At Oakley School we are ambitious for all our pupils and offer a rich Creative and Wider Curriculum. Our curriculum celebrates the individuality of each pupil by offering stimulating, hands-on experiences both within the classroom and throughout the wider community. We are passionate about providing an environment that is nurturing, inclusive, and inspiring, ensuring that every moment matters and there is a valuable opportunity for personal growth and discovery.

We promote ‘every moment matters’ at Oakley School and our skilled and dedicated staff team work hard to make learning motivating, interactive, challenging and fun, whilst ensuring that all our children and young people feel safe, valued and self-confident. The Creative Curriculum is designed to spark curiosity, foster independence, and equip pupils with the essential skills they need to thrive and prepare for adulthood.

Pupils' wellbeing and engagement is central to all our decision making and how we structure our school and the interventions we use. We are committed to embedding trauma-informed, neuro-affirming practice across our school and ensure it permeates through every aspect of school life. We achieve this through a universal Thrive approach. All pupils at Oakley School receive a differentiated curriculum tailored to their individual needs and Educational, Health Care Plan (EHCP) outcomes and targets. This is delivered through our Universal Offer, which every family can expect their child(ren) to receive. Some pupils may also require targeted or specialist support, including interventions and therapies.

We recognise that pupils will make progress at different rates and to celebrate all our pupils’ progress. To achieve this, we have developed a framework of skills called the Oakley Learning Journey. The Oakley Learning Journey has been developed to deliver highly personalised learning for pupils, building on prior knowledge and skills and identifying next steps so pupils have strong foundational knowledge and skills that can be applied functionally.

The Oakley Learning Journey has been developed by Oakley staff, including Therapists, using the 7 areas of the Early Years Framework, the National Curriculum and pupils’ transition steps to their next destination and in preparation for adulthood. We also prioritise the following skills to support the delivery of our curriculum:

1. Engagement
2. Connection
3. Curiosity
4. Communication
5. Regulation
6. Enjoyment
7. Resilience
8. Problem Solving & adaptability 
9. Application of skills
10. Independence

The holistic approach to learning enables pupils to develop the key skills and knowledge they require to be as independent and fulfilled as they can be in their future. Skills are taught initially in the classroom and generalised to enable young people to apply their learning across a range of contextually relevant settings, including at home. We understand the significant role of play, awe and wonder in child development and learning and it is central to how we deliver the curriculum.

Pupils’ progress is captured using Evidence for Learning based on the skills in the Oakley Learning Journey through the Creative and Wider Curriculum opportunities and pupils’ EHCP outcomes/Personalised Learning Goals. Later in the school these achievements are further captured by a personalised accreditation offer.

The Oakley Learning Journey is taught through a topic-based curriculum with 6 themes running across the academic year and is part of a rolling 4-year cycle. This enables pupils to have a broad and rich curriculum with opportunities to consolidate and generalise prior learning. Literature related to the topics are selected to provide pupils with a diverse and wide range of genres and age-appropriate subject matter. 

The Oakley Learning Journey is made up of seven areas, these are:

• Communications and Language (C&L)
• Personal, Social, Emotional Development (PSED)
• Physical Development (PD)
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World (UtW)
• Expressive Arts and Design (EA&D)

All areas of the OLJ encourage communication, collaboration and problem solving and its effectiveness has been recognised by The Challenge Partner Organisation: ‘The highly effective curriculum prepares pupils for life beyond and after Oakley. The Oakley Learning Journey (OLJ) framework enables leaders to track pupil progress from Nursery to Year 14.’ Challenge Partner Report (November 2023).

The OLJ has also been recognised by SMSC National Quality Mark ‘The curriculum is an all-encompassing example of how SMSC can be the driver of teaching and learning rather than merely relying on opportunities to occur’. Oakley received the Gold Quality Mark in SMSC.

Below is our whole school 4-year thematic topic cycle from 2024 to 2028.  All seven areas of our Oakley Learning Journey are taught every term. However, we have chosen a focus area/s for each term to ensure curriculum breadth and coverage.

Our school ethos of “work hard, be kind, have fun and stay safe” is embedded across our Creative Curriculum.

Please see below our Baselining Tool that teachers use to assess which band pupils are currently working within in each of the seven OLJ areas. This baselining tool allows us to adapt the learning objectives appropriately to each individual pupil and accounts for our children and young people’s ‘spikey’ learning profiles.