Curriculum

The purpose of creative arts at Oakwood is:

• To inspire and enthuse pupils imagination and appreciate ‘creative arts’.
• To develop a broad and balanced creative arts curriculum which enables all pupils to succeed and achieve.
• Provide high quality inclusive creative arts experiences and resources for our pupils.
• In order to support further training on their next phase of education and spark creativity in later life.

The purpose of Computing at Oakwood is to ensure that all students are competent users and innovators of digital technology. They will be safe when exploring the digital world and are able to recognise dangers and respond appropriately. We aim to foster an ongoing interest and exploration of the ever changing digital world.

This will lead to students becoming responsible citizens within a digital society, promote future study and offer more employability opportunities.

Our vision for English is:

• To foster an enduring love of language and literature through high quality stimulus.
• To support pupils to become active readers, writers and communicators.
• To foster practical and functional skills for life.
• To foster in pupils the confidence, desire and ability to express their views and opinions both orally and in writing.
• To value and celebrate diversity in culture and language. 

The purpose of Humanities at Oakwood is to foster curiosity and deepening knowledge about the world, its past and the people within it. Humanities aims to spark a love for learning and exploration later in life, increasing students Cultural Capital and further opportunities in adulthood.

The purpose of maths at Oakwood is to foster an enduring love of number and become fluent in fundamental maths that also includes learning to reason and problem solve effectively in order to support decision making and increases life chances as an adult.

MFL 

At Oakwood, we believe a high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. Our teaching will enable students to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and for some of our students in writing. It will also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes. 

Our curriculum aim is to develop the confidence and competence of each child in the foreign language they are learning. Our goal is for students to be passionate, curious and confident about their own foreign language learning abilities. We aim to ensure that pupils develop the ability to understand what they hear and read and enable them to express themselves in speech and writing in the language they are learning. We will also help strengthen their sense of identity through learning about culture in other countries and comparing it with their own.

The purpose of creative arts at Oakwood is:

• To inspire and enthuse pupils imagination and appreciate ‘creative arts’.
• To develop a broad and balanced creative arts curriculum which enables all pupils to succeed and achieve.
• Provide high quality inclusive creative arts experiences and resources for our pupils.
• In order to support further training on their next phase of education and spark creativity in later life. 

The vision of the PE curriculum is to provide opportunities for all pupils to develop their physical confidence and competence in a way that supports their physical and mental health. We also aim to develop key life skills and build character to embed lifelong participation in sport and physical activity.

The purpose of Personal Development is to:

• To foster independence and life skills for the future.
• To provide further opportunities for young people which contribute towards developing well rounded, responsible young citizens.
• To develop understanding of one’s own unique development (both strengths and areas for improvement).

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values.

High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

The purpose of Design and Technology is to stimulate challenge that will engage the pupils and encourage their enquiring minds. To create opportunities for pupils to develop a wide range of practical knowledge and skills that support problem solving to design and make products that will lead to encouraging future interests which aims to spark a love for learning, exploration later in life and can lead to further opportunities in adulthood.

The purpose of Design and Technology is to stimulate challenge that will engage the pupils and encourage their enquiring minds. To create opportunities for pupils to develop a wide range of practical knowledge and skills that support problem solving to design and make products that will lead to encouraging future interests which aims to spark a love for learning, exploration later in life and can lead to further opportunities in adulthood.

At Oakwood Academy the intent and design of the life skill curriculum is tailored to meet the specific needs of all learners using a stage not age approach which has a significant impact on learning. This is done through observations, practical and real life experiences. All students work is collated in a portfolio over a 2-year period of time.

The different life skill courses contribute towards personal development and fosters independence for the future by allowing students to be given different opportunities and experiences to learn and develop skills.

Life skill courses provides a wide range of high quality, relevant and purposeful opportunities which inspires young people to actively engage with their own learning by building and practicing their skills over time as well as putting them into practice in real life situations.

RE 

At Oakwood, the Religious Education (RE) curriculum is carefully crafted with the intent to promote understanding, respect, and critical thinking about religion and belief systems. It's design is thoughtfully structured to foster not only knowledge but also respect, empathy and tolerance by nurturing students' understanding of different worldviews.  

Religious education enhances their cultural capital awareness among students.

Our RE curriculum covers a wide spectrum of religious beliefs, practices, and philosophies from around the world,  encompassing major world religions, while also exploring lesser-known faith traditions. We believe in offering a holistic view of religious diversity to enhance our students cultural capital and prepare them with a deeper understanding of the increasingly diverse and interconnected global society.

The speech and Language curriculum intends to provide regular time for students to develop their speech and language skills. By the end of the Key Stage, students should have had the opportunity to:

• Learn about and practices the nuances of communication.
• Practice appropriate conversation for different scenarios.
• Tune in their listening skills to pick out essential information.
• Use causal language.
• Use inference and reasoning skills to enable them to find hidden meanings in their daily interactions.
• Read hidden meanings within a conversation.
• Recognise when sarcasm is being used and the tone in which this is being used.
• Recognise situations in which they might use sarcasm.
• Know a range of idioms and their hidden meanings.
• Use familiar idioms in their everyday speech.
• Maintain conversations and understand the purpose of ‘small talk.’
• Recognise body language and read the signals when it is time to finish a conversation. 

Oakwood’s Science Policy Vision

• To develop pupils’ curiosity and excitement about the world around them.
• To develop pupil’s ability to work scientifically.
• To provide opportunities to understand how science has developed by studying real life scientists (cultural capital).

Oakwood’s Literacy Policy Vision

• To develop a whole school consistent approach to the delivery of literacy through all subjects alleviating barriers to learning.
• Pupils will have regular opportunities to practise their reading, writing, speaking and listening in all lessons and across a range of contexts.
• Pupils’ will develop their functional literacy skills giving them the best chance possible for social mobility in the future.

"As a school, we teach synthetic phonics as the most important approach to the teaching of reading. We endeavour that our pupils will work toward closing the gap between their reading age and chronological age. We want all pupils to continue their journey to read with confidence, develop a love of reading and apply their skills competently across the curriculum."

Our Vision for Phonics

• To support pupils to become active readers.
• To foster practical and functional skills for life.
• To foster in pupils the confidence, desire and ability to read for pleasure.
• To provide our students with the best opportunity for accessing all areas of curriculum content through accessed through reading.

Useful Documents

On this page you will find some downloadable documents to help parents be familiar with the taught sounds and our approach to delivering phonics at Oakwood Academy. 

Explore Beyond the Classroom at Oakwood Academy

At Oakwood Academy, we believe that learning extends far beyond the confines of the classroom. That's why we're dedicated to providing our students with enriching out-of-class experiences that inspire, engage, and broaden their horizons.

Why It Matters to Us:

At the heart of our educational philosophy is the understanding that real-world experiences are essential for holistic development. These experiences enhance academic learning and foster life skills, creativity, and a deep appreciation for the world around us.

Our Enhancement Planning:

We take our commitment to out-of-class experiences seriously. To ensure a well-rounded education, each subject at Oakwood Academy has an Enhancement Section in its policy. This dedicated approach allows us to carefully plan and execute a comprehensive enhancement cycle throughout a pupil's time with us.

Explore Our Enhancement Planner (Working Document):

You can access our Enhancement Planner if you're curious about our exciting out-of-class experiences and how they align with our curriculum. Please keep in mind that it's a dynamic, working document that's constantly evolving to offer the best experiences for our students.