School praised as a ‘special place’ by Ofsted inspectors

Inspectors have praised Oakwood Junior School for being a ‘special place for pupils to learn and grow’.

In their report, which rated the school with Outstanding Personal Development and Good overall, the Ofsted inspectors said that pupils were happy and talked with enthusiasm about school life.

Areas highlighted for particular mention were pupils’ behaviour, which was ‘excellent’ and the curriculum which had been carefully designed to be relevant to the pupils and community that the school serves.

Head teacher Mrs Atwal said ‘I am very proud of everyone at our school, this report is testament to a lot of hard work and dedication from the entire team. We work hard to show children at our school that ‘everyone can achieve’ and I am very pleased the inspectors recognised that we have high aspirations and ambitions for our pupils. We will continue to work together to enable our pupils to thrive and already have plans in place to build upon the feedback in this report.’

The school, which joined the Odyssey Collaborative Trust three years ago, has worked hard to allow pupils to develop leadership skills but taking on different roles such as school councillors, reading ambassadors and anti-bullying ambassadors.

It has also created a variety of school clubs available for activities such as science, gymnastics, chess, yoga,dance, choir, netball, art and football.

Inspectors praised this work and mentioned how the pupils spoke about the ‘many opportunities’ they are given at the school.

The report noted pupils used words such as  ‘spectacular’, ‘remarkable’, ‘magical’, and ‘inspiring’, to describe the school, and said it was ‘open to everyone’.

Special mention was also given to the school’s much-loved well-being dog, Ron, who helps pupils learn about the importance of good mental health.

The role of Odyssey Collaborative Trust in supporting, challenging and monitoring the school was also praised, with inspectors noting staff talked about the school being “brilliant at making sure staff are looked after well”.

Ian Dewes, Chief Executive of Odyssey Collaborative Trust, said it was pleasing the inspectors had noted so many of the areas of work he is also particularly proud of.

“Oakwood Junior School is warm, welcoming and exciting place to work and learn. I am proud of the hard work the staff do to ensure our pupils thrive, and of the excellent behaviour and attitude to learning the children show. It is pleasing that the Ofsted inspectors remarked on the pride the children also have in their school.”