Oaks Park High School Spring Term Review

Oaks Park High School
Spring Term Review - March 2016
At the time of writing, we are nearing the start of our Easter break and moving towards the end
of another school year.
The beginning of term was one of great significance for Oaks Park, as we finally opened the Craig
Foster Building. We held a wonderful opening ceremony which was attended by the Deputy
Mayor of Redbridge, Councillor Thavathuray Jeyaranjan; Mark Noble, Captain of West Ham United
and a large contingent from the Foster family.
The Craig Foster Building provides us with some excellent facilities to accommodate the expansion
to 10 forms of entry, which began in September 2015, and added space for our growing Sixth
Form. We now also have a superb 4G Pitch and a new changing block to further develop our
sporting facilities. You will also be aware that we have recently remodelled the School Hall and
are now in the process of refurbishing the old Sixth Form Block. Oaks Park now has outstanding
facilities and is unrecognisable from the building which was first opened in September 2001.
The completion of the Craig Foster Building was one of the factors behind my decision to retire
from my position as Headteacher at Oaks Park High School with effect from July 2016. As many
of you are aware, I was appointed as Headteacher in January 2001. At the time there were no
buildings, no staff and no students and I look back with pride at what we have achieved together.
I will write in more detail about my time at Oaks Park in what will be my final contribution to the
Review in July 2016.
One of my concerns on leaving was that the school was able to find a suitable successor to lead it
through the next stage of development - and I am delighted to say that this has been achieved.
My successor is Ms Joanne Hamill, currently Deputy Headteacher at Edmonton County School.
Having made this appointment so early in the year, we will have 5 months to work together to
ensure a smooth handover. I am sure that Ms Hamill will continue to develop the school and see
it achieve further success. I certainly wish her well and will follow the school’s progress with
interest.
At this time of the year we always say goodbye to colleagues who are moving on to pastures new.
At the end of this term Mr Edwards (PE) leaves us to take up post as Head of Department at the
Palmer Catholic Academy and Ms Dixon (Health & Social Care) will not be returning from
maternity leave as she has relocated to Warwickshire. Ms Davies (Drama) left us at half term to
take up a career outside of teaching, along with a number of support staff: Ms Lester
(Examinations Officer) who departed after working at Oaks Park in a variety of roles for 14 years;
Mr De Melo (Assistant Caretaker) and Ms Lall (Lead Teaching Assistant, Cognition & Learning)
who also move onto new posts outside of education. I would like to thank them all for their
commitment to Oaks Park and wish them well in the future.
I hope that everyone enjoys a good break; however I am well aware that for many it will involve
preparation for important examinations.
S J Wilks
Headteacher
Jack Petchey Awards Presentation Evening
The Jack Petchey Awards Presentation Evening was held in Ilford Town Hall on 3rd December. All
Redbridge schools were present and Oaks Park High School was represented by our 9 award
winners and 1 member of staff who received the Leader Award.
It was a really excellent evening, with so many young achievers receiving their awards in front of a
packed audience. Each winner received a framed certificate, a badge, a medal and a £200 grant.
The following students are to be congratulated for their achievement:
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Aleksandr Jekabson 12U
Ore-Ofe Marakinyo 10W
Mathumy Ratnavel 13R
Alesha Juggapah
8E
Patrice Price
9P
James Lo
11P
Ashiraf Lubega
13R
Mia Olagbaju
9Y
Allena Hussain
10Y
The Oaks Park Leader Award went to Ms Petrie, Head of PE, for her huge contribution in
organising the Essex Schools Athletics Championships, along with arranging many Redbridge
Schools Sports Competitions over the years.
D Dutch
Deputy Headteacher
More Awards for Mr Islam
During the weekend of 5th/6th December Mr Islam competed in the
Southern Open International BJJ. He entered the Under 70kg,
Under 76kg and 2 Absolute divisions, where he fought his heart out
against competitors in the Under 98kg divisions.
He began the tournament at 11am and after
a grueling succession of fights, walked away
with two Silver medals and one Bronze in the
upper weight divisions. Mr Islam caused
such an impact that he made it into some of
the top fighters’ professional photo shoots,
as well the BJJ Highlights recorded on
YouTube! Well done Mr Islam!
Mr Sundhu
Maths Teacher
Opening of the Craig Foster Building
The official opening of the Craig Foster Building took
place on Thursday 14th January. It was a wonderful
evening which was attended by a large contingent of the
Foster family, the Deputy Mayor and Mark Noble, Captain
of West Ham United, who was taught by Mr Foster.
The facilities in the new building are excellent and will
benefit Oaks Park students for years to come, as will our
new 4G pitch.
