Oakfield Park School

Overview

Oakfield Park School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. The school provides a high-quality education where communication sits at the heart of the curriculum, helping pupils to ‘develop a voice’ and become independent. Leaders have raised aspirations for pupils’ success, ensuring they are well prepared for their futures through a broad curriculum and strong support systems.

Strengths

• Staff know pupils exceptionally well, using consistent communication strategies to ensure needs are met and behaviour is managed effectively.
• Phonics is prioritised with high-quality teaching, enabling many pupils to read with confidence and enjoyment.
• Pupils enjoy interacting with others in a calm environment, with physical needs well met through outdoor activities and physiotherapy.
• Parents and carers are extremely positive about the education and care their child receives, supported by wide-ranging involvement opportunities.
• The wider curriculum helps pupils become successful, independent citizens, with older pupils confidently discussing employment aspirations.

Areas to improve

• The curriculum is not defined precisely enough in some areas, including mathematics and science, to ensure pupils on more formal pathways achieve as well as they could.
• The school should continue to raise expectations and implement plans to break down expected knowledge into manageable parts for key stages 3 and 4 and sixth form.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.