Blog

Worship Assembly May 2023

At the end of last term, the children enjoyed sharing the work they had produced over the past few months with their parents at the school’s Worship Assembly.

The assembly takes place at the end of each term. It is an opportunity for the children to proudly show off all the great things they have been learning about. It’s a good opportunity for parents to get involved, have an informal chat to teachers and catch up with other parents too.

Class 1 showed everyone some beautiful drawings of their trip to the steam engine museum, (above) while class 2 showed off their large scale field study drawings of insects they had studied while on a field trip to the local nature reserve, Strawberry Banks, just a short stroll from the school.

At the end of each assembly, certificates of achievement are handed to many of the students.

May Revels

We had a fantastic day on Saturday at May Revels - Oakridge School’s annual fundraising event. The children and parents could not have asked for more on a gloriously warm day as people from the village and surrounding Stroud poured onto the green, which doubles up as the school’s playground.

We started off with crowning our new May Queen, which is a tradition the children really enjoy. This year’s May queen was Eeva, who, being the oldest girl in her year, was chosen.

Shortly after, the children put on their dancing shoes and, with the help of Ballyhoo dancers, valiantly danced around their maypole. Following on from this was a vibrant Caribbean dance, where the entire school wriggled and showed off their moves to Wul Up.

A first for the Revels this year was the dance display by Ballyhoo Dance company, who dazzled the crowd with performances from children from different aged groups.

It was a busy day with lots going on. The schedule was packed full of fun, family activities.

Cranham orchestra also attended, they provided the perfect sound track to a blissful afternoon.

Craft and food stalls were busy, as were the book, plant and cake stalls…

There was plenty of opportunity to win prizes and enjoy go-karting and jumping on the bouncy castle, plus cheese rolling and welly wanging.

The whole day was very busy, with crowds gathering to enjoy ice creams and cream teas.

We ended the afternoon with our raffle and a (rather competitive) tug-of-war. Well done to everyone!

The King's Coronation!

Last Friday the children were so excited to celebrate the King’s Coronation by holding a fun filled bake off in school!

Preparations had been underway all week. First, the children were split into four teams. Together, they then had to come up with a unique idea for their cake design, one that they thought would win the competition! Next, they were sent home with a list of cake ingredients and decorations they needed to bring in.

Thursday was cake making day! The children all had great fun working together to whip up a delicious treat! It was lovely to see the children’s imaginations in full swing as the plans they had spent all week drawing up on paper were brought to life using yummy fruits and icing!

Finally, the big day arrived and the children were treated to a surprise guest! Judging was overseen by King Charles himself, aka, Head of Governor’s, Tim Pritchard-Thompson!

There were 4 categories - most unique idea, most crumbly, most representative of the Royal Family and, of course, the tastiest! It was a tough decision.

The overall winner went to this cake, which King Charles thought was the best tasting and the best looking…

…and there were tears of joy from the winning team!

Finally, after a lengthy judging process, the cakes were cut and handed out to parents, grandparents and carers, who had all been invited along for the afternoon! There were a lot of full tummies by the time everyone left at the end of the day!

May Revels - Saturday 13th May

Oakridge School is holding its annual May Revels on Saturday 13th May from 1-4pm. It's a fun, family friendly event that helps to raise vital funds for the school.

There is a fantastic line up of activities planned including bar, BBQ, live music, bouncy castle, raffle, tombola, tug 'o' war, welly wanging, face painting, cakes, plants, books, bric a brac and games, and of course, let’s not forget the May pole dancing that the children will be performing! Here’s a short video of them practising!

Traditional wooden stalls decorated with colourful bunting will be dotted around the village green, creating the feeling of a quintessential country fair. There will be the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes including a mini break to Devon and a professional photo shoot.

This year's bar will be stocked with traditional craft ales and oodles of Prosecco! There is always a lovely chilled atmosphere. Card or cash accepted.

With such a fabulous line up of activities planned, you'd be daft to miss it! So come on, put the date in your diary, invite a few friends, and come and join in the fun. All money raised goes directly to the school and to the benefit of the children.

Strike Day

Today, lots of schools across the country were sadly closed, but not at Oakridge. As always, the teachers at the school went above and beyond to ensure the children did not miss out on any learning. Despite our tiny size, the school managed to remain open. A huge thanks to all the staff for making this happen.

The children enjoyed a normal school day, learning their usual maths and English before a more hands on lesson in the afternoon.

The school took on an allotment a few years ago and it is a great asset. The children enjoy many outdoor lessons there. It teaches them many things, such as where food comes from, how food grows and the importance of local food production. It always really engages the children and helps to develop vital core skills such as teamwork, leadership and taking responsibility for themselves and also their friends.

In today’s session the children enjoyed planting tomato and runner bean seeds. These will be cared for and looked after in school before getting planted out when they are big enough…and when the weather has warmed up a bit!