Oaklands School

Oaklands School is performing strongly overall. Safeguarding standards are met, and the school reaches a strong standard in achievement, attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, personal development and wellbeing, and post-16 provision. The only area graded at the expected standard is curriculum and teaching, where the next step is to ensure learning tasks across all subjects consistently promote deep understanding. Leaders have an acute understanding of the school’s context and are highly effective; pupils behave exceptionally well, attendance is strong, and the school has a highly inclusive culture. The school’s context is significant: it has a much higher-than-average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and is located in an area of well-above-average deprivation. Despite this, disadvantaged pupils achieve above national averages, and pupils with SEND make demonstrable progress from their starting points. The sixth form performs above national averages in A-levels and especially in Applied General courses, with students progressing to positive destinations. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, careers and personal development are extensive, and pupils are exceptionally well prepared for life in modern Britain. Inspectors identified no safeguarding concerns.

Strengths

• Pupils consistently achieve above national averages across most subjects.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve above national averages and outperform non-disadvantaged peers nationally.
• Pupils with SEND make demonstrable progress from their starting points.
• Sixth-form students achieve above national averages, especially in Applied General courses.
• Attendance is consistently above national averages for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, including in the sixth form.
• Pupils behave uncommonly well, with high focus, respect and calm movement around school.
• Bullying and discriminatory behaviour are rare and addressed swiftly.
• The school has a highly inclusive culture where pupils feel a strong sense of belonging.
• Staff have expert training and provide high-quality support for pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils, looked-after children and young carers.
• Leaders and governors are highly effective, with acute understanding of pupils’ contexts and rigorous oversight.
• Staff benefit from high-quality professional learning and strong support for workload and wellbeing.
• Personal development is ambitious and goes well beyond statutory requirements, including PSHE, careers and enrichment.
• Careers guidance is comprehensive from Year 7, with meaningful employer, university and training encounters.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with effective early reading support and vocabulary teaching.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which concerns are actively identified and managed.
• Pupils move on to sustained and positive destinations and are extremely well prepared for their next steps.
• Leaders share expertise across the local community and strengthen sixth-form provision.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum and teaching are graded at the expected standard rather than strong.
• In some subjects, teachers do not routinely choose tasks that enable pupils to deepen their subject knowledge.
• Leaders should ensure learning tasks across all subjects are consistently high quality and promote deep understanding.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Oaklands School attended 92.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 24.0% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 5.2% of pupils at Oaklands School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Oaklands School had 14.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 11.8% of pupils at Oaklands School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Oaklands School received £11,195 and spent £10,931 for each of its 902 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £541,000 (£599 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Tower Hamlets · Tower Hamlets local authority: places and applications

What is Oaklands School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Oaklands School is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Oaklands School last inspected by Ofsted?

Oaklands School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Oaklands School have?

Oaklands School has 902 pupils on roll.

What age range does Oaklands School cover?

Oaklands School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Oaklands School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 47.9, and 49% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Oaklands School?

Oaklands School is at Old Bethnal Green Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 6PR.