their teachers at break or lunch.
Maths Puzzles
Using the numbers from 1-9, complete the grid
Year 7
Students have developed their understanding of substances with a focus on dissolving and the particle model. Next students learnt the knowledge required to represent chemical reactions and formulas and are now able to represent reactions in word and symbol form. Next, we are shifting to study Biology, starting with cells as the fundamental building blocks of life.
Year 8
Students began the half term focused on the idea of “images” and how they are formed. This gets to the heart of our big question “How does energy and information spread?”. The unit culminated in a powerful finale exploring how the eye works. This enabled students to build a sense of an image being produced at the detector rather than embed common misconceptions such as images “travelling” from an object. Students are now confident in describing the paths light can travel. Then, we supported students in developing a scientific sense of how objects weight can be supported using Newton’s third law and the idea of ‘force glasses’ to show forces act even when an object is “at rest.”
Year 9
Students have built upon their understanding of substances by studying the atomic model and using it to explain how atoms bond with each other to form the variety of substances around us. Then, they have studied a variety of common chemical reactions that are of great use to practical Chemists.
Year 10
Students started this half term by heading into the plant biology topic. This topic teaches our students all about how plants are producers and use the process of photosynthesis to produce the glucose they need to respire. We study, in depth, the different types of plant tissue and cells and how they are adapted for their function. Finally, this topic will finish with students getting their first introduction to ecology and understanding how different ecosystems can be sampled with the use of quadrats and transects.
Year 11
We want to start by saying well done to the Year 11 students that showed dedication to their autumn mock exams and have received the grades they have worked so hard to achieve at this early point in the year! In lessons, at the start of the term we have been studying organic chemistry, developing our students understanding of what crude oil is and how it can be separated into its different, useful fractions. We are heading into the run up to the Christmas break by starting our first biology paper 2 topic this year on genetics and inheritance. By the end of this topic students will have an in depth understanding of DNA, genetics and how to determine the probability of certain species inheriting particular characteristics. After school intervention is still running every Monday after school (3-4pm) and it is important that students continue to attend as we start working towards their spring mocks.
Science Homework
At Oasis Sholing we complete science homework because:
- It helps our young people to build deep scientific understanding.
- Supports our young people to to challenge our world and be part of making our world better in the future.
- Helps our young people to achieve amazing outcomes. We know lots of practise is key to being good at science.
How to support your child to do their science homework:
Unsure how to use? Watch this video which will explain.
Logging In: Your child will find the link on MS Teams, they just need to click the link to their homework. Type their full name to log in. There is no username or password needed.
Using the Flashcards: You can support your child by helping them to revise the flashcard before they flip them over- just read out the question and get your child to answer you and check the answer before moving on. This should take at least 15 minutes.
Taking the quiz: After 15 minutes flashcard revision, your child is now ready to take the quiz. they should click “complete quiz” and type in their answers for each question from memory.
Marking the quiz: Your child ca now mark their quiz. if they got less than 80%, then they should re practice the flashcards revision before retaking the quiz- no more than 3 times.
When is the homework due?
Science Capital
In Science this term, we have been busy behind the scenes planning for trips in the Spring and Summer of 2024. We have trips going to the Jurassic Coast (Year 8), to see researchers based at a variety of UK universities talk about their cutting edge research (Year 9 and 10), the science of health messaging for teenagers (Year 9) and Marwell Zoo to learn about the ecology and biodiversity (Year 10). I don't know who is more excited the Science staff or students about these trips now!
A group of our Year 8 students have also been furthering their learning about the Aurora with the team from the University of Southampton Astrodome.
We have also launched our new Science Media channel. This is a new team channel open to all students, where Science teachers regularly post science related news. Recent updates have included:
- Did you know group of researchers is developing a electronic tongue?
- Did you see the photos of a new volcano appearing above the sea for the first time?
- Has the volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula erupted yet?
- How does the Archer fish catch prey above the water level?
Why not ask you find out the latest science news with your child!
Science Club
This term in science club we have seen lots of new and wonderful faces which has been amazing.
Students have had the opportunity to complete all sorts of experiments including:
- Homemade autumnal bath bombs
- Producing and testing oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen
- Making our own pH indicator using cabbage and testing the acidity and alkalinity of at home staples – do you know how alkali your toothpaste is?
- Popping fruit juice balls using sodium alginate
- Pinhole cameras, enabling us to see how our eyes truly observe an image before it becomes inverted by our brains
- Natural perfumes via distillation
Next term we will look to introduce some new experiments such as maglev trains, trebuchets and scribble bots. Alongside the return of some old classics such as food tests, distilled cleaner and dissections (although an all new bit of anatomy to dissect!).
If you think this would interest you, or you would like to try out any of the above. Come along to S2 on Thursdays 3-4pm and see Miss Waller for more details.
Year 7
Recently Year 7s have been building their knowledge of spreadsheets. They have learnt to use the key functions of Excel and applied this to investigate data sets using spreadsheets.
Year 8
Year 8 have been learning about different ways data is represented by computer scientists. For example, they can now convert binary numbers and use logic gates.
Year 9
Year 9 are honing their coding skills with Python, one of the most widely used programming languages in the world.
Year 10
In Year 10 students have been learning the important principles of programming and have started to create complex programs using python.
