Oakwood School

The Curriculum

The principles of education at Oakwood School are to provide a broad and balanced curriculum; which allows the pupils a diverse range of alternatives from Nursery through to Year 6.

The Pre-Prep

The Foundation Stage (Nursery, Kindergarten and Reception) lays the firm foundations for all future learning. Above all, this process must be fun as a child’s first experience in The Early Years can set the scene and tone for later achievement in school life. To this end, we aim to provide a structured but flexible environment where children can grow in self-confidence and learn to share and work together as a team. The children in these years work towards Early Learning Goals, in which there are 6 key areas:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  
• Communication Language and Literacy
  
• Mathematical Development
  
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
  
• Physical Development
  
• Creative Development
  

Children will progress at different rates, but within the framework of the curriculum all children will have the opportunity to achieve maximum progress while enjoying themselves.
During the week, come rain or shine, the children enjoy the wonderful Oakwood setting, taking walks through the Nature Trail. They also have weekly swimming lessons, in the covered pool at the school, as part of the curriculum.


In Years 1 and 2 there is an emphasis on the development of skills in writing, reading and numeracy. Children also have opportunities to develop social and environmental skills and enjoy music, drama, art and design, physical education and Information and Communication Technology (I.C.T.). Staff use a wide range of formal and informal assessment and reporting criteria constantly monitoring pupils’ work. Annual standardised assessments in English, Maths, Reading and Spelling take place and enable the School to measure the year-on-year progress of pupils. Parents are constantly kept informed about individual pupil progress in reports and parents’ meetings. Oakwood also operates an ‘open-door’ policy and parents are welcome at any time to come and discuss their children’s progress.

Upper School

The Curriculum in Years 3 to 6 is shown to best effect in the table below. This table demonstrates the balance in subjects across the age range. The structure of the curriculum and setting in English and Maths enables the childrens’ learning to be supported and extended in accordance with their capability.
Annual standardised assessments in English, Maths, Reading, Spelling, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning take place in the Upper School which helps the school to measure the child’s year-on-year progress.

Reports, Parent/Teacher Meetings & Effort Grade Cards

Reports
Pre-Prep
Parents of children in the Pre-Prep recevie written reports each year; one at the end of the Michaelmas Term with comments on Literacy, Numeracy and a general comments from the Form Teacher. The Summer Term report is longer and covers all subjects in the Curriculum.

Upper School
Reports are written at the end of each term. The Michaelmas and Easter Term reports give grades in all subjects and comments on the three core subjects (Enlgish, Maths and Science). The Summer Term report covers all subjects.


For more information about Oakwood School, please contact us