Questions and Answers
We hope you have enjoyed looking around the site, and have found the information you wanted.
We have done what we can to try and explain the vision behind Oasis Academy Lord's Hill, but we understand there may be information you still need or have not fully understood. If you do not find the answer to your question in the selection below then simply fill in the question box at the bottom of this page (click here to go to question box). We will post your question and the answer on this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
There have been many questions asked, which are now grouped into topics. Click on a topic to see all related questions:
Questions about Oasis
Questions about Curriculum
Questions about Buildings
Questions about Student Integration
Questions about People
Questions about the Uniform
Practical Questions
Questions about Oasis:
Q. How many Academies have you opened?
A. Oasis Community Learning has 9 Academies across England. Its first 3 Academies opened in September 2007; in Enfield, Immingham and Grimsby. A further 6 were opened in September 2008: Oasis Academy Lord's Hill is joined by Oasis Academy Mayfield in the Southampton area, Oasis Academy Bristol and Oasis Academy Brightstowe (Bristol), Oasis Academy Coulsdon (Croydon) and Oasis Academy MediaCityUK (Salford).
Questions about curriculum:
Q. Will people who are supposed to be taking GCSEs early still be able to do this?
A. Yes, students will have the opportunity to take exams when they are ready.
Q. How long is lunch going to be, and the breaks, as the students need their free time?
A. There is a 20 minute break and a 40 minute lunch. I agree students need some space to relax, as do the adults who work with them. Please click here to download a pdf of the planned school day.
Q. Are there playing field facilities that we can use?
A. Yes, there are playing fields, and other facilities will be hired when needed.
Q. Are the options subjects the same?
A. Not entirely, we have developed a new wide range of options for the Academy.
Q. How big are the class sizes?
A. Class sizes will vary, but it is hoped that no class will be bigger than 25 students.
Q. How come we’re not allowed out of the school site at lunchtime?
A. Mr Golding's response is "When I went to school I went home at lunchtimes and often did not get back in time to start the afternoon lessons properly. I will be looking at having a dedicated lunch area for the Yr 11s with things like plasma TV - what else might be good to have there?
Students will not be being kept in the school building at break and lunchtimes, full use will be made of the available outdoor spaces, but if you feel very strongly about this then take a case to your school or house council - I will listen to all reasonable requests."
Q. Do the Year 8s get to go out of school at lunchtime?
A. No, Year 8s are not allowed off site at lunchtimes at the moment.
Q. Do we have to do swimming for PE?
A. Swimming is still a part of PE at Oasis Academy Lord's Hill.
Questions about buildings:
Q. When will the new buildings open?
A. The projected date for opening the new buildings is September 2011.
Q. Will the children be disrupted by the building work?
A. Any disruption will be carefully managed to be absolutely minimal.
Q. Are the temporary classes portacabins?
A. Yes, but they are very good classrooms with all the facilities you need. The temporary classrooms are of an amazingly high standard and some staff at Oasis Academy Enfield (who were in temporary buildings for a year) have said they had never worked in such a well-equipped building!
Q. As the school is legally responsible for the children during the shool day, will it guarantee their safety when moving between the Upper and Lower school sites?
A. It is not anticipated that the students will be moving between sites for their education.
Q. Why didn't you put the whole Academy on the Green Lane site as it has got more and better sports’ facilities and it could be better for GCSE PE, so we wont have to keep moving around all the time?
A. The Green Lane site would not be able to best cater for the numbers of students in the Academy.
Students will not be expected to move around more than is absolutely necessary. Generally speaking they will remain on their own sites.
Q. Why didn't you put Years 9,10 and 11 on the Green Lane site instead of the Fairisle Road site? The Green Lane site has got better sports facilities that could be good for GCSE PE and Sports Day?
A. The approach we have adopted is the least disruptive for those students who are currently working on examinable courses.
The Fairisle Road site has some excellent features, including a drama theatre, good sports facilities and a swimming pool.
Having just Yr 7 & 8 together on the Green Lane/Lower School site will give these students a wonderful start to life in the Academy.
It was a hard decision to take, however I am certain we have done what is best for the whole cohort of students.
Q Is there a building plan and where abouts in the 5 acre site will the new school be built?
A. The building plan is currently being drawn up - this will include precise location on the 5 acre field site.
Questions about the student integration:
Q. What new rules are there?
A. All of the rules are designed to keep students safe and to help their learning take place.
Q. What after school clubs are there?
A. We hope that any clubs you had at the predecessor schools will continue, and we are currently working on other opportunities. If you have any specific requests then please do let us know through the website.