S Wilks
Headteacher
Craig Foster
Holocaust Memorial Day
On Wednesday 20th January a small group of
Year 12 History students visited King Solomon
High School for a Holocaust Memorial Day talk
and seminar.
We heard a fascinating and moving account of
Lady Zahava Kohn’s personal experiences of
surviving the Holocaust, followed by some
group activities on how the Holocaust should be
remembered and what we can learn from
studying it.
Over 100 students from different 6th forms in the area attended the event and it was a great
opportunity for all of them to share some of their ideas.
D Fletcher
History Department
Swedish Teachers Visit Oaks Park High School
On Wednesday 20th January a large delegation of teachers from different schools in Sweden came
to Oaks Park as part of a UK visit. They were very keen to see how technology was used in
education and how our ICT Department were delivering the new computing curriculum.
The teachers were met by Mr Ahmed (ICT Teacher i/c of Computing). During the visit they also
met Headteacher Mr Wilks; had a tour of the school (they were very impressed with the new Craig
Foster building); observed lessons and had discussions on a range of topics with students and
staff. The visit concluded with teachers from both countries discussing joint projects for the future.
A big thank you to all staff and students involved and to the Ilford Recorder for their support.
Mr Ahmed
ICT Department
Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge
On Thursday 25th January 2016, thirty Year 10 students took part in the Jack Petchey Speak-Out
Challenge. They were involved all day in different workshops where they developed new skills for
public speaking. Throughout the day students were preparing for the final part, where they had to
speak about something they were passionate about and present it to the group. The students did
incredibly well; there were a range of topics, from why education is important to why we should not
judge one another. However, we could only pick seven students to go through to the next round of
the Competition, so congratulations to: Kelsey Isabel Goncola 10R, Rithik Sharma 10R, Jasmine
Deflaoui 10P, Nowshin Hussain 10U, Zain Ghafoor 10W, Amber Juncal 10W, and Ajay Bhundia
10P. One of them will represent the school in the Regional Finals on 19th May. Good luck!
Ms Pillai
English Teacher
Poetry By Heart
On 3rd February Sarisha Goodman, 12N, took part in the
Poetry by Heart County Finals held at Romford Library. Her
recitations were from Paradise Lost (lines 242-270) by John
Milton and A Supermarket in California by Allen Ginsberg.
Even though her choice of poems meant that they were long
and intricate, Sarisha’s renditions were beautiful and
touched the audience’s heart. It was a very memorable and
impressive evening.
Intermediate Rotary Youth Speaks Competition
It was sheer joy to see Year 9 students Tarun Odedra, Har Rai
Palray and Ashika Joy sweep the floor in the floor with their
powerful and animated deliveries at the Intermediate Rotary
Youth Speaks Competition held at Trinity High school on
Thursday 4th February.
Both of the senior teams outshone the others in their impressive
renditions. Ibtisam Awow won the Best Speaker award for her
speech ‘Airstrikes - The Final Solution’. Chankave Eswarakumar,
Hafsah Yousaf, Maura Mary Joseph, Harpreet Kabotra and
Alannah Flood should also be congratulated for their dedication
and effort.
On 5th March the Intermediate team went on to represent Oaks
Park in the District finals at City of London School for Boys. Their
animated and confident deliveries clearly created an impact,
resulting in us achieving 2nd place. The students were enthused
and energised after the experience and vowed to win next year;
ensuring the legacy of Oaks Park maintaining the best and most
dynamic speakers.
Mrs Shaikh
English Department
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competition
The first official Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competition was held at Oaks Park on Thursday 11th February.
Year 11 students and 6th formers competed against each other in their weight divisions and Year 9
student, Tadas Maciulis, also fought his heart out and made his mark.
We will be organising more competitions in the future and staff and students will be able to attend
to show their support. Below are some pictures taken during the competition.
Mr Islam
Maths Department
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Last half-term saw 30 lucky Year 7 students get their 'golden ticket' to
see Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical in the West End.
The students were chosen to attend as a reward for their hard work and effort
in their English lessons.
The award winning production was a treat for all and the students had a great
time experiencing first-hand the magic of Roald Dahl's classic children's story.
The bright and vivid sets dazzled, the Oompa Loompas danced and Willy
Wonka captivated the audience.
Our students conducted
themselves sensibly and
clearly enjoyed this trip
to the theatre.
Ms Barr
English Department
Students remarked:
I found the trip really fun and I loved the ending of the musical, even
though it was sort of sad.
Maryam
This trip was an unforgettable experience and I recommend it to people. They
should definitely go and see this for themselves.
Dominika
I laughed a lot. I would rate it 9 out of 10!
