At Oakwood Junior School, the curriculum is designed to help everyone to be:

Our Key Drivers 

We want our children to be active participants in their learning who independently seek out learning and knowledge for its own sake and be lovers of learning.

Our motto ‘Every child is a learner and can achieve’ demonstrates our ambitious ethos for all pupils. We recognise the importance of physical and emotional well-being to support our children on their learning journey.  We seek to instil in our children, powerful knowledge through a curriculum rich in opportunities which enhances cultural capital and the importance of British Values as well as celebrating diversity through the mantra of the nine protected characteristics. 

To enable children to excel throughout their learning journey, and to encourage them to continue on that journey as their life progresses, we are clear about the intent of our school curriculum:

 • To secure for all children fluent and effective reading to enable them to access the wider curriculum, develop a rich vocabulary and enjoy reading for pleasure.

• To secure for all children a fluency in number, problem solving and reasoning that prepares them for life.

 • To ensure children are able to communicate articulately and confidently in a range of forms and situations.

• To offer for all our children the knowledge and understanding of how to safeguard themselves both  physically and mentally.

Our broad and coherent curriculum, whilst aligned to the National Curriculum, is heavily built upon the foundations of personal development based on the needs of our school demographic.  Our intention is to deliver flexible and responsive content, encouraging pupils to live with meaningful independence, enjoy social inclusion and positive, safe relationships preparing them for the next stage of their learning journey. 

We deliver a broad and literacy rich curriculum underpinned by the principles of spaced retrieval practice to support the deep and embedded learning of knowledge, skills and vocabulary. Immersion in a subject allows for expertise and depth of understanding. 

Our CUSP curriculum is connected, cumulative and coherent; underpinned by evidence, research and cognitive science. Modules are sequenced for progression and allow teachers to focus on the lesson and immerse themselves in developing their own subject knowledge. 

Each area of study is well organised; key knowledge (both substantive and disciplinary) is identified enabling teachers to know what exactly is to be taught. Knowledge implementation is through the use of 'knowledge organisers', vocabulary banks, 'knowledge strips' and is checked via use of regular cumulative quizzes intended to help children retain and recall their learning.

Reading is the bedrock of our curricular offer and we focus heavily upon the teaching of phonics. We consciously support our pupils to be habitual readers through developing a deep reading for pleasure culture. Every class has a daily story time and access to a large, well-stocked library.  We use ambitious and progressive texts to drive our curriculum to immerse and expose children to a rich and varied vocabulary.  

A range of assessments are used, including low stakes quizzes in each lesson and end of a study unit, ensuring that they support teaching and learning. Both formative and summative assessment processes are viewed as a valued tool used positively by staff.