Hooks, enrichment activities and extra-curricular opportunities supplement each topic to enable our children to make connections in their learning and acquire a deep understanding. We teach our children that learning occurs constantly and everywhere in the world around them. We utilise our outdoor grounds and our Forest School to enhance the curriculum wherever possible along with a wide range of extra-curricular clubs.

We believe that our school has a responsibility to develop cultural capital and teach our children the skills and knowledge that will enable them to succeed in life. Each year group has designed a bespoke Cultural Capital Journey whereby children take part in 50 activities linked to our 5 core values. Part of this Cultural Capital Journey is to use educational visits to provide rich learning experiences that make links with their learning in school. Residential visits in Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 further enrich the curriculum as well as developing a sense of wellbeing beyond the classroom walls.   

Our curriculum is separated into 4 key areas which are led by teams: Sport, Fitness and Health; Science Technology Engineering and Maths; Creative Arts and Culture and Mental Health and Wellbeing. Given that we value our children holistically, all four key areas are given an equal weighting with each team then driving the curriculum forward using the voice of the child to help them to action plan.

At Oak Meadow, we are committed to building emotionally resilient individuals. To help do this, we run the WELL programme (Wellbeing and Emotional Literacy Leaders). As children move through the school, they each complete the bronze, silver and gold awards for the Wellbeing passport. Each award covers Mental and Emotional Wellbeing, Physical and Personal Wellbeing and Social Wellbeing and this is threaded through our PSHE curriculum. Successful completion of each tier of the WELL award is celebrated in weekly achievement assemblies; this provides an opportunity to embed a culture of celebrating all achievements for every child, not just academic gain, and inspires children to work hard and recognise their talents and successes in all areas of their learning.

To achieve this, we have developed an ambitious curriculum using the aims and objectives of the EYFS and National Curriculum as a starting point. Subject leaders and specialists, supported by senior leaders, have mapped the intended development of knowledge and skills in each curriculum area to ensure that concepts and knowledge are embedded, revisited and built upon in a logical manner. We have developed schemas of work that provide a clear learning journey for all pupils during their time with us and staff ensure that access to this journey for all children is a key principle. We provide a range of wider learning opportunities that provide our children with memorable, shared learning experiences. 

In our school, we believe that family and community engagement is key. We welcome families into our school to work alongside their children through Come and Play sessions in Reception and curriculum enrichment projects in Key Stage 1 and 2. Themed weeks such as ‘A Million Dreams Art Week’ are a key feature of the curriculum which also help us to forge links with the local community and showcase our curriculum achievements giving our children a real sense of pride and personal achievement. As well as parents, we also welcome visitors from our community into school. Our ‘More Heroes Needed’ project saw real-life superheroes from the local community come into school to share their career paths; this helped to form high aspirations for the future and a strong belief that our children can achieve in all they do. In addition, we regularly invite poets, artists, governors, university lecturers and members of local faith establishments to work with our children to enrich their experiences. 

A ‘love of reading’ is present throughout the curriculum, as a result of carefully selected, high-quality texts as well as classroom reading libraries and online resources. Children’s reading journey begins in Reception, where the Read Write Inc. Scheme is used to teach daily phonic lessons. Once children have completed the RWI program, formal reading lessons begin. These lessons incorporate the reading domains into each lesson, and this underpins the knowledge that is being taught to improve children’s comprehension and fluency.  Pupils have access to high quality reading experiences through a well-stocked school reading library and teachers also ensure that children regularly read at home and in school using Bug Club and Reading Plus. We ensure that children who fall into the lowest 20% of each year group for their reading ability are monitored and supported rigorously to ensure that, by the end of Key Stage 2, all children can read fluently and comprehend different text types.  

In writing, children learn to become great writers through experiencing quality texts. As children move into Key Stage 2, they study a new book each term which they use to generate high quality writing opportunities. We teach writing through imitation, innovation and invention to a range of non-fiction and fiction genres. We link our writing context to our curriculum topics and aim wherever possible to find a real-life purpose for children’s writing to enthuse them further. We explicitly teach cursive handwriting through the Nelson Thornes Handwriting Scheme.

In maths, children develop mathematical skills through a consistent mastery approach using the White Rose Maths Hub Scheme. They are taught mathematical concepts through a Concrete, Pictorial Abstract Approach and become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics through varied and frequent practice moving onto reasoning and problem solving.