Bharati
International Week
This year’s theme for Oaks Park International Week (8th-12th February) was China. We celebrated
our links with schools in Beijing and Jiujiang and remembered that 8th February was the beginning
of the Chinese Year of the Monkey. We also held assemblies where our students talked about
their recent visit to our partner. Beijing No.20 High School.
Many activities took place in a whole range of subjects. PE ran a House Table Tennis
Competition; there were French lessons on the Chinese New Year and English students learnt
about Confucius and Chinese proverbs. In ICT, bookmarks were made to celebrate the Year of
the Monkey and the Geography Society made a PowerPoint comparing our school with Beijing
No.20 High School. Art students created 10-minute drawings of monkeys on post-it notes to make
one large New Year picture and Science students studied the colours in fireworks using flame
tests and discussed the Chinese Periodic Table. PSHE students wrote letters to Chinese students
explaining about their day at school and compiled a fact-finder for a Chinese holiday. Maths did a
Chinese number puzzle; History looked at Chinese Communism and Health & Social Care studied
the nutritional content of Chinese food. The Canteen served a different Chinese dish every day
and the Anime club showed Kung Fu Panda!
A big thank you to everyone involved for making International Week so special!!
Mr Hawthorne
Assistant Headteacher
Sheep
Symbol
2003
By Bryle
Inandan
Save the Children is an amazing organisation that works tirelessly to protect, help and educate
young people all around the world.
Recently Farhan Chowdhury (13U) and Miss Sidhu set up and ran a Staff- vsStudent basketball match to raise money for this charity. Miss Sidhu managed
to score a basket and Farhan gave up his pride and joy - his hair - by having it
shaved off to raise even more money! A Just Giving page has been set up and
the money from the basketball match should go a long way towards reaching
the set target of £500.
A massive thank you to Mr Edwards and Mr Green, Mr Todd and the rest of the
PE Department for their huge support – it would not have been possible without
them.
Also thanks go to Ms Corton, Ms
Moffat, Ms Rockson and Mr
Chapman for their help in
coordinating the event. Lastly
thank you to everyone who
donated to this worthy cause.
Ms Sidhu
Science Department
Y8 Geography Trip
On Thursday 25th February the Geography Society and other Y8 students visited the Royal
Geographical Society and saw the Ernest Shackleton Exhibition, which showed the story of
Shackleton and his men on the Endurance.
We also went to the Natural History Museum and explored the different floors. We got a chance to
see pictures from the wildlife photographer of the year, which were amazing! We also saw
pictures that reached the semi-finals and the final.
More about the Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum looks after around 80
million specimens, from Dodos to Dandelions,
Dinosaurs to Dragonflies. It is one of the most
important collections of Natural History. I mostly
enjoyed the Wildlife Photographer of the Year
section, because if I was one of the children who took
those pictures I’d be really scared to take them.
However, if I did I would be very proud of myself!
by Ninuja Uthayakumar 8U
(Geography Society Member)
Careers Fair Success!
The Careers Team once again hosted a very successful Careers Fair.
Careers Coordinators Mrs Smith & Mrs Sumray were delighted with the variety of outside providers
who joined us this year. As well as being supported by all the local colleges, we had such
prestigious companies as Siemens, The UK Government Civil Service, Armed Forces and Price
Waterhouse Coopers. All of the exhibitors were on hand to offer help and guidance on the next
steps for students in Years 10 -13.
We are very proud of our relationships with many different companies and glad that they are willing
to come along and give up their free time to give our students advice on courses, work
opportunities and apprenticeships available to them.
The Fashion Retail Academy said:
“We always enjoy visiting Oaks Park as they have very enthusiastic students and supportive staff.
We look forward to coming back to support future Careers events”.
Barking & Dagenham College said:
“The student ambassadors were very helpful”.
Redbridge College said:
“It was a great event with lots of interest. We look forward to coming again”.
Grant Thornton Accountancy said:
“It was a good event and a great opportunity to talk to a variety of students of different ages”.
As always, our student ambassadors were a great help and all the students were well behaved
and asked pertinent questions. This is now a firm annual event in the Careers calendar and we
are so pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to our students.
Mrs Sumray & Mrs Smith
Careers Advisers
Oaks Park Dances to Silver at the London Youth Games!
On Wednesday 3rd February 2016 the Oaks Park Dance Group, Cult Elite, attended the Copper
Box Arena to represent Redbridge in the London Youth Games Dance Competition.
Having successfully won the Inter-Borough Competition back in December the girls were hoping to
succeed once again; however they knew it wouldn’t be easy as they would be competing against
22 other groups, with a lot of students who studied dance at GCSE level! To prepare themselves
for the competition the girls dedicated countless hours during lunchtime and after school sessions,
under the watchful eye of dance coach Miss Tindides, to improve and perfect their routine. Their
commitment was truly remarkable and showed an impressive level of dedication.
