English

In the Pre-Prep, we place great emphasis on every child’s literacy learning and development, recognising that these skills are essential to allow progress across our wider curriculum and support enjoyment of learning. 

Our aim is to nurture a love for both reading and writing. Our strong literacy programme focuses on ensuring that our phonics teaching provides children with the necessary skills required to decode language, allowing them to build words using the sounds they have learnt. Through small group work, a varied reading scheme and differentiated programmes of learning, each child learns at the pace appropriate to their ability. Although we actively encourage independent learning, our reading scheme continues throughout the whole school, until we are sure that the necessary skills are firmly in place for a child to continue their learning  successfully.

The phonics scheme that we use is Read Write Inc. This teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Since introducing Read Write Inc. in 2022 we have seen the benefits including increased confidence across ability, rapid progress and improved comprehension skills.

Maths

From Reception, we seek to give our children a firm foundation of basic numeracy skills and strategies. We cover a wide range of topics including:  number recognition and formation, basic operations, times tables, problem solving, shape, data and measure.  The work is differentiated to ensure that support or extension work is available as appropriate. We believe that it is key to success in mathematics to depth of understanding in basic concepts to ensure good confidence and continual progress.

Science

Children have science lessons as a part of their curriculum from Reception.  By developing a basic understanding and knowledge of the world around us, including activities in our woodland and trips to local beaches, our children learn to investigate and question how things work.  Year groups focus on a particular theme each half term. Topics include: animals, materials, seasons, light, plants, electricity, habitats and investigations. We adopt a 'hands-on' approach to encourage interest in experimentation preparing our children for science lessons in our dedicated lab from Year 3.

Humanities

Humanities encompasses history, geography and religious studies. From an early age, our pupils are encouraged to explore the world around them and ask questions about themselves and others. With this in mind, we aim to engage with the child’s curiosity and sense of wonder from the very start of a topic exploring themes including: festivals, British values, commemorative events and worldwide events such as Remembrance and the Olympics. Imagine coming to school one day and finding a scroll from a knight, discovering huge, mysterious footprints in the classroom or being sent on a metal detector mission in the school grounds!  Learning is child-centred and makes use of the outdoor environment. In addition, pupils enjoy relevant field trips to support their learning including: Tuppenny Barn, Goodwood Farm, Dell Quay Conservation Area, the Witterings and Arundel Castle.

Modern Foreign Languages

Exposure to an additional language from a young age increases the likelihood of a strong interest in other languages and cultures.  At Oakwood all our pupils have the opportunity to learn a modern foreign language (MFL) as part of the normal school curriculum taught by our Head of Languages. Our school community benefits from having some international families with varied language backgrounds and we welcome opportunities to learn more about the languages and cultures of those in the Oakwood family.  Pupils in the Pre-Prep all have the opportunity to begin to learn French and Spanish via games, songs, role play and simple stories. We aim to provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries in the future.

Computing

From Year 1 Oakwood pupils have specialist computing lessons which take place in the computing suite.  Children in the Pre-Prep are encouraged to develop their mouse control and typing skills and are introduced to the fundamentals of programming, online safety, use of digital cameras, Publisher and coding.  In addition to the computing suite, children have access to Learnpads to support their literacy and numeracy work. There are computers in every classroom as well as interactive whiteboards used to enhance and develop children’s digital learning.  

Art 

Oakwood pupils enjoy an exciting and varied programme of art which is linked to their creative curriculum. Children are encouraged to learn and explore through a variety of mediums including painting, drawing and 3D work with a variety of materials. Creative learning takes place both in the classroom and in our beautiful outdoor environment.

In Year 2 the pupils begin to enjoy more formal art lessons in our inspiring art room, taught by our Head of Art.  Projects remain closely linked to topics being studied across other subjects to extend their knowledge and ignite their imaginations to engage with their subject work including delightful ceramic Paddington bears. Projects include skills in: drawing, painting, sewing, collage, 3D construction, ceramics and colour mixing.

The annual Oakwood Art Exhibition is a chance for every child from nursery upwards to select a piece of their work to be exhibited as a celebration of creativity.

Music

Music is enjoyed throughout the Pre-Prep.  All pupils have specialist music lessons with our Head of Music. Topics include singing, percussion, an introduction to music theory and basic music making.

All children in Year 1 and Year 2 are members of the Acorns choir. Their regular performances delight parents and larger audiences who are impressed with their talent and poise.

From Year 1, children are offered the opportunity to take individual instrumental lessons with one of our peripatetic specialist music teachers. These children are encouraged to occasionally perform in our Friday Celebration Assemblies, to help build their confidence and celebrate their achievement.  Music exams are held at Oakwood at regular intervals and children work towards grades supported by their individual teachers.

Drama

The Pre-Prep children are involved in several performances during each school year.  Highlights include: Harvest Festival Assemblies, Nativity productions and an Easter Spring Concert.  In addition, all Pre-Prep classes present one to two class assemblies each school year in front of fellow pupils and parents. We delight in their confidence on stage and their enthusiasm in sharing their knowledge and talent.

Class drama lessons begin in Reception with our Head of Performing Arts.