🕑 Pick-Up Time
As usual at the end of term, ODA will close earlier than normal. On Friday 19th December, EYFS and KS1 will finish at 14:00, and KS2 will finish at 14:10.
🎯 Progress Review Day
We will be holding our Spring Term Progress Review Day on Tuesday 6th January 2026 from 8:00am-5:00pm. This is a great opportunity to come into school and have a 15-minute meeting with your child’s class teacher to review their progress this academic year. The sign-up window opens on Monday 15th December at 6:00pm and will close on Monday 5th January at 4pm. Please log-on to MCAS to book your appointment.
📚 One Degree Academy Library Launch
We are extremely excited to announce that we will be opening our new library, The Cambridge Library, in the new year! It is being carefully designed and developed to provide a central space for all of our wonderful books and to be a hub for both reading and performance at One Degree. The library will also form part of our new reading home learning offer for Years 2 to 6, Accelerated Reader, about which we will provide details very soon.
We cannot wait to open a new special place in our school and we are delighted that a bestselling and award-winning author will also be visiting to formally open The Cambridge Library! Stay tuned for more details…
What’s in a name?
As you know, our classes are named after the universities our teachers attended. For our library, we wanted to give a nod to Cambridge University, an inspirational place in the UK to study English Literature.
🎅🏾 Christmas Presents for Staff
As we approach the end of term, we would like to remind families that there is no expectation to buy gifts for staff. We know it can be an expensive time of year and understand the financial pressure this can bring. At ODA, we always appreciate a handmade card from your child, which is more than enough and always warmly received.
♫ Christmas Concerts
The Christmas season is here! And as always, we will be doing our annual Christmas Concerts. We would love for you all to attend and celebrate the hard work the children have been putting into their songs and poems.
Please see the calendar on our website for the dates and times that the children will be performing in the main hall. We look forward to seeing you there!
🎄 Christmas Jumper Donation
On the last day of term, we have lots of festive fun planned! Children are invited to wear their Christmas jumpers, and we’ll all be enjoying a special Christmas lunch together.
If you have any children’s Christmas jumpers at home that are no longer needed, we would be very grateful for any donations. Please bring them to the school office, ensuring they are clean and in good condition.
🚧 Ongoing Roadworks
Due to the rescheduling of work by the Department for Education’s builders, traffic lights are required at the Hunters Way and Chase Village junction starting 17th December 2025—3 days earlier than planned—until 5th January 2026.
This will cause significant disruption. As always, there is no pick-up, drop-off or parking on these roads. We encourage you to plan ahead and park safely and legally further away. The bus stop will also be suspended; buses will now drop off and pick up at Chase Farm Hospital.
🎁 easyfundraising - Donations That Are Free to You!
In order to make us #ProudlyDifferent, we rely on donations. One way of donating, at no cost to you, is by clicking this link and enabling donations to One Degree Academy through the easyfundraising platform.
This holiday season and beyond, when you shop online with participating retailers, they'll donate part of what you spend to ODA. Whether you shop on your phone, laptop or tablet, you can earn free cashback donations for ODA. It’s simple. It’s easy. It makes a big difference to us. So thanks!
🎞️ This Week on YouTube
Scholarship - A One Degree Academy STRIVE Value
Next week—as well as our first week of the Spring term—will be Scholarship Week. In this video released today on our YouTube channel, ODA scholars explain how they show #scholarship by the way they enter, sit and approach learning in class, always striving to be a role model for others.
This week’s videography was in collaboration with student filmmakers. 🙌🏾
▶️ Home Learning Videos
Nursery and Reception: Check Tapestry for the latest video from the teaching team.
Y1-6: Click here for the latest home learning video from the teaching team.
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @1DegreeAcademy to see photos of our week!
Many thanks, ODA
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