Sport and

Enrichment

Magazine

Spring 2015

Welcome to this Easter edition of our Sport and Enrichment Magazine.

Although this has been a shorter term, there have been many

opportunities and activities packed into the last ten weeks.

The last two weeks have seen three separate CSW Level Three School

Games events. Many of our students have represented Central

Warwickshire in a variety of sports including Fencing, Netball, Archery,

Rowing, Football and Boccia.

The School Music of Life Choir have been practicing once a week and

having successfully auditioned, opened the School Games with our

School Song - The Power in Me. This is an amazing achievement and I'm

sure that all the Athletes were inspired by their singing.

This term has seen the creation of our Health and WellBeing Board.

This group is steering many initiatives designed to help our students

access a healthy active lifestyle.

I hope that you enjoy reading about these and many more achievements

as we celebrate our students accomplishments during this Spring term.

Wishing you all a very happy time over the Easter holidays

Sue Backhouse

Hi everyone, my name is Emma Baldwin and I am Head of PE at Round Oak School as well

as class teacher for Maples. We offer fantastic opportunities within Sport at Round Oak

School and I am excited to tell you what we have done this term.

This term students in Key Stage 3 have experienced a selection of different sports some

of which are new to the PE Curriculum.

Ashes class have experienced Basketball and Trampolining where they are currently

working towards an award in this activity and they have already worked through the

Winstrada Rebound Programme with flying colours. Cedars have been completing a

specialised PE programme tailored to their every need. This has been through activities

such as Sherborne and Rebound Therapy. Pines have had a fantastic term doing Ultimate

Frisbee. Boojums has been participating in a small selection of Football sessions which

were led by our PE apprentice Jack Sidgwick who has joined us this year and been

learning all of his skills from our experienced team. Boojums have also completed

Basketball and Trampolining sessions within their PE lessons.

Sycamores have been strutting their stuff learning new Dance techniques in their Dance

lessons and feeling the burn in their fitness sessions where they have been able to use

our state of the art gym and fitness suite.

Maples have been completing lessons in Basketball and then moved onto the complex but

satisfying sport of Golf, where they have had an experienced golf coach come in and

teach them the art of this sport, Thank you Paul Aitkins. Sherwood have been continuing

their progression within Sherborne and learning about body awareness and how to build

relationships with others. Each and every student showing great progression since

starting this course.

Next term activities will be Athletics, Fitness, Cricket, Golf and Swimming and I can’t

wait to get started on them.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter and I’ll see you next term.

Several years ago we successfully applied for the Youth Sport Trust Gold Mark

award. This award was given to us as a result of all the high quality sporting opportunities that are accessed by our students. As a Gold Mark School the Youth

Sport Trust approached me to take on an additional role. As a result, we have become a Lead Health and Wellbeing School and have been given a number of

deliverables to achieve over the year. After Christmas I set up our Health and Wellbeing Board. It comprises of school

staff, a Governor, the school nurse, school counsellor, the school Dog Handler, two parents and three students. We have had two meetings this term and this has

enabled me to update the Board on our deliverables, our achievements so far and planned projects. It is wonderful to have such a committed group of people on the

Board and I am in no doubt that many additional opportunities will come about as a result of this group.

Projects that we are currently involved in are Magic Breakfast which offers free breakfast to all students who would like to have breakfast on arrival at school, Dogs

for the Disabled Pilot Project which is a three year project and has resulted in our

School Dog Handler, Bev and our School Dog, Bertie working with groups of students and individuals, Music of Life is a charity that are coaching our students to

sing both as a choir of fifty and for four pupils on a one to one basis. In addition to the above, we have developed wide range of extra curricular clubs

both at lunchtime and after school. Details of these can be found on a separate page. Curriculum time PE in KS4 and 5 offers a huge range of activities both onsite

and offsite and students can choose the sport that most appeals to them. Enjoyment of sport is paramount at school if we are to enable them to continue to

engage in sport for life. Future projects include a Healthy Active Lifestyles programme for selected

students. This will run for 10 weeks over next term. An Open Day aimed primarily at Year 6 to aid transition and a Girls Active project which will target girls’

engagement in sport. These are exciting times at Round Oak and with the collaboration of

the Health and Wellbeing Board, The Youth Sport Trust, Public

Health Warwick and a huge variety of National Governing Bodies and local sports clubs, we are committed to providing the best

environment that we can so that your child can enjoy good health and wellbeing throughout their time at Round Oak and in the years

ahead.

