ISSUE 1 ● 18 MARCH ● 2016
For our fa
milies an
d friends
Dates for your diary
March 2016
Women’s History Month
International Ideas Month
11-20 ..... British Science Week.
14 ...........  (“Pi”) Day.
14 ........... Albert Einstein’s Birthday.
14 ........... International Ask a Question Day.
14 ........... Sports Relief Mile for students and
staff, Croydon Arena 1:30pm.
nd
15 ........... 2 ‘Meet the Principal’ meeting with
parent/carers of Y6 students joining
OA Arena in September, 6-7pm.
15-16 ..... ‘Humanutopia’ day with Y5 students
from St Marks Academy, Orchard
Way Primary School and Oasis
Academy Ryelands.
16 ........... ’Meet the Principal’ meeting with
parent/carers of Y7 students 6-7pm
17 ........... St Patrick's day.
18-20 ..... PGL residential (48 students)
20 ........... International day of Happiness.
20 ........... World Storytelling Day.
21 ........... World Poetry Day.
rd
21 ........... 3 ‘Meet the Principal’ meeting with
parent/carers of Y6 students joining
OA Arena in September, 6-7pm.
22 ........... World Water day.
24 ........... Last day of spring term.
25 ........... Easter Holidays begin.
April 2016
Poetry month
Inventors’ month
1 ..............Fun Day.
1 ..............Walk to Work Day.
1 ..............Atheist Day.
2 ..............Children’s Book Day.
2 ..............World Autism Day.
11 ............First day of summer term.
Please note that there will be a parents’
evening the week beginning 18 April to discuss
your children’s progress. We will confirm the
date and time with you next week.
Message from the Principal
Welcome to this the first edition of our weekly Oasis Academy Arena newsletter for our
families and friends in the local community. We have already had a tremendous response to
the survey I distributed to all parents and carers earlier this week, and with 100% of all
respondents (so far) welcoming the opportunity of having a weekly newsletter, I hope the
quick publication of this first edition shows that we do, indeed, listen.
It is, to say the least, a genuine privilege to be the Principal of Oasis Academy Arena, a school
with a tremendously bright and exciting future, and not just because we are moving into our
brand new state of the art building in September. We are a school that is proud to serve its
local community, that is unceasingly focused on helping all of our students — irrespective of
their starting points — make outstanding progress and reach the highest possible academic
standards in a caring, supportive and nurturing environment, and in genuine partnership,
moreover, with parents and carers. I have been inspired by the fact that so many parents
and carers have made it to the events we have held for families to meet me in the last two
weeks, for both our current Y7 students and our new Y7 students joining us this September.
Although I have only been in post for just three weeks, I already feel immensely proud and
protective of our students, who have been without exception friendly, welcoming, polite*
and eager to learn. And I am even more driven to ensure that Oasis Academy Arena will
fulfil our simple aim that is nothing more, and nothing less, than for all of our students to
leave us as highly qualified, personable and articulate young men and women ready to lead
happy and enriching adult lives.
This week we have been celebrating British Science Week, with all of our students
experimenting every day, looking, for example, at how liquid can sometimes flow in
apparent opposition to external forces like gravity, or how quickly your brain reacts to
external stimuli, or how we sense temperature.
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And on Monday March 14 , to celebrate Albert Einstein’s 137 birthday,
we even introduced our students to his overwhelmingly beautiful and
game-changing Special Theory of Relativity. (Scan the QR code or type
https://goo.gl/u77jYD into your browser to peruse the presentation we
used with students in our special assembly.)
rd
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Known too as π (Pi) day — because it is the 3 month of the year and 14 day, and 3.14 is π
approximated to two decimal places — Monday was also the day of our Sports Relief Mile,
with teachers and students running four laps of the Croydon Arena track and raising an
incredible £1000 (and still counting) for Sports Relief. A huge whopping whale of a thank
you to everyone who sponsored our children.
On completion of his General Theory of Relativity in 1915, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to
his 11 year old son, saying: ‘that is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing
something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes’. And that, in a
nutshell, is what we want for all of our students here at Oasis Academy Arena. I am looking
forward to leading our students on this incredible journey —
and working closely, of course, and as it should be,
with parents and carers.
Craig Griffiths.
ARENA ART GALLERY
In their Art lessons this week students
produced some wonderful illustrations
of their own particular view from their
classroom window. Here are just a few
examples. Do you recognise the style
of the artist they were mimicking?
