Oaklands Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 18 July 2023

Pupils enjoy their time at this school. They talk positively about their learning. Pupils appreciate all the interesting and different subjects they are taught. They are keen to learn and they engage actively in lessons. Pupils respond well to their teacher's advice. Pupils value how much all adults care about them and understand their individual needs. Pupils and adults show mutual respect. Pupils are polite and thoughtful. They like to be able to mix at breaktimes with pupils from other year groups, especially on the field. Older pupils act as good role models. Younger pupils enjoy the attention and care older pupils show them. There is a calm and relaxed atmosphere around school. Pupils know there are rules and routines, and follow these well. The respect pupils show each other means that bullying is very rare. Pupils are in no doubt that adults would address it if it did happen. Pupils know they are safe. Pupils of all ages benefit from regular access to outdoor learning. They like the dens and the campfire they have on site. Pupils like to play on the large climbing frames. They also enjoy sports clubs and look forward to the residential trip in Year 6.

What the school should improve

• In some foundation subjects, leaders have planned a curriculum with a lot of content to cover. Teachers are not clear what key knowledge to focus on in the time given and so cover these subjects at a superficial level. This means pupils are not developing enough depth of knowledge in these subjects. Leaders need to review these curriculum subjects to clearly ascertain what pupils need to know. Leaders then need to be clear that the time given to teach this knowledge in depth is manageable.
• In some foundation subjects, leaders have also not explicitly identified the exact prior learning pupils need to build on. This means, in these subjects, pupils are not making connections with what they already know. This limits how well they can achieve the detail of knowledge leaders intend. Leaders need to ensure that prior learning is explicitly signposted in these subjects. Teachers must then check that pupils can recall securely this prior learning before teaching pupils something new.

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