Sue Backhouse

Magic Breakfast is a charity that provides free breakfast for students in

certain schools. Last Autumn we applied to be part of their project and were

successful in receiving twelve months of Magic Breakfast provision. Since

the beginning of December 2014 we have had a weekly delivery of bagels,

porridge, cereal, fruit and fruit juice. Any child at Round Oak is eligible to

enjoy breakfast at school each morning. At present seventy five students

have breakfast in their classrooms on arrival.

The Department for Education fund this project. Research shows that

eating breakfast has a significant effect on concentration and behaviour

and the level of academic achievement is raised.

The funding for all schools finishes at the end of December 2015. As this

programme has run very successfully at Round Oak, we are currently looking

into ways of making our Magic Breakfast provision sustainable.

Hi everyone,

I am Bev Hotson, the School Dog Instructor here

at Round Oak School and I handle Bertie, the

School Dog.

We are very lucky to be part of a 3 year pilot

scheme working closely with

Dogs for the Disabled to explore how a dog, working

alongside a professional dog

handler, teachers and therapists could bring benefits to

students by supporting their

learning, social, physical and emotional development in classroom activities

or as part of therapeutic sessions.

We also aim to promote health and well-being. This is done each week in “Bertie’s Blog” which is put

into the schools newsletter. This focuses mainly on health and healthy living issues such as Head lice,

Cleaning our teeth, Healthy recipes, Staying safe at night and personal hygiene.

We also hold monthly competitions to encourage parent and child interaction at home

with the chance to win Bertie badges, book marks, certificates and lots more goodies. Parent’s and

carers have commented how much they enjoy reading the blog to their children and look forward to it

each week.

More recently we worked closely with Lorraine, our School Nurse and a student who

was fearful of having her immunisations. A video of Bertie having his booster immunisations was

shown to the student and Bertie was able to sit in with the students whilst the immunisations took

place. With careful planning and a sensitive approach the student was successfully vaccinated and

therefore, protected against life threatening diseases.

It is still early days for the pilot project but already teachers and staff are noticing positive changes

to students behaviour and attitudes within school with the presence of Bertie –

The School Dog.

Lunch time clubs are always popular at Round Oak School and we endeavour to provide a

wide range of clubs so every pupil can find one they will enjoy. Thanks to Charlotte King we

have reintroduced Lego club on a Friday.

Below is a list of the clubs that run every week, we are always open to

ideas and suggestions from parents and students too!

KS3 KS4

Monday Reading

Gym

Craft

Gym

Makaton

Raeding

GCSE/BTEC Art

Tuesday Reading

ICT

Animal Care

GCSE/BTEC Art

Wednesday Reading

Gym

Wii dance

Craft

ICT

Gym

Wii Dance

GCSE/BTEC Art

Thursday Reading

Change for Life

Science

Makaton

Gardening

GCSE/BTEC Art

Friday Reading

Gym

Lego

Gym

Reading

This Term has been an exciting time for our

After School Club provision. We are so lucky to

have a team of experienced coaches who give

their time to come into school as well as our

staff members to support and lead other clubs.

For some time Sky Blues in the Community have

run a Mulitsports club on Tuesdays and a Football

Club on a Thursday. Kath Culverwell and Robyn

Hall continue to run an amazing Special Olympics

club on a Thursday supported by P.E. Staff and volunteers. Judo continues

on a Friday thanks to Dave Nicholls and Marion Wood. We would like to

take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for giving up their time

every week.

We are thrilled to tell you about two new afterschool clubs in school. This

term Maggie from Radway Riding School has worked tirelessly to secure

additional funding to enable 11 students who have done Horse Riding as a

option in P.E. to further their skills with additional lessons. These have now

begun and will continue into next term.

Phil Sower has organized an Angling Club to begin next term, this will be led

by Bob Woodley and other experienced anglers at Kingfisher Pools. This is

a club which has run in previous Summer Terms and is enjoyed immensely by

both the staff and students who take part.

