The Oaks Community Primary School

About The Oaks Community Primary School

The Oaks Community Primary School in Cheshire West and Chester is a small state primary that parents clearly want to get into. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 32 applications for just 19 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.68. All 16 first-preference applicants were offered a spot, which suggests that families who put it top of their list are likely to succeed, but the overall demand means it is not a guaranteed option for everyone. The school has 168 pupils against a capacity of 210, so there is some physical room to grow, though the high number of applications relative to places indicates strong local interest. With 51.2 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with significant socioeconomic need, and the headteacher, David Wearing, leads a mixed-gender, non-religious primary for children aged 4 to 11.

Academically, the school is currently rated Requires Improvement by Ofsted following its July 2024 inspection, a drop from its previous Good rating in 2019. The inspection found that the quality of education, early years provision, and leadership and management all require improvement, though personal development and behaviour and attitudes were both rated Good. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, just 21 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is well below the local authority average of 61 per cent. Reading scores were stronger, with 67 per cent reaching the expected standard and an average scaled score of 103, but writing and maths lagged behind at 33 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. No pupils achieved the higher standard in any of the three subjects. The school ranks 109th out of 110 primary schools in Cheshire West and Chester on this combined measure, placing it in the bottom 50 per cent nationally.

The school offers a range of facilities including a sports hall, music rooms, a sensory room, an ICT suite, a forest school area, and a chapel. Sports on offer include swimming, netball, gymnastics and cricket, and there are clubs for art, coding and gardening. The SEND provision is notably broad, covering autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, visual impairment, physical disability, and social and emotional mental health difficulties, among others. For families considering alternatives, the nearest Outstanding-rated school is Wolverham Primary and Nursery School, just 0.9 kilometres away. The Oaks is best suited to families who value a small, community-focused setting with strong pastoral care and a wide SEND offer, but who are comfortable with the school being in a period of improvement following its recent Ofsted downgrade.

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