Ocker Hill Infant School

About Ocker Hill Infant School

If you're a parent weighing up Ocker Hill Infant School, the parent feedback is unusually emphatic. Of the 59 responses to Ofsted's Parent View survey, 92% would recommend the school. That's a very high level of endorsement, and it's backed up by the detail: 97% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that their child is happy here, and 96% felt their child is safe. The school is also clearly in demand. For the 2025/26 intake, it received 81 applications for 51 places, an oversubscription ratio of 1.59, and every one of those 48 first-preference applicants was offered a place. That suggests a school that local families are actively choosing and, once they get in, are very satisfied with. The headteacher is Rebecca Strange, and the school serves children from age 3 to 7, with nursery provision available.

Academically, the school's most recent Ofsted inspection, in February 2025, graded it Outstanding across every category that was judged: quality of education, early years provision, personal development, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management. It's worth noting that the overall effectiveness was not judged on this occasion, but the school has held an Outstanding rating since its previous graded inspection in 2014. In Sandwell, only 10 out of 92 primary schools currently hold an Outstanding rating, so this places Ocker Hill in a select group. The school's local authority average for Key Stage 2 attainment sits at 60, though as an infant school taking children only up to Year 2, its own performance is measured differently. The Ofsted report highlights that pupils behave well and that the school has high expectations, which aligns with the 87% of parents who agreed or strongly agreed that the school has high expectations for their child.

The school offers a solid range of facilities for a primary, including playing fields, a sports hall, a forest school, art studios, music rooms, a sensory room and even a chapel. Sports provision covers netball, swimming, cross country, athletics, cricket, tennis and football, while clubs include art, book club, drama, science club, choir and gardening. For families with children who have special educational needs, the school lists provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and hearing, visual and multi-sensory impairments. That said, the Parent View data on SEND support is more mixed: 64% agreed or strongly agreed that SEND children get the support they need, but 21% disagreed or strongly disagreed. This is a school that suits families who want a strong, well-regarded local option with a clear track record of parental satisfaction and a broad range of activities, but who are also comfortable checking in on SEND provision if that's relevant to their child.

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