NEWSLETTER. Head Teacher's News Dear parents, families and friends,

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1 NEWSLETTER Newsletter March 2016 Volume 3 - Issue 34 Website: Head Teacher's News Dear parents, families and friends, This has been a very busy half term, and a very quick one. There has been a lot going on in school with World Book Day being a real highlight with pupils enjoying working with a visiting poet and a separate visit from the Bag Book Company. I am always delighted to hear about the work our sixth form pupils are doing on their work placements with local employers. It s fantastic to know that they are able to use their work skills in real environments and that they are planning for their futures. As we continue to plan for our new school we had a slight setback this half term as we were expecting our case to be heard by the planning committee last week. Unfortunately the decision has been delayed until the next planning meeting which is taking place during the Easter Holidays. We have our Easter Assembly this week at which I m hoping to see some of you to celebrate the Spring festival. As usual the pupils will be given an egg which has been bought from money raised in our Easter raffle with prizes kindly donated to the school by a local family. I m sure you join me in thanking them. This year as usual some of our pupils are going to France with the HCPT charity and will be visiting Lourdes. We hope they have a wonderful time, and that all of you will be able to enjoy the break too. I hope that you all have a pleasant holiday! Anne Clinton Contents: Head Teacher s News 1 Forthcoming Events 1 Bag Books Workshop 2 Work Placements A3 News: Spring Multi-sensory Communication Sessions with C2 4 Snack Time with C3 4 World Book Day 5 Date for your Diaries Parents Event! 5 Widgit Online 6 Sixth Form News 7 Oaklands Goes Green with Solar 7 Easter Holiday Activities at Orleans House Gallery 8 Dates for your Diary (See website for details): Thursday 24 th March 2016 Easter Service at 10:30 (6 th form and A12&3) and (C1234&5) at Oaklands. Families welcome to attend Thursday 24 th March 2016 School finishes (Early close at 1:45pm) Friday 25 th March 2016 to Friday 8 th April 2016 Inclusive Easter Holidays Monday 11 th April 2016 Inset Day (School closed to Students) Tuesday 12 th April 2016 Students return to School Friday 22 nd April 2016 Parents Event Westbrook / Short Breaks Information Monday 18 th April 2016 to Friday 29 th April th Form Work Experience Monday 2 nd May 2016 Bank Holiday (School closed) Tuesday 3 rd May 2016 to 6 th May 2016 Get Active Week Friday 6 th May Sports day at Osterley Sports Centre Friday 20 th May 2016 MFL Day Friday 27 th May 2016 Occasional Day (School closed)

2 BAG BOOKS WORKSHOP This half term, A1 were visited by the Bag Books Company, who led an all-day workshop. Students enjoyed painting and arranging flowers, and were able to experience using the saw, drill and glue gun to make their own sensory story, entitled The Queen Comes to Oaklands. WORK PLACEMENTS 2016 All work placements have been going really well. Joshua at Curzon Cinema. Alicia at The Bloomery Florist Kapil at St Johns Senior Citizen Club. Ranveer at Adrian Hall Garden Centre. Simi at Ego Hairdressers. And Sofia at St Pauls open House Cafe. Hope you all have a great Easter break! Carissa and Rob

3 A3 NEWS: SPRING 2016 A3 went shopping to buy soil and plants. The whole class took part in filling the planters with the soil and planting daffodil bulbs, winter pansies and primroses. During the project students learned to find items in the shop from a list and to use their money to pay at the till. They experienced different weights, through heavy soil compared to light delicate plants, and they counted and spaced out the plants and bulbs. Back at school the students all worked together to plant, water and to tidy away. The flowers have looked lovely through the winter and the daffodils are now all coming up, letting us know that spring is finally with us.

4 Multi-sensory Communication Sessions with C2 We have been exploring Spa activities within our Multi-sensory Communication sessions. Students have been given the opportunity to experience face packs and facials, heat massages, head massages, vibration tools and relaxing light projections. The head massager is a firm favourite in class (see third photograph) and all the students respond to this and will smile, and vocalise. Snack Time with C3

5 Date for your Diaries Parents Event! Do you have to lift or move your young person? Are you worried about stress on your back as your young person becomes an adult? We will be running a back care session at school later in the year on July 8th at 10.00am for families.

6 Widgit Online Communicate in Print Communicate In Print is now available for people to create their own resources including symbol cards for home use. Create symbol flashcards, timetables, stories and more with no installation needed. View and hear symbol resources on all platforms, including ipad. Share symbol resources with family. It costs just 5 a month for one user account that gives you access to over 14,000 Widgit symbols, with the choice to create, save and share the resources with other users For more information go to For details of other Widgit Products Max McGill Resource Assistant

7 SIXTH FORM NEWS This term in functional Maths, English and ICT, Sixth Form students have been working on the theme of the leisure centre. Students have been taking part in a range of activities including, filling in a membership form, finding out the opening times and prices, learning which activities take place at the centre, role playing making a phone call and using money to buy a drink in the vending machine. All students had the opportunity to develop skills in the classroom and then to visit a local Leisure Centre to put into practice what they had learned. OAKLANDS GOES GREEN WITH SOLAR Oaklands School decided to take advantage of a government scheme that offers incentives for schools that invest in solar energy. Earlier this year, our provider, Sunstruck Energy, chosen by the London Borough of Hounslow, installed 132 Solar panels on our main roof. These now generate approximately 30% of our current energy needs. This project provides us with direct savings of around 3000 per year. In addition, the government pays us for the solar energy we generate, which for our system works out at 4000 per year. So overall, through the use of solar panels we now manage to save around 70% of our electricity bill every year. These and other savings will allow us to continue to provide our high quality education services as well as deal with cuts in our funding from the council and pay increasing employer national insurance contributions from April 2016.

8 Easter Holiday Activities at Orleans House Gallery