Number 2 October 2018

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Over the last few weeks we have seen the students have access to some amazing opportunities, in-

cluding the Street Dance workshops for Year 8, Arts day for year 7, team building days and canoe-

ing for Koa students. I have also had the priviledge of seeing some amazing learning in class, includ-

ing students developing their first aid skills, prepare for work experience, learn how chocolate is

made and the implications of fair trade products.

Alongside this we have been working hard to develop our therapies provision, train the new members

of the staff team and ensure all our new learners are settling in well. We have had students join in

every year group and every part of the college, showing how much our focus on the holisitic develop-

ment of the young person is needed and valued.

Annual reviews have started for year 14 students and we are planning and working with those fami-

lies on the transition beyond life at Oak Grove and we continue to actively work with FE colleges,

social care providers and work experience placements to ensure he next steps are well planned for.

Funding continues to be an issue and along with many

other West Sussex headteachers I attended the march

on Downing Street asking for fair funding for schools.

Many Special schools Headteacher colleagues were pre-

sent. I remain concerned that the funding which we,

social care and the NHS have available to us to meet

the needs of your wonderful children are stretched and

fragile and rely on the very hard work and dedication of

staff to give above and beyond. The recent report from

the statistics watchdog confirms my fears and was

clear on politicians to be very careful on the claims they are making around school funding. I truly

hope they are listening to our concerns.

Next week you will have the opportunity to meet with form tutors to discuss how students have

settled in and I look forward to meeting you then. Can I also please ask families to sign up to with

your email addresses so we can send letters home electronically to you. This will be more efficient

for us and more timely for you.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Phillip Potter, Headteacher, Oak Grove College

Thursday 18th October Parents Evening

Monday 22nd-Friday 26th October Half-Term

Monday 29th October First day back at school

Wednesday 7th November Parent’s Drop-In Session at the Café (The Rosie)

Wednesday 5th December Parent’s Drop-In Session at the Café (The Rosie)

Tuesday 18th December Last day of term

Thursday 3rd January 2019 First day back at school

Dates for the diary

Parent Drop-In Mornings at The Rosie

Every first Wednesday of the month, the Café run by the Sixth Form students hosts a

parent/carer coffee morning. This gives parents and carers the opportunity to informally

share experiences, issues or worries with others. Parent networking can be a powerful support

system.

Please come and join us if you can.

Remaining INSET Days for 2018/19

Friday 23rd November

Wednesday 19th December

Tuesday 23rd April

Friday 17th May

The Thunderstruck Enterprise Team are doing a Halloween sale on

the 30th and the 31st of October 2018, in 6AG, Sixth Form Hub.

If anyone would like to buy any Halloween items, they will need a

small amount of money.

Thank you, from the Thunderstruck Team.

Football

We also have the Brighton and Hove FC football dates below. If your son or daughter would

like the opportunity to go to the tournaments held at Burgess Hill, please come along to foot-

ball club any day at break or lunchtime on the Muga. Whilst we are on clubs, the latest after-

school clubs will be released next week so keep an eye out for the letter, as

places go quick.

Year 7 – 8: 12th Nov 2018

Girls: 19th Nov 2018

6th Form: 26th Nov 2018

Physical Development Level 1 Training: 5th November 10-12pm Chichester Room,

Field Place, Worthing

Physical Development Level 1 training is free to all school parents/carers. It is a two

hour informal foundation training session with a Physiotherapist from the Therapies in

Schools TIS project. A foundation training for parents and carers focusing on the de-

velopment of the nervous system and motor skills in children with special educational

and/or physical needs.

Change of Communication

In order to improve communication and to become more economical we will be changing the way

we communicate with parents. We will no longer send out information in paper format but will

be sending emails instead. This will ensure all communication arrives safely and directly with

you.

To ensure we have your correct email contact details please send an email to the following ad-dress at school: general@oakgrovecollege.org.uk. Be sure to include the name of your child,

your name, and whether the address is for the primary carer (first point of contact), mum,

dad, etc. You may also send an email for another contact (secondary carer/second contact) to

the same address; again please specify the name of the child and your name, and whose email

address it is. For example:

Child’s name: John Smith

Email address owner: Mrs Jane Smith, mum

Don’t forget to send emails from each separate account/email address.

Thank you for your continued support in helping us to improve communication.