We have the power! An early start! A double decker bus! 48 very excited pupils. Bleary eyed staff! Have you guessed yet? Yes it was the Round Oak Choir under the guidance of Suzzie,Sussie and Liam performing at the opening of the Sainsbury’s School games.

My heart is bursting with pride at the performance our pupils gave. We sang ‘The Power in Me’ and wow did we enthral our audience! Rapturous applause at the end and more to the point all our choir with massive beams on their faces. We were all matching too in our new ‘Music of Life’ T Shirts and looked fantastic to boot! Again a massive thank you to Maria Teterina from Music of Life who has raised all this money for us and without we would not have these opportunities. Onwards and upwards for the choir. ‘I Have The Power In Me’ is our

new school song and motto.

The Choir all dressed up at their rehearsal yesterday!

Sainsbury’s Sports Games – Wednesday

17th March

I took a group of pupils to the Coventry

and Warwickshire Sainsbury’s Games at

the Xcel Leisure Centre in Coventry. It was

a great day had by the pupils and staff

with different sports tournaments being

played on the day. Our team of girls from

Ashes and Boojums performed really well in

the Netball group and missed out on joint

second place by just a single point –

finishing 4th. A really good effort from the

girls and they should be very proud of

themselves!

Three of our KS4 boys played in a table

tennis tournament and came up against

some tough players from other schools

across the county. Jayden Randle, Jayden

Lucas and Harry Harvey really improved as

the tournament went on and played some

great games. Our fencing team of 5 boys

was excellent against Corley and the team

came back to school with silver and bronze

medals!

The pupils were a huge credit to the school

and should be very proud of not only how

they performed, but also their behaviour

and patience throughout the day.

Jamie

Larches delivered three large shopping bags of food donations to the Warwick

& Leamington Foodbank.

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everybody who has sent in

donations to this very important community cause.

On Friday 27th March we all Students, Staff, Parents and Friends came together to

celebrate all that we have achieved this term. Picking which pupils should receive the

awards is always the hardest task as we are proud of each and every pupil and what they

contribute and accomplish. This term our achievers are:

Citizenship Awards:

Lower School – Harriet Fathers

Middle School- Rahul Sharma

Upper School- Jacob Hendry

Sports Awards:

Sporting Endeavour – Holly Lewis

Sporting Excellence – Bradley Syvret

Hannah Foster Sports Personality – Brandon Hewitt

The McInally Best Team Player – Sam James

Hopkins Award for Improvement – Chloe S-D

Paralympic Values

Equality – Bradley Smith

Inspiration – Simeon Hofstetter

Excellence – Holly Hopkins

Courage – James Weatherall, Jordan Rees

Determination – Chris Day

Friendship – Jakishan Rajput, Amy Louise Smith

Respect – Angus Unitt , Callum Roddis

Friends of Round Oak:

David Sharpe, Anna York, D4D, Berties Sponsor and his puppy Socializer

Thanks to our Volunteers:

Special Olympics – Kath Culverwell, Robyn Hall, Marie Hopkins, Jeanette Man

Judo – Marion Wood, Iwan Doherty, Dave Nicholls

Wii Dance: Helen Feggans

Helping in classes: Sara Muir, Hannah Martin, Ellie Carter, Kristiane Getschy, Izzy Lewis,

Emi Michael, Beth Scarpillino and Lucy Tyler

Three of our Sixth Form Students, Amy Louise Smith, Callum Roddis and

Michael Bowers have undertaken a course with our School Nurse Lorraine

Tooker to learn CPR and other life saving actions. 30 life saving manekins

have been donated by the British Heart Foundation.

This is potentially a life saving skill and we are very proud of how they have

responded to the lessons and they have performed amazingly.

Currently this is a trial for Special Schools that we are proud to be a part of

and we are rolling this out to all Sixth Form Pupils soon.

Pond Clearing and Frog

Hunting at Guy’s Cliffe

Walled Garden!

Larches spent a lovely spring morning

volunteering at Guy’s Cliffe Walled

garden in Warwick.

The garden is three hundred years old

and is under renovation.

Larches were given the task of clearing

all the debris out of a pond, which we

managed without anyone getting wet!

Later we went on a frog hunt and found

several hiding in a silt filter. We also

found a baby newt in the derelict

melon house – all the hard work was

rewarded with a steaming mug of hot

chocolate thanks to Sarah Ridgeway of

Hintons Garden centre who is

responsible for the garden

renovation.

