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

• Alice's Tea Party

  Thu 31 Aug 2017

  In August, our Tunbridge Wells site hosted Alice's Tea Party, run by the Head2Head Theatre company for children and young people with SEND (ages 0-25), their siblings & parents/carers.  The half-day tea parties included interactive, multi-sensory walkabout performances, lunchtime games, craft activities and sensory tent.

   

  A number of Oakley pupils and their families participated, as well as a few children and their families from other local schools.

   

  The feedback was fantastic (see comments below), so much so that we are already booking to host the company again next summer.

   

  "Please continue as there is very little out there for families like ours!!"

   

  "Very impressed with the whole thing, particularly that it was sensory and interactive. Liked how it moved from room to room for the different scenes."

   

  "Well organised event.  The actual production allowed everyone to participate whatever their ability."

   

  "Such a lovely idea - a veritable journey through Wonderland. The three actors worked their socks off to engage and entrance.  I would wholeheartedly recommend Head2Head to any special needs family.  I was so aware of the hard work that had gone into transforming the school into Wonderland...please be assured it was worth the trouble!  A lovely way to spend an afternoon.  Thank you so very much to all involved."

   

  "Very enjoyable.  Children were very happy and relaxed."

   

  "It's an excellent show.  I think more of these shows can help more children with special needs."

   

  

• Oakley Nursery Update

  Wed 16 Aug 2017
  This week the builders have handed our Site Manager the keys to the finished Nursery building and our Network Manager has been busy installing the Fibre uplink, Wifi, telephony, interactive panel & PC and access control (see photos below) - exciting times!  Still lots to do over the remaining weeks of the holiday, but looking forward to welcoming the staff who have transferred from Ravensdale and our new nursery children in September. 

  

• It's the end of the year!

  Fri 21 Jul 2017

  We have had two very busy summer terms with so many enriching activities, in and out of school. Some of what we’ve done is detailed in our summer newsletter which can also be found on our website under News & Events.

   

  As part of our end of year celebrations we asked our children and young people what they've done during they year that has made them feel proud - they were asked to write on a leaf and those leaves have made our tree of pride (pictured below).

   

  We have been busy planning the move of our FE department to our Tonbridge site for September, which is an exciting first step to increasing our provision to include 19-25 year olds from September 2018, it will be like a new building there very soon. We are also moving our Early Years pupils to Tunbridge Wells which will be highly enriching for them, with lots of collaborative learning opportunities.

   

  I am also pleased to inform you that our Nursery build is on track to be finished in mid-August, ready to open in September, we currently have 14 children confirmed as having places which is fantastic! We showed the parents of nursery children around on Wednesday, 19th July and they were all delighted.

   

  We have appointed a full-time Speech and Language Therapist from September who will be working across all our sites. This is an important investment for us, with significant benefits to our children and young people.

   

  All that leaves me to do is thank everyone; my staff team, who work tirelessly to ensure the welfare and safety of all our children and young people and to equip them with skills for life and independence, so that they can be the best they can be. I would also like to thank our Governors, who give up so much of their time to support us and finally, all of our parents and carers, we know that without their support and commitment, our jobs would be so much harder.

   

  I wish everyone a wonderful summer.

  Gordon Tillman

  Headteacher

   

  

• IT'S OFFICIAL! Oakley's Got LOTS & LOTS of Talent

  Thu 13 Jul 2017

  What a great day we all had yesterday!  Key Stage 4 and 5 pupils competed in the first heat with our new Year 6 & 7 and Key Stage 3 pupils cheering and clapping along, and then in the afternoon Key Stage 3 pupils performed.  We had comedy acts, singers, dancers and musicians, with music from Dolly Parton to Little Mix to Alfie Boe!  This year, for the first time, pupils hosted the show as well, which was a huge success. 

   

  In the evening our children and young people performed again, in front of parents, carers, friends and family.   Everyone was so impressed with the enthusiasm, energy and talent of the students.  The whole event allowed everyone the opportunity to showcase not only their individual potential and commitment but also just how supportive they are of one another.  It was such a positive experience and everyone left feeling truly uplifted.

   

  The hardest job was picking winners, they were all so amazing!  Thank you to everyone who supported the event, we look forward to Oakley's Got Talent 2018!

   

  

• Oakley's Got Talent - TODAY!

  Wed 12 Jul 2017
  The day our pupils have been looking forward to has finally arrived, just a few last minute rehearsals and tweaks to the running order before we start the first heat of OAKLEY'S GOT TALENT.  Parents and carers, friends and family are invited to the final heat this evening where they can watch their children and young people sing, dance, recite poetry, juggle etc.  We guarantee it will be a FUN filled event.

  

• Year 11 pupils excel during their work experience

  Wed 12 Jul 2017

  Our Year 11 pupils are back in school this week after two weeks' work experience.  They worked in a wide variety of local businesses and organisations including Marks and Spencer, Costa, local stables, Pepenbury, Mid Kent College, Herbilicious, the list is endless.  We had so many positive reports about how hard they worked, how much their confidence grew and how independent they were able to be.  We are so proud of them.

   

  One of our pupils, pictured, worked in Costa for the two week period and served Oakley staff and stakeholders during that time. We received a glowing report from one of our stakeholders who said "he looks so smart and proud in his Barista uniform and he seemed to be working really hard. The staff spoke very highly of him too."

   

  Congratulations to our Year 11 pupils and a big THANK YOU to all the employers who supported this important experience for our young people.

  

• 'The safety and well-being of [Oakley's] pupils is given the highest priority'

  Wed 12 Jul 2017

  Kent County Council commissioned a Safeguarding Review of each of its 22 SEND Schools,  Oakley School had its review on the 20th and 21st June.  The full report from the Review can be found under About Our School\Safeguarding, but we are delighted to share some of the highlights:- "Oakley Schools is a very safe environment for children", "pupils rightly report that they feel safe and appear to be happy in school", "meticulous records are kept", "staff know their children very well", "there is a tangible atmosphere of "care" in Oakley and staff appear to routinely support each other". The report ends with "The commitment of staff at every level to creating a safe learning environment and their determination to ensure that all pupils have the best possible life chances is striking".

   

  There are some points of further improvement recommended in the Report, which we completely take on board and will action accordingly.

• A Step Back in Time

  Tue 04 Jul 2017
  On Saturday, 1st July 2017 Oakley School was visited by 11 gentlemen (pictured below) who attended the school when it was called St Georges in the 1960s (the eldest of our visitors left the school in 1961).   At that time, instead of the current modern building, the school was a big manor house and was residential.    As part of their reunion (they had travelled from all over the country to get together) they walked around the site reminiscing about the old tennis courts, the croquet lawn and the various members of staff and their teaching skills (it was a very different style back then).  It was great fun listening to their stories and the things they got up to! There isn't much left of the old school from the 1960s but just being back on the site and walking around the grounds was enough to generate so many memories.  We hope that the Year 13 students who left us last Friday remember Oakley School as fondly.

  

• 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.