Academic Excellence

Academic Excellence

Academic excellence is at the core of what we do at Oakfield. Every child is encouraged to achieve, whether that is on the sports field, gaining an academic scholarship, or developing the ability confidently to assimilate the basic curriculum.

The education at Oakfield is broad and the challenges for the children are many.

Whatever their age of entry, our aim is to give Oakfield pupils the academic ability and self-belief that will enable them to move on to their next school with total confidence.

Curriculum Aims

Recognising each child as a unique individual, we strive to match learning tasks to appropriate levels of ability and attainment so that all children can gain a sense of achievement and pleasure from their learning.

To this end, we aim to help our children to:

use language and numbers effectively and with understanding;
develop a critical understanding and respect for the environment and world in which they live and an awareness of the inter-dependence of individuals, groups and nations;
develop lively, enquiring minds, the ability to ask questions, solve problems, argue rationally and apply themselves to tasks;
develop self-awareness, a sense of self-respect, and a willingness to be self-motivated and contribute to the school community and the wider society;
develop a respect for other people acknowledging that the differences in abilities, backgrounds and beliefs bring richness into their own lives;
gain pleasure from joining with others in games and outdoor activities and develop the social skills needed to live and work co-operatively.

Implementing our Curriculum Aims:

The class teacher will be responsible for the broad spread of teaching, even though at these early stages games, music and French are taught by specialists. By the end of Year 4, the input from specialist teachers increases. By the time pupils reach Year 6, specialist teachers teach the core subjects of maths, English, and science.

Within that framework our aims are as follows:

for all children embrace the challenge of writing in different genres and continue to build their confidence in speaking and listening activities;
to provide all our children with the opportunity for developing their numerical skills and investigative work in mathematics so that they approach the subject with enthusiasm and commitment;
through the acquisition of key skills, for our children to develop as active learners with lively and enquiring minds and the ability to ask questions, solve problems, argue rationally and apply themselves to tasks;
to increase the use of ICT in our ‘Teaching and Learning’ across the school;
in the wider world, to focus significantly on the environment, human achievements, and aspirations as well as self-awareness, self-motivation and awareness of others through the teaching of Geography, Science, History, Citizenship and Personal, Social, and Health Education (CPSHE), and RE;
to maintain the teaching of French as an integral part of our curriculum;
to encourage a passion for the arts through strongly developing our teaching of Music, Art and Speech and Drama, bringing richness into pupils’ lives;
on the sporting front, for boys and girls to have the opportunity to participate in formal sports such as football, hockey, netball, cricket, and rugby. A full programme of school and company matches is well established.

Paula Waller, Deputy Principal