Oakfield Community Primary School

Inspection of Oakfield Community Primary School Edinburgh Road, Widnes, Cheshire WA8 8BQ

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Inspection dates: 29 and 30 September 2021

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 29 and 30 September 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a caring, nurturing and happy school. Leaders and staff have high expectations of all pupils. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), form strong relationships with adults and each other. This has a positive impact on their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel safe and make friends easily. Children in the early years settle into school life quickly. This is because of the caring and supportive staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff ensure that pupils’ behaviour never interrupts learning. Pupils’ behaviour around school is exemplary. They understand what bullying is. They told inspectors that adults in school would help them to sort out any worries or concerns about bullying.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value diversity. They understand how to treat people with different values and beliefs with respect. Pupils are kind, cooperative and caring towards each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a range of clubs and activities. The pupils that inspectors spoke with enjoy clubs such as reading, judo and archery. Leaders ensure that all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, are fully included in these activities. Pupils can be a subject ambassador on the school council. They encourage their peers to do well in their lessons.

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better?

Leaders, staff and governors share a common, ambitious goal for all pupils to become well-rounded and educated young citizens. Leaders and governors have ensured that the curriculum is relevant, well organised and gives pupils the knowledge that they need to succeed. The curriculum meets the needs of pupils who are part of the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced provision) particularly well.

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better?

Teachers deliver the curriculum well. Curriculum plans help pupils to build increasingly complex knowledge as they move through the school. In many subjects, pupils revisit key knowledge often. As a result, pupils can recall this knowledge easily.

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better?

Teachers check on pupils’ learning. However, these checks do not focus well enough on the essential knowledge that pupils must remember for later learning. As a result, teachers are unsure if pupils have learned key knowledge. At times, this halts pupils’ progress because they do not have secure subject knowledge on which to build.

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better?

Staff promote a love of reading across the school. In the early years, well-trained staff support children to develop their vocabulary and listening skills effectively. 29 and 30 September 2021

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When the time is right, teachers introduce pupils to phonics in a logical way. This helps pupils to learn to read well. Even so, some pupils read books, and take books home, that contain sounds that they have not yet learned. This causes some pupils, especially those at the earliest stages of reading, to lose confidence and focus.

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By the time pupils reach Year 6, they read with confidence, fluency and expression. Teachers ensure that any pupils who fall behind get the help that they need to catch up quickly. Pupils are enthusiastic readers. They especially value their teachers reading to them from a range of exciting books.

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Most subject leaders have the knowledge and skills that they need to check how well teachers deliver curriculum plans in their areas of responsibility. However, this is not the case for all subject leaders. Some subject leaders do not have the expertise to help teachers improve their subject-specific knowledge.

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Everyone is welcome at this school. Leaders make sure that pupils with SEND receive highly effective care, support and education. The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) works closely with a range of specialists. This helps leaders to identify and meet the needs of pupils with SEND. Staff have a detailed understanding of how to meet the needs of pupils in the specially resourced provision who have speech, language and communication needs.

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Staff manage pupils’ behaviour exceptionally well, including pupils with complex SEND. Pupils are respectful, polite and proud of their school. They behave very well in class and play sensibly together at social times. As soon as children start in the Nursery Year, staff set high expectations for behaviour. Children listen attentively to their teachers and follow classroom routines well. These high expectations continue through the school.

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Leaders provide pupils with many opportunities to become well-rounded citizens. They are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils, including children in the early years, learn about healthy relationships. They have a detailed understanding of respect and tolerance for people’s differences.

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Leaders and governors are committed to supporting staff and pupils’ well-being. They are mindful of staff’s workload. Governors have a good insight into what is working well at the school and the priorities for improvement. They provide suitable support and challenge to a range of school leaders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and governors have safeguarding as their top priority. Staff know pupils and the community extremely well. Well-trained staff spot any signs of concern quickly. Staff monitor pupils’ attendance particularly well. They understand which pupils need additional help to attend school regularly. Leaders work closely with external agencies to ensure that pupils and their families get additional help when needed. 29 and 30 September 2021

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The curriculum provides pupils with many opportunities to learn how to stay safe. Pupils build strong relationships with staff. This encourages them to raise concerns if they need to. Pupils learn what a good friend is, and how to stay safe online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some subject leaders do not have the subject-specific knowledge they need to check that the curriculum is making a difference to pupils’ achievement. This means that leaders do not know how well teachers are delivering the curriculum, nor are they able to offer useful advice to develop the subject knowledge of teachers. Leaders must ensure that subject leaders are suitably equipped to lead their areas of responsibility, so that teachers are confident to deliver all subjects in the curriculum.  Teachers’ checks on pupils’ learning do not provide sufficient information about what pupils know and remember. This is because the assessment strategies used do not always check whether pupils have remembered essential knowledge. Leaders should review their assessment systems, including those in the early years, so that teachers can build more effectively on what pupils already know and can do.  At times, leaders do not ensure that pupils read books that are closely matched to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

the sounds that they securely know. This causes some pupils to lose confidence. Leaders should ensure that the books that pupils read are more carefully matched to the sounds that they know well. This will help pupils at the early stages of reading to gain confidence and fluency.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 29 and 30 September 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10199639 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 24 and 25 February 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school hosts specially resourced provision, on behalf of the local authority, for up to 14 pupils in the Reception Year and key stage 1. These pupils have speech, language and communication needs. These pupils attend Oakfield School for two days per week. They spend the rest of the week at their home school. At the time of the inspection, 14 pupils were attending the specially resourced provision.  The school hosts specially resourced provision, on behalf of the local authority, for up to 10 pupils in key stage 2. These pupils attend the school full time. All of these pupils have an education, health and care plan, with speech, language and communication as their main area of need. At the time of this inspection, 10 pupils were on roll.  The governing body is responsible for before-school provision at the school.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 29 and 30 September 2021

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  Inspectors completed deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, physical education, science, and geography. They met with subject leaders, visited lessons, reviewed pupils’ work and spoke to teachers and pupils. The lead inspector also listened to pupils reading.  Inspectors also considered other subjects, including modern foreign languages, history, computing, and design and technology. They met with subject leaders, reviewed pupils’ work and evaluated curriculum plans.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation. They spoke to the headteacher and deputy headteacher throughout the inspection. The lead inspector met with the SENDCo.  The lead inspector also met with four members of the governing body, including

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the chair of governors. He spoke on the telephone to representatives of the local authority, including the head of the virtual school and a specialist teacher for pupils with SEND.  The lead inspector held meetings with the staff responsible for safeguarding and the single central record. Inspectors considered leaders’ safeguarding processes and questioned staff’s understanding of these procedures. Inspectors observed pupils during playtimes, lunchtimes and at the breakfast club. Inspectors discussed safeguarding with pupils.  Inspectors considered the responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, including the free-text comments. Inspectors also considered the responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Adam Sproston, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Deborah Bailey Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 September 2021

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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