As we move into December, we are delighted to share some exciting updates and reminders with our academy community. 

Highlight of the week! House Drama and Music 

Students had a wonderful time representing their House at our latest House Competition - House Drama.  The winners were Earhart House with their hilarious performance of Aladdin complete with homemade washing machine and magic carpet! Everyone was so supportive of one another. We were especially grateful to Mr Wyatt who Judged the performances beautifully, with fellow judge Eva from OUDS. 

Our House Music winners were Tolkien, who absolutely blew the judges away with their superb performances.  

Thank you so much to Mr Stead and Mr Whitely who judged the event wonderfully and showed such support for each musician.  

• Best Rock Performance: Joseph Noble, Bass Guitar 

• Best Classical Performance: Bernard Sinclair, Piano 

• Best Pop Performance: Pippa Lawton, Voice 

Special mentions to Amira for her incredible performance and for making us rethink our Tudor history with 'Get Down' from Six the Musical and a haunting performance of classical guitar from Jalal.  

Congratulations to our talented OSA musicians and thank you Maeve Hogan for capturing the event with these atmospheric photos. 

Christmas Lunch 🎄 

Xmas lunch will be served during second break on the 11^th and 12^th December. Students can enjoy the following:  

Roast Turkey, Sage & Onion Stuffing, Roast Potatoes & Gravy

or

Vegan Soya Bean & Cranberry Wellington, Roast Potatoes & Gravy

followed by

Traditional Christmas Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

Or

Festive White Chocolate Confetti Cookie

 

Exciting Opportunities at OSA and within our school trust 

As a part of Anthem Trust, we would like to take the opportunity to share some exciting opportunities with our community.  

We currently have vacancies for a Data and Exams Officer, and we are recruiting Invigilators, Readers/Scribes to support with the upcoming exam season Invigilator.  If you would like further details or know someone that may be interested in joining us at Oxford Spires Academy, please visit the following website: My New Term 

Abbey Woods Academy, a thriving local primary school in Berinsfield is offering two fantastic career opportunities to passionate individuals eager to make a difference in education. Our children would welcome a Teaching Assistant & Class Teacher who will nurture their potential, encourage aspiration and maximise their enthusiasm and willingness to learn. 

Learn more and apply today: Abbey Woods Academy Opportunities 

Spotlight on Attendance 

Attendance is fundamental to a student’s academic success and overall well-being, please take a moment to read though the following information regarding our Attendance ambitions at OSA. https://sway.cloud.microsoft/z3xuIK8DLWKp4D8U?ref=Link 

School Trips ✈ 

We are incredibly lucky to be able to offer our students some wonderful opportunities to visit different parts of the world this academic year.  We will be hosting a parent meeting shortly regarding the fully funded trips to Vietnam and Thailand for Year 12 students.  Also, this year we are offering trips to Barcelona, Belgium and Germany, Berlin, Geneva and Vienna. 

We can't wait to hear the amazing stories and see wonderful photographs of our students travels. 

Mobile Phones in School

We are increasingly concerned by the rising number of phones seen during the school day 76% of pastoral incidents dealt with at school involve social media or mobile phones. On average we confiscate over 20 phones every day. We realise our current approach may need adjustment. As a reminder, our policy states that phones must not be seen or heard during the school day. We will not be reviewing this policy, but we are exploring stricter measures to ensure this policy is upheld. 

We understand there may be occasional situations where phone access is needed, but this should only occur with staff permission and under supervision. There are alternatives to smartphones that allow parents and carers to stay connected with their children without exposing them to the risks of unrestricted content and communication. We invite you to complete a brief survey to share your thoughts on managing this trend.  

Please share your views: Click here 

The Digital Dilemma: Keeping Your Kids Safe Online 

Thames Valley Police Cyber Protect are running a free webinar to help parents and carers understand some of the risks young people face online, and how they can best protect themselves and their family from falling victim to cyber criminal behaviours! 

Covering social media, gaming and emails, this webinar will give you tips and tricks to help you protect them in today’s online world. 

The webinar is running three times over the next few weeks, and tickets are available here: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/police-south-east-cyber-77121396093  

Reserve your space today! 

Cashless school money 

For a number of years, we have been a cashless school, and as an interim measure when we first transferred, we opted to have cash loader machines in school to enable a smooth transition to Parent Pay. These machines were only ever intended to be a short term measure, and in recent months we have seen a number of difficulties with them as they approach the end of their serviceable life. We shall therefore be removing them from use when we return after the Christmas break. 

For absolute clarity, this means that there will be no way to purchase food items on site at the Academy using cash. Catering accounts must therefore be loaded utilising Parent Pay. If you have not yet set up your Parent Pay account and made arrangements to top up in this manner, we would urge you to do so by the end of this week in order to ensure that you do not have any issues when we move into the new year. 

If you require a PayPoint card to be ordered for you, in order that you can top up at a local convenience store rather than utilising the Parent Pay website, please make payment for this via Parent Pay by the 11^th December, in order that we can place the order with PayPoint for the card to be issued and delivered directly to school. Once ordered, we will need to await delivery before we can issue to the student via Student Services.  

Flu Vaccinations 

Flu vaccinations will take place on Wednesday 11^th December for Year 7-9 and Friday 13^th December for students in Years 10-11. 

If you have not yet consented for your child to have the flu vaccine and would like to do so, please visit https://www.oxfordhealthimms.co.uk/Forms/Flu to consent.  You will need to enter the unique school code OX136261. 

Keeping our neighbourhood clean. 

Please can we ask all parents, carers and students to be mindful of our neighbourhood community.  Please do not block driveways and sit with car engines running in the approach to Oxford Spires Academy.  We have also recently noticed an increase in litter in the neighbourhood and remind students to use the bins in school and do not drop litter in the street. 

Early Finish – Friday 20^th December 2024 

All students will be dismissed from school at 12.30pm on Friday 20thDecember 2024 after students have enjoyed Societies Day. School will open as normal on Tuesday 7^th January 2025. 

If you have any questions, please contact us via info@oxfordspires.anthemtrust.uk