Oracy is embedded throughout all we do at Penny Oaks – in fact, we call our school an "Oracy School" We have devised our own oracy curriculum, which you can read by following this link: curriculum-overviews

Each class has a dedicated oracy lesson each week when pupils are taught oracy skills. Throughout the curriculum, we have embedded many opportunities for children to use and apply these skills through debates, presentations and performances. 

We have a dedicated oracy showcase every year for parents and visitors to see how oracy is taught in school, with opportunities to see oracy being taught in each class and for children to display their oracy skills. 

As well as our showcases, all pupils have many further opportunities to apply their oracy skills to a wider audience throughout the school year. For example, instead of traditional parent's evening at Penny Oaks, the pupils lead the meetings telling their adults all about their half-term and what goals they are setting themselves for the coming term. Every year, every child performs on a professional stage, read more below ...

Every child in school performs on a professional stage each year. 

Each year we hire the Bradford Playhouse for three full days so that our children can perform an end-of-year production in a professional theatre with a professional crew of sound, lighting and front-of-house! With the rest of the school and parents in the audience, it really is a unique experience for our children to perform for a full house!

This unique experience gives our children the opportunity to use their oracy, singing, dancing and performance skills in front of a wider audience, it gives them confidence and pride in their achievements and really is one of the highlights of our year!

At Penny Oaks, we recognise the importance singing has on mental health and well-being and, as such, pupils in KS1 and KS2 receive singing tuition from a professional choral director each week. We are very privileged to be part of the Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme, which is the UK's leading Catholic singing programme which provides high class singing and melodica sessions to our pupils each week. Through the lessons, pupils learn how to sing and perform in a group, building teamwork and leadership skills. Our pupils have multiple opportunities throughout the year to perform, building pride and confidence in their singing. 

Mrs Garner, our nutrition lead, teaches nutrition lessons to every pupil each half-term. We have a dedicated pupil's kitchen and pupils learn about nutrition and how food affects our health and well-being as well as important cooking skills such as grating, cutting, stirring and boiling. 

Pupils use food from our allotment and hydroponics tower during the sessions so that they can learn about where food comes from and how to cook with different vegetables. 

We are very pleased to partner with "Grow to School" for our whole-school gardening sessions https://www.growtoschool.co.uk/

We recognise the importance of gardening and working outside and the impact this has on mental health and well-being. Through our session switch Grow to School, children learn how to plant, grow and tend to vegetables on our allotment. They can then harvest what has been grown. Once harvested, we use the food for cooking sessions with Mrs Garner and have also had the opportunity to sell our wares at a pop-up stall in Darley Street Market. 

It isn't just through our Grow to School sessions that we make the most of the outdoors. Outside learning opportunities and gardening are planned in our curriculum throughout the year, so the children have lots of opportunities to enjoy our lovely outside space. 

At Penny Oaks, we recognise the positive impact that music and playing a musical instrument has on mental health and well-being and self-esteem. Every child in KS2 receives musical instrument tuition from a professional musician, Henry Parker https://henryparkermusic.co.uk/

Henry teaches ukulele and guitar across KS2 and also takes small, focussed groups of children for more intense sessions to work on their grading progression. Children get multiple opportunities to perform to a wider audience throughout the year. 

We recognise the importance of strong relationships with parents and we strive to engage all parents in activities across school. Working with our community pioneer, Mrs Garner, we hold various events throughout the year:

Dance "N" Dine – These sessions are held half-termly after school. Families take part in a dance activity led by a dance tutor or member of staff for an hour and then join together for a meal in the dining hall. 

Parent showcases – every half-term parents are invited into school to see how a different subject is taught. The sessions start with a presentation from the subject leader and then parents go into classes to observe these lessons taking place. 

Parent and child cook-off – each half-term parents are invited into school to take part in a cooking session with Mrs Garner. Parents learn about the nutritional benefits of a selection of foods and then use food from the Rethink Food delivery to create a delicious meal which we then share at the end of the session. 

Afternoon tea sessions – we hold various afternoon tea sessions throughout the year for events such as Mother's Day and Children in Need. Pupils bake dishes for the event and join their parents for an afternoon tea in the hall where tables are set with cake stands, menus and flowers – just like a café! 

There are also various events throughout the year for parents to get involved in, such as Comic Relief bingo, Father's Day cricket match and our very popular community Iftar. 

Every class has a half-term in which they focus on the Sustainable Development Goals as the driver for their learning. The SDG have been divided into classes and provide the focus for that half-term's learning. For example, in our Year One class they focus on zero hunger and gender equality and in Year Three they focus on affordable clean energy through designing solar-powered cookers linked to the book Iqbal's Big Idea. 

Through the work of our Cultural Champion, Miss Atkinson, we have integrated the arts throughout our curriculum. At Penny Oaks, dance and music are used as teaching tools, and you will regularly see classes using ballet as a way to generate ideas and vocabulary for their English lessons. 

Through our work with the Royal Ballet and Opera House we were fortunate enough to receive 50 tickets to see The Nutcracker at the Opera House in London which we used to take a group of children and parents to see the show - more information on this can be found on our news page: Nutcracker visit

Our curriculum has been especially developed to meet the needs of our community. The extensive and detailed plans weave an extensive personal development offer and curriculum enhancements throughout, with a focus on providing our pupils with quality classroom experiences and lifelong learning. 

Our curriculum plans can be found on our curriculum page: /parents/curriculum

One of our curriculum drivers is "Experiences" and there is a focus on providing lifelong learning and memories for our pupils. Each class has at least 3 educational visits per year, including trips to Filey, Skipton Castle, Saltaire and the theatre. 

Many of our curriculum enhancements also involve trips for pupils and sometimes their families too. For example, our recent parent and child trip to London and our upcoming trip to Headlingley Stadium to see a Cricket World Cup match. 

Every other year a group of Year 5 and 6 children take part in the Brilliant Club places PhD students into schools to deliver university style learning. They share their subject knowledge and passion for learning with small groups of pupils aimed at helping them to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to secure a place at a competitive university. 

To read more about this year's cohort head to our news page: /latest-updates/news-and-letters/brilliant-club-graduation

We are fortunate to have a forest school trained member of staff, Miss Redman, in school. 

Miss Redman takes our nursery class for weekly forest school sessions in our lovely school grounds. Being outside and learning through forest schools is such a privilege and our nursery children thrive on the excellent sessions led by Miss Redman. 

As part of our "aspirations" driver for our curriculum we have an extensive careers related curriculum including our Year 6 workforce. 

Each year roles are advertised and the Year 6 children write letters of application, they are invited to interview and some are successful and are appointed to the role. There is a salary attached to each role too (tokens to exchange for gifts each term) so the Year 6 children really do have real life job experience!

You can read our extensive careers curriculum here: Careers Curriculum

Our bespoke personal development offer is a huge part of everything we do at Penny Oaks. The curriculum has been carefully considered and developed to suit the needs of our community. You can read the full curriculum here: Personal Development