Tuesday 7^th February

Fair Oak entered two teams into a friendly hockey festival held at Hamble College. Competing teams were divided into three pools. In Pool A, Fair Oak B began with a one nil win against Bursledon followed by a one all draw with Botley. In their last match they lost by four goals to one against a very strong Freegrounds team. Fair Oak A began their Group C matches with a two nil win against Berrywood but then lost two nil to Netley Abbey before finishing with a convincing four one win against Upham. These results meant that both Fair Oak teams finished in a creditable second place in their groups. Well done to all those participating players!

Thursday 9^th February

Fair Oak played in a hockey County Finals qualifying tournament today held at Wyvern between local schools. Fair Oak began their pool matches with a one nil win against Wellstead before drawing nil nil with Shamblehurst. That pattern was repeated in the next two fixtures as well – a one nil win over Freegrounds and a nil nil draw with Droxford. These results meant that Fair Oak topped their group and would play Upham in the semi final. In this match Fair Oak produced a super display to win three nil which set up a final against Freegrounds who had beaten Berrywood in the other semi final. The final was an extremely close affair and at the end the score was goalless which meant the match went to a golden goal decider. Unfortunately Fair Oak conceded their first goal of the tournament and therefore finished as runners up. We will now have a tense wait to see if Fair Oak will be awarded one of the runners up spots at the County Finals tournament to be played later on in the year.

Tuesday 14^th February

Fair Oak entered three teams into a hockey tournament held at Wyvern between local teams. The competition took a league format with every team playing every other team. After all the fixtures had been completed, both Fair Oak B and C finished with six points and a share of fifth place overall while Fair Oak A finished in second place with fifteen points, just a point behind Upham A who won the event. Well done to all of our fabulous hockey players for a great tournament!

Thursday 16^th February

Four of our top year five and six cross country runners had previously qualified for the Eastleigh and Winchester and Hamble District trials which were held today at Fleming Park. All of our athletes did brilliantly, particularly as they were running against the best runners from the area. Two of our boys finished very impressively in fifth place and fourteenth place. This really is a great achievement. Well done to our competitors!

Tuesday 28^th February

Today sixty pupils took part in an internal tag rugby tournament. Pupils were split into six teams with every team playing every other team in a league format. After all of the fixtures had been played Fair Oak A ended up as competition winners. Well done to all of our fabulous tag rugby players.

Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

Saturday 25 February 2017, 7pm, Cathedral Nave.

Presenting the newly formed Winchester Cathedral Junior Choir in a staged performance, supported by singers from the Cathedral Community, members of the Wessex Youth Choir guest appearances from Lay Clerks and Clergy, and children from Fair Oak and Greenfields Junior Schools.

The ten-piece Joseph Band will be directed by Keith Clark, Director of Winchester Cathedral Junior Choir.

See the Winchester Cathedral website for prices and booking details.

Well, Avon Tyrrell 2017 has come to an end and what a fantastic week we have all had! All the Year Five children have had such an amazing time and it has been just wonderful seeing them develop into independent, caring individuals who have spent every waking moment laughing and engaging in everything that we have thrown at them, including lots of water!!!

Thank you to all the parents who supported the residential and to all the dedicated, hardworking staff members who made the week such a success!

Signing out

Mrs Gowers and the Fair Oak Junior School Team!

Today has been full of fun, excitement and challenge! It started at 6:50 am when the children were woken up in order to embark on their first adventure of the day; an extremely misty walk into the New Forest as the photos show!

During our mammoth adventure across crocodile infested rivers and meandering, narrow paths, we came across New Forest ponies and a variety of animal paw prints.  After a well earned breakfast the morning activities began, where the children participated in trekking and sketching. In addition, they also enjoyed problem solving and shelter building along with the staff! To our surprise, the children still had enough energy at the end of the day for a game of' What's the time Miss Walters?' as shown in the photos!

The children are now getting ready for their dinner and are very excited about tonight's campfire!

Throughout the day I have over heard comments from the children such as:

'This trip has really inspired me to go outside and do more!' (Dominic Tarrier)

'It was really fun and enjoyable!' (Lucy Marchant)

'I found the night walk really interesting, especially coming face to face with frogs!'  (Jude McNaughton)

'Its made me realise that I am confident enough to talk to others from different classes!' (Jessica Cook)

It has been a fantastic few days with 5KT and 5S and the staff are extremely proud of everything they have achieved. Well done!

Come back later to read my final 2017 Avon Tyrrell Blog!

Today we all said goodbye to 5GW and 5G. All the children had such a wonderful time and have created new memories which they will carry with them forever. I felt extremely proud of all the children as they tried new things and worked through problems. The children have been an absolute pleasure to take away and now we welcome 5KT and 5S.

So far, 5KT and 5S have unpacked their cases and attempted to make their beds, some help was required! They have just come in from an afternoon of orienteering and are getting ready for their evening meal and night games.

Today started with an early morning walk across the forest where we had to negotiate rivers and mountains! (Slight exaggeration on my part!) After our trek back we were treated to a hearty cooked breakfast!

Once we had eaten, Staff carried out the rigorous room inspection which was most interesting! The children then gathered together ready for the day's activities! Despite the cold, damp weather the children and staff thoroughly enjoyed shelter building and problem solving, trekking and art as you can see from the photos.

The children have just completed the monumental task of packing and are looking forward to singing and story telling around the campfire. Here are a few comments from the children to sum up the last 2 days:

Fun, awesome time! (Hope Devenish)

Night walk was great fun! (Hannah Keith)

Top quality!  (Ben Russell)

It's been brilliant ! (Adam Suter)

We arrived safely after a beautiful drive across the forest where we saw some lovely sights including a dog riding a horse! We have all settled into the house well and have made the most of the beautiful sunshine whilst enjoying orientating around our new learning environment.

Lunch went down well and the children have just finished practising singing the camp fire songs. We are looking forward to heading off on our night time activities including a night walk where we will appreciate and enjoy the lack of light pollution.

We will all be ready for a good nights sleep so we are ready and raring to go for tomorrow's activities!