Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Goodbye and Good Luck to our Year 13 Students

  Fri 30 Jun 2017

  Today has been a day of mixed emotions at Oakley's Tunbridge Wells site, there's been tears of laughter and tears of joy!

   

  It was our Year 13s last day at Oakley School and as well as a leavers' breakfast and afternoon tea party with parents and carers, we also enjoyed a special Leavers' Assembly.  Those students who couldn't attend the prize giving and prom last Thursday evening (a fantastic evening enjoyed by staff, students and their families), were awarded their certificates and leavers' hoodies, we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - a film made by Year 12 and 13 students, which was wonderful and one of our Year 13 students played and sang in front of the whole school.   

   

  Finally, we said good-bye, wishing all our Year 13 students every success and happiness for the future, hoping they'll keep in touch and let us know how they're doing.  They all looked a little nervous as they left but excited about what the future holds for them.  School will be quiet without them on Monday.

  

• Oakley School awarded Makaton Friendly status

  Thu 29 Jun 2017

  We are delighted to report that Oakley School has been awarded Makaton Friendly status.

   

  The Makaton Friendly scheme aims to recognise organises that use Makaton in a simple, informal way to make Makaton users feel welcome and enable them to access services within their community.

   

  All of our children and young people have some speech and communication needs associated to their learning difficulties and therefore we use Makaton throughout our School.  We encourage all our staff to attend training and today, aswell as a staff training course after school on our Tunbridge Wells site, we ran Makaton training for parents on our Tonbridge site.  Our aim is to make Makaton accessible to all.

   

   

  

• Celebrating Success at Oakley School

  Wed 28 Jun 2017

  It has been a day of celebrating success today at Oakley School!

   

  Abid, one of our Year 13 students who leaves us at the end of this week, passed his driving test yesterday and is rightly very proud of his achievement (see photo below), as are all the staff who teach and support him.

   

  Six of our Key Stage 3 students won GOLD in the Super 8's Athletic Competition in Medway Park, coming first out of 7 SEND schools. Its difficult to tell who is more thrilled by this success, the students or the staff who took them!

  
  Finally, a previous F.E. student who left Oakley in June 2015 to go to College has just passed his level 2 in motorsport mechanics at West Kent College.  Another fantastic achievement and one we are all very proud of.

   

  

• Oakley secondary students enjoy Tag Rugby

  Mon 26 Jun 2017

  Oakley secondary students have recently been involved in the Kent RFU Wooden Spoon programme. Wooden Spoon is a children’s charity of Rugby which funds projects all over the UK to support disadvantaged and disabled children.

   

  Over the past 3 weeks, a Tag Rugby coach, Darren Reeves, has visited the school to deliver a series of lessons to KS3 and KS4 to introduce the children to the sport. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and have already asked for this to be included in the P.E programme next year!

  

• Rare fungi found in the grounds of Oakley School

  Mon 26 Jun 2017

  It looks like an alien, an angry star fish or even an Octopus, but its not!  We have found a very rare and smelly fungi in our grounds of the Tunbridge Wells site called Clathrus Archeri.

   

  Clathrus Archeri is more commonly known as octopus stinkhorn, or devil's fingers and its a fungus indigenous to Australia and New Zealand, although thought to be increasing in Europe.  It would seem that the conditions in our garden are perfect for it, although it was only discovered because our partners from Herbilicious noticed the awful smell which apparently resembles the smell of rotting flesh!

  

• World Music Day

  Fri 23 Jun 2017

  Wednesday, 21st June was World Music Day and here at Oakley School we asked our Key Stage 3 students to choose their favourite song. It was harder to choose than they initially thought it would be, but the results were announced in today's Whole School Celebration Assembly. Our students chose:-

   

  1.  Bob Marley - Three Little Birds - WINNER

  2.  Michael Jackson - Billy Jean

  3.  ABBA - Dancing Queen

  4.  The Beatles - Help!

  5.  Madonna - Holiday

   

  We await to see if anyone performs the winning song at Oakley's Got Talent later this term!

   

   

   

  

• Heatwave - Alert Level 2

  Tue 20 Jun 2017

  We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our students and staff in the current heat, including making sure everyone is drinking lots of water and wearing hats and protective clothing at break times and when working outside.  Kent County Council have issued some advice, please see key points below, which applies to everyone, but in particular vulnerable Kent residents.

   

  Key advice in hot weather includes:

  • Plan ahead to make sure you have enough supplies, such as water, food and any medications you need.

  • Avoid the heat: stay out of the sun and don’t go out between 11am and 3pm (the hottest part of the day) if you’re vulnerable to the effects of heat.

  • Drink cold drinks regularly, such as water and fruit juice. Avoid tea, coffee and alcohol. Take water with you if travelling.

  • Never leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle, especially infants, older people, young children or animals.

  • Shut windows and pull down the shades when it is hotter outside. If it’s safe, open them for ventilation when it is cooler.

  • Keep rooms cool by using shades or reflective material outside the windows. If this isn't possible, use light-coloured curtains and keep them closed (metallic blinds and dark curtains can make the room hotter). Identify the coolest room in the house so you know where to go to keep cool.

  • Have cool baths or showers, and splash yourself with cool water.

  • Stay tuned to the weather forecast on the radio or TV, or at the Met Office website.

  • Wear loose, cool clothing, and a hat if you go outdoors. Wear UV sunglasses to reduce UV exposure to eyes and apply a sunscreen of at least SPF15 with UVA protection.

   

  A full copy of the press release can be found in our Parents & Carers section under Our School Community, but please don't hesitate to contact us if you would like any additional advice or guidance.

• Oakley staff raise £700 for Hospice in the Weald

  Mon 19 Jun 2017

  Congratulations and well done to the group of Oakley staff, pictured below, who survived and completed the Hospice in the Weald Moonlight Walk on Saturday, 17th June.   They had such a fun time and nattered their way round in a fantastic 2.5 hours!  Most importantly they raised over £700 in memory of one of our dear colleagues who passed away last summer.

   

  So well done to all those who took part and thank you to everyone who donated.

  

• SEND Parent Survey

  Fri 16 Jun 2017

  Kent County Council are surveying parents to gather feedback on their levels of satisfaction with their child’s provision and the new arrangements for Education, Health and Care Plans.

   

  In collaboration with the Kent Parent Carer Forum they have developed a county wide survey which they have distributed to all of the families that they provide information and support to. They want to gather the broadest range of views from across every district, representing every age range, type of placement and the breadth of special educational needs.

   

  You can access the survey by clicking on the link below. The deadline is Friday, 23rd June 2017.

   

  http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/special-educational-needs/local-offer-your-voice#tab-5​

• Oakley Nursery Update

  Thu 15 Jun 2017

  We are very pleased to say that the groundworks for building of our nursery are progressing well and are on schedule. The actual nursery building is being made off site – a “modular build” and will be delivered in several units that are then joined together on site here. We are taking delivery of all the modular units on Saturday, 24th June.  A photo of what the building is going to look like can be seen below.

   

  We are also pleased to report that our students are coping really well with the building work and the associated noise.  Some of the recent improvements to our playground on the Tunbridge Wells site have had to be fenced off in the short term, in order to keep everyone safe, but students have not been phased by the disruption and in fact, have been heard saying how much they are looking forward to the younger, nursery children joining us in September.