Chilled out swim sessions

At

Oak Grove College

Friday 26th Oct

10am – 11am (8 places)

11am – 12pm (8 places)

12pm – 1pm (8 places)

Book your place by email before 12th October

cmoyle@oakgrovecollege.org.uk

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

These sessions are for those who need 1-1 support in the water. Please provide your own

PA or discuss with Claire Moyle

Cost £5 per session

CHILLED OUT SWIM SESSIONS

Superheroes Winter Wheels 2nd December at Dor-

ney Lake, Windsor

Wanted families to join the fun!!!!!

The Lakeside Dash (1km) run, walk, push, cycle

Once Round the Lake (5km) run, walk, push, , cycle

Twice Round the Lake (10km) run, walk, push, cycle

Please contact Claire Moyle by 18th October to ex-

press an interest or to find out more.

cmoyle@oakgrovecollege.org.uk

Friends of Oak Grove College

Welcome back to everyone, although we are already near the end of the first half term! Last

week I attended the Broadwater Carnival Presentation evening along with Carole Prime our

Chairwoman and Toby, one of our students. We were delighted to be awarded £1800 from the

£13800 they raised this year on the day. This money is going towards a new hoist in one of the

PMLD classrooms. We need to say a huge thank you to the Carnival Committee for choosing us

as one of their charities this year. Also a big well done to Toby who represented the College so

well on the night.

Our lottery is still happening each week and our winners since September are Maureen Stans-

field winning £70 on 18.8.18, but Maureen very kindly donated her winnings back to school, her

granddaughter Hannah is a student here. Diana Pacocha £20 on the 1.9.18, Claire Moyle £30 on

22.9.18 and Tony Cannon £20 on 6.10.18. If any new members would like to join then the start

of the new 20 weeks will begin on 24th November. It costs £1 per week (but you pay £20 up

front) if your chosen number is the bonus ball number on a Saturday night then you win. Half

the takings are kept by Friends of Oak Grove and the other half is paid out as winning. Please

let us know if you’d like to join.

We desperately need some parents to join our committee to help with fundraising ideas and or-

ganising. Our next meeting is on Wednesday 7th November at 4 o clock. Please come along if

you can, without parental support no more fundraisers will be organised.

You can keep up to date with our news on our facebook page.

Year 7 had a fantastic day at Whiteways

Lodge in Arundel. The action packed day

started with team games, where pupils had

to work together to complete different

challenging team building tasks. Pupils then

went on to design shelters using only mate-

rial found within the woods, to see if they

could work as a group to set up an area suit-

able for their team. The day cumulated in all

the pupils setting up cooking stoves and

cooking and making a hot dog for them-

selves. It was great day and the pupils have

identified the following 3 words that they

will look to use whilst in lessons at school,

listening, trust and teamwork.

The year 8 pupils have recently returned

from an amazing day at Lodge Hill Centre. All

pupils gained so much from undertaking ac-

tivities what were suitable to their needs.

Activities included, shelter building, low zip

wire, tunnelling, high ropes and archery. All

activities were designed to get pupils to

work together and learn the importance of

teamwork which clearly worked. Pupils de-

scribed the day as amazing, fun, scary, ex-

citing, challenging, hard, great and good. As

the pupils progress through year 8, they will

face many challenging days and we hope the

skills learnt at Lodge Hill will enable them to

succeed. Well done to all

Year 7 Whiteways Lodge and Year 8 Lodge Hill

This half term, 6KP have been visiting Funtastic Futures as part of their transition slot! We

have had a fantastic time and the students have been amazing. We have had a mixture of

both life skills and community sessions, which has meant the students have been able to

transfer the skills they have been learning into different contexts. Our highlights have been

picking the berries and shopping for ingredients to make blackberry and apple crumble and

catching the double decker bus into Worthing for a game of bowling!

On Monday our Year 11 Performing Arts group took part in a workshop with professional

actors to develop ideas for their performance in the Shakespeare for Schools Festival.

Their exciting and innovative interpretation of Macbeth will be staged at the Regis Centre

in Bognor on Thursday 8th November. Tickets are available from the Alexandra Theatre

at https://alexandratheatre.ticketsolve.com or by calling the Box Office on 01243 861010

Shakespeare for Schools

Art Days

Year 7 and 8 started the year with exciting, immersive Arts Days. Year 7 had a visual art day

exploring pattern and the work of Kev Munday. Some beautiful large scale art work was pro-

duced and the students were very proud of their achievements. Year 8 were treated to a

street dance workshop with StreetFunk from Brighton. This was an inspiring experience and

the students danced with enthusiasm all day! Charlie in Year 8 said “ I want to do it again!

Looking ‘round, people were all joining in and there were no arguments. It was fun!”