On the day of the competition the group were highly motivated to succeed - and being 6th in the
running order meant they knew they had to make an early impression! The standard of
performances was extremely high, with a variety of dance styles, music and costumes making for
a great event. The girls performed amazingly well and had the audience singing and dancing
along with them - their popular mix of music tracks was particularly well received! The girls
displayed confidence, energy and a range of dancing styles that made them stand out from the
rest. The judges commented on how well the girls performed as a troupe with confidence and
energy and were also surprised to see the girls using a complex lift within the routine.
23 dances and a nail biting wait later, the results were finally in and the girls were overwhelmed to
be awarded 2nd place! Their pride and excitement was evident as the girls ran through the venue
to receive their silver medals. An outstanding achievement; especially as some of the girls have
had no prior dance experience! Their success will also contribute to the overall points score for
Redbridge in the London Youth Games. Well done Cult Elite!
Ms Burcombe
Drama Teacher
Giant Jumps at Jump Giants
The 9B form trip to Jump Giants took place after school on Thursday 7th January. The students
spent the hour trashing their legs on the trampolines, foam pits, basketball hoops and dodge ball
courts from the start of the session right to the very end. Afterwards we all took a cheeky detour
via McDonalds to top up the energy we had used! We all enjoyed it so much we are already
planning the next trip!
We would like to thank Mr Ahmed in Geography for volunteering to drive the other minibus for us
rather than putting his feet up and chilling for the evening!
Track Accreditation
We recently took a morning trip to the London Olympic Velodrome to hone our track cycling skills
and dare to see if we could achieve our Level 1 accreditation. We had a fantastic time considering
we were using bikes that were slim, have no brakes or gears and the pedals are fixed so you can’t
stop your legs moving when you want to rest.
We worked hard and had loads of fun but
unfortunately did not gain our accreditation - hopefully next time!
Travel Red Friday – Celebrating the eve of Valentines Day and the
love of travelling Green
On Friday, 12th February 2016 the whole school were invited to travel green.
Because this was during the week of the Chinese New Year and the eve of
Valentines weekend, we dubbed this a one off ‘Travel Red Friday’. The many
people who travelled ‘red’ that day were rewarded with a free hot chocolate
from our cool canteen and those who put in that extra bit of effort and cycled to
school were rewarded with a free breakfast too!
Way to go Oaks Park - keep travelling green!
Learn to Ride
This course, specifically designed for students who can’t ride a bike, took place on Monday, 29th
February 2016. The London Borough of Redbridge provided funding for 12 students, who all
succeeded in learning to ride. Well done to: Zakk Evans, Hrithik Unmathallagadoo (both 8Y),
Kiran Sutharan (8N), Khalid Masoud (7N) and Bhavya Balia (7I).
If anyone is interested in this course, please find me in B8 and we’ll get things organised.
Stephen Chapman
9B Form Tutor
Key Stage 3 Science Coordinator
Bikeability NSI
Proud member of the TGT
Romeo & Juliet
Last half term saw the whole of Year 9
watch
a
live
performance
of
Shakespeare’s celebrated tragedy
‘Romeo and Juliet’, performed by The
Young Shakespeare Company.
The students will be studying the play
in detail and the aim of the
performance was to support their
understanding of the staging, narrative
and motivation of the characters before
they sit an assessment on this key text.
Prior to the performance, the company provided an interactive and thoughtprovoking workshop to help the students understand the conflict within the
scenes. Students laughed at the Prince, gasped at Mercutio’s death and
even shed a tear after watching Romeo and Juliet die.
The students enjoyed the performance and we hope this will help aid their
understanding of Shakespeare’s famous play.
nd
2
Ms Barr
i/c English
‘A Taste of Europe’ (ATE) Project
Do we care about where we our food comes from? Will we have enough food for the
future? Is the welfare of animals bred as a food source important?
These are some of the questions that six Year 9 students were asked to consider during a one
week residential trip to Schagen, a city north of the capital Amsterdam in Holland.
Mia Olagbaju 9W, Esther Anaman 9R, Kyann Gabbidon-Hazlewood 9E, Priya Mann 9Y, Tarun
Odedra 9W and Alex Warlow 9R were the students chosen to represent the school on this visit.
They secured their place by writing excellent application letters and Alex was also one of the logo
design competitors.
This visit to Schagen marked a number of first time
experiences for our students. For the duration of their stay our
students lived with a Dutch host family; giving them a fantastic
insight into what family life was like in another European
country.
The school where the students were based is called Regius
College – a secondary school with approximately 3200
students on roll.
Travelling to school was an interesting experience for our students, as some of them had to ride a
bicycle from quite far away and others got to travel on a scooter!
