Oakgrove School

Now that the curtain has come down on this year’s musical production, The Lightning Thief, we are delighted to share how incredibly proud the school is of the students and the dedicated staff team who brought this ambitious show to life.
Over the last few months, especially during the final show week, the students demonstrated a level of professionalism and talent that truly reflects the very best of our school community.

Bringing a production of this scale to the stage is no small feat. The student in countless hours of rehearsals, often staying late into the evening and giving up their Sundays to perfect their performances. Throughout the live shows, the students managed the pressure with grace and teamwork, showing remarkable resilience and passion. The final result was a testament to their creativity.

These productions are only possible because of the collective support of the Oakgrove community. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the staff who made it happen:
🔴Shaun Humphries for leading the music.
🟠Thomas Williams for his leadership on sound, staging and technical direction.
🟡John Leadbetter for creating the set, including a particularly inventive toilet!
🟢Mandy Gibbons and Keira Baird for their fantastic support with sound and backstage requirements.
We are also eternally grateful to the many other staff members who assisted with the set, clearing up and providing refreshments. Whether you helped backstage, took photos or cheered from the audience, your support is very much appreciated.

Miss Lodge

Oakgrove School is looking to appoint a Cover Manager to join our team. This is a key post in supporting the day to day running of the school and is suitable for individuals who have the skills and qualities to manage a role that is both varied and challenging. The ability to remain calm under pressure and to multi-task is essential. Experience of managing a team would be beneficial. The main purpose of the role is to arrange cover for absent teaching staff, manage a team of cover supervisors, liaise with external agencies and oversee supply staff. The role includes responding to both planned and ‘on the day’ staff absences.

The Cover Manager will also support wider administration of the absence system alongside administration tasks to support the work of the Senior Leadership Team.

The successful candidate will be efficient and organised, have strong interpersonal skills, be able to use their own initiative and have proven experience of high level administration. On occasion, this person may also be required to cover lessons however no previous teaching experience is required.

The working pattern for this role is 7.30am-3.00pm term time plus mandatory staff training days and attendance at summer exam results days.

Oakgrove has a reputation for achieving the highest results, for attainment and progress, in Milton Keynes for both KS4 and KS5 and we are very proud of the successes of our students. The behaviour of our students has been described as exemplary. We have a history of achieving exceptional results and destinations for our students. The staff team at Oakgrove is highly dedicated and supportive and we welcome new staff who share our ethos.

For more information about the role or school, please contact [email protected]

I have been so impressed by the enthusiasm and scientific curiosity shown by my Year 7 and 8 classes lately. Our Year 7 scientists have been diving deep into chemistry and biology, using red cabbage to create their own pH indicators and carefully measuring the energy content of different foods. Not to be outdone, Year 8 have been shedding some light on physics by investigating the intricate ways that reflection, refraction and colour behave.
It is wonderful to see the students master these practical skills so confidently and these photos really capture their joy in discovering new things and even some ‘eureka’ moments in action!
Miss Sadler

Meet Mansha, a Year 10 student who isn’t just studying literature, she’s writing it!

Her first book, The Lost Sea Of Stars: An Adventure Beyond Worlds, all started with a single, vivid dream when Mansha found herself inside a dark cave, looking out at the infinite expanse of space. She has always had a deep fascination with the universe and readers might even notice her clever nod to astronomy within the book; the character named Celadus is directly inspired by Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn.

Mansha recently led an assembly to her peers and you can find out more about that in our next newsletter.

The book is currently available on Amazon and has several 5 star reviews!

We are incredibly proud of Mansha. She’s a brilliant reminder that with enough curiosity and drive, your dreams can become a reality before you even leave secondary school.

y

Year 9 did a great job making Swiss rolls last week. The picture shows some of the ones that were made with an Oreo cream filling and topped with Oreo cookies. Mr Huntley as very impressed that they were all finished within the hour!

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the achievements of Damian in Year 9, who recently represented Oakgrove School at our local regional final for Futurechef. Damian impressed with his Spicy Asian Style Pork with noodles. While the competition only announces the top two positions to move forward to the area finals, Damian received a wealth of high praise for his creativity and skill.

Last week visited Year 9 students to perform their latest play, RSVP. Performed entirely in French by two native speakers, the play was incredibly interactive with several of our students getting on the stage to take on impromptu roles. A huge thank you to Onatti Productions for such an entertaining and educational morning. It certainly proved that language learning can be as much about laughter as it is about grammar!

Following on from a recent visit from the RAF Air Cadets, our Year 7 students were given an assembly by The Buckingham Army Cadet Force. Harry in Year 10, who is a Lance Corporal, along with students from other schools, shared their experiences in the ACF.
More about this in our next newsletter.

Key Stage 4 Drama students recently visited to watch ‘Dear England’.
The play explores Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England manager following the highs and lows of international football. It was funny, thought provoking and heart breaking. Students thoroughly enjoyed it and are already, enthusiastically dissecting the performance in preparation for their summer exams.

The English department took a group of A Level English Literature students to London’s West End to watch a performance of William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, starring Caitlin Fitzgerald and Toby Jones.

Find out more about this in the next Secondary Newsletter!

Last week, Miss Lowe led an assembly to Year 11 on the future of voting. At the end of assembly, students go to choose which party they would currently vote for for and the results were:
64 votes
53 votes
39 votes
27 votes
24 votes



This assembly was part of our PSHE curriculum, designed to teach students about the democratic process, critical thinking and how elections work in the UK. We are proud to provide a space where students can engage with civic duties in a neutral, educational environment.
While we welcome healthy debate, we do not tolerate personal attacks on our staff or members of our community. We have now closed the comments on this post to refocus the conversation on our students' learning journey.