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

• The Gambia 2016

  Tue 29 Nov 2016

  At the end of November a group of Oakley Further Education students visited The Gambia where they witnessed first hand the problems that a Third World country faces from an economic, educational and environmental viewpoint. Our students travelled with a group of 6th form students from the Beacon Academy in Crowborough, it was the Beacon's 25th trip. 

  

• Greg Clark visits Oakley School

  Fri 25 Nov 2016
  Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy visited our Tunbridge Wells site this morning.  He joined our students for Celebration Assembly, listening to them share their achievements this week and answering their questions with enthusiasm and humour. We took lots of photos and the students are also going to write an article about his visit, for our Winter newsletter.  We are also hoping we can get the visit mentioned in next week's Kent & Sussex Courier, so watch this space....  

  

• Oakley supports Children in Need

  Fri 18 Nov 2016
  Today we have well and truly thrown ourselves into raising money for Children in Need.  Dressed in yellow, red and/or spots and wearing our Pudsey ears we have had a cake sale, we've had games and activities and had our photos taken with Pudsey Bear himself.  We've had great fun, raising money for a wonderful charity that we are also luck enough to benefit from.

  

• Oakley wins gold for Kent

  Wed 16 Nov 2016

                     

  Oakley School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, has been awarded a gold award by the Woodland Trust for getting involved in green activities including tree planting, visiting a local woodland, reducing carbon emissions and recycling.

   

  The Green Tree Schools initiative, which has seen over 7,000 schools sign up since it was launched in 2008 offers the opportunity to bring the great outdoors, wildlife and green issues into the classroom.

   

  Schools win awards for participating in green activities, which include tree planting, reducing carbon emissions and recycling. Oakley has planted new trees in their school grounds, visited local woods, reduced their carbon emissions and joined in various other Woodland Trust activities.

   

  James Fewtrell from Oakley School said: "The outdoors is a key part of our learning environment, and learning to respect and care for it is a value we share as a school"

   

  Karen Letten, Woodland Trust schools communications manager, added: “The scheme promotes a range of opportunities, each designed to stimulate a child’s imagination and sustain their interest in woods and trees. The achievements of the school are recognised through an awards scheme in which they receive points for taking part in activities. As they reach milestones within the project they will receive bronze, silver and finally an attractive wooden plaque which acknowledges they’ve achieved the environmental accolade of a gold award.”

   

  The Woodland Trust’s vision is a UK rich in woods and trees, enjoyed by everyone. The charity is dedicated to creating new woodland with help from communities and schools, and protecting and restoring ancient woodland for future generations to cherish.

   

  The Green Tree Award is free for schools to take part in, and during 2016 the Woodland Trust is also offering free packs of trees to schools. Find out how your school can get involved at woodlandtrust.org.uk/schools

   

   

   

  

• KentLive Sunday 13th November

  Mon 14 Nov 2016

  You may have seen the following headline on KentLive on Sunday, 13th November:-

   

  “The 344 Kent schools where deadly asbestos is present have been revealed”

   

  If you read the on-line article you will know that Oakley School was named as one of the Schools (in fact we were named twice, presumably for each of our Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells sites).  A similar article was run in January 2009 following a BBC programme on the subject.

   

  We do have asbestos on both sites, that is not news to us!  Our sites are surveyed by KCC and checked regularly. Our Site Team are trained appropriately and are fully aware of the locations of the asbestos and those areas are managed in accordance with health and safety regulations.  Even if the proposed site move goes ahead, the move and/or changes within the buildings would not disturb any of the areas with asbestos.

   

  Please be assured, there is no need to be concerned - the risk to our students, staff and visitors is negligible and not something to worry about.

   

  Best wishes

  Gordon Tillman

  Headteacher

• What's under our feet

  Mon 07 Nov 2016

  Oakley students turned into research scientists at the end of last term as part of a project called What’s Under Your Feet, organised by the British Trust for Ornithology.  They were trying to find out why the number of birds seems to be falling rapidly by looking at what they eat.  Armed with spades and collecting trays, key stage 3 students went onto the field behind the school and carefully dug up a square of soil to see what invertebrate animals such as worms and spiders it contained.  The results are being analysed by members of the ECO committee before being sent off to the BTO where they will combined with data from schools across the country to help produce a national picture of current position.  

  

• Vote For Oakley

  Tue 01 Nov 2016

  We are very excited to announce that we have been shortlisted to receive £8,000 from Tesco from the plastic bag tax.

    

  Tesco in Pembury will be issuing voting tokens at the checkout from Today until next Sunday the 13^th November. You will receive a token for every transaction.  The more votes we get the more we could be able to spend on resources and equipment for our children and young people.

   

  So please, pop in as many times as you can over the next week to vote for Oakley School and please let all your friends, family and colleagues know too!