About The School > OPA Curriculum
Our Enhanced Curriculum
As well as teaching the core National curriculum subjects we include some additional subjects to enhance our children's learning experience. These are often embedded within topics but are also utilised in supporting children who have additional needs or who learn in very practical ways or to enhance their well being and mental health at challenging times.
Film & Media:
Film and Media plays a big part in the curriculum at Oxley Park. Having been involved with Creative Partners, Junior Filmmakers and Sky Skills Studio Workshop we have developed lots of new skills by bringing film, animation, creative thinking and music into our classrooms with the help of our creative partners. From Animation to Green Screen technology, we enhance our childrens learning through these applications. Mr Smith, our Network and Facilities Manager will work with class teachers to deliver elements of Film & Media into the classroom.
Our nation is short of engineers at all levels from hands on mechanics to degree level professionals- and particularly short of females. We are trying to do our bit! We have developed an engineering workshop which is "run" by Mr Smith Senior, a retired engineer and Mr Oldfield, our technical support. The projects often involve making things to enhance our school inside and out. Our reading directions post and bottle shed are 2 examples. It's not all hands on though- Often our most able mathematicians also work in the engineering workshop working on hypotheses and formulae. Currently some children are working from the architects' original plans of the school and aerial photos. They are making a model of our school in preparation for the school's 10th birthday in September.
We have regular opportunities for children to begin to develop as young entrepreneurs and have developed an enterprise curriculum which develops these skills as building blocks and which we will pilot next academic year. Children participate in our Enterprise Fairs where each class will plan, cost, make, market and sell a product to their parents. Year 6 pupils in the Summer Term have opportunities to work together on a budgeted project which leads to a "legacy' gift from them to the school. Previous projects have included stained glass windows, the Buddy Bench, the Art Bus.
Wacky Woods School:
The Wacky Woods area is used on a daily basis throughout different times of the day.
We have a fixed wooden structure 'Fort Wacky' and the children can use this area for creative play, observation lookout point for wildlife and for fixing rope and materials to when making shelters and dens.
Games such as 'The Great Treasure Hunt' have been a big success with the children getting their hands on some real metal detectors for the first time whilst trying to find buried treasure - children will work in teams to read maps and find the treasure.
Another of our projects is to build a huge Bug Hotel using recycled pallets and any other scrap materials we can source. It’s been hard work for the children so far but with most of the heavy lifting done the fun can now start whilst they start to build their home for the new wildlife we are trying to attract.
Bilateral Integration & Better Movers and Thinkers
We like to keep looking at new ways to help our children learn better. This is the action research project we are currently working on.