The one week trip was full of activities in the classroom,
which included our students presenting the findings of a
food survey as well as preparing and cooking dinner for
all the students and teachers taking part in the project!
There were also excursions to a local farm and guest
speakers talking about the sustainability of food. The visit
to the farm meant that some of our students had their first
live encounter with lambs and cows!
Throughout their stay the weather kept our students on their toes, as they were exposed to wind,
rain and were even treated to some snow!
There was an overwhelming feeling of happiness and togetherness during this phase of the
project. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were still buzzing from the
excitement of the trip when they returned to school. We thank our hosts, Regius College, for their
tremendous hospitality and look forward to welcoming them to London in the near future.
Look out for a follow up video detailing what it was like to live
with a Dutch host family and attend school in rural Holland!
Ms Borja
Science Teacher
There will be further opportunities to get involved in the ATE Project - Austria and Holland will
be visiting Oaks Park in October and there will be a residential visit to Austria in 2017.
Watch this space!!
Y9 Speak Out Challenge
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engaging and relevant topics that the students were passionate about.
There was a great variety on show, ranging from homelessness to stereotyping. The students
were judged on their delivery, use of voice and how well they included features of speech, such as
rhetorical questions and facts/statistics. The speeches were all well researched and the passion
was clear to see in all of the performances.
The judges were impressed by the levels of skill, determination and
enthusiasm on display and all agreed what a difficult task it was separating
such great performances. However, the final decision was unanimous and the
winner was ........ Mia Olagbaju 9W, for her engaging and passionate speech
on mental illness. Her quality of writing, delivery and confidence was
exceptional and reflected by the judges’ near perfect marks and Mia’s
reception from her classmates!
Congratulations to all the speakers for their hard work and commitment to such a worthwhile and
fulfilling activity!
Mr Allison
English Teacher
Year 9 Belgian Battlefields Trip
Students from Y9 were recently given the
opportunity to visit the battlefields in Ypres,
Belgium. The students were able to visit the
Langemark German Cemetery which is one
of only four First World War German
cemeteries in the Flanders region. They were
also able to compare this with Tyne Cot - the
largest Commonwealth Military Cemetery in
the world.
Students were then given some free time to
explore the town centre (which also included
an exciting visit to a chocolate shop!)
A particular highlight of the trip was the visit to Yorkshire Trench and the Menin Gate. Overall,
students enjoyed the insight into the history of the Western Front and represented Oaks Park
brilliantly.
Ms Ali
KS3 History Coordinator
World Book Day
Travel Green
The Travel Green Team meets
every Tuesday in E9.
This term’s events included regular
Travel Green Fridays where we
reward students for travelling
green, ie. walking, cycling, taking
bus, train or other means of getting
to school; Bikeability and other
Travel Green courses, eg. BMX
shows and novelty bikes. We also
regularly run competitions about
safe and sustainable travel.
In January we won £250 to run our campaign on trying to reduce congestion around the front and
back gates and also encourage students to be more active by walking or cycling to school; run by
the Youth Travel Ambassadors and Transport for London.
This term we are running poster competitions about reducing congestion and pollution around the
school and local area. Information will be given to your form tutors and on posters around the
school. We are looking forward to seeing your entries – GOOD LUCK!
Mr Chapman
Travel Green Coordinator
Ecobuild Exhibition
Oaks Park’s BTEC Construction Level 3 students recently visited the Ecobuild Exhibition. It was a
fantastic opportunity for them to see the most impressive and innovative sustainable construction
technologies that are crucial in minimising the carbon footprint within the construction industry.
In addition to seeing the work on display and gaining ideas and resources, the students gathered
information and expert analysis from the companies taking part. This gave them an insight into the
documentation needed for the successful completion of Unit 2, including resources to help gain the
knowledge needed for Merit and Distinction tasks for this compulsory Unit.
All of the students came away from the exhibition with CD ROMs, DVDs and promotional literature,
which formed excellent discussion material in subsequent lessons and led to fantastic
presentations on the different topics related to the syllabus.
Mr Oliver
D & T Team Leader
Oaks Park Students are Ballboys/Girls at the Wembley League Cup Final
15 lucky Oaks Park students were chosen to be the ballboys/girls at the Capital One League Cup
Final at Wembley. Students spent the day at Wembley where Manchester City played Liverpool
and were treated to a behind the scenes experience of the famous stadium as well as carrying out
their duties during the match.
Hours before the match began students had the opportunity to walk around the empty stadium and
witness the build up to the big game, where they met and spoke to Liverpool legend John Barnes.
During the match, which ended on penalties, the ballboys/girls were pitch-side in front of the
80,000 plus crowd and a couple of the students were fortunate enough to have a bird’s eye view
of the Manchester City players celebrating their eventual win as they ran over to the corner where
all their supporters were.
