Ethos and Crest

Picture Of Oatlands College [2].

Ethos:

The ethos of this school is very much a caring inclusive one. School life is fun and vibrant and extremely supportive. The motto of the school is “to do and to teach” and this could not be more accurate (1). The school does not forget that it is an education first organization but the education doesn’t stop with just the academic. The school very much teaches students about life and lots of extremely important life skills. There are support structures everywhere including a Student Council that can bring issues to the management of the school on behalf of the students. Student council members take their duty very seriously and are supported and genuinely listen to by management of the school. The support within the school of fellow students and staff is never more obvious than on the big days on the sport side of things.

Whenever Oatlands are competing in sport competitions you can be guaranteed that the school are supporting them. Buses full of students coming out to support their fellow students in the finals of competitions have been a regular occurrence over the years. This support is of huge benefit to the sports teams, a fact I can attest to having played in many finals as a student myself and having those buses full of fellow students was always a massive help. The inclusive nature of the school can be seen everyday in the school with students from many different religions and cultures all welcomed with open arms. The same can be said of any students with supplementary educational needs, the school have staff that have specially trained staff to help support these students with their everyday needs within the school.

Oatlands College Crest [10]

Crest:

Escutcheon Shield Design [1]

The School Crest as can be seen in the image above and can be found embroidered on the school jumpers & jackets, on homework journals, official documents and all of the school jerseys. There is no evidence of any major changes to this crest since the schools founding. The general shape of the crest is that of a shield design or hearldy,  this is also known as Escutcheon.

The crest itself contains an open book with the Latin letter alpha and omega impressed on the pages of the book. The open book symbolizes manifestation a sign that something is happening which in the context of the school crest is education. The Latin letters alpha to omega are there to symbolize the beginning to the final, or the start and finality. This can be interpreted as being the idea that the school is present for the students at the beginning of their education until they are finished their education. The colours found on the crest are also of importance, the gold colour symbolizes generosity and elevation of mind. The red colour symbolizes strength and magnanimity while the green colour symbolizes hope, joy and loyalty.(2)