Netball Tournament at Myton School Ten ladies from Boojums and Ashes

attended a Netball Tournament at Myton School with Meenu Gupta and Nikki

Welby. They competed against other schools and used their Netball skills to

come 3rd overall in the competition. A massive well done to all ladies involved and

bring on the next competition.

Indoor Rowing at Campion School A selection of students from lower and

middle school attended an Indoor Rowing afternoon, where they competed

against each other in different rowing races, ranging from individual races to

group relays. The afternoon was run by Ali Knight at Campion School and the

students were able to use an ICT based Rowing programme to monitor their

races and times. Matthew O'Boyle from Sycamores class rowed the furthest

distance for the boys and Jessica Smith from Hornbeams rowed the furthest

for the girls. Well done everyone and thank

you to Sue Backhouse and Emma Baldwin for

taking them to this event.

Boccia Tournament A Boccia Tournament for all schools in Coventry, Solihull

and Warwickshire was held at St Nicholas Park Leisure Centre on Monday

19th January. Round Oak joined seventeen other teams to compete for the

Lord Taverner’s Physical Disability and Pan Disability Cups. Holly Hopkins,

Simeon Hofstetter and Parampreet Bhandal represented our school and we

were all delighted when they were announced winners of the Physical

Disability Cup!

Nigel Murray, Boccia Paralympian, presented our team with their medals and

trophy. He also gave a really interesting talk about his experiences at the

last four Paralympic Games. Well done to our three students for such a

wonderful achievement.

Football On Friday 16th January three football

teams from Round Oak took part in a CSW

Special Schools Football Tournament. Two

boys teams competed against 7 other teams in

the league and four of our girls joined a group

of approximately 20 girls from other Special

Schools to take part in a training session

followed by some matches. As ever we were

very proud of the manner in which they all

conducted themselves. Well done everyone!

We were recently invited to

Campion School to join the girls’

badminton club. So on Thursday 2nd

February Diana, Natalie, Katherine,

Arielle and Bethany travelled over

to play badminton. We were warmly

welcomed and it was great to play in

a big sports hall. We are hoping to

go again next term

Table Tennis Competition On Tuesday a group of 4 students from Round

Oak School took part in a table tennis competition at Campion School. Then

we played some game activities before we played a game of table tennis.

After we played a game of table tennis we waited for the results.

Well done to Jamie Smith, Harry Harvey and Callum Bloss who came 1st and

well done to Jayden Randle who came 2nd. Well done to everyone who took

part. Written by Callum Bloss and Jamie Smith in Hornbeams class.

Girls Tag Rugby Competition On Tuesday 10th March we were invited to

take part in a Girls Tag Rugby Competition at Berkswell and Balsall Rugby Club.

Hundreds of girls ranging from 9 years to 17 years of age were involved in

Tag, Touch and Contact Rugby. Our team played in the Tag Rugby Section

along with three other teams from mainstream schools in the area.

We played five matches in all and throughout the day we became more and

more skilful. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was a joy to be outside playing

sport and meeting other students. Well done to all the girls in our Round Oak

Team which included Katie Morgan, Chelsea Roddis, Jessica Smith, Emily

Quinton, Katherine Evans and Meghan Randle. It was an absolute pleasure for

Nikki and me to take you out for the day. Sue

There are 6 Easter Eggs hidden

amongst the pictures and

articles in this magazine, can

you find them?

Which egg

does the rabbit

want?

Dear Parents/Carers, With deep regret, I will be leaving Round

Oak at the end of this term to take up the Deputy Headteacher

position at Ridgeway School. I have been at Round Oak for near

on 6 years, and can honestly say they have been the best years of

my life. We have a fantastic provision here at Round Oak, and

I'm very sad to be leaving such a fantastic school. The students

are the driving force behind this and are supported by a superb

staff. In my new role at Ridgeway, I know I will be working

alongside the staff at Round Oak to ensure students have a

smooth transition from primary to secondary education, so will

still have a strong connection with the school. I would like to

thank all the staff, parents, carers, professionals and students

for all the support they have given me over the

past 6 years. Round Oak will always hold a place in

my heart.

Best Wishes Nick