Well done to all the students involved on the day.
fantastic ambassadors for Oaks Park High School.
Their behaviour was excellent and were
Our students will be involved in the next four cup finals at Wembley, including the Johnstone’s
Paint Trophy and all three League play-off finals. Good luck for those!
Kethees Sivakumar, Steve Nti, Rithik Sharma, Radusa Ravithasan, Antonette Bowen, Jayde Leon,
Ruth Gillard, Amber Leon, Shahir Hossain, Roshan Robert Chanjee, William Owoko,
Pavanjit Marway, Kelson Aboobakar, Arjun Baines, Kenyah Johnson.
U/13 Girls Football -v- Loxford
The U/13 Girls Football Team took on their second fixture of the
season against Loxford. The Oaks Park Team showed great
structure and passing from the first whistle and Roxie Smart
quickly opened the scoring with a powerful shot. The whole
team played incredibly well, holding the ball up and instantly
retrieving it when we lost possession.
Roxie Smart hit the
target on seven more occasions over the course of the game to
finish with a final score of 8-0. Unsurprisingly, Roxie was
awarded player of the match!
Team (left-right, top-bottom): Godwina Zola, Aecy Asemota, Lianna Mbroh,
Tamanna Alam, Vanja Maljenovic, Roxie Smart, Romani Cameron Kiss,
Iman Chekkour.
U/16 Girls Futsal Competition
The U/16 Girls Football Team took part in a Futsal
Competition at The Copperbox at The Olympic Park. (For
those who are unsure what Futsal is, it is an adapted 5-aside game of football played indoors with a smaller and
slightly heavier ball to encourage skilful passing).
The girls played incredibly well and were a credit to the
school, saving their best match for the last game against
Eastbury and eventually came 3rd in the tournament.
Serena Mehandru took the lead half way through the
game but the girls couldn’t hold onto the one goal
advantage and let in a goal with only a minute to go.
Team (left – right, top-bottom): Aaliyah Vaid,
Prasha Maniccadevan, Olivia Lizzimore, Dipti Puthawala,
Yasmin Chekkour, Serena Mehandru, Sibha Nadeem,
Rhiya Lall, Apriame Peethamparam, Zoe Williams.
Girls Swimming Gala
The Y7, 8, 9, 10 & Senior teams took part in the annual Redbridge Swimming Gala at Fullwell
Cross Leisure Centre. All of the girls did exceptionally well, particularly the Y8 and Senior teams
who finished 3rd in their age group. The Y10 team also made a great effort coming 5th with only
with two girls in their team, which meant that they could only enter 2/ out of 6 races! Overall Oaks
Park secured 4th place. Well done!
Y7 - Rhianna Moore, Nadia Pereira Corsalini, Aecy Asemota, Cindya Vijaratnam, Keisha Veria
Y8 - Gabrielle Artiaga, Abby Cundy, Natasha Thiyagaraja, Morgan Coulson
Y9 - Bethany Smith, Mia Blainey, Emily Bown
Y10 - Rhiya Lall, Anastasia Fabian
Senior - Prasha Maniccadevan, Zoe Williams, Apriame Peethamparam, Mathuri Karunakaran
Boys Swimming Gala
The Y7, 8, 9, 10 & Senior teams also took part in the annual Redbridge Swimming Gala at Fullwell
Cross. All of the boys did really well, particularly the Senior team who finished 3rd. A special
mention to Daniel King in Y13 who has represented the school at the Gala for the last 7 years and
helped organise the Senior Team.
Y7 - Daniel Adam, Jericho Khaliq, Radu. Petrehus, Sahil Rathi.
Y8 - Max Ross, Joe Laxton, Kostas Rimkevicius, Louis Clarke.
Y9 - Harry Hooper
Y10 - Neluxsan Jeyakumar
Senior - Ben Taylor, Tom Brown, Daniel King, Joseph Hayne, John Gardner
Indoor Athletics
Year 7
The Boys and Girls teams competed in the heats for the Redbridge Indoor Athletics Competition.
The Boys team finished 8th and the Girls finished 4th in the heats, qualifying for the final where they
finished 5th overall.
Year 8
The Y8 Girls and Boys teams took part in the
Redbridge Indoor Athletics Finals at Beal High
School, with the winners going on to represent
Redbridge in the Regional finals. Both teams started
well in the field events, particularly Iman Chekkour
and Bruno Da Silva in the Standing Long Jump. The
Boys team then went on to perform consistently well
in the track races.
The points from all events were then added up to produce a final score, with the girls securing 4th
and the boys 3rd places; winning bronze medals.
