Please e-mail office@oakley.kent.sch.uk if you would like any of the information on our website in a different format.
Our children and young people are at the heart of everything we do.
A very warm welcome to Oakley School. We are the district Special School for children and young people from 3 to 19 years with a wide range of special educational needs located in our Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge (post-16) sites
Our Mission: Children and Young People at the heart of all we do.
Our Ethos: Work Hard, Be Kind, Have Fun & Stay Safe
Our Vision: To give all our children and young people opportunities to engage, explore, discover and develop their independence – to become confident, resilient, happy and well prepared for a positive and meaningful future.
At Oakley School we are ambitious for our pupils and offer a rich Creative Curriculum that is personalised and offers learning in school as well as in the community. Our skilled and dedicated staff team work very hard to make learning motivating, interactive, challenging and fun, whilst ensuring that all our children and young people feel safe, valued and self-confident. We promote “Skills for Life and Independence” so that when pupil leave Oakley School they are prepared for the next phase in their lives and have the best opportunities.
Pupils' wellbeing and engagement is central to all our decision making and how we structure our school and the interventions we use.
Our Wider Curriculum offers excellent enrichment activities including: lunch and after school clubs, curriculum trips and residential experiences in the United Kingdom and abroad. These opportunities provide pupils time and experiences to develop their life skills in new places and with different people in preparation for their next steps.
We work collaboratively across our school community with our Families, Therapists, NHS Colleagues and other professionals and external organisations to support and meet the needs of our pupils.
We hope that you enjoy your visit to our website, and that you find the information you are looking for. Please feel free to contact the school directly with any queries you may have. If you would like a paper copy of any of the information on our website, we would be happy to provide it, free of charge. Email office@oakley.kent.sch.uk
or call us on 01892 823096.
It is my privilege to be the Headteacher at Oakley School and we welcome you to visit the school so you can meet pupils and staff to experience our very special school.
Sam Perryman
Headteacher
It was lovely to see many families together with Phase 3 and 4 Pupils at our Futures and Destinations Event at Tonbridge. We were fortunate to be joined by several local providers and it was a lovely atmosphere for pupils and families find out more information about next steps.
Oakley School hosted a successful Futures Destination event for pupils and parents in Phases 3 and 4. We were pleased to welcome the following organisations:
We encourage all Phase 4 pupils to take part in a Work-Related Learning placement to develop their confidence and skills for life and independence. Families are asked to help find suitable placements through friends and family and ideally placements which are near home, enabling pupils to travel to and from the placement as independently as possible in order to get a more real-life experience of working.
We can support any families who are struggling to find suitable placements - please contact Charlotte Bartlett, Phase 4 Leader: cbartlett@oakley.kent.sch.uk
There was a wonderful atmosphere as our pupils and their parents/carers explored some of the options available to them when they leave Oakley School. Thank you to all the Post-16 Education & Training providers and employers who came along to support the event.
Below are just some of the organisations who attended:
Phase 4 pupils took part in a Class Commentary workshop with Dan Strange, a broadcaster of Olympic Games, World Cups and Paralympics and Clare Griffiths, a five time Paralympian and now a commentator too. Clare was Great Britain's Wheelchair Basketball Captain for London 2012.
It was so inspirational - our pupils were so engaged and involved, learning about and practicing their interviewing and commentating skills. Their behaviour was exemplary and even the shyest ones had grown in confidence by the end of the day. The workshop ran from 9.15am to 2.45pm and everyone was buzzing and talking about it all day.
Dan sent an email after the event: ‘Can I say how fantastic we thought the pupils were. Funny, interesting and extremely polite, with so much character.’