Oaklands Catholic School

Oaklands Catholic School is a large Catholic secondary school in the Edith Stein Catholic Academy Trust. It was fully inspected in April 2026 and safeguarding standards are met. Pupils are proud of their school, feel safe and well known, and behaviour is excellent. Leaders have made attendance a priority, and attendance is above average for all groups with low persistent absence. The school has a highly inclusive culture and strong personal development, with effective support for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils. The school's strengths include a calm and purposeful learning environment, rare bullying, high-quality pastoral care, and a broad enrichment offer. Careers education is effective, and pupils move on to ambitious destinations, including competitive universities. Sixth-form students enjoy a supportive community, excellent guidance, and mentoring opportunities. Governance is accurate and challenging, and staff are proud to work at the school. However, achievement, curriculum and teaching, leadership and governance, and sixth form are at expected rather than strong standard. Inspectors found some variation in teaching and inconsistent checks on pupils' understanding, so misconceptions are sometimes missed and some pupils do not learn as well as they could. In the sixth form, teachers do not always deepen students' knowledge as much as possible. The next steps focus on making assessment for learning consistently effective and increasing challenge in the sixth form.

Strengths

• Attendance is above average for all groups and persistent absence is low.
• Pupils behave excellently and the learning environment is calm and purposeful.
• Bullying is rare and dealt with quickly when it occurs.
• The school has a highly inclusive culture with precise identification of SEND and disadvantaged pupils' needs.
• Support for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils is effective and tailored.
• Personal development is well structured and covers citizenship, relationships, sex and health education, and British values.
• Careers education is effective and destinations after 16 are above national averages.
• A wide range of enrichment opportunities is available and uptake is carefully tracked.
• Pupils are well prepared for their next steps in education, employment and training.
• The curriculum is well sequenced and ambitious from Year 7 to Year 13.
• Staff development is impactful, especially in understanding SEND and disadvantaged pupils.
• Governance is accurate, statutory duties are met, and leaders are challenged appropriately.
• Sixth-form students enjoy a supportive community and benefit from excellent careers guidance and mentoring.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture of safeguarding.
• Pupils develop positive character traits and a strong sense of community.

Areas for Improvement

• There is some variation in teaching across the school.
• Teachers' checks on pupils' understanding are less consistent than other aspects of their practice.
• Misconceptions in learning are sometimes not identified during lessons, so some pupils do not learn as well as they could.
• Sixth-form teachers do not consistently maximise opportunities to deepen students' knowledge and understanding.
• As a result, more sixth-form students could achieve at a high level.
• Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE outcomes were below national averages in 2024/25 (11.5% vs 25.8%).

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 Catholic School attended 94.5% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 11.0% 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, 3.8% of pupils at Oaklands Catholic 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 Catholic School had 18.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.3% 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, 10.7% of pupils at Oaklands Catholic School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.5% 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 2024–25 Oaklands Catholic School received £8,011 and spent £8,018 for each of its 1,370 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £241,000 (£176 per pupil).

Across all 2 schools of Edith Stein Catholic Academy Trust, income was £7,727 and spending £7,745 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Waterlooville · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

Oaklands Catholic School is part of Edith Stein Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• St Peter's Catholic Primary School, Waterlooville Waterlooville
• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Portsmouth

What is Oaklands Catholic School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Oaklands Catholic School last inspected by Ofsted?

Oaklands Catholic School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Oaklands Catholic School have?

Oaklands Catholic School has 1,419 pupils on roll.

What age range does Oaklands Catholic School cover?

Oaklands Catholic School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Oaklands Catholic School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 48.9, and 44% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Oaklands Catholic School?

Oaklands Catholic School is at Stakes Hill Road, Waterlooville, Hampshire, PO7 7BW.