Girls Team (top-bottom, left-right):
Chante Ramsey, Alys Swan, Makfire Ajeti,
Mirriam Nayya, Camelia Abdi,
Roxie Smart, Iman Chekkour, Gabrielle Artiga.
Boys Team (top - bottom, left – right):
Tanvir Chowdhury, Rayaan Ali, Akram Mujuzi,
Alyaan Danish, Fahimul Haque, Bruno Da Silva,
Yenu-Yi Wong, Malachi Davis-Townshend
Netball
Year 7
The Y7 girls have continued to train with effort and enthusiasm, with over 20 girls attending every
practice.
The girls have played Chadwell Heath, Isaac Newton, Mayfield, Ursuline and Loxford. All games
have been incredibly close with some outstanding play and it’s good to see players improve and
the great team spirit the girls play with.
Team: Tejani Gravillis, Indyah Harvey- Williams, Shivani Mandlia, Cyan Miah, Ester Satgunalingham,
Saima Baig, Denise Kigozi, Queen Idami, Monique Chott, Cindya Vijayaratnam, Lianna Mbroh,
Nawar Khan, Vanja Maljenovic, Duniya Jan, Nneka Esekody, Izzy Solanki, Aecy Asemota.
Year 9
In the Redbridge League the Y9 team is unbeaten so far - and our winning ways have continued
this term! The team has played and won convincingly against King Solomon, Valentines and Isaac
Newton.
Unfortunately we lost In the Essex Cup U14 Plate against Southend A to a very drilled side;
however we played with great spirit and never gave up! Well done girls!
Team: Krysstina Frempong, Bethany Smith, Mia Olagbaju, Mia Blainey, Mia Lemonius,
Mariah Onelum, Hannah Toussaint, Alina Agapchieva, Denise Evi-Parker and Esther Anaman.
Tony Cottee Video Conference
On Thursday 3rd March a group of very lucky students from Y7-11 took part in a video conference
between Caterham High School and Woodbridge with special guest, ex-West Ham and England
striker Tony Cottee.
The video conference was aimed at teaching students about the life of a professional footballer
and gave the students from all schools the chance to ask Tony about his life during football and
after retirement.
The students asked some very interesting and revealing questions and were a real credit to the
school throughout the conference.
Year 7 - Tamanna Alam, Lianna Mbroh, Ivan Cadete-Borges, Jamal Baptiste, Scott Dodd,
Stanley Smart, Curtis James, Daniel Adam
Year 8 - Tanvir Chowdhury, Alyaan Danish, Corey Fraser, Fahimul Haque, Reyan Javed
Year 9 - Charlie Coleman, Mungo Prior
Year 10 - Sibha Nadeem, Sharir Hossain, Kelson Aboobakar, Tyrell Holder, William Owoku,
Shan Sureshkumar
Year 11 - Prasha Maniccadevan, Serena Mahandru, Ergest Kraja, Mehdadul Kazi Mohiuddin,
Ben Taylor, Hafiz Sheikh.
Year 10 London School Games Volleyball
On Friday 4th March the Y10 girls competed in the London
School Games at the University of East London’s
Sportsdock. The 4 -vs- 4 Volleyball Tournament consisted
of 28 teams from across London competing to win the
school games.
Team - Flavia Jeevaratnam,
Antonette Bowen, Buena Dimiri,
Kenyah Johnson, Radusa Ravithasan,
Ruth Gillard
The girls won both their group matches in great style,
meaning they won their group and made the final 16 for
the first time in school history! They played some great
team volleyball, beating 2 good teams and the particular
highlight being their great serving.
In the final 16
matches the girls drew 3 experienced teams and
unfortunately lost the remaining games. Their
improvement over the past 4 months has been immense,
they have shown great commitment to volleyball and
should all be really proud. The next tournament for the
London Youth Games is in June.
Manhattan School of Music NYC
During the term the Learning Resource Centre has been very busy taking part in Video
Conferences with people and organisations from around the world. Some of our music students
plus students from Woodford County High School have been very lucky to have been given the
chance to gain vocal and instrumental tuition from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in
New York via our Video Conference link.
This was a new project for us but it has been one of the most successful to date, with both staff
and students agreeing that it is something that hopefully we will be able to continue in the coming
years.
Zoe Brown 13B
receiving tuition
from her teacher
at Manhattan
School of Music
NYC
77,766,314 words and going strong!
This is the amount of words already read by students in Years 7, 8 & 9 from September 2015. All
of our KS3 students are enrolled in a reading scheme to encourage reading for pleasure and to
raise literacy and reading levels. This involves reading and then quizzing themselves on the books
that they have read. If they pass the quiz, the amount of words in the book is credited to their
accounts. Classes are then encouraged to compete against each other to read the greatest
amounts of words. So far our students have quizzed themselves on 2,424 books and many have
improved their reading levels by over 2 years in 6 months! Well done!
