Welcome to our School

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

Home Page

Latest News

Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

Oakley pupils become Sports Commentators for the day!
Fri 24 Mar 2023

Yesterday, 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.’
Futures & Destinations (Careers) Event
Thu 23 Mar 2023

Yesterday morning we held a Futures & Destinations Event at our Tonbridge site - 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.
Oakley lead the way in SEN education with gold (again!)
Wed 22 Mar 2023

We are excited to share that, following our success in November 2022 when we achieved SMSC gold for the second time and retained our title of a SMSC Beacon school, Oakley School is featured in the latest SMSC Newsletter! Please click on the following link to read the article:

https://empowering.youngcitizens.org/citizenshipfoundationlz/lz.aspx?p1=VuqDA1MVMxODMyMTMxOTI6ODUzNDY4Rjc2NzlBRTQ1NDY1ODcwNkE2RkUzMzFFN0I%3d-&CC=&p=0
RHS Schools Gardening Awards
Wed 22 Mar 2023

For the last two years staff and pupils from across the school have been working to reinstate the vegetable garden and make improvements to our flower garden. We have planted lots of bulbs and new plants and are busy planting vegetable and flower seeds.

At the start of the year we signed up to the RHS Schools Gardening scheme and since then we have received our level one certificate accompanied by a gardener's calendar, our level two with a book on growing vegetables and today our level three certificate arrived with a £50 garden centre voucher.

A huge thank you to everyone (pupils, staff and volunteers) who has supported this work in any way by digging, clearing, planting, weeding, sowing seeds or providing plants or advice.
Total Communication Approach in Action!
Thu 16 Mar 2023

The photo below is of one of our Phase 3 pupils who is normally a reluctant writer - everything about it is a challenge from the actual physical skill of writing to thinking what to write and then remembering what he wanted to say!

But not today - he used his VOCCA, gesture, a communication board and the laptop to re-write the story of Owl Babies.

What the picture doesn’t capture is the noises and gestures he made as he wrote what he wanted to say, read it to himself and kept saying yes when he was happy with his composition. He worked independently, read what he’d written to his Class Teacher and then just beamed!

It was a joy for his Class Team to share his pleasure in his success and to see total communication in action!
Oakley pupils 'sow solidarity'
Mon 13 Mar 2023

Last Friday, 10th March, Buzzard class had a trip to Calverley Park to take part in a Fairtrade Fortnight seed sowing event.

The aim of this event was to 'sow solidarity' with Fairtrade farmers who are working hard to combat climate change and protect the environment. Sowing seeds encourages biodiversity - bees, insects etc., and it was a fun activity. The project was organised with the parks department for Tunbridge Wells and Kent High Weald Project and the Fairtrade Town team.

Buzzard class staff and pupils sowed seeds and planted bulbs and even though it was cold and wet they enjoyed their time supporting the local community.