Oakgrove, Milton Keynes

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Oakgrove School is a brand new purpose-built school with a state-of-the-art design in Milton Keynes, England. There are 180 students in year 7 and 150 students in each of Years 8, 9 and 10. The school will have 1500 11-18 students when it reaches full capacity in September 2010. Excellent sporting, arts and community facilities combined with the latest ICT and communications infrastructure helps support students' learning.

Oakgrove

[edit] The Governing Body

Oakgrove Governing Body work very closely with the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team to ensure the very highest quality of teaching and learning throughout the school.

For 2007- 2008 the Governing Body are:

Chair of Governors – Dr Megan Crawford - Local Authority
Vice Chair of Governors - Ms Carol Howells - Community

Governors
Mr Peter Barnes – Headteacher/Staff
Mr Charles Clay - Partnership
Mr Tony Card - Partnership
Mr Tim Thomas - Partnership
Mr Barry O’ Neill - Community
Mrs Jane Sheard - Parent
Mr Ian Tett - Staff
Mr Mike Taylor - Parent
Mr Dale Cullum - Community
Mr Sam Panesar - Parent
Mrs Heather Barrett - Parent
Mr Stewart Beaumont - Parent
Mr John Leadbetter – Staff

There are four governors’ sub-committees:

Finance and Personnel - Chair, Ms C Howells
Site, Premises and Health and Safety – Chair, Mr T Thomas
Curriculum – Chair, Mrs J Sheard
Admissions and Disciplinary – Chair, Mr B O’ Neill

[edit] Curriculum

The curriculum at Oakgrove School reflects the view that all students should have a broad and balanced education. Belief that the programme at Oakgrove School builds effectively upon progress at the primary stage and is suitably challenging for all students. Specialist teachers ensure that all national curriculum subjects are covered and that links between and across subjects are carefully explored. Students come to school to learn and the learning experience should be exciting and enjoyable with each student working to the full limit of their abilities.

Due to the schhol's status as a specialist Humanities college and the unique nature of the school buildings there is a particular emphasis on issues such as sustainability and the environment.

An important part of work are Oakgrove “Shuffle Days”, where students have the opportunity to explore topics in more depth and choose areas which interest them. Connections are made across the different subjects to ensure that the curriculum is experienced as an organised whole rather than a series of separate subjects being taught independently. The school incorporate the latest research into methods and styles of learning into all of its work and this is a particular focus of tutorial and Values & Ethics lessons.

All subjects identify opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness within their programmes of study. The Values and Ethics programme is a highly structured and comprehensive course covering much more than the traditional personal, social, and health education. It embraces environmental awareness, theories on learning, citizenship education and much more. The weekly themes of Values and Ethics lessons are echoed in the school’s assembly topics. Students are expected to take part in the wide range of additional activities provided outside of the normal curriculum. These are extensive and include courses in areas such as First Aid, Desk-top publishing, Media Studies, Drama and Dance. Students can choose from a list of options which will continue to expand as the school grows. The week consists of 27.5 hours of taught lessons, well in excess of statutory guidelines. Nearly all lessons are 1 hour, though some are 30 minutes and a few are doubles of 2 hours.