Class 1 visited Gloucester Cathedral today. They had a fantastic day learning about Easter at the different stations around this magnificent building.
Blog
Eco Warriors
Before Covid hit, Oakridge school had been gearing up efforts to become one of a small handful of Gloucestershire primary schools to be awarded with a prestigious Eco Schools Green Flag Award. Sadly, during the pandemic, focus shifted and the project was put on the back burner.
Two years on, and thanks to the determination of our wonderful staff and pupils, we’re going for it again! Applications are open and the school is putting together an action plan, led by a team of 9 eco warriors.
Our students care deeply about environmental issues and have a strong desire to actively protect our planet. However, environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity-loss or plastic pollution are huge global issues and the thought of tackling them can be intimidating, leaving many feeling overwhelmed and wondering ‘Where do I begin?’
The Eco-Schools programme provides a simple, seven-step framework that answers this question whilst empowering young people to make a difference in their school, local community and beyond.
Schools connect their activities to three or more of the Ten Eco-Schools Topics. These topics break large, global issues like climate change into more manageable and directed themes that prompt young people to consider environmental changes that they can make in their school and everyday lives.
STEM Week 2023
Last week, to celebrate STEM week, class 2 were treated to a crazy morning of amazing science activities. The workshop was led by the brilliant Diatom Dave, owner of Fun Science, providing science edu-tainment to children aged 3-11. Their aim is to foster within children a life long passion for learning and a desire to find things out for themselves through access to high tech equipment in a safe environment.
The theme for the workshop was ‘communications,’ and it began with a very informative slideshow that involved a few unusual items!
The children were then invited to get involved with a variety of different hands on activities, including making their own megaphones!
Pupils also had the opportunity to make string telephones, to help them understand how sound waves travel. They had a lot of fun!
There was also the opportunity to try their hand at flag semaphores, used to convey information by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position.
World Book Day 2023
Last Thursday, class 1 welcomed a very special visitor to help them celebrate World Book Day! Their topic for this term is knights and castles. The little ones enjoyed spending the day dressing up as real life knights and learning all about the life of a knight.
Despite the school strikes, Oakridge School remained open, allowing the children to continue with their learning, uninterrupted, and what a wonderful World Book Day they had as a result! A big thank you to all the teachers for their amazing efforts.
3 Choirs Festival
The children in Class 2 have been taking part in a project for the 3 Choirs Festival. They have had visits over the past 4 weeks to compose a follow up to Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending’, the words of which you will see below. You can also listen to their composition.
The children will have the opportunity to hear their composition during a music evening at Gloucester Cathedral in July. Further details will follow.