We would like to invite you to our Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday 30th September at 9.45am – 11.15am.

Macmillan Cancer Charity provide physical, emotional and financial support for affected families. We would like to support them by raising money and at the same time it would be lovely to meet with parents and have a chat. Staff will be making delicious homemade cakes (NUT FREE) for sale at £1.00 per slice with a cup of tea/coffee.

As it is an exciting time at Oaklands with our expansion, and I would like to also use this opportunity to update you on the progress. Mrs Gangat (Governor) and other support services for example Leicester Autism Society and the Carer Centre, will also be attending and are happy to answer any questions. 

Leicester City Council is working in partnership with Samworth Brothers to give eligible families the opportunity to shop for free food and groceries for use over the October half term holiday.

There will be six pop-up pantry venues across the city to choose from, each providing parents/carer with the opportunity to collect healthy and nutritious food for the half-term.

This offer is for families who have children that meet the following criteria:

• receive benefits-related free school meals

• who are full time school (4 to 16 years)

• live in Leicester City or attend a city school if they live outside of Leicester

Places at venues are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis to those who meet all of the above registration criteria. To register please complete the online registration form by midnight on Tuesday 4 October 2022.

Late requests will not be accepted.

• Forest Lodge Academy Thursday 13 October 3.30pm – 5.30pm Charnor Road LE3 6LH
• Kestrel Mead Primary Academy (Junior site) Thursday 13 October 3.30pm – 5pm Mundesley Road LE5 1WE
• Soar Valley College Friday 14 October 3.30pm – 5.30pm Gleneagles Avenue LE4 7GY
• Community Shop Stocking Farm Saturday 15 October 11am – 12.15pm; or 12.30pm – 2pm Marwood Road LE4 2ED
• Evington Leisure Centre Sunday 16 October 11am – 1.30pm 131 Downing Drive LE5 6LP
• Leicester City Football Club Monday 17 October 10.30am – 11.30am; or 12noon – 1.30pm King Power Stadium LE2 7FL

Please note - No food vouchers will be issued by Leicester City Council to those who receive free school meals during the half term holiday

Dear Parents,

As you will no doubt be aware, next Monday has now become a Bank holiday due to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. This means that the school will be closed for the day.

There are a range of resources available online related to the life of the Queen if you feel you would like to talk about this with your child at home.

See www.bbc.co.uk/newsround

Our staff have been supporting children if they have been asking questions or want to reflect on what they have seen in the media during the last few days. We are aware that for some children this may trigger feelings related to the bereavement of a family member or friend. Grief can be unpredictable and feelings that we think have been left behind can suddenly re-surface and unsettle us.

If you have any concerns about your child’s response to these events, please do not hesitate to contact us for further advice.

We also wanted to ensure that parents have details of other dates that children will not be at school this term:

Monday 17th October to Friday 21st October- Half term

Friday 25th November- School Closed (Staff training date)

Monday 19th December to Tuesday 3rd January- Christmas holiday & Staff training.

Children return to school on Wednesday 4th January

Regards Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)

Welcome Back

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a wonderful first week back for pupils at Oaklands. We have been thrilled to see all children settling into their classes so smoothly, getting to know the staff and meeting their new peer groups. Thank-you for preparing them well and getting children on the bus/taxi or ready in the car to arrive at 8.45am. Attendance this week has been very good.

It has been a joy to meet our new children across the school. We have welcomed 18 new children who have been smiling and playing alongside their peers already- We are very proud of the way in which they have started their new school!

Car Park: The car park arrangements have worked smoothly this week despite having reduced space whilst the crane is on site. Thank-you to parents who transport children. We appreciate your patience and understanding, supporting us to keep everyone safe at the start and end of each day. 

Expansion: For those children who were already at Oaklands, I am sure they will have noticed some changes at the front of the school as they arrived on site this week. We have a large, green crane in the car park now that is moving the steel to put in place for our school expansion. The site is looking different every day. Many of our children can see the work happening at the front of the building as they have their lunch.

Our UNIQUE Vision:

Please do continue to check Class Dojo and the school website for any updates. New parents/carers, should have been sent a link by email to join Class Dojo. You receive regular updates about your child’s activities and progress through Class Dojo and it also gives you the facility to message the class team if you need to let them know anything. If you need any support or further information about this, please contact the office; office@oaklands.leicester.sch.uk.

