ANNUAL 2019 WELCOME from the PRINCIPAL I Am Delighted to Welcome You to the Latest Edition of the OLA Annual
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ANNUAL 2019 WELCOME FROM THE PRINCIPAL I am delighted to welcome you to the latest edition of the OLA annual. The academic year 2018-19 was an exciting one for our pupils in many ways, not least the wonderful production of Hairspray we all enjoyed so much in the Hilary term. My thanks go to the editor of this annual, Dr Lawson, for masterminding such an entertaining and successful show, demonstrating as it did how enormously talented our pupils are in so many ways. Since then, Dr Lawson has taken on the demanding role of Head of Sixth Form, as well as getting underway her planning for our next production, Grease. In August we celebrated some truly outstanding public examination results, which have once again shown how much added value OLA gives to our students’ performances. At both GCSE and A Level, many students were delighted to find that their grades had exceeded their expectations, enabling them to move with confidence into OLA 6th – as we now call our Sixth Form - or their chosen universities. We were also pleased to see our Lower Sixth once again gaining excellent grades in the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), another regular OLA success story in recent years. This annual, of course, reflects more than just the academic life at OLA, showing as it does the great range of activities undertaken by our pupils in a huge number of areas. I hope it will be seen not only by current pupils and parents, but by your families as well and many people who up to now have had little or no contact with the school. Once you have read it, please pass it on. The breadth of activities described here, both academic and co-curricular, is a credit to all those who have had the initiative and commitment to bring them about, as well as the enthusiasm of the young people involved. It is invidious to single out one activity among so many, but Young Enterprise was particularly outstanding this year, with Team INFINITY achieving success at both a local and Europe-wide level. You will read this annual at a very significant time for OLA as in 2020 we will be celebrating the 160th year of our foundation. Over the course of the year you will hear about the many exciting events that are happening in the school to mark this great milestone in OLA’s history. The celebrations will culminate with our Alumni Reunion on 5 September, which has already generated a huge amount of interest among past pupils of the school, going right back to the 1950s. We hope you will be as excited as we are by all that this means for us at OLA as we reflect on our remarkable history as one of Oxfordshire’s leading educational institutions. My thanks, as ever, go to all the people who have contributed so creatively to the pages that follow, describing as they do in such interesting detail the rich tapestry of OLA life. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have. Stephen Oliver Principal December 2019 CONTENTS Junior School Welcome 1 Duke of Edinburgh Award 47 Early Years 2 English 49 Reception 3 Food club 51 Year 1 4 French 52 Year 2 6 Geography 53 Year 3 7 Maths Challenge 54 Year 4 8 Psychology 54 Year 5 10 History 55 Year 6 12 OLA Model United Nations 57 Subjects & Events 16 Music 58 English 16 Spanish 58 Other Events 18 Religious Studies 59 Music 19 Science 60 P.E. and Sport 20 Textiles 63 Science Week 22 Young Enterprise 64 Senior School 23 Houses 67 New Staff 23 Sport 71 News 24 Boys Football 71 Subjects & Clubs 39 Girls Netball & Hockey 72 Art 39 Rounders 72 Biology 43 Swimming 73 Design Technology 45 Sports Day 73 Drama & Theatre Studies 46 University Destinations 76 1 | JUNIORSCHOOL JUNIOR SCHOOL EARLY YEARS Florence counting Freya and Ralph Mini Bakers The girls are taking part in mathematical activities in the The nursery children are mini bakers each week. Ralph and Nursery and Reception classrooms. Counting and recording Freya are making milk shake! Pouring is a very important numerals are embedded into our continuous provision. skill to learn. Snow picture Royal Baby Celebration cakes We can watch the weather change from our big window in The children were excited to celebrate the arrival of the the nursery! The girls are watching the snowflakes as they royal baby with lovely celebration cakes for lunch! fall. We also got to go outside and play in the snow. Woodland Explorer Cottage Tea Heidi is laying the table during our Woodland Explorers Time for tea in the three bear’s cottage! session. JUNIOR SCHOOL | 2 RECEPTION The children We watched the planted and lifecycle of a watched as their butterfly from beanstalks grew. tiny caterpillars They grew so to beautiful tall the children butterflies and couldn’t reach then set them the top! free outside. Henry roasting Marina has marshmallows been locked up during in our ‘jail’ for Woodland speeding! Explorers. The children The children have a phonics went on a trip session every to The Lookout day to practise Discovery their reading Centre in and writing. Bracknell. They had lots of opportunities for fun, hands- on learning! The children World Book are role playing day is always a a Baptism as highlight of our we learnt about year! how babies are welcomed into the Church. 