Oak Field School
Curriculum
Curriculum
Selecting the right skills and knowledge and choosing the right times to teach them is really important in getting pupils at Oak Field ready for their adult lives. Therefore, the curriculum is designed to be responsive to each learner, and build on individual strengths and interests. Recognising, celebrating and planning for pupils' personal needs and aspirations is central to the curriculum that they learn and experience. The curriculum focuses on developing the key skills of communication, expression, physical development, and self-care, all transferrable skills that equip children and young people for life beyond the school.
Progression maps and curriculum sequences reflect the stage (not age) approach; knowledge organisers support a balance of stimulating contexts for progression through different learning experiences, themes and subjects. Follow these links to find out more about each age groups topics, or explore the progression maps that guide us.
Curriculum Sequences
(Phase 7-14 and 14-19)
Building on from the Oak Field Steps for Assessment, Curriculum Sequences have been developed to cover the different strands of the curriculum taught . These sequences support and scaffold the pupil's learning from early engagement through to the start of the National curriculum levels. Each step in the sequence builds from initial acquisition of skills through exploring and experiencing activities, to making clear and definite choices and then onto applying and using skills in different contexts. Some examples are given below - for all strands please contact the school for further information.
Knowledge Organisers
(Phase 7-14 and 14-19)
For each topic taught there are knowledge organisers that outline the areas to be covered and key vocabulary to be focused on. These are used along with the curriculum sequences to plan topics building on sequences of learning. Some examples are given below - for further information please contact the school.
Also on this page:
Our intent is that each pupil should access a curriculum that is personal to them, yet closely linked with social and community opportunities to learn alongside others.
Our curriculum is designed especially to support our pupils to develop their communication skills so that they have a voice, and understand the importance and power of their voice being heard. Our curriculum inspires and encourages pupils to develop a wide range of skills, to support and enable them to become active and valued members of their local and wider communities when they leave school.
As a school we want to make sure that all our pupils have access to a fun, rich, diverse and broad curriculum – we use motivating and relevant topics and themes as vehicles for all of our pupils to develop learning skills, and for some of our pupils to develop subject specific knowledge. We want to make sure that our curriculum is responsive to our pupils’ needs but also flexible, so that we can take advantage of opportunities that arise each year, including incorporating significant events, such as Black History Month and the different context for learning offered through our annual Christmas Show.
The journey may change direction, according to a pupil’s strengths, needs and enthusiasms, but each decision about where their journey is taking them is based on a clear and collaborative understanding of where they are, where they are going and why.
These documents help teachers to plan and share with families and school teams’ the personal goals for each pupil. They are carefully linked to Education, Health and Care plans. For older children they include goals for accreditation and awards.
Learning Journeys and Achievement Profiles are used to record community participation and experiences, which help to make sure children are taking part in events relevant to them.
Example page from Achievement Profile (EYFS/KS1)
Example page from Achievement Profile (7-14 Phase)
Example page from Achievement Profile (14-19 Phase)
COMMUNICATION PROFILES
Many pupils have a Communication Profile to help teachers and professionals detail their communication strengths and next steps as they progress through school.