Curriculum
What does your child learn at school each day? Find information about our curriculum subjects here. We hope that you find the information below useful. If you have any questions about our curriculum please speak to your child’s teacher or contact the School Office.
At Oakwood Primary Academy, we teach the National Curriculum to help our pupils to acquire a broad and balanced knowledge.
At Oakwood Primary Academy we believe in four values that underpin everything that we do - Knowledge; Equality; Determination; Achievement. These values belong to every pupil, parent and member of staff and to any visitor that joins us. We explore these values through our learning each day and in the interactions that we have with each other.
ENGLISH
At Oakwood, we aim for all our children to become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading. We believe that ‘Reading is the Key that Unlocks All Learning’.
Our reading offer in EYFS and KS1 includes Daily Supported Reader, Read, Write, Inc. and Accelerated Reader (in Year 2). These programmes are evidence based approaches to the teaching of early reading in KS1 (and where required in KS2). By using RWI and DSR we ensure that children have sufficient exposure to the two strands of the Simple View of Reading (Gough and Tunmer 1986) so that they become confident and fluent readers from the start.
Children who read often or are read to regularly, have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds. More importantly, reading will give children the tools to become independent life-long learners.
Children have English lessons every day and a significant amount of time is given to ensuring that pupils’ phonics (the sounds letters make), reading and writing skills are as good as they can possibly be. We know how important learning to read and write is so we expect it to always be a focus for us!
READING
Children in Early Years are taught phonics right from the moment they start school and this continues until they are really secure in their knowledge and understanding. At Oakwood Primary Academy, we use 'Read, Write, Inc.' (from Ruth Miskin) to deliver our phonics curriculum across Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Parents have plenty of opportunities to learn how we teach phonics through our termly workshops and information that we send home.
Pupils are taught to read in daily lessons. ‘Daily Support Reader’ (DSR) is a teaching approach that is used in Year 1 and 2, but also when appropriate in other year groups; it focuses on building on pupil’s phonics knowledge and developing their reading fluency. Every day, children work in small groups with an adult and are taught the knowledge and skills they need to become confident and fluent readers. All staff receive regular training that results in them being highly skilled in helping all children learn to read.
In Year 2, pupils make the transition from Daily Support Reader to reading independently and this is when they will first be able to choose books to read from the school library. We use ‘Accelerated Reader’ to help make sure that pupils are reading books that are not too easy but not too hard. It also provides children with incentives and rewards depending on how much they have read. These are individual and for classes.
In Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6) children take part in daily reading lessons based on the ‘Destination Reader’ (DR) approach. Children continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of reading by learning seven key strategies which enable them to think more deeply about texts and gain a better understanding of what they have read. These are clarifying, predicting, questioning, summarising, inferring, evaluating and making connections. During the lesson there is a focus on talk, talking to a partner and explaining your ideas as part of a class discussion. We feel this is important to ensure children begin to read for pleasure as well as understanding. Children read independently with a partner for 25 minutes a day enabling them to increase their reading mileage. Within the daily reading lessons, we explore new vocabulary enabling children to better understand what they are reading. Children also complete comprehension activities based on seen and unseen texts. We believe it is important for children to read a range of high quality texts, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
WRITING
Making sure that children learn to write is just as important to us and to make sure that we do this well all our teachers and teaching assistants are trained in ‘Talk for Writing’ and we use this approach to help make our English lessons really effective. More information about Talk for Writing is available here  www.talk4writing.co.uk. Lessons are planned around a spine of texts that interest the children and provide strong examples of writing that they can use to build their knowledge around. Right from the start of school, children are immersed in poems, rhymes and stories that given them a really solid understanding of story text structures and help to develop their love of reading on.
MATHEMATICS
Children are taught Maths every day. We want pupils to develop a love for mathematics and that playing with numbers can be fun. We use the Maths Mastery approach, through Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), for the teaching of mathematics; teachers will introduce the learning concept and children will be encouraged and supported to choose learning activities which best meet their needs and help them to master new mathematical concepts. Pupils will go through a learning sequence, where they develop their fluency and this leads them to a 'deep understanding' of the concepts they are learning. We believe in developing pupils' enthusiasm and engagement for the subject, so that they have a real love of all things Maths!
During their time at Oakwood Primary Academy, all pupils have a broad and balanced experience of mathematics so that, in addition to learning how to add up, take away, times and divide, pupils are proficient and develop secure knowledge and understanding of all of the six strands of mathematics. These are; place value, fractions, decimals and percentages; ratio and proportion; algebra; measurement; geometry (properties of shapes / position, direction, motion) and statistics. Once their knowledge of the mathematical concepts is secure, pupils will be taught to investigate and solve mathematical problems and puzzles.
