A “happy and supportive” Isle of Wight primary school has fallen short of improving its Ofsted rating after a recent inspection.
Oakfield Church of England Aided Primary School, in Ryde, was visited by the government’s education watchdog in October where it was deemed to again be ‘Requires Improvement’.
In three areas — behaviours and attitudes, personal development and early years provision — the school was rated ‘Good’.
Previous areas for improvement now school’s real strengths
Oakfield’s headteacher Vikki Reader said while the inspectors’ judgement remained the same, they praised and recognised the areas where the school previously needed to improve were now the school’s real strengths.
She said the school accepted the main area for improvement — that not all pupils are achieving their age-related expectations in tests — but they were determined more children now leave Oakfield ‘secondary ready’.
Ms Reader said,
“We want to reassure families that we remain unwavering to being an inclusive school. Therefore, for some of our children with special educational needs, success may look different to achieving their Year 6 SATs.”
Aspirations recognised
Inspectors recognised that the school aspires for all pupils to receive a high-quality education, and while children in the early years got off to a good start, the school’s ambitions were not yet realised in full and “too many pupils do not achieve as well as they should.”
Expectations are not high enough, they said, and the curriculum is not consistently taught in a way that helps pupils learn age appropriate knowledge.
Still work to do
Inspectors said recent improvements in some aspects of the schools work has been successful, but there is still work to do to ensure all pupils, including those with special education needs, learn well enough so they are ready for the next stage of their education.
The school has put in place a broad and ambitious curriculum but in some subjects there is no order to the way pupils learn things and in others what pupils need to know is not identified precisely enough. This means pupils risk developing gaps in their learning.
Subject leadership
Subject leadership at Oakfield is at an early stage of development, but leaders have not had sufficient time or training to lead their subjects effectively.
Overall, inspectors said the school is proud of its work to support pupils’ development and wants the very best for them all.
They said pupils feel safe at Oakfield and trust adults to help them resolve any worries or concerns.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
