Ofsted
School Report on Inspection of Oaks Park High School 8-9th October 2019
We are pleased to share with you the report from Ofsted following their recent inspection. Under the new very challenging inspection process inspectors made the judgements that the sixth form is outstanding and other aspects of the school are good.
They made the following really positive statements about our school:
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Pupils know that when they join the school in Year 7, leaders have strong ambitions for them
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The ‘well-planned and well-implemented subject programme in Years 9-11 ensures that pupils achieve well in GCSE examinations, year on year’
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Learners ‘prosper’ as ‘their needs are identified accurately, and the right support put in place’
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‘there is lots of good-quality support, advice and guidance’
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‘Pupils settle down to work quickly and show good attitudes towards learning’.
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The sixth form students are ‘excellent role models for their younger peers’
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‘Teachers’ excellent subject knowledge and ability to communicate mean that concepts are taught in great depth’.
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Students are ‘prepared well for higher education. Most go on to university courses, including the Russell Group institutions’.
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‘The school provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities, for example in music, sport and performing arts.’
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Staff appreciate that; ‘leaders have begun to take important steps to reduce unnecessary workload’
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‘All staff are vigilant in their care of pupils.’
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‘Leaders know their pupils and their families well. The strong positive relationships that they have built with pupils’ families help them to provide early support.’
- ‘Leaders are relentless in pursuing help for their vulnerable pupils’
In 2016, as an ambitious community school, we made a strategic decision based on extensive consultation and research, to plan and cover the national curriculum in great depth in Y7 and Y8 to provide a well rounded education for our pupils. This decision was taken based on the needs and aspirations of our pupils and you as parents/carers. The change enabled us to transition pupils to GCSE courses in Y9, which ensures teachers have sufficient time to cover the rigorous GCSE syllabuses thoroughly and give our pupils the best chance to achieve their full potential.
However, during the inspection, it was found that under the new framework, Ofsted now believes that pupils should spend 3 years studying Key Stage 3, leaving 2 years to cover GCSE. Inspectors will only award outstanding grades for the quality of education if there is a 3 year Key Stage 3.
We believe that our pupils need those 3 years in Key Stage 4 to excel in the new challenging GCSEs. Our pupils’ outcomes over the last 3 years have improved remarkably as a result of our overhaul of the curriculum. We are particularly proud of the improvements in the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in their GCSE examinations against national (a copy of our 2019 GCSE results can be found below, Appendix A). Nonetheless, Ofsted have asked us to consider reviewing our curriculum. So, we will start by asking the views of parents and pupils about enabling our pupils to start preparing for their challenging GCSEs in Year 9, or delay it until Year 10. This process will start in the new year.
A copy of the report can be found here.
The Governing Body
Parents and carers can give Ofsted their views of our school at any time of the year using an online questionnaire called Parent View. Your views are really important in helping inspectors form a judgement about our school, and to help us know what is going well and what could be improved.
Please register at https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk. Once your login has been activated, it only takes a few minutes to complete answers to 12 short questions on a variety of aspects such as bullying, the quality of teaching and level of homework.
If you do not have a computer or an email address, or if you would like help to use Parent View, please do get in touch with us.
