Pupils from Haywards Heath primary schools joined students from Oathall Community College today for a morning of music and singing at Oathall’s Big Sing. Now in its third year, the Big Sing aims to boost the musical confidence and experience of Year 5 and 6 pupils by allowing them to perform with older students under the expert tutelage of Emily Barden, Head of Vocal Studies at WSCC Music and music teacher Martijn Van Galen. (more…)
INSIGHT is the name of our new secure online parent and student portal. It is now live for parents and students to use. The site will provide parents with online access to a range of student specific information. This will include;
Following the recent Post 16 Opportunities Evening students in year 11 should be planning their choices for continuing their education after their final year at Oathall. Advice and information about colleges, qualifications, apprenticeships and the application process are all available under the work related learning section.
Students are advised to check courses and entry requirements on the colleges’ websites as their prospectuses may already be out of date with the new A levels being introduced over the next three years.
The deadline for all applications is Monday 24 November 2014. All applications must be brought to Ms Hart in the Careers Office. (The exceptions being St Paul’s and Collyer’s.) If you are unsure about anything connected with this process please speak to Ms Hart.
Oathall’s under 15 girls cricket team have beaten all the opposition to become National Champions in the Chance to Compete 2014 Girls U15s cricket finals held on 15 September in Birmingham.
Chance to Compete is a national secondary school competition aimed at giving secondary state school children an opportunity to play competitive cricket. Matches are played in under an hour and all participants play a significant part in the game. (more…)
Oathall was delighted to welcome Haywards Heath Town Mayor, Mrs Sandy Ellis to present awards at the college’s annual celebration evening on Tuesday 15 July. The evening recognises students in all college faculties and from all year groups who have demonstrated the greatest progress and highest achievement over the school year. Students are also awarded for their outstanding contribution to the college and wider community. Accompanying parents left the event with pride stating what a memorable end to the school year that the evening provided.
Pictured with Mrs Sandy Ellis, Haywards Heath Town Mayor and Mr E Rodriguez, Headteacher, are left to right: Lila Jones (English award), Connie Went (Headteachers award), Jesse-Antoine Allotey (Humanities award), George Adams (Science award), Connor Ghosh (Year 8 award), Myles Rice (Modern Foreign Languages award and Year 10 award), Kimberley Guest (Year 9 award)
Congratulations to Katy Gardner, whose GCSE artwork was selected by the Royal Society of British Artists judging panel to be exhibited at this year’s National Students Art Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. This is an incredible achievement, particularly as both large scale pieces made the final selection.
Congratulations also to Zakiyra Begum, Kieran Ross, Hassana Akther-Tuhra, Freya Way and Marjana Akther-Bushra whose submitted artwork was highly commended.
Students in Year 10 have just completed a range of work related activities aimed at broadening their experiences and helping to inform future career choices.
During the week students participated in visits to local businesses, trips to colleges and universities and workshop activities led by employees from Barclays Bank. This included a formal mock job interview which was subsequently graded. One senior Barclays advisor said of the experience “I would happily employ any of the students I’ve interviewed today”
As well as these activities, two former Oathall students, Dr Daisy Moffatt who is training to be a GP and Ben Higgins, Director of HR at the Societe Generale Bank returned to talk to students about their experience of work. Daisy and Ben are both members of the Oathall Alumni Association which is set up to keep in touch with former Oathall students. A short movie of the week’s activities was collated and shown to students at the end of the week.
Following on from the successful Year 6 induction day we will be holding a Y6 Parents’ Evening on Tuesday 8 July at 6.30pm in the hall. The evening includes an introductory talk by Headteacher, Mr Edward Rodriguez followed by an opportunity to meet group tutors and Year 7 Year Leader, Mr Andrew Wright.
Students at Oathall have taken part in choosing names for the new house system that the college is introducing this summer. The house system will provide an extra platform for competition, an additional focus around events and an opportunity for younger and older students to meet and work together in joint enterprises. Following a whole school online vote the theme of Exploration came first in the student poll. Within this theme four names emerged as winners. We are pleased to announce that the new house names are
The house titles originate from spacecraft and ships of exploration. The titles represent the human spirit of challenge and determination to cross boundaries in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. In this context we hope our four house titles will stand as an inspiration to students to strive for success in all aspects of college life.
Between now and the end of term tutor groups will be allocated to a House and our Games Day on 11th July 2014 will have the additional excitement of competition for a House Cup. The autumn term will see further work to develop the House system including the design of house emblems, agreement of colours, the identification of House Captains and other student leaders within the system and the planning for House assemblies and further events. An exciting time lies ahead!
Oathall’s choir joined over 500 hundred singers at Ardingly College last Wednesday for an epic performance of British composer Alexander L’Estrange’s African-Jazz choral masterpiece Zimbe!
Zimbe! is a fusion of traditional African song and jazz, in a format which is already drawing together singers of all ages, ability and nationalities across the globe. The music is accessible, instantly likeable and fun to learn as well as to perform.
The event was part of the Ardingly Arts Festival in support of Ardingly in Africa, staged in conjunction with West Sussex Music.