News

School Awards 2010

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:40:30 +0100

Today saw the school present it’s first Annual Student Awards. All of the students of the school gathered at the secondary site and were joined by many parents. Star medals were given to each student for their progress through the year, and in each class 1 student received the class award for extra special progress. There were presentations to those students leaving the School, as well as an award donated by 1 of the leavers parents for the pupil who has shown most progress in communication. Certificates for ‘Transition Challenge’ were given to KS4 pupils and finally an integration award was presented to the pupil who has shown most progress integrating into one of our partnership schools. This award was dedicated to the memory of Val Targett, who was one of the teachers at Wheatley Primary School instrumental in establishing our integration programme in the early 1980’s. Val sadly passed away suddenly earlier this year. We finished by singing ‘3 lions’ - a song all the school had been learning as part of our World Cup 2010 projects.

Sports Day

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:23:32 +0100

Today the School had a World Cup 2010 Sports Day. All the students have been following World Cup topics this term and we finished off the projects with a sports day full of football related games and activities. The students from across the school met on the Primary site for football based activities such as shooting, throw-ins, face painting, shirt making, goal kicks, Wii games, parachute games, balancing games, best celebrations and many more. The students carried ‘passports’ with them which they marked with stickers once they had completed an activity. It was a great morning enjoyed by students and staff and a fitting end to our World Cup topics.

Using Twitter

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:48:48 +0100

A Keystage 2 class at John Watson School have started using Twitter. The class have started to ‘tweet’ about what they have been doing in class during the day and have used it to show some of the work they are pleased with. They have had received some nice ‘tweets’ from people across the world, including educators in New Zealand, Australia and America. They recently had a great Twitter conversation with pupils from Barcombe Primary School where they found out about life in Mr Cobb’s class and answered questions about their school life. If you would like to follow the class tweets in Twitter then follow @alexsclass - alternatively you can read their tweets on our Twitter Feed Page. If you don’t know what Twitter is, there is a short video explanation below!

JWS on iTunes

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 15:35:20 +0100

John Watson School Podcasts are now available direct from the iTunes store. Search for ‘John Watson School’ and you will find podcasts from the Primary Site and Secondary site, plus limited edition World Cup Podcasts! There is also a collection of the school’s best animations - also now on their own mini-site at www.johnwatsonschool.co.uk/animations . All podcasts are also on the School’s podcasting website at www.johnwatsonschool.co.uk/podcasts . We hope you enjoy listening to the podcasts as much as we enjoyed making them - please feel free to rate the podcasts and leave reviews!

KS3/KS4 take part in ‘imps’ programme

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:24:48 +0100

A group of 12 students from John Watson Secondary School have visited the JR to participate in the Injury Minimisation Programme for Schools (IMPS).

The students were taught what to do if they came across someone who was unconscious and how to keep themselves safe. They were taught how to put people in the recovery position, what to do if they got burnt or cut with glass and also how to contact the emergency services. They also had the chance to visit A&E where they had their fingers put in plaster (only if they wanted to!) and they also got to see how a heart monitor works!

IMPS relies on donations to provide this really important programme. It costs them £13.50 per pupil to do the training. We asked parents to contribute £4 for their child’s place and will be fundraising later in the year to support this very important charity.

Please check out www.impsweb.co.uk to find out more about the work that they do!

Woodland Trust Visit

Fri, 21 May 2010 09:09:51 +0100

On Thursday 21st May member of the KS2 class visited Stratfield Brake near Kidlington for a workshop with the Woodland Trust. The students were met by 2 members of the Woodland Trust who led them on an adventure around the woods - looking at different leaves and signs of animals and animal food. They then made some shelters for small animals using twigs, leaves and bark. All the students had a great time, many thanks to the Woodland Trust for organising the event.

Garsington Opera Workshops

Thu, 20 May 2010 11:19:01 +0100

Today pupils from the John Watson School Upper Junior class joined members of Wheatley Primary School Year 6 for an Opera workshop run by Garsington Opera. The group started with warmup exercises and then some drama improvisation. The group also experienced a performance by an opera singer, and then started composing their own opera! There will be more workshops to follow in June, followed by a performance at Wheatley Park School.