Author Visits
This term we have had visits from 2 authors
who have worked with students from Years 7 &
8.
One of these was Tony Lee, who told us to
“Change the Channel” and not give up on
finding the right type of reading material. He is
a writer of graphic novels and has worked with
Marvel comics as well as writing his own books
and screenplays for television and film. He
spoke about how boring he found reading when
he was growing up, as he was impatient to find
out how the story ended rather than read about
it.
This all changed after an author visit to his school introduced him to different types of books and
this set him off on his own reading journey. He says that he now has the best job ever as he is
travelling the world meeting fascinating people and writing his own stories.
Mrs Hayes
LRC Manager
Emre Misiri
Head Boy
Maria Boutovitskai
Head Girl
Luke Dodd
Deputy Head Boy
Elise Thompson
Deputy Head Girl
Daniel Akinwunmi
Senior Prefect
Sanuga Baskaran
Senior Prefect
Shamikka Baskaran
Senior Prefect
Jemima Benjamin
Senior Prefect
Kuljot Bhamra
Senior Prefect
Kelly Doak
Senior Prefect
Chloe Lashley
Senior Prefect
Kiran Mann
Senior Prefect
Anjali Pillai
Senior Prefect
Imani Powell
Senior Prefect
Rucshana Premkumar
Senior Prefect
Rosetta Richard
Senior Prefect
Abida Tasnim
Senior Prefect
Dev Umeria
Senior Prefect
Oaks Park Clubs 2015-16
Name
Curriculum Access
Homework Club
Travel Green
Geography Society
Staff
Various
Mrs Fage/
Ms Smith
Ms Pugh/ Ms Fox
Ms Freeman/
Mr Ahmed
Maths Club
Ms Anderson /
Mr Bissett
Games & Puzzle Club
Ms Anderson
Business & Economics
Achievement Support Club
Mrs Bailey/
Mr Barnes/
Miss Thorndyke
Intervention Literacy
Games Club
Philosophy Society
(an insight into studying A
Level Philosophy)
Latin Club (an introduction
to the Latin language and
culture)
Chess Club
EAL Homework/Support
Club
KS4/KS5 ICT Club (catchup sessions)
Psychology Club
Sociology Club
Health & Social Care
Support and Information
Club
Drama Club
Science Homework Club
When
Who for
Every lunchtime in A23
All year groups
Tuesday lunchtimes in E9
All year groups
Wednesday lunchtimes in
D6
Key Stage 3, 4 & 5
students
Tuesday lunchtimes in C15
Thursday lunchtimes in
C15
All year groups particularly Y9, 11, 12 &
13
All year groups
Thursday lunchtimes in F17
Business Studies
students
Ms Zafar
Every lunchtime in A27
All year groups
Mr Bissett
Wednesday lunchtimes in
C9
Y11 - 13 but all year
groups welcome
Mr Bissett
Monday lunchtimes in C9
Mr Sundhu
Every lunchtime in A31
All year groups
welcome (regular
attendance necessary)
All year groups
Ms Thaker
Every lunchtime in A24
All year groups
Ms Davda
Every lunchtime in A26
KS4/KS5 students
Thursday lunchtimes in A30
All year groups
Monday lunchtimes in A31
All year groups
Wednesday lunchtimes in
D14
Y10, 11, 12 & 13
Ms Fenn/
Ms Richardson
Mr Doel/
Ms Gonda
Ms Hanlon
Ms Burcombe
Ms Nessa
Ms Islam
Science Club
Anime (Japanese
Animation) Club
(similar to Film Club)
Mr Chapman
Oaks Park Voices
Ms Purton
Oaks Park Sinfonia
Ms Purton
KS4/KS5 ICT Club (Catch
up sessions
ICT Homework Club
Ms Davda
Boxing for Girls & Boys
Mr Breakenridge/
Mr Lester/Mr
Allison
Ms Borja
Ms Saleem
Monday lunchtimes in F7
Wednesday lunchtimes in
B9
Thursday lunchtimes in B9
Thursday lunchtimes in B7
Wednesday lunchtimes in
F20
Wednesday lunchtimes in
A1
Thursday lunchtimes and
P5 in A1
After school in A26
Every Wednesday and
Friday from 3:15 – 4:15 in
A27
Monday& Tuesday from
3:15 – 4:30 in the upstairs
gym (must wear PE kit)
All Clubs are subject to change
Y7 & 8
Y10 & 11
Y7, 8 & 9
Y7
All year groups
Y7 - 9
All year groups
KS4/KS5 students
KS3 ICT students but
all year groups
welcome
Y8 & 9