The Oaklands Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The trust, principal and school leadership team have taken decisive action to address areas of weakness following a decline in standards. They ensure that all pupils have every opportunity to thrive academically and personally.

Governance arrangements have been strengthened. The local governing body knows the school well. Along with school leaders, governors have a determination and aspiration to secure the best possible outcomes for all pupils.

Current pupils are making strong progress. Standards are rising across the school. Nevertheless, there is still some way to go before pupils' attainment reaches the national average, especially fo...r those who are disadvantaged and/or most-able.

Pupils benefit from a new, rich and creative curriculum that engages their interest and encourages a desire to learn. Pupils who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make increasingly good progress because of the effective support that they receive. Safeguarding is effective.

Pupils know that they can trust adults to help keep them safe. Revised approaches to the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics are effective in developing pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills. Pupils are proud of their school and generally show good attitudes to learning.

Pupils have responded well to a revised strategy to manage behaviour. However, when tasks are not well matched to pupils' needs, some pupils become distracted and they do not make as much progress as they could. Teachers and teaching assistants have increasingly high expectations about what pupils can achieve.

Approaches to teaching are, on occasions, inconsistent and this can lead to a lack of challenge or lost learning time. Most children in the early years make good progress from their individual starting points. The quality of adults' questioning is too variable, especially in the Nursery.

This slows the development of children's language skills. A comprehensive assessment system is now in place. This is used effectively to provide extra support for pupils who need it.

Parents and carers are generally positive about the work of the school. A minority feel that they do not receive enough information about their children's education.

Information about this school

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.

Since the last inspection, it has expanded and there are now two classes in each year group from Reception to Year 6. The school converted to academy status in January 2013 when it joined Ninestiles Academy Trust. The trust's board of directors has oversight of the governance of the school.

A newly formed local governing body supports the board members in their roles. A new chief executive officer joined the trust in May 2017 and a school improvement director, primary, was appointed in April 2018. The principal has been in post since January 2018.

Just under half the pupils are from White British backgrounds. The remainder of pupils are from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above the national average.

A few pupils are at the early stages of learning English. More than half the pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium. This is twice the national average.

The proportion of pupils with SEND is a little higher than in most schools. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is in line with the national average. Nursery children attend on a part-time basis from the age of three years.

Children in Reception attend full time. The school runs a breakfast club. The local governing body manages this provision.