Oak Academy Review 2026: A school in transition, with calmer corridors and a curriculum reset

Oak Academy serves the Kinson area of Bournemouth as a large 11 to 16 secondary, with capacity for 1,200 students and an enrolment reported by Ofsted as 647. In recent years the school has focused on establishing consistent routines and raising expectations, while redesigning parts of the curriculum to tackle historically low outcomes. It sits within Authentic Education Group, and the trust and school leadership describe an improvement programme that is gathering pace, even if impact has not yet filtered evenly across every subject and year group. For families, the headline is straightforward: behaviour and day-to-day culture are improving, and the next question is whether the academic trajectory can catch up.

The clearest theme running through Oak Academy’s public information is values and expectations. The school sets out four core values, kindness, respect, excellence, and courage, and these are reinforced through rewards and pupil leadership roles. In the most recent inspection narrative, pupils are described as understanding what behaviour is unacceptable; adults apply the behaviour policy fairly; and day-to-day learning is calmer as a result.

This matters because a school’s atmosphere is often determined less by a slogan and more by whether routines are consistent. Oak’s approach is built around visible reinforcement, including “oak points” and other rewards referenced in official reporting. The wider picture is that leaders have been tightening the basics, creating the conditions where teaching can be more predictable and where pupils can concentrate without constant disruption.

Leadership and staffing visibility also stand out. The principal is Hayley Richley, named on the school website and in Ofsted documentation. The published staffing information also shows a layered leadership structure, including roles for inclusion, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and personal development, which is typically a sign