3 | JUNIOR SCHOOL YEAR 1 COUNTING STORIES INTREPID EXPLORERS The children wrote their own counting stories on the In History, the children explored the lives and theme of Going on Safari for the Nursery children, contributions that Neil Armstrong and Christopher so that they could help them learn to count up to 10 Columbus made to international achievements. animals. They thought carefully about the animals they As part of our topic we visited We The Curious museum would include in their stories and thought of amazing in Bristol, where they had the chance to take part in adjectives to describe them. When they had finished an All Aboard, Destination Space workshop. They had writing and illustrating their stories, they shared them great fun playing games on their mission, to learn about with the Nursery children, who listened beautifully and gravity, how electricity is generated in space, how to eat really enjoyed joining in with the counting. “I had fun and drink and how to sleep. It looks like we may have writing my book and I enjoyed sharing it with Joseph in some budding astronauts of our own at OLA. “I loved the Nursery. I helped him count the animals.” Adrien floating ball race. When there is no gravity, it must be very strange and hard for the astronauts.” Ivy INVESTIGATING MATHS AND SCIENCE The children have been exploring the world with Paddington Bear. On his travels, Paddington took part in many outdoor activities, in a variety of weather conditions. The children had to make sure that he had all that he needed for his holiday in his suitcase. Paddington asked them to find the best material to make a raincoat and a helmet. He also asked them to find him a scarf that measured a specific length. The children happened to be studying materials in Science and so were able to plan their own investigations to carry this out. They explored a variety of materials, thought about their properties and made excellent predictions. After gathering all that they needed, they were able to complete their investigation and record their results. The children made some excellent conclusions and were able to report back to Paddington. They also used their measuring skills in Maths to find him the perfect length of scarf. Happy holidays Paddington! “Science is so much fun because I learnt that I could get it wrong and then investigate to find the right answer.” Lucas “I loved finding the best helmet for Paddington. We used eggs and it was very messy!” Cristina “I enjoyed measuring all of the scarves and finding the right one.” Ivy JUNIOR SCHOOL | 4 YEAR 1 CONTINUED FOREST SCHOOL This is a firm favourite with the Year 1 children, and a chance for them to explore the wildlife, climb, build, cook, wash up and enjoy a delicious Forest School lunch. It has also been a great way to reinforce learning in the classroom. Having completed a research project on brown bears, the children went to our woods and enjoyed role- playing using many of the facts they had learnt. “I enjoyed digging a hole and making my friends think that a brown bear was hiding in it.” Lucas “I love to toast marshmallows, eat hot dogs and drink hot chocolate” Annabel POETRY In class, the children listened to Sunflowers by William Wordsworth. They then painted pictures to reflect what they saw in their minds when they listened to the poem. They even managed to recite the first verse with tremendous confidence. “I enjoyed learning the poem and I was proud of myself for saying it to the class.” Adrien MUDEFORD Year 1 visited Mudeford and recorded their very own documentary based around seaside holidays 100 years ago. As part of their English and History topics, the children researched seaside holidays, using non-fiction books and search engines. They put all of their fact finding together and wrote a documentary, which they then performed on Mudeford beach. Passers-by were very impressed with their acting skills and knowledge and even stopped to admire the Punch and Judy theatre stand and puppets that the children had made in their DT lessons.