Oakhurst Community Primary School

Overview

The report describes a school where pupils feel “happy and safe” and benefit from “warm, trusting relationships with staff.” Leaders maintain “high expectations” for achievement and behaviour, resulting in a “calm, purposeful environment” where bullying is rare and most pupils attend well.

Strengths

• Pupils make “secure progress” and attain in line with or above national averages in reading, writing, and mathematics.
• The curriculum is “coherent” and inclusive, with staff providing effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Leaders have established robust systems to monitor attendance and support pupils with anxiety, ensuring “most pupils attend well.”
• Pupils demonstrate kindness and respect, living out the school’s values of “unity, courage and ambition.”
• Staff are valued for their “dedication, warmth and willingness to go above and beyond,” particularly for vulnerable children.

Areas to improve

• Teachers must use assessment information more accurately to ensure all pupils complete “ambitious work” rather than tasks that are “not ambitious enough.”
• Leaders should strengthen strategies to develop writing and transcription skills, as some older pupils “lack fluency and accuracy” which holds back progress.
• Leaders need to use gathered information more precisely to evaluate the impact of improvement strategies and drive further development.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility” and concerns are actively identified and managed.