You can also find us on Twitter and we have our own You Tube channel & a Facebook page Twitter: @Oaklands_

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoBZ9amxpU6NJ3OM9_dPioA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/OaklandsSchoolLeicester/

This term, all children will be exploring a variety of learning experiences from reading exciting stories such as Whatever Next! to preparing pitta bread pizza and practicing valuable life skills. There will also be a whole school day about Space on 6th October & Diwali on 14th October.

We look forward to getting to know your children again this term. They are all a joy to work with!

If you have any questions, queries or comments, please do not hesitate to get in touch through the school office.

Regards

Sarah Osborne

Headteacher

School starts for all pupils on Tuesday 30th and children should be ready for their transport or if coming with parents, they should be on site by 8.45am. We are really looking forward to seeing them.

Summer Holiday Food Offers

Parents and Carers may be interested in these offers for the summer 2022.

What if I cannot afford a meal out?

Residents of Leicester can seek help at FareShare. This is an organisation that provides surplus food to other charities, however they can offer referrals to families on a low income. The address is Coventry Road, and FareShare can be called at 0116 286 7735.

Dear Parents/Carers,

It is approaching the end of a very busy year, and there are a number of exciting activities children are involved in this week. Today has been a water themed day across the school, with children exploring Science concepts through activities with water.

On Thursday, we have a Leavers’ assembly starting at 1.30pm to say Goodbye to pupils who are moving on to new schools. This will be a special time to celebrate achievements and wish children and their families good luck for the future. We are proud of every one of our children and will miss them all, but know that they have been well prepared to move on. If your child is leaving us this year, we do hope you will be able to join us for this assembly, and that you will stay in touch with the school to let us know what your child does in the future.

On Friday, we have a whole school Eid celebration day. Children will be learning about Eid-Ul-Adha, which follows the completion of the Hajj pilgrimage. We invite children to dress down on this final day of term as they will also be celebrating the end of the year with their class groups & I look forward to visiting class parties in the afternoon.

We also have some staff members leaving at the end of this week; Laura Ward, Tomas Zahorsky, Kalpana Mistry, Halima Umarji. We wish them well as they explore exciting new roles and adventures! Kate Bentley, Hannah Hawkins and Alice Dovey will also now be leaving us for a while as they take maternity leave. We look forward to hearing news of their new babies over the summer.

End of Year Reports: Parents/Carers will all be receiving your child’s End of Year Report this week. These are always a delight to read, to reflect on each child’s achievements and progress during the year. I do hope that you will enjoy reading about your amazing child! In the envelope you will also find a transition sheet that tells them about the class they will be in next academic year. This can be used to remind your child of the class name and teachers names during the summer holiday and before they return next term.

Keeping Children Safe: During the summer holidays, we are aware that many children will spend time on their devices at home. It is important that parents/carers know how to make sure children are kept safe from online harms by ensuring there are appropriate security settings on the device. Please find with this letter some supporting information. There is also advice on setting up parental controls on the NSPCC website;

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/

There are a number of activities happening for children in Leicester over the summer. These include Summer Reading Challenges at Leicester Libraries with the Launch week 11-15^th July. There will also be live family theatre events at the libraries between 19^th to 23^rd July. The Spark Arts for Children in association with Among Ideal Friends libraries consortium, present 'Recycled Rubbish' – a show for children aged five and over. Tickets will be on sale soon.

If you feel particularly overwhelmed during the summer break, there are a range of people who can help. Please do keep these numbers somewhere safe. You are not alone.

Parenting Support

Parent Autism Workshops: For families of autistic pupils in years 1 to 9. Training will be delivered in Hindi only (suitable for Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu speaking parents who understand the Hindi language)

Thursday 9th June 2022, 9:00-12:00pm 4 sessions

Please click here to book on the course.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Platinum Jubilee Celebrations – Friday 27th May 2022

On Friday 27th May we will be celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at school. The children are invited to wear red, white and blue clothes instead of their uniform on this day. However, we do appreciate that some our children may prefer to come in school uniform as usual. Therefore, if you would like to send in a change of clothes in a bag, we will try and encourage children to participate by getting changed in the afternoon.

The children will have their school dinner & packed lunch as usual then will have a whole school celebration picnic during the afternoon. The picnic will be held outside for children to celebrate this special occasion together. We ask for you to send in one item of picnic food, if possible, to be shared at the picnic (no nuts please) ie healthy snacks, fruit, crisps, cake.

We are looking forward to a lovely day and thank you for your continued support.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Osborne

Headteacher