Cherry Oak School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 5 March 2024

Since the last inspection, there have been many improvements at Cherry Oak School. Pupils now receive a good quality of education. Pupils enjoy their learning and are happy at school. Relationships are important here. From the very start in the early years, the school takes time to support children, families and carers with this important transition. These positive relationships continue throughout school. This means that staff know their pupils and families well. Most staff act quickly to support pupils when they become anxious and need help with their emotions. Consequently, pupils are calm across school most of the time. Pupils' safety in and out of school is top priority. All staff understand the additional vulnerabilities pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have. Pupils are taught how to communicate when they need help. All staff demonstrate the school's motto of 'never do nothing' effectively. This means that staff are highly vigilant. All concerns, such as changes in pupils' behaviours, are acted upon quickly. Staff model the school's values of respect, inspire, support and empower to pupils. In turn, pupils demonstrate these values well. For example, pupils encourage each other to be the very best they can be during sports tournaments. All this helps pupils to be confident and motivating individuals.

What the school should improve

• In a few parts of the curriculum, the subject knowledge that leaders want pupils to learn is not explicit enough. This means that the content pupils learn does not always build appropriately on what they have learned before. This slows pupils' learning. The school should ensure that the explicit subject knowledge is identified in these parts of the curriculum so that pupils can always build on their prior knowledge accurately and successfully.
• For some pupils, the strategies planned to meet their specific areas of need are not always precise and detailed enough. In addition, these are not always reviewed in a systematic and timely manner. This means that, at times, some pupils are not accessing their learning successfully enough. The school should ensure the strategies planned to meet the needs of pupils are always accurate and reviewed systematically so that all pupils can achieve successfully to their full potential.
• For some pupils, there are inconsistencies in how the classroom environment is maintained and used to support their specific areas of need, such as their communication, behaviour and sensory needs. As a result, some pupils are not as well supported as they could be. The school should ensure that the classroom environment is always maintained to a high and consistent standard and fully supports the specific areas of need for pupils.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)