Oakfield Primary School in Ryde has continued to improve, despite the pandemic, according to Ofsted inspectors.
In a remote monitoring visit in early March, inspectors looked at the way the school had been coping during the pandemic and how it had continued to grow from its last ‘requires improvement’ rating given in January 2020.
Ofsted found leaders of the school were taking effective action to provide children’s education.
At the time of the inspection, 14 per cent of pupils were being educated on-site, the rest of students learning remotely, and inspectors saw the school’s remote education provisions had evolved and strengthened over time — working with parents and carers to understand technology needs, reducing potential barriers and ensuring pupils had the access needed.
Through those steps in each subject, pupils were learning the same things regardless of whether they were in school or at home as leaders minimised the impact of the pandemic on pupils.
The needs of vulnerable and SEND pupils were prioritised and benefited from their usual level of support.
Inspectors found necessary improvements had been made to the curriculum, but these were more advanced in some subjects than others — being stronger in maths, English and science than history and geography.
Further action, however, should be taken to ensure the knowledge and content pupils need to know is explicit in teachers’ planning and that governors were monitoring leaders’ actions to improve the quality of the curriculum more after the pandemic.
The inspector said:
“Despite the challenges of the pandemic over the last year, leaders have remained steadfast in their determination to keep improving the school.
“The momentum of improvement has continued, much to leaders’ credit. Nonetheless, leaders recognise that there is still more to do.”
Oakfield headteacher, Vikki Reader, said:
“Parents have been amazing in their support of learning from home under really difficult circumstances.
“The whole team has shown such resilience and selfless sense of duty throughout these challenging times — I am so proud of them all and feel honoured to lead such an inclusive school where challenge and high expectations go hand in hand with making learning fun, providing a strong outdoor education and valuing the whole child”.
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