Curriculum - Primary

intentAt Oakley School, our ambitious and carefully crafted curriculum inspires a lifelong love of learning and empowers every child to ‘Be the best they can be.’ We celebrate each pupil’s uniqueness, building on their experiences to nurture both academic excellence and personal growth.

Rooted in rich language and high-quality texts, our curriculum promotes deep understanding, long-term memory, and meaningful cross-curricular connections—from Early Years to Key Stage 3. Knowledge lies at its heart, with learning designed to build sequentially for lasting impact.

Guided by our six core Values and Expectations, we foster resilience, independence, and well-being—preparing pupils not only to succeed, but to thrive as kind, confident, and responsible citizens.

Talk is central to our approach: we believe in the power of language to unlock thinking and shape understanding. Our curriculum ‘floats on a sea of talk,’ nurturing articulate learners who can express themselves with confidence.  Within our Primary school, we adopt a Continuous Provision approach to our curriculum offer. This enables pupils to acquire the necessary knowledge from direct instruction but also provides them with the autonomy to revisit, practise, explore and extend their knowledge and skills. 

We bring learning to life through joyful, memorable experiences that broaden horizons and ignite curiosity. Our enrichment opportunities provide pupils with the cultural capital to understand the world and their place within it.

By promoting British values and teaching children how to stay safe online and offline, we equip them with the knowledge, character, and values they need to flourish in modern Britain today.

The curriculum comprises:

• The formal curriculum defined by the statutory orders of the National Curriculum and the EYFS Curriculum.

• An inclusive curriculum that is differentiated for those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND). We have high expectations for all pupils and are committed to ensuring our curriculum complies with the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. We emphasise the importance of providing an inclusive learning environment for all pupils including those with SEND. Additional information on this can be found in our SEND Provision page and Equality Policy and Objectives

• The Religious Education Curriculum in accordance with the Warwickshire agreed syllabus (SACRE).

• The additional curricular provision of PSHE, taught weekly in all year groups, including:

        - Statutory Relationships, Health and Sex Education (taught through the 'Jigsaw' scheme)

        - Protective Behaviours (taught through use of ‘The Taking Care Project’)

• Swimming lessons for all KS2 classes.   

• A Modern Foreign Language (predominantly French, though also covering Spanish and German) taught weekly in all Key Stage 2 classes by a specialist teacher and taught in a thematic workshop style in Key Stage 1. 

• A wide range of extra-curricular activities, which are undertaken by school staff or outside providers, outside of curriculum hours.

We implement our vision and curriculum intent in the following ways:

• Engaging Learning Themes: We design creative, immersive, half-termly themes that make learning meaningful, enjoyable, and relevant to our pupils’ lives.

• Continuous Provision Model: Our carefully designed continuous provision offers rich opportunities for pupils to deepen their thinking, practise skills independently, explore concepts creatively, and develop autonomy in their learning.

• Nurturing Environment: A caring and supportive atmosphere underpins our ethos, fostering confidence, curiosity, and achievement in every child.

• Broad and Balanced Curriculum: We offer a rich, inclusive curriculum that embraces all subjects, ensuring a holistic and well-rounded education.

• Visionary Leadership: Strong, aspirational leadership—at senior and subject levels—drives excellence, supported by effective governance and strategic direction.

• Progressive Skill Development: Clear, sequenced skills frameworks guide the teaching and assessment of each subject, enabling consistent and progressive learning experiences.

• Priority on Reading and Phonics: Phonics and reading are at the heart of our curriculum, underpinning success across all areas of learning.

• Effective Retrieval Practices: Thoughtful questioning and regular low-stakes quizzes promote knowledge retention and deepen understanding.

• Knowledge Organisers: These tools support structured learning and help pupils retain and connect key information.

• Inspirational Teaching: High-quality teaching is driven by passion, deep subject knowledge, and a culture of praise and enthusiasm.

• Continuous Professional Growth: We are committed to reflective practice and ongoing professional development to ensure the highest standards of teaching and learning.

• Purposeful Resources: Carefully selected, high-quality resources enhance the learning experience and support diverse needs.

• Love of Reading: A wide range of high-quality texts enriches learning and fosters a lifelong love of reading.

• Safe and Effective Use of Technology: We ensure pupils benefit from high-quality digital learning experiences delivered through safe, well-planned provision.

• Specialist Teaching: Expertise in Modern Foreign Languages, Music, and Physical Education broadens horizons and enhances pupil engagement.

• Cross-Curricular Learning: Strong links across subjects help pupils apply their knowledge and skills in meaningful, connected ways.

• Exceptional Pastoral Care: We provide outstanding support for pupils’ well-being, nurturing their personal growth and emotional resilience.

• Personal Development and PSHE: Comprehensive PSHE education and rich personal development opportunities prepare pupils for life beyond the classroom.

• Enrichment Opportunities: After-school clubs, educational visits, and guest visitors bring the curriculum to life and broaden pupils’ experiences.

