LiFe Link Academy Newsletter
Autumn Term Review
Welcome to the 12th edition of our LiFe Link Newsletter. We have celebrated another great term packed full of opportunities for our young people and we would like to share these with you.
Thank you to everyone who reads this edition and continues to support Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill.
Welcome Year 7
It has been a busy and challenging term for Year 7 settling into secondary school life, they have shown great determination to succeed and I am hopeful and excited to see how their future progress. It has been great to meet so many new faces. We have held many activities and opportunities in addition to their learning journey in timetabled class lessons.
To date we have held elections for Junior Student Leaders for Years 7. Following an extremely positive democratic voting process the following students were elected to represent their tutor group Owen C, Mia P, Gabrieliu K, Ashton R, Ethan M and Yaad S. This supports our student voice to help identify current strengths as well as ideas for improving things even further at the academy.
Across the school we always aim to encourage and support students and recognise achievements. In October, 30 students were selected based on top scoring positive ClassCharts points enjoyed a movie event as a reward activity. At the end of the Autumn term we held our first Year 7 celebration assembly with so many students receiving recognition for their efforts and achievement in lessons to date. The rewards issued were based upon our ethos of Be Proud, Be Kind, Be Determined.
We also launched our 9 Habits passports where children could take part in a number of challenges, I have been proud to see so many take on these challenges, many of our year group will be recognised in future assemblies for their efforts.
Each term we have a range of extra curriculum clubs on offer and it has been wonderful to see a number of Year 7s enjoying these activities
We have recently had IntoUniversity visit the academy, where some students took part in a workshop titled ‘Becoming an Independent Learner’. These workshops will continue throughout the year.
Most recently, we held our parents evening, this was a great opportunity for teachers and students to discuss progress to date and to support our students with their next steps. We also welcomed our mental health support team who held ‘drop ins’ for any families that wanted further advice. Over the last two weeks our students have been sitting their mid term assessments. I have been so impressed by the positive attitudes and maturity demonstrated by the year group.
Looking into the future I will be launching the Year 7 residential trip. This will be open to all students (subject to behaviour). The trip will be an activity based trip titled ‘Unite’ which aims to build confidence, team work and relationships. Further details will follow shortly! As always if you have any further queries, questions or concerns regards Year 7 please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Kirsty Blake, Head of Year 7
Christmas Showcase 2023
In December 2023, we saw the return of our annual Christmas Showcase, an evening hosting a plethora of talent from across all academy year groups. We welcomed our community to the Lord’s Hill Theatre on Tuesday 12th December for an evening of Dance, Drama and Musical performances, with some incredible food provided by Mr Collins’ GCSE Food Technology students. The evening was a great success and has enabled the Performing Arts department to reinvest into our upcoming performances, with a scheduled show of ‘Mary Poppins Jr’ taking place in July 2024. I would like to thank all of the students who took part in the showcase (over 40!), for their continued dedication and passion in the Performing Arts at Lord’s Hill.
I would also like to give an additional thank you to Mrs Kilbey, Miss Moore and Miss Roath for their dedication behind the scenes in helping bring the showcase to life.
The Performing Arts department look forward to welcoming you all again soon for our next show, and please do keep an eye out on social for all updates and performing arts news!
Movie Rewards
On Friday 20th October, 100 students across Year 7 – 11 were rewarded for achieving the highest number of positive behaviour ClassCharts points with a Movie Reward Session in the Theatre. It was a great way for these students to be recognised for consistently demonstrating the ‘Lord’s Hill Way’ and for being the best version of themselves on a consistent basis. Students were taken off-timetable and were provided with free drinks and snacks as a thank you for their consistent hard-work across the first half term!! A lovely time was had by all and we can’t wait to do it again in the Spring Term.
Celebration Assemblies
At Lord’s Hill, we are determined to recognise the achievements and positive attitudes of students. A perfect demonstration of this, was when over 260 students were Rewarded with a Certificate and Selection Box in the end of term Christmas Celebration Assemblies that were expertly led by the Heads of Year. Students were awarded after being nominated by departments for demonstrating the traits of being Proud, Kind and Determined, in order to be the best versions of themselves throughout the Autumn term. It was a wonderful way to share the success of our students and the Assemblies were full of joy and appreciation.
