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Oakwood Primary Academy

Plymouth, PL6 6QS · Plymouth · primary school

Ofsted: Not judged · 2024 Mixed Primary
OfstedNot judged
Pupils273
FSM33.0%
KS2 expected49%
AI summary of the Ofsted report Inspected 2024-11-25 · Tap to collapse

Generated by AI from the official inspection report — not written by Ofsted or SchoolsGPT staff. Always read the full Ofsted PDF before relying on this summary.

Overview: Oakwood Primary Academy requires improvement in several areas, including the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The school has made improvements since the last inspection, but there is still work to be done to restore its standing in the community.

Strengths:

  • The new leadership team is ambitious and determined for all pupils to learn well.
  • Pupils are polite to each other most of the time.
  • Pupils appreciate the many opportunities they have beyond the academic, such as camps and trips, and extra-curricular clubs.
  • The school has made recent changes to the library to make it more accessible and has a wide range of books on offer.

Areas to improve:

  • The trust must ensure that the changes to the curriculum are having a positive impact on pupils' outcomes.
  • The phonics programme is not implemented effectively, leading to too many pupils not learning phonics well.
  • Some pupils with SEND do not learn the curriculum as well as they could, due to curriculum activities not being adapted well enough to meet their needs.
  • Pupils' behaviour in lessons, including in the early years and at social times, is not always positive, with low-level disruption tolerated in some classes.
  • Pupils' attendance remains stubbornly low, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Open official report ↗

Catchment / designated area

Only 5 of 68 primary schools use catchment areas; ALL secondary schools and the great majority of primaries use pure straight-line distance.

Source: Plymouth admissions policy

Ofsted judgement breakdown (2024-10-15)

Overall effectiveness
No overall grade — Ofsted paused single-headline judgements from September 2024
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Requires improvement
Personal development
Requires improvement
Effectiveness of leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding is effective?
Yes
Early years provision (where applicable)
Requires improvement

What the entrance test covers

All three Plymouth grammar schools use papers from Quest Assessments, sat over two September Saturdays: Day 1 — English comprehension (about 40 minutes, ~60 questions: reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation, grammar). Day 2 — Mathematics in two sections: a 10-minute fluency paper and a 30-minute mathematical-reasoning paper (~60 questions total). Devonport High School for Boys additionally sets its own internal English WRITING paper on top of the shared Quest papers. One registration round covers the shared papers for all three schools; results arrive in October before the 31 October application deadline.

Similar schools nearby

Same area, prioritising the same phase — useful for shortlisting alternatives.

Widewell Primary Academy 0.3 mi · Primary · Good Plymouth, PL6 7ER Beechwood Primary Academy 0.5 mi · Primary · Not judged Plymouth, PL6 6DX Bickleigh Down Church of England Primary School 0.9 mi · Primary · Good Plymouth, PL6 7JW Whitleigh Community Primary School 1.2 mi · Primary · Good Plymouth, PL5 4AA Thornbury Primary School 1.2 mi · Primary · Not judged Plymouth, PL6 8UL St Matthew's Church of England Primary and Nursery Academy 1.3 mi · Primary · Good Plymouth, PL6 5FN

Data sourced from GIAS, Ofsted and official Plymouth admissions publications. Figures can change year to year — always confirm with the school before applying.

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