Oakfield Academy in Totton gets good Ofsted rating

Oakfield Academy in Totton has received the rating following an inspection and has been praised for its commitment to students’ personal development.

All six categories inspected by the team were rated 'good' with two categories, personal development and early years provision, reaching ‘outstanding’.

The school has 170 pupils in total (Image: NQ)

The inspection took place on September 26 and 27 and Executive Head, Haydn Mitton, said he is incredibly proud of the staff and student commitment to achieving this grade.

He said: “The grade has transformed people’s perception of the school – for a long time we were the school that was ‘inadequate’ but we haven’t been inadequate for a long time.

“We now got Ofsted’s verification of what we have known to be true for a while.

“It means a huge amount to the staff and students – they now get to be really proud of the school they attend.

“We've built a thriving school that children are excited to attend which shines through in our pupils’ readiness for the next stages of their education.”

The headteacher said he was most proud of the fact that staff had delivered on the promise they made to parents to improve the school’s rating.

Oakfield executive head Haydn Mitton (Image: NQ)

The last inspection of the school took place before it transformed into an academy in March of 2019, where the school was given an inadequate rating.

Inspectors wrote the following in the report: “The pace of improvement has been rapid since the appointment of new leaders at the school and trust.

“They have wasted no time establishing a dedicated team of staff who work together to improve outcomes for pupils.

“Parents greatly appreciate the efforts staff make, and this makes for a very positive environment for pupils to learn in.”

Hassan Mehar, 10, and Poppy Strathdee, 11, are both in Year 6 and say they love learning at Oakfield.

Hassan Mehar and Poppy Strathdee are both in year six at Oakfield (Image: NQ)

Hassan said: “My favourite part of the school is OWL, which means Outdoor Woodland Learning because I love getting outside and learning about nature – being outside makes me forget we are still learning.

“I also love doing experiments in science.”

Poppy said her favourite subject was art and she loves to paint poppies.

She added: “Painting is so fun, and we get to make lots of cool designs. I really like English as you get to write stories and come up with characters – I enjoy imagining the story.