Children in Need
On Friday 17th November, the academy took part in a whole school Cake Sale, with all donations going to BBC Children in Need. Staff were encouraged to purchase cakes to donate, and the wonderful Year 10 Food students also baked 100’s of cakes to contribute to the cause. These were then sold by the brilliant Year 11 Student Leaders in the Agora at break and lunch. The day was a massive success, with very long queues of excited students happy to contribute and enjoy a sweet treat. A massive £270 was raised, which is fantastic!
Christmas Pantomime
On Wednesday 13th December 2023, students had the exciting opportunity to watch the Christmas Pantomime of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Mayflower Theatre. ‘Brought to life with comedy, song and dance numbers, fabulous costumes and stunning scenery (Mayflower Theatre, 2023)’. Leading the cast was the incredible street dance sensation & Britain’s Got Talent winners, Ashley Banjo & Diversity as Prince Ashley & the Palace Guards. They were also joined by Pantomime legend Christopher Biggins as the man in the magical mirror. The evening was very enjoyable, included laugh out loud comedy and seamless dance numbers! Next year Ashley Banjo & Diversity will be back to star in Jack & the Beanstalk!
Celebration event at St Mary's Stadium
Students from Oasis Lord's Hill attended a celebration event at St Mary's Stadium in December. The event was organised by our Saints Community Champion, Sam Roberts, with a guest appearance from SFC legend, James Beattie.
It was an action-packed day for the 12 students, which included a stadium tour, the BIG Saints Quiz, a physical activity and a prize giving ceremony.
All other partner schools from across the city were there for the prize giving ceremony that recognised the young people for their achievements. The prizes were given to the students by James Beattie.
An amazing day!
Funkyfit Boxing
Congratulations to the amazing PE teachers and members of the SEND team at Oasis Academy Lord's Hill for completing their Funkyfit Boxing course to become qualified Funkyfit Boxing Instructors.
They have taken this initiative to help students feel more emotionally stable, improve health and fitness, reduce pent-up stress, improve overall mental health issues and help create a happy, positive mindset in a fun, safe and effective way alongside all the great PE lessons. Thank you, Frank Mangna (Mr Funkyfit)
The Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill leisure team spent a busy Autumn term welcoming many different groups and organisations into the academy during the evenings and weekends once again making our fantastic facilities available to the local community.
The leisure team were delighted to host it’s first ever Diwali Mela celebration on Sunday 15th October 2023. Around 1000 visitors from across the south attended the event run by the Eastleigh and Southampton Asian Community and they were treated to a wide variety of musical performances and fashion shows with cultural crafts and accessories on show. The theatre performance of the Ramayana play, Ramlila, was sold out and there was also a varied selection of authentic Indian food stalls for visitors to try throughout the day.
The event was also in aid of 12-year-old Ansh Agwarala who is in need of surgery to help him walk without a frame.
The organisers, Rajan Jolly and his wife Meenakshi were delighted with how the event turned out and are keen to repeat it in future years.
The City Farm: John Muir Award
Our weekly trips to the nearby Oasis City Farm continues on Tuesday mornings for students to complete a six-week outdoor learning course, to earn the John Muir Award. The City Farm has a wide range of animals from reptiles to rabbits, and from guinea pigs to goats. The students have educational sessions at the farm which includes caring for animals, harvesting plants and clearing and cleaning the animals’ living environments. The John Muir Award encourages people of all backgrounds to connect with, enjoy and care for wild places.
Leading the trip, Paul Woodman said;
Our students have been enthusiastic throughout their visits to the farm in all weathers, working hard on the trips and enjoying the times with the animals. A particular highlight for many of the students has been cuddling the rescue chickens and the guinea pigs.
KS3 students are selected to take part in the farm trips by the Heads of Year. Sessions to the farm will continue through the year.
A Sea Symphony
Music students, Lyric and Vibhavi attended a special concert at Southampton Guildhall called ‘A Sea Symphony’, which was performed by Southampton Philharmonic Choir. The Vaughn Williams Symphony has often been performed in Southampton, including in April 2012, to mark the centenary of the tragic end of RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage. A full orchestra performed a wonderful evening of music.