Year 11
Year 11 have been further developing their knowledge of the features of programming languages, this has included looking at the usefulness of an integrated development environment (IDE); a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. Year 11 intervention on Tuesdays (3-4pm) is recommended to all students, we are currently placing a major focus on our programming skills and the programming exam that makes up 50% of GCSE grade.
Year 7
With our brand-new kitchens open, our Year 7 have been able develop their cooking skills. Year 7's have been practising their safe use of knives, use of the oven, the hob and using the grill to cook a selection of meals.
This term Year 7 have made potato wedges, vegetable soup and muffin pizzas before combining the two to test their ability to multitask.
This terms Foodie Heroes are Sam Connolly and Lily Hull
Year 8
Year 8's this term has been learning about the causes of cross contamination in the kitchen and how it can be avoided.
They used this knowledge when making dishes like fish cakes, Bolognese pasta bake and beef koftas.
This terms Foodie Heroes are Ella Spicer and Lewis Delves
Year 9
Our Year 9's have been learning about what causes food poisoning in the kitchen this term and have been learning how to prevent food poisoning when working with raw meats.
This term they have made sweet and sour chicken, crispy chicken goujons and beef burgers.
This terms Foodie Heroes are Tom Phillips and India Worrall
Year 10
In their theory lessons this term our Year 10 students have learnt about the importance of nutrients in the body and how to plan balanced meals for different people.
In their practical lessons our pupils have been developing impressive practical skills such as shaping meat mixtures, making bread doughs as well as making their own yoghurts and learning how to portion a chicken.
This terms Foodie Heroes are Imogen May and Alex Dibden Pine
Year 11
Year 11 has reached perhaps its busiest part for our GSCE Food Preparation and Nutrition cohort. They have just begun their journey to completing their NEA 2, the second piece of assessed work towards their GCSE.
As I am writing this, our Year 11’s are producing their technical dishes, which allow them to show their wide variety to technical skills before they do their final practical exam later in the Year.
We are already so proud of the practical outcomes our Year 11 are producing and I am sure this will be replicated in their final practical exam in January.
This terms Foodie Heroes are Ruby Cox and Toby Millard
One City No Barriers!
Year 8 students attended a specialist RE day, to promote equality, inclusion and diversity across the city. OAS students were joined by 6 other schools. They were supported in their work on the day by faith leaders from a wide range of faiths across the city, including non-religious groups, like Humanism. Our students were fantastic, they demonstrated many of our 9 habits throughout the day and in particular showed compassion and consideration when trying to promote Southampton as a city of tolerance. Well done!
Our RS stars for Autumn 2, who have an amazing attitude to learning and produce exceptional work are:
Year 11: Angel Matsinde and Rubi Gray
Year 10: Darcey Jenkins and Joshua Doherty
Year 9: Adisa Pepkolaj and Brandon Edwards
Year 8: Annabel-Sophie Wisniewska and Alexander Tootill
Year 7: Melody Lane and Gonçalo Nunes
Media
In the run up to Christmas, Year 11 have been working on their NEA which is worth 30% of their entire GCSE and wow are we impressed! Students had the opportunity to choose from a bank of possible briefs provided by the exam board and as a result we have music videos from the Indie genre, dramatic finales from teen dramas, film marketing from the mystery and musicals genre not to mention magazines that focus on fishing, basketball, computer games and boxing! I can't wait to be able to share their hard work with you next issue.
Shout outs go to Matthew Davies who finished his fantastic boxing magazine early including a feature article on his brother, ex-OAS student Tom who is making leaps and bounds to a professional boxing career and the Evan Baker who has worked determinedly on his musicals film marketing despite being the only student to select this genre.
Year 10 have been studying the James Bond franchise and analysing how representations of gender and ethnicity alter over time, all the way from The Man with the Golden Gun from the 1970s up to the most recent No Time to Die. They've also been learning about marketing and promotion and how synergy allows large conglomerates like MGM and Universal to build an excess of wealth.
Special shout outs go to Samuel Rowlinson, Mason Brodie Grace Burgess for consistently engaging in classroom discussions and thinking hard.
Creative iMedia
Year 11 have been working hard as always and recently have been exploring issues around regulation and censorship in media industries. They've studied the BBFC, ASA, OFCOM and PEGI to find out why and how we regulate the media and the sanctions of failing to follow their guidelines. As well as this they've also been exploring legal restrictions around taking photos and how you ensure you follow the law.
Year 10 have started their first sample NEA so that they are fully prepared for their actual assignments that begin next year. These briefs require students to strategize, plan and create a range of graphical products for the creative media industry. Special shout outs go to Raul Peica-Balasoche, Blessy Linatoc and Charlie Pack for their great start in their projects.
Year 11 Creative iMedia shout outs go to Filip Jurek, Max Miller and George Hayward for always thinking hard and answering difficult questions.
Monday 25th September was moving day! After 18 months at Sholing FC the team, with the help pf a local removal company Pack & Stack, moved the pantry to its new home at the Highpoint venue. We are incredible grateful for all the support we received from Sholing FC, and were sad to leave but, are excited to be settled in our new home & working in partnership with Plus you ltd.
We have seen our membership rise to 220 families in the past couple of months so the need for donations is greater than ever before. A huge thank you to the staff & students at Oasis Mayfield, Oasis Sholing for their continues support. To Aldi (our new neighbours) Tesco, and to all the local business who have a collection point for amazing donations and our fantastic team of volunteers who make it all possible.