Monday 23rd October

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope everyone had a good half term break. There has been a lot happening at school over the holiday, with old mobile buildings being demolished ready for new playground spaces and a new Gazebo and clatter bridge being installed.

There are a number of events for parents/carers happening this term that are on our website;

There are a number of workshops & coffee mornings this half term including Autism Workshops, PECS phase 1&2, Intensive Interaction and Positive Behaviour Support. Regular reminders will be sent out to you by ClassDojo, but all dates can be found on the calendar section of our website www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk

Parents Evening is on Wednesday 8^th November. We hope that all parents will attend either in person, online or by phone call.

Performance: We have invited Carrot productions in to school again for a performance of More Musical Beasts on Monday 20^th November. This Theatre in Education company have previously visited Oaklands and children have enjoyed their performances.

Teacher Day: Please do not forget to add to your diary that Monday 27^th November is one of the planned days that children are not at school.

Christmas Crafternoon: Parents are invited to join us on the afternoon of Wednesday 20^th December for Christmas crafts with your children.

Christmas Holiday: Children finish term on Thursday 21^st December

Oaklands School Lettings: Oaklands has a wide range of spaces that we let out to Local Community Groups. This supports us with revenue that we can then put back into buying teaching and learning resources. If you are aware of any groups or societies in the local community who are looking for a venue, please do ask them to check out our school website for the Lettings Policy for more details or call our school office on 0116 2415921 to speak to Ashleigh Haines our School Business Manager

Family Support Worker:

This is Mala Chohan, our family support worker. She is a valued member of the Oaklands team who can support parents/carers with advice on a whole range of issues including DLA, other benefits, grants and financial support, as well as housing and community groups. If you would like to speak to Mala, she can be contacted through the school office. Mala works Monday-Thursday 10am-2pm and Friday 10-1pm

Filtering, Monitoring & Cybersecurity: There has been National advice and guidance for schools recently regarding our role in ensuring that all children are kept safe from inappropriate content online. Our staff consistently monitor what children are doing when using technology at Oaklands and the school works closely with Primary World as well as our Data Protection Officer to ensure that all data within the school is kept safe. Further advice about parental controls for devices at home can be found on the NPSCC website: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/

Parent/Carer Governor: Do you have the time and skill set to become a School Governor?

We want all of our pupils to be confident happy children who know they have value and who have a sense of their own abilities. We want them to be able to communicate in whatever way or ways they are comfortable with; to have a voice and be listened to; to know that they have rights and responsibilities, and that they are entitled to learning that is fun, challenging and meaningful whatever their abilities or starting points. 

As you may be aware, Oaklands is lucky to have a very supportive Governing body. We are now hoping to recruit a new Parent/Carer Governor to be part of this team. This is a voluntary role and would suit someone who is interested in working as part of a team to support the school moving forward. No experience is needed- just a commitment to termly school visits and approximately 8 meetings over the year, as well as being dedicated to our school pupils. You would have an induction and support to understand the role. Our current Governing body are a diverse team who are dedicated to ensuring that everyone’s contributions are valued. If you are interested in this role, please call the school office to speak to our School Business Manager, Ashleigh Haines.

The Autumn term is a long term, so please do try to ensure that you try and get your child into good night time routines as this will impact on their wellbeing as well as their physical health. Whilst we appreciate that this can be difficult, including relaxing activities before bedtime, like reading or listening to calming music, in preparation for sleep is important. There is further advice from the National Autistic Society on their website; https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/physical-health/sleep

We look forward to seeing you in school this term,

Regards

Sarah Osborne

(Headteacher)

Parents are able to apply for a free bus pass for your child.  This could be useful for you during weekends and holidays but also for school when we are organising trips.  For more information click on the link below:

https://www.leicester.gov.uk/transport-and-streets/travelling-by-bus/passes-and-concessionary-fares/concessionary-travel-for-disabled-people/

Regards
Vicky

Last Year's Eco Club, ASH Friday and some classes grew lots of things in our growing area. 

We have harvested onions, carrots and chard and made a stir fry, added beetroot to a chocolate cake and made that (selling it at the Macmillan coffee morning too) and we have now harvested the rest of the carrots, onion and potatoes.  To see some photos please click the link below. 

Growing Area | Oaklands School Leicester (secure-primarysite.net)

This weeks signs are Why and Work. To see them modelled accompanied by different languages, check out our youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMCtak2VtgQTOwzNn8WDQPA
or our website

https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/makaton/

We are hosting a drop in session for parents next wednesday afternoon. This is an opportunity to meet the senior leaders and our new family support worker, find out how we can help you, your child and family and ask any questions that you might have.

Our school Guinea Pigs, Max and Lobo, have arrived back at Oaklands today after their summer holiday and are looking forward to meeting the pupils.