Activities included:

Languages from around the world – hosted by Mrs Everitt

Faiths / Religions of the world – hosted by Mrs Thornton-Gray

Art related to the Olympics – hosted by Mrs McCarthy

A science related task – hosted by Miss Stagg

And the event was rounded off with a mini Olympic Games – hosted by Mrs Smith.

The teams were made up of Yrs 7 – 9 who all had to co-operate and work together covering the following events for the mini Olympics:

Shot Putt; Javlin; Long Jump; Triple Jump; Assault Course; A team 10 minute endurance run and the final was a team baton relay.

All pupils worked exceptionally hard giving all they had in each event. The competition was very close between the six teams and the top 4 teams finished within 4 points of one another!

The winning team was Amy Edmondson & Tom Nicolas from Year 9; Tom Hughes from Year 8 and Katie Hayes from Year 7.

A special mention must go to Alaster Redmayne, Harry Isley, Tom Nicholas, Matthew Young & Katie Maher for they way they coached and supported those who struggled within their teams. They showed super leadership skills and worked with great empathy and care.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was spent in the sunshine. Enabling the pupils to display their physical skills, co-operation, team work and great sportsmanship.

The trip will take place in July when the pupils will have the opportunity to have a guided tour and lunch on the terrace.

English teacher, Mrs Thornton-Gray, says, ” This is will be wonderful opportunity for the children to follow up on their letters to the Prime Minister. They deserve the welcome after all their hard work this year.”

This is a special assembly where the pupils remember Mary, the mother of Christ, as May is Mary’s month. All the flowers that the pupils brought in to decorate the statue of Mary are now brightening up the windowsills around the school. Bridget Morgan and Grace Garstang, both from year 3, led the celebrations as they are making their First Holy Communion this year.

They performed a little play about life in a French village where everything got into a muddle when the village clock went wrong. They sang French songs and gave a taste of what they had learned about France. Naturally everyone wanted to dress up in the best French styles and show off their accents.

The assembly was enjoyed by all the Preparatory school and parents and relatives of the pupils in Year 3 & 4.

Like all gardening matters there is a lot of planning, a bit of waiting, a lot of preparing then a mad frenzy of activity before the worthwhile end result. We have been tasked with a lovely project to prepare and plant an area at the Methodist Church in the centre of the village. The gardening gang got to grips with the task on Friday when they weeded the area underneath the beautiful maple tree preparing for planting in a few weeks time. The area around the bird bath is also to be planted but needs to be dug out first – a slightly more major task, but very exciting.

We are going to keep a diary of events throughout the project from start to finish and the pupils really have embraced the task with open arms. The next step is to design the flower beds and we shall run it as a competition in the school with entries to be judged by June Weaver who does a fabulous job looking after the church grounds. If anyone would like to be involved in this worthwhile project please contact me directly for further details – the more the merrier.

The children had to choose a variety of food and drink from the menu. They all told the waitress exactly what they wanted, sat beautifully and enjoyed flapjacks, brownies, cupcakes and scones! After they had devoured their delicious food and drinks they paid with their own money. A big thank you to Breda and her staff.

On Wednesday 9th May Year Eleven enjoyed their celebration dinner at Mitton Hall where they shared an excellent evening with staff, reflecting on their time at Oakhill.

On Thursday the celebrations continued with a very enjoyable Leavers’ Mass with Father Leo, where pupils from Years Two to Ten joined together to say goodbye. Thank you for the hard work of Mrs Thornton-Gray and Year Eleven themselves. The GCSE examination season begins this week for both Years Ten and Eleven, and we all wish them the best of luck and hope their hard work pays off.

The project is being organised by the Lancashire Museums service to make our young people more aware of the history of the wool trade.  They are knitting 5 inch squares which will be stitched together to cover parts of the castle grounds. Following the Yarn-bombing, the squares will be made into blankets to be given to charity. Mrs Everitt and Mrs Thornton-Gray have been impressed by the perseverance of the beginner knitters in particular. Anyone who is interested in helping to make squares, come along to Knitting club on a Wednesday lunchtime.

The competition the girls have taken part in is the English Schools Football Association Inter County trophy. Their first game was away to Merseyside FA at Liverpool. The girls excelled with a 4-nil win.

The next round was the semi finals in which they had another away fixture at Hertfordshire FA. On a glorious afternoon, after a long trip down, the players gelled together and pulled out another gripping performance which was enjoyed by parents and supporters. The final result was another victory for the Lancashire girls with the result being 2-nil, another clean sheet for the team. After the match the team were presented with their Lancashire ties.

The next game will be the final to be played at Carrow Road, the home of Norwich City FC. This fixture is to be played on the 16th May 2012 with a 10am kick off. Their opponents will be either Essex or Middlesex.

We wish Katie and her team all the best for the final and look forward to hearing how they get one when she returns to school after the match.