Oakfield School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 January 2023

Pupils enjoy coming to Oakfield School. They are happy, have friends and benefit from positive and productive relationships with staff. Pupils work and play with each other and with staff. At lunchtime, members of the school community eat together. Staff encourage pupils to have conversations, try new foods and develop good table manners. Bullying is very rare. Pupils have no concerns about bullying. They are confident that staff will quickly help them resolve any disputes that may arise. All pupils say there are members of staff they can talk to if they are worried about something or if someone is being unkind. Staff help pupils to behave well in lessons and around the school. This allows pupils to focus on their learning and prepares them to return to mainstream education or to move on to an appropriate specialist setting. Staff support pupils so they are ready for the next stage of their education. Reading is at the heart of a broad curriculum. Staff skilfully tailor what pupils learn to fill any gaps they may have in their knowledge. The vast majority of pupils have very high attendance. Pupils are helped to develop or rediscover positive learning habits.

What the school should improve

• The curriculum does not ensure that pupils have the opportunity to study all subjects to the same depth. Pupils do not develop their understanding as well as they could in some areas of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that pupils build their knowledge securely and deeply in all subjects.
• Staff do not give pupils enough opportunities to produce written responses. Pupils do not develop their writing skills as rapidly as they could. Leaders should ensure that staff give pupils more opportunities to write across the curriculum.

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