Q. Do we still have a prom and trips abroad?
A. Yes, school trips and events will continue in the Academy.
Q. Do we have to pray before all our lessons?
A. No, but some students from a variety of faiths may want to pray as part of their school day, and assemblies will offer opportunities to express spirituality.
Q: What is happening with Inclusion?
A: There will still be some form of inclusion across the two sites. However, we really want to reward positive behaviour and will be talking with the student councillors to work out a way to provide the sorts of rewards that students would like to see. hopefully, this will mean that students don't behave in a way that gets them into trouble in the first place.
Q. Will Year 11 be affected by any of the building work?
A. Year 11 are situated on the Fairisle site and will not be affected by the building work taking place on the 5 Acre Field site.
Q. Do we have to go to after school club, as some people have paperounds?
A. No one will have to take part in after school activities, however we hope that there would be some in which you would be interested.
Questions about people:
Q. How many students will there be at the new Academies?
A. There are approximately 950 students to start with at Lord's Hill. Once the new Academy building opens the capacity will be for 900 students aged 11-16.
Questions about the uniform:
Q. What is the uniform like?
A. It consists of a black blazer with Academy badge, a white shirt, navy blue tie with colour detail; mid grey trousers and appropriate black shoes. The sports kit is a polo top, blue shorts and football socks. There are also black sweatshirts. Click here to see the full list of compulsory and optional items.
Q. Where do we get our uniform from?
A. Uniform iterms can be purchased from Skoolkit - see their website on www.skoolkit.co.uk
Q. How long do the skirts have to be? Can we wear dolly shoe's? And can we wear make-up?
A. The skirts are those that can be purchased from Skoolkit - see their website on www.skoolkit.co.uk
Acceptable shoes for school are those that are safe, smart, black and warm enough for winter - click here to see a selection of acceptable styles with local retail outlets and prices.
Discreet make-up is allowed, however any student wearing obvious make-up will be asked to remove it.
Q. What sort of piercings are allowed - are students allowed tongue, belly button and ears etc?
A. Students are allowed to wear one stud per ear (no dangly earrings). If other jewellery, including piercings, undermines presentation then students will be asked to remove it.
Tongue piercings are not appropriate.
Q. Do we have to wear our blazers all day every day?
A. You can ask at any time to take your blazer off, you will often find that teachers say at the beginning of lessons that you can remove your blazer if the weather is warm.
Q. I'm a muslim and have to wear a scarf to cover my hair, does that mean that the scarf has to be a certain colour?
A. Oasis Academy Lord's Hill asks that headscarves be black, to match the blazers.
Q. Do we have to wear the skirts that are the actual Oasis Academy skirts, or can we just buy a black skirt from any shop?
A. The skirts are mid-grey, the same as the trousers, and need to be the same as the ones available through Skoolkit.
Q. Will we be allowed to wear watches?
A. Yes, you will be allowed to wear non-fashion watches.
Q. As swimming will be part of the PE curriculum do we have to wear our own swimming kit or a school one from school kit?
A. You will need to provide your own swimming kit.
Practical questions:
Q. What will the lunch arrangements be?
A. City Catering will continue to provide lunch at all four sites. The lunch break is 40 minutes.
Q: What is the catchment area for the Academy? Is the Channel Islands estate included, or is their school catchment Redbridge school?
A: At present the catchment area divides up the Romsey Road and therefore the Channel Islands estate is part of the Redbridge catchment, however when the Academy moves to 5 Acre Field we anticipate that this will be reviewed.
Q. Hi, I like the new school, it will be great.
A. Thanks for your message - it really helps to know that there are people like you being positive at this time of change - well done!
Q. If I am a naughty boy what will you do to me?
A. All students will be left in no doubt as to what the code of conduct is for the new Academy. Anyone deliberately breaking the Academy rules and boundaries will have to explain their actions to a member of staff and ultimately to Mr. Golding.
Q. Do year 7 and 8 get their own laptop to take home?
A. Mr Golding is currently looking at the budgets for the IT equipment for all year groups. Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill is trialling some laptops for 30 students this term to see what works effectively.
Q. What are your plans for pupils who have behaviour issues? for example, diagnosed ADHD amongst other issues?
A. There is an extensive range of support measures in place for all kinds of learning and behavioural needs - there is a team of 15 people dedicated to removing barriers from learning, we have highly skilled professionals trained in dealing with ADHD amongst a range of other conditions.
Q. Please can we have vending machines?
A. There are a range of new resources for lunch and break times in the school.
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