The students were invited to represent Oasis City Farm which is one of the Lord Mayor of Southampton’s charities for this year. A retiring collection was taken for the charities which also include Saints Foundation and Southampton Sea Cadets. During the interval, Lyric and Vibhavi were able to meet the Lord Mayor of Southampton and talk about the concert.
Accompanying the students were Chris Webb and Paul Woodman and they reflected that ‘Our students were mesmerised by the music and listened intently throughout the evening. They were a credit to the Academy and to Oasis City Farm in their ambassador role.’
New Forest Photography Trip
Our Year 10 photographers embarked on a cold walk in the New Forest for a photography session last term. The group visited Dibden Inclosure, a local area where many people visit due to its long, beautiful walking route. The purpose of the trip was to enable students to take photographs inspired by a photographer they have been studying (Daniel Wretham) as part of their natural forms portfolio project. Take a look at the wonderful images below.
Geography Field Trip
Before Christmas, our Year 11 Geography students completed their human fieldwork investigation. The fieldwork was carried out over 2 days, one session in the morning and one in the afternoon. Students were divided into 4 groups to facilitate the fieldwork with around 15 students taking part each trip.
The fieldwork set out to investigate environment quality in Southampton to determine whether there was a change in environmental quality as we moved further from the city centre.
Prior to the fieldwork students were required to discuss and assess the risks associated with undertaking this study, for example what are the risks of collecting data near roads, in cold weather or when travelling in a mini bus.
To evaluate environmental quality 3 methods of data collection were undertaken:
- Environmental quality survey which required students to rate such factors as buildings, green spaces and traffic.
- Litter count.
- Decibel reading where students were able to use an app to discover the level of noise in an area.
This data was collected at 6 different locations, starting in the city centre at Southampton Central Railway Station.
- Southampton Central Railway Station
- Lower Shirley High Street
- Upper Shirley High Street
- Lordshill
- Nursling
- Road to Romsey
Upon return to the academy students analysed the results, drew conclusions and evaluate their methodology.
The level at which the fieldwork and analysis was completed will stand all students in great stead for their GCSE Geography. Experiencing it first hand enables the students to understand and remember more and ensures that they are able to achieve the highest marks possible in this area of their Geography qualification.
The London Eye and Macbeth
Students from Year 10 had an enjoyable sunny day in London on Friday 29th September. They arrived by coach to the foot of the London Eye, just opposite the Houses of Parliament. They then had spectacular, panoramic views from the London Eye, as the group of 50 filled two pods and experienced the 30 minute ride over the city. From there, they walked along the South Bank, alongside the Thames, and were entertained by a number of buskers and entertainers. We stopped for a quick lunch by the river before going into the home of Shakespeare, The Globe Theatre. The theatre was full for a performance of the play, Macbeth.
Oasis Community Learning 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.
Sahar from Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill said;
The residential was honestly the best time l have had in ages. Meeting everyone from different Oasis academies and seeing what differences we have as a school and a community was amazing, and obviously meeting Steve Chalke was the best part. It was great getting to know the story of how Oasis was created to where it is now internationally, and learning the different values we need to become a great leader.
Rifat from Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill said;
This residential was an eye-opening experience, that allowed us to understand what real leadership looked and felt like. It allowed us to express ourselves through our leadership, creating areas where we found we did well and areas we could improve. Overall, this residential was a fun journey filled with laughter, excitement, and knowledge, which allowed us to come out of our comfort zones and work with new people.
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.
Since returning, Rifat and Sahar were honoured to be invited to provide feedback to Oasis Community Learning national teams, on behalf of all the student leaders across the country.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Christmas Lunch
During the last week of term we held our annual Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day. All students enjoyed a Christmas lunch provided for free by the academy and celebrated in their festive nits with their year group.
Remembrance
A 2 minute silence was held on Friday 10th November to mark Armistice Day. Students collected donations for the Poppy Appeal and were invited to wear their services uniforms on the day. We also had students represent the academy in the Remembrance Service in Southampton on the Sunday.
Nathassia
DJ, singer songwriter and performer Nathassia Devine joined us at Oasis Lord's Hill on Wednesday 20th September to perform to our Year 9 students and chatted to them about mental heath, mental heath awareness and the importance of being kind to others.
Watch highlights of her visit here.