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SPORTS RELIEF MILE, EINSTEIN’S BIRTHDAY and π DAY
On Monday March 14th staff and students ran a mile (that’s 4 laps of an athletics track) at Croydon Sports
Arena, our neighbour next door, in aid of Sports Relief. Thanks to their tremendous efforts at securing
sponsorship, the children raised an amazing sum of well over £1000.
March 14th just also happens to be the great Albert Einstein’s birthday, so we marked this event firstly by
thinking about Einstein’s achievements in our morning assembly, where we shared with the children
Einstein’s beautiful but quite tricky to grasp concept of Special Relativity, and then secondly, by
completing our Sports Relief Mile with our Einstein masks either on or waved about! It was an utter joy
to see 120 budding little Einsteins running themselves into the ground for the benefit of others.
But the real reason that March 14th is so special is because as the 3rd month and 14th day of the year it is
often referred to by those in the know as Pi day. Pi (π) is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter
of a circle — but is much much much more than ‘just’ this. To two decimal places π = 3.14 (hence 3 rd
month, 14th day), but this year was even more special because it is 2016, i.e. the 16 th year of the century,
and π approximated to four decimal places is 3.1416. Yes, I know what you’re all thinking: WOW indeed.
To mark this momentous point in time, all students plus a few teachers took a number in the decimal
expansion of π and we all lined up on the Arena running track to mark out π correct to 120 decimal
places:3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862
08998628034825342117067982148086513282306647…
If you want to explore a little more about the wonders of π then try these links:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Find out why π is beautiful at https://goo.gl/IDQSvN
Find out where your birthday or other number string occurs in π at http://goo.gl/n0MNA
Find your name in π at http://goo.gl/NEhPLm
See how we can calculate π with pies at http://goo.gl/vXpJL0
Find out about the connection between π and bouncing balls at http://goo.gl/5InOi2
Listen to the sounds of Pi at http://goo.gl/f0cwKw
When we come across problems or curiosities that pique our interest, we
note them down to share them with our students at appropriate times in
the curriculum in the future. Here are a few examples from mathematics,
noted down by Mr Griffiths. Give your solutions to Mr Griffiths or Ms
Folkes, or just go and share your thoughts with them!
Have a look at and play
around with these problems:
we would love to hear how
you get on with them…
SPORTS UPDATE
Yet again we had a wide range of sporting
success in the last week, from our
basketball, football and netball teams. But
Thursday 16 March 2016 was a bit special
in terms of our sporting development, because it marked
yet another pioneering day in our history: our first
competitive rugby match. Although we were defeated our
players showed real spirit and resilience, never giving up,
and experiencing the thrill of scoring tries. Coach Davies
was understandably proud of our players, who ‘showed
good understanding of how to present after a tackle and
how to ruck’. The RFU commended us on the quality of our
coaching and our players returned to school full of stories
they couldn’t wait to tell. Well done to Cyrus, Asadullah,
Harisis, Kayden, Baffour, George, Lewis, Antonia, Zaid,
Kenaz, Lerkai, Bilal, and Michael. (If any of you have any
Welsh ancestry please let Mr Griffiths or Mr Davies know!)
BIG LITTLE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
We are constantly impressed by our students here at Oasis
Academy Arena, but in the last week there were a few
notable little highlights that may have passed others by.
Maths Problem of the Week
MATHS PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
There is a ten digit number where the leftmost digit is also the
count of zeroes in the number. The second digit is the count of
ones in the whole number. The third digit is the count of twos
in the whole number.
This continues, and the rightmost (tenth) digit is the count of
nines in the whole number.
What is the number?
(Solution next week.)
Albert Road, South Norwood, London SE25 4QL.
Tel: 020 8240 6700. Email: [email protected].
Website: www.oasisacademyarena.org.
Twitter: @OasisArena.
Haider knocked us out recently with the exquisite, flawless
mathematical logic he used when describing his wrong
answer in a mathematics lesson. John impressed us when
he became so intrigued by prime numbers and the fact that
we don’t know how to predict the next one that he went
away and figured out the first 100 by himself. When Amelia
passed her chance to make a point in a debate over to
another student because ‘he has better insights than me’ it
showed us not just how insightful she herself is, but also
how getting to a better understanding of a situation is more
important to her than the limelight.
This week we proudly welcomed Y5 students from three
primary schools to join us for two days run by humanutopia
and our own student ‘heroes’ to think about the transition
to secondary. The students of Oasis Academy Ryelands, St
Mark’s Academy and Orchard’s Way were an absolute
credit to their schools and families (and Mr Griffiths was
particularly impressed by a young lady called Abbie who
knew the number Pi correct to the first 20 digits!)