Trevor Davies, who organises the workshops said, “It’s great to back with the pupils and staff of Wheatley and John Watson schools for the third year of our exciting transition project, ‘Moving Up!’, which involves about 200 year 6 pupils in the Wheatley partnership. This year, it’s based on the famous opera La boheme and we are working with a wonderful group of professional singers who will take part in our final performance at Wheatley Park School on June 25th.”

Oxford University Students Sponsor Sensory Garden

Wed, 12 May 2010 11:44:17 +0100

Students from Trinity College, Oxford University, have sponsored the building of a sensory garden at John Watson Secondary School and the children now have a superb, new facility to enjoy.

The project is funded by a combination of the Trinity College JCR, which includes all the Undergraduate students at the College and the Alumni of Trinity College. The Trinity Sensory Garden cost in excess of £5000 to build and includes new benches, planters, murals, talking tubes (a piece of equipment that encourages children to communicate with their friends) and a drumming activity that stimulates group work and coordination.

Sally Withey, Headteacher of John Watson School said: ‘We have always wanted to build a sensory garden for our secondary school pupils but could not find the resources to do so at this time. It is so pleasing to see the sensory garden completed and the looks on the children’s faces as they go to sit, relax and play in it. A sensory garden really makes the learning experience so much more interesting for the pupils and ensures they really do enjoy their time at school. We are very grateful for the generosity and support of Trinity College JCR and their Old Members. We are also looking forward to developing a long standing link with Trinity College and see this as just the beginning of a blossoming relationship.’

The planning of the garden has taken over six months whilst designs were completed, negotiations took place with contractors and building work finally began a few weeks ago with the official opening ceremony of the garden taking place yesterday afternoon. Ayaaz Nawab, JCR President at Trinity College said: ‘We wanted to support a local cause that we could interact with and forge a long-term relationship with. Having visited the school earlier in the academic year, we were convinced that the pupils would love to have a sensory garden. It was very pleasing to see how hard everyone works at the school to make a stimulating and exciting learning environment for the pupils and we hope we can add to that. Trinity JCR supports many charitable causes - local, national and international and we hope that we can continue to support John Watson School in the future. It is clear that students have a lot of energy and enthusiasm and it is particularly pleasing when it is channelled into good causes such as the sensory garden here.’

Not only did the students at Trinity College help to fund the garden but Old Members of the College also supported the cause. Kevin Knott, Estates Bursar at Trinity College, helps liaise with Alumni of the College and said: ‘Our Old Members love to see the JCR being active and getting involved with good causes. They really enjoy supporting the work of the JCR and many have commented on how pleased they are with all of the charitable work that the JCR has done over the past year.’

Rainbow Spectacular!

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:37:47 +0100

This year's live school production was "Rainbow Spectacular" in which every student from Wheatley Nursery and John Watson had the opportunity to perform. It was a musical performance based upon a live news report from Planet Spectrum. Each Key Stage took the part of a colour and staked their claim to be the best colour of all. When stormclouds threatened to wash them away, they realised that, if they worked together instead of arguing, they could create a rainbow to save the day. Performances were on the afternoon of Monday 6th July and evening of the 7th July.

The production was written and directed by teacher Paul Gould who said “The children and staff worked exceptionally hard in rehearsals and produced two wonderful performances for parents. The children we're a credit to themselves and the school - it was a lot of fun to be involved in the project!"

Le Manoir Visit

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:40:16 +0100

On June 16th the John Watson School Post-16 class paid a visit to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison in nearby Great Milton to have a look at the organic gardens. They were shown around the gardens by the Manoir staff and when Monsieur Blanc heard of their visit he came out to meet them and insisted they have tea and pastries on the terrace! The group really enjoyed their visit and the beautiful setting. Many thanks to Raymond and all the staff at the Manoir for making us feel so welcome.