Our school’s vision is to enable our young people to become:

Mission statement

The school will:

• provide an outstanding, personalised education
• ensure that every pupil achieves their full potential
• contribute actively to all aspects of pupils and their families’ lives, ensuring well-being
• embrace change; developing learning opportunities that are relevant, forward thinking, meaningful and will prepare children for life in the 21st century

Rationale

Oakdale Junior School is a modern junior school. Each pupil is encouraged to engage with the rich world of ideas and explore intellectually as far as possible. Pupils are eager to develop their creative and physical talents. Oakdale pupils revel in the wide range of activities outside of the classroom that are on offer. Each pupil’s personal journey through the school will be different, but for all, an Oakdale education ensures they can play a full part in the challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st Century. Pupils come here wanting to learn and grow with a natural curiosity about life, knowledge and people.

At Oakdale we are preparing children for a fulfilling life as 21st Century adults, providing them with opportunities to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.

We can achieve this by:

• providing an up to date, world class, engaging, and enriched curriculum meeting the needs of the future

• playing a central role in the community

• providing access to all the elements of the core offer of extended services, e.g. before and after school childcare, extra-curricular activities etc.

• being accredited as a Healthy School and having implemented the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) programme

• working closely with other children’s services and in particular with other schools engaging with the Children’s Trust

• focusing on early identification of individual needs and implementing intervention if required

• actively engaging and listening to parents / carers, working with them in partnership in their children’s learning and development

• providing a safe, caring and stimulating environment for all learners, challenging them to achieve their full potential through equal access to an appropriately balanced and differentiated curriculum

• upholding the principles of the United Nations Conventions of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) through a Rights Respecting ethos that promotes pupils’ rights linked to their corresponding responsibilities, and upholding British values as well as developing knowledge and respect of other cultures

We continue to value the five outcomes of the ‘Every Child Matters’ framework (archived) to be fully evidenced throughout the school even though the term has been discontinued by the DfE:

• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and Achieve
• Achieve economic well-being
• Make a positive contribution

Values

Underpinning the school’s vision are the values that enable children to achieve their full potential:

Confident individuals

We aim to:

• provide a secure and happy atmosphere in which children can learn effectively and are sensitively cared for
• ensure that all pupils reach the highest level possible of competence in language, mathematics, science and computing
• help pupil express themselves creatively through language, movement, art, music, drama and technology
• help pupils understand the world in which they live through religious (spiritual), moral, cultural, historical and geographical studies.

Successful learners

We aim to:

• provide pupils with a range of physical activities at both individual and group level
• help pupils develop an understanding of British values and their cultural heritage
• involve parents / carers in the life of the school so that they become partners (with the school) in the education of their children
• promote liaison between schools in order that the education of each child is a smooth continuous process

Responsible citizens

We encourage all pupils to be come responsible citizens by the development and implementation of the following values:

• to be polite, honest and truthful
• to keep promises and agreements
• to be charitable to others
• to be respectful to others and their property
• to be considerate to all living things
• to be responsible for all personal actions by developing self-discipline.

We at Oakdale Junior School are committed to creating a safe, respectful climate in which broad educational and cultural opportunities provide rich, diverse experiences for all learners and their families.  We believe that all of our learners are entitled to the very best education.  We are fully committed to raising the standards of learning for all our learners in order to provide the best life chances.