Intent

At Forest Oak we provide a broad, balanced and enriched curriculum, differentiated to enable each pupil to achieve beyond expectation. We especially kept the aims of the school in mind when planning our curriculum, which we created to be ambitious to give all learners the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

We provide our learners with coherently planned and sequenced learning opportunities, building up their knowledge and skills so they leave Forest Oak ready for future learning and employment. To ensure this, we provide students with the core learning subjects they require to succeed in life, alongside opportunities in creative subjects, inter-personal skills and social humanities to provide all students with a broad and varied curriculum.

Running through this curriculum is our SMILE approach, a positive ethos developed at Forest Oak  to support the emotional health and wellbeing of our whole school community. Mindfulness, self-regulatory check-ins, daily movement breaks and other strategies are built into the timetable to provide regular opportunities to support students in their wellbeing.

Implementation

Students typically experience the following lessons, which we have broken down into four broad subject areas:

* at Key Stage 4, two options subjects are chosen by students to reflect their own interests and aspirations.

Additional Curriculum Individualisation

For some students in all Key Stages, this curriculum requires further individualisation. When appropriate, some students receive additional aspects to their timetable including but not limited to:

• social skills training
• additional mindful activities
• learning mentor intervention
• work experience placements in Key Stage 4 and Sixth Form
• college placements (currently Flourish at the Farm) for Key Stage 4, more personalised in Sixth Form)
• Duke of Edinburgh in Key Stage 4
• play therapy and music therapy
• involvement in the School council, Eco Warriers and Junior Leadership Team
• individualised social, emotional and mental health support

Impact

As a result of our curriculum, our students will:

• Develop as learners:
  • become self-motivated, enthusiastic and flexible lifelong learners.
  • know themselves, setting their own short-term targets and lifetime goals.
• Develop as global citizens
  • learn to respect other people regardless of difference.
  • develop the personal skills, knowledge and understanding to prepare them for living in a diverse multi-cultural, multi faith society.
  • develop morally and value honesty; to develop spiritually and become reflective, creative individuals.
• Develop as young adults
  • develop confidence and self-esteem, together with a self-awareness, which enables them to recognise their own strengths as well as the personal qualities or skills they need to develop further.
  • develop the ability to recognise, articulate and manage their own emotions in appropriate ways.
  • develop inter-personal skills including empathy for others; the ability to work as part of a diverse team; an inclination to build up the self-esteem of others, as well as the ability to resolve conflict peacefully.
  • develop into confident, independent young people, able to make positive life choices; to build and sustain positive relationships and take an active role in the local and wider community through work and leisure.

Our curriculum and its impact is never complete: we see it as a "working document" which is regularly reviewed and improved by leaders and staff during meeting times to ensure it continues to fulfil our intent.