The school has a systematic approach to the teaching of the four mathematical operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The school’s ‘Calculation Policy’ ensures that the complexities between each of the four operations are taught in a logical sequence. For example, pupils in Year 2 are taught how to add using a partitioning model and there is systematic progression so that by the time pupils reach Year 5, they are able to add numbers with decimals, using a compact method.
The teaching of Maths is carefully planned so that children’s knowledge is built upon over time. The six strands of mathematics are revisited each year, throughout a child’s journey through Oakwood. Our curriculum is bespoke to our school and teachers will draw upon a range of resources to help them plan effective lessons. The value of concrete resources to support the learning of mathematical concepts is never underestimated, so that mathematical ideas do not become too abstract too early. For example, in the Early Years, pupils may use coloured bears to support them with their counting whilst pupils in Year 2 use ‘Cuisenaire’ rods and bars to support their understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction. Our teachers are trained and skilful at teaching mathematics.
OUR WIDER CURRICULUM
At Oakwood Primary Academy, we provide a broad and balanced curriculum through the learning of a range of subjects. We deliver a 'knowledge rich' curriculum where pupils learn skills and 'concepts' that are built upon progressively throughout the school. As part of our curriculum offer, in line with the National Curriculum, we follow particular approaches for certain subjects (see our curriculum table below).
Our curriculum is designed to be progressive and sequential. Children will develop and build upon their skills and knowledge as they make their way through the school, where assessment plays a vital role.
We aim for all children to develop an understanding of key concepts. For example, within history, they learn about the concepts of leadership; cause and consequence; similarities and differences; civilisation and connections. Each year, the children will revisit these concepts through their different learning journeys. This allows the children to make progress and deepen their understanding of the key concepts within History by making connections. Children are taught to explore the past by becoming historians themselves. We have created a rich curriculum, which allows children to build on prior knowledge and foster a love of learning about the past.
We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes
Reading | Year 1 - 2 – Daily Supported Reader Year 3 – 6 – Destination Reader | Daily |
Phonics | Read Write Inc. | Daily |
Writing | Year R-2 Read Write Inc. Year 2 -6 Talk for Writing through the Primary Writing Project | Daily |
Maths | AET Maths Mastery | Daily |
History | AAT Curriculum | Terms 1, 3, 5 1 session weekly minimum |
Geography | AAT Curriculum | Terms 2, 4, 6 1 session weekly minimum |
Art | AAT Curriculum | Terms 1, 3, 5 1 session weekly minimum |
Design and Technology | AAT Curriculum | Terms 2, 4, 6 1 session weekly minimum |
R.E. | Discovery in line with the East Sussex agreed syllabus | 1 hour weekly |
Wellbeing | AAT Wellbeing Curriculum | 1 session weekly |
Music | Year R-1 Music Express Scheme Year 2 – 6 Sussex Music School | 1 session weekly |
Science | AAT Science Curriculum | 1 session weekly |
Computing | Purple Mash | 1 session weekly |
P.E. | AAT Physical Education Curriculum | 1 session weekly |
MFL | French – La Jolie Ronde | 1 session weekly |
MUSIC
Music - All children (Nursery through to Year 6) receive weekly lessons from our the specialist music teacher who comes in from the Sussex Music School. A range of individual instrument opportunities are also provided.
Learning to read through phonics...
Our Curriculum Progression Maps
Knowledge Organisers - Science
Knowledge Organisers - Science - Term 2
Knowledge Organisers - Science Adapted - Term 2
Knowledge Organisers - Science - Term 3
Knowledge Organisers - Science Adapted - Term 3
Science knowledge organisers term 4
Adapted science knowledge organisers term 4
Science knowledge organisers term 5
Adapted science knowledge organisers term 5
Science Knowledge Organisers Term 6
Adapted Science Knowledge Organisers Term 6
Reception Newsletters
YEAR 1 Curriculum Newsletters and Knowledge Organisers
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6
YEAR 2 Curriculum Newsletters and Knowledge Organisers
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6
YEAR 3 Curriculum Newsletters and Knowledge Organisers
Term 1
Year 3
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6
YEAR 4 Curriculum Newsletters and Knowledge Organisers
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6
YEAR 5 Curriculum Newsletters and Knowledge Organisers
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6
Year 6 Curriculum Newsletters and Knowledge Organisers
Term 1
Year 6
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6