We had a lovely morning yesterday, a proper Oaklands coffee and cake morning! Pupils, staff and visitors all appreciated the opportunity for a chat and some fabulous cakes. Thank you so much to everyone who baked for us, bought and ate cakes or supported the event in other ways, including our local bakery, Groathill Road Home Bakery, who donated us a big tray of doughnuts! A big thank you also to Aspen and Holly classes for organising the event
The grand total raised so far for MacMillan is £445.88!
Our Performing Arts teachers, Angela and Jacqueline, do an amazing job, creating fully immersive sensory experiences for our young people through their Performing Arts sessions. The school hall is transformed every week into a vibrant, colourful and utterly fascinating interactive space which pupils are invited to explore at their own pace before taking part in wonderful musical, art and drama based activities. Angela and Jacqueline offered to share some of their experience and expertise at the Scottish Storytelling Centre this month, leading a professional learning event for teachers and other practitioners. It was a big success with some very positive feedback from attendees. We are very fortunate to have them both as part of our Team Oaklands.
Sensory Storytelling professional learning shared by our Performing Arts teachers at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
We had a fantastic day last week when all of our pupils and staff, and many of our families, took part in our Oaklands Kilt Walk. We are raising money to buy a new Innowalk, an amazing bit of kit that brings so many health benefits to our young people. But they don’t come cheap! We are aiming to raise £40,000 to buy one. However, thanks to our Kilt Walk, we are already well on our way to achieving this total. We were inspired to run the event by one of our fabulous pupils support workers, Helen, who took it upon herself to take part in the Edinburgh Kilt Walk last weekend, walking an impressive 21 miles, to raise money for the Innowalk and Oaklands. We have raised an impressive £15,115 so far. Thank you so much to everyone who took part and who donated to help us achieve this total.
Kilt WalkKilt walkKilt WalkKilt Walk partyKilt WalkStaff getting ready for the kilt walk
We love learning outdoors at Oaklands all year round. May is especially fun, as every year we celebrate all things outdoors with our Outdoor Learning Week. This year it was Carnival themed as we linked in with the local West Pilton Community Festival. We had so much fun! We had visiting dancers, a maypole, tie dying, drumming, colourful spray painting in the woods, stories and more. Best of all, we had a whole school Carnival Parade with a visiting musician, Jed, who led us all in some high energy drumming and dancing through the woods.
Carnival dancing in the woods.Albi leading some Latin dancing as part of our Carnival themed outdoor learning week.It’s always great to be star of the week at assembly, even better when it is outdoors.It’s lots of fun learning to dance during outdoor learning week.Outdoor learning week – drumming in the woods.Circle time in the playgound showing off our communication skills.Outdoor learning week – assembly in the primary playgroundClasses showing off their carnival costumes round a maypole during outdoor learning week.Festival fun in the woods during outdoor learning week.
Have you ever wanted to come and have a look around Oaklands School? Well now’s your chance. Have a look at this video for a whistle stop tour of our fabulous rooms, resources and outdoor spaces.
This song can be useful when you are about to hoist your child. They may have started to prepare themselves for the movement, as they have recognised their sling is being placed around them, but hearing the song will tell them that they are about to be moved (and therefore minimise any anxiety they might be feeling.)
You’ll also notice the onbody signs for “up” and “down” at the end of the video. Your child will be familiar with these signs, so do use them at home – they will also help your child understand and feel more comfortable with what is happening.
We are hosting a bake sale and tuck shop on Monday morning 10-11am to raise money for Toilet Twinning. All welcome! If you would like your young person to buy something, send them in with some coins. It will be a social event with the opportunity to sit down and have a cuppa and a natter. Looking forward to some yummy cakes!