• Celebratory Theme Days: Regular themed events engage learners and celebrate the joy of discovery and creativity.

• Inclusive Learning: Differentiated tasks ensure that every child can access and succeed within the curriculum.

• Sporting Excellence: We promote active lifestyles through high participation in sports and competitive events.

• Outdoor Learning: We maximise outdoor learning opportunities to inspire curiosity and connect learning to the natural world.

• Pupil and Parent Voice: We value and actively seek the insights of pupils and parents, using their perspectives to continually enhance our provision.

• Through these approaches, we create an inspiring and empowering learning environment where every child is valued, challenged, and supported to reach their full potential.

• Pupils thrive at Oakley Primary, feeling safe, valued, and nurtured every day.

• Pupils take pride in their school, consistently demonstrating and celebrating our shared values.

• Our dedicated staff are united in their pride for Oakley, working together to achieve excellence and inspire each other to develop and grow.

• Academic outcomes across all key stages—Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1, and Key Stage 2 (as we reach full capacity)—consistently exceed national expectations, reflecting our commitment to high standards.

• Children’s books are a testament to their creativity, diligence, and deep engagement across the curriculum.

• Pupils speak with passion and confidence about their learning, demonstrating deep knowledge and understanding.

• Teachers track and respond to progress in every subject, ensuring every child is supported, challenged, and celebrated.

• Exemplary behaviour and a love for learning are hallmarks of daily life at our school.

• Participation in clubs, sports, and enrichment activities is vibrant and enthusiastic, enriching children’s experiences beyond the classroom.

• Pupils and staff regularly reflect on their growth, guided by our school values and purposeful curriculum.

• When children leave Oakley Primary, they do so with confidence, character, and the skills to embrace the challenges of secondary school and a bright future beyond.

Our pedagogy is grounded in research into how children learn best. We prioritise strong relationships, high-quality adult interaction and effective scaffolding (Vygotsky), alongside purposeful direct instruction informed by evidence from the EEF. Children are given meaningful opportunities for play-based and child-led learning (Froebel), as well as time to practise and apply their learning through experience (Dewey). This research-informed approach underpins how we deliver the National Curriculum, enabling our pupils to become curious, confident, independent learners and skilled problem-solvers.
 

A core aspect of our educational philosophy is fostering children’s development as active, independent learners through a Continuous Provision Model that extends beyond the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This approach is firmly supported by educational research showing that children learn most effectively when they are actively involved in meaningful, social, and engaging experiences—a principle consistently embodied in high-quality play-based learning. Research indicates that play is not merely enjoyable but integral to children’s cognitive, social and emotional development, with playful and guided exploratory learning linked to enhanced engagement, skill acquisition and long-term outcomes. Citation

This approach allows pupils to explore, practise and apply their learning in purposeful environments, building confidence, independence and ownership.

We follow the C.O.O.L approach — Choosing Our Own Learning — which promotes autonomy, motivation and meaningful engagement. Children are supported to make choices, take responsibility for their learning and develop agency, while teachers provide high-quality instruction and targeted support.

We work in close partnership with educational consultants to ensure our curriculum is firmly grounded in research and evidence-informed practice, and is thoughtfully adapted to meet the diverse needs of our learners while remaining aligned with our curriculum vision and aims.

Research shows that learning is most effective when children combine direct teaching with independent practice, exploration and retrieval, and when pupils feel motivated, trusted and engaged in their learning. Continuous Provision supports inclusion, wellbeing, communication skills and positive learning behaviours, particularly benefiting children with additional needs.

Through this approach, our classrooms become places where learning is purposeful, inclusive and empowering, and where children develop the skills, values and confidence to succeed — in school and beyond.

At Oakley School, we promote highly effective and professional relationships with parents as we know the huge impact this can have on pupil progress. We give parents the opportunity to have daily conversations with practitioners to ensure all adults have key information that supports pupils to thrive throughout their time at school. By knowing and understanding all our families, we are confident with the differing levels of support our pupils receive and can therefore target support to pupils appropriately. Practitioners seize all opportunities such as; Stay & Play sessions, parent workshops and other engagement opportunities (e.g. Nativity performances, celebrations of pupils’ work etc.), to promote the importance to key adults in the pupil’s lives of chatting, playing and reading to their children regularly. All classes share a Weeky Round-Up which informs parents of a summary of the week's learning, including sounds taught in phonics, to enable parents to support their children at home. It also informs them of the learning their children will be doing in the following week, as well as any resources that could support them to develop their child’s learning further at home. In Reception, Tapestry is used to share observations with parents and to also give parents the chance to share observations of their children outside of the setting with the class teachers,

We ensure that everything we do is evidence based and keep up to date with the most recent publications to ensure we are offering pupils the highest quality provision. Here is some of the research we use to inform our practice:

Preparing_Literacy_Poster-developingCL.pdf

EEF_Maths_EY_KS1_Summary_of_Recommendations.pdf

EEF_Parental_Engagement_Summary_of_recommendations.pdf