Oak Green School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Oak Green is a place where everyone feels welcome.

Inclusion is at the heart of leaders' work, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff care deeply for pupils, starting with the two-year-olds in Nursery, who confidently settle into a school environment.

Enriching experiences excite pupils.

Leaders widen pupils' horizons through West End theatre trips, and seaside and museum visits. There are many clubs for pupils to choose from. Staff keep pupils active through different sports.

At lunchtimes, the vibrant playground is a hub of activity. Happy pupils play volleyball, dance and enjoy the climbing equipme...nt.

Pupils feel safe and they proactively say 'STOP' to bullying.

Generally, pupils understand leaders' behaviour expectations and many try their best. Staff teach these rules and routines from the beginning of early years, but across year groups there remain inconsistencies in enacting a good behaviour culture.

The ambition for what pupils will learn has not been high enough.

Pupils have gaps in their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. This includes in English and mathematics. Furthermore, many pupils, including some of the most disadvantaged, do not attend school regularly.

This means these pupils are not well prepared educationally.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has been through different leadership changes since the last inspection. The new interim co-headteachers understand the significance of the school improvement challenges they face, including remedying the impact of the disruption caused by COVID-19.

Strategically, leaders and governors have set key academic priorities, but these do not effectively address the weaknesses to overcome. Consequentially, leaders have not always recognised where pupils are not achieving as well as they could.

Pupils' performance in reading, writing and mathematics declined significantly in 2022.

Leaders have revisited the curriculum to lift ambition across subjects. This has begun from Nursery in outlining what knowledge pupils must learn. Leaders have rightly unpicked this important knowledge in the core subjects first.

However, effective planning is not yet in place. In English, for example, knowledge is not fully sequenced in a logical order. While leaders have strengthened mathematics in Year 6, they are yet to roll out the updated mathematics curriculum for the rest of the school.

They know this is urgently required.

Recent intensive training for all staff in the teaching of phonics is beginning to have an impact. External expertise is ensuring adults are better skilled to teach pupils to read and write.

Daily catch-up sessions are provided for pupils who need extra practice. However, many pupils are not able to keep up with the pace of learning. Additionally, the youngest pupils are not learning to write successfully because staff are unclear about the building blocks in writing that need to be taught first.

Consequently, pupils are not learning to read and write as quickly as they should.

Leaders are improving teachers' skills in delivering the curriculum to raise pupils' attainment. For example, teachers regularly revisit content that pupils have previously learned.

This is helping more key knowledge stick in pupils' minds. Teachers know to check on pupils' understanding and they quickly reteach pupils who have any misconceptions. Beyond this, however, teachers are often setting lesson activities that do not help pupils practise the knowledge they need to gain.

Pupils' behaviour is not securely good across the school. In lessons, some pupils' actions can interrupt the flow of learning for all. Staff can be slow to address pupils not following the school's rules and routines that leaders set out.

The school's specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND provides helpful support for those pupils who have complex needs. These pupils access the same curriculum as their peers in mainstream classes as far as possible. Leaders pinpoint pupils' specific needs accurately.

Nevertheless, leaders understand that they need to strengthen assessment in early years so that staff are consistently accurate in identifying and meeting the needs of children.

Determinedly, leaders are tackling poor attendance head on because many pupils, including the most disadvantaged, are missing out on their education by not attending well enough. Leaders communicate these attendance expectations strongly and consistently to parents.

Pupils are tolerant. They know it is important to not judge others. They learn about current affairs and actively support local charities.

Pupils are keen to join the school council and are determined to make a tangible impact in the school.

Governors are committed and passionate. However, they recognise that they need to be more scrupulous in checking pupils' learning of the curriculum.

This includes scrutinising carefully what leaders are doing to improve educational standards.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Thorough training ensures staff are clear about spotting potential signs of harm.

Leaders send out weekly briefings which keep staff and governors' knowledge up to date. Leaders are tenacious in securing the right help for pupils and they take appropriate action. They rightly challenge other professionals if support is not provided.

All records are meticulously documented. Leaders ensure information is written factually and impartially. The safer recruitment checks of adults are robust.

The curriculum teaches pupils how to keep themselves safe both in person and when online. Pupils learn about risk and how to report things that are not right.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the knowledge pupils should learn has not been precisely identified or sequenced logically.

Pupils are not learning a coherently planned English curriculum and they do not get the provision they need to improve and develop their writing. This had led to many pupils not achieving well across the curriculum, including learning to confidently read and write. Leaders need to identify the steps of knowledge required for pupils to learn the intended curriculum.

• Teachers' pedagogical knowledge is not strong across different subjects. Leaders recognise that curriculum implementation is not matched well enough to the planned curriculum. Often, pupils complete work that does not enable them to develop detailed knowledge.

Leaders need to continue with developing staff's expertise in teaching the school's curriculum. ? Expectations of pupils' behaviour are not consistently high enough. Leaders have not ensured that all staff rigorously uphold agreed routines and expectations.

This has led to some low-level disruption in lessons and pupils not always moving around school in a calm and orderly way. Leaders need to train all staff to manage behaviour effectively so that pupils behave consistently well across all aspects of school life. ? Leaders and governors do not have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses.

School improvement priorities are not sharp enough about the necessary changes needed. Governors have not challenged leaders enough about pupils' learning of the taught curriculum, particularly pupils learning to read. Leaders should ensure that improvement planning is well matched to enable pupils to successfully learn an ambitious curriculum and that governors access further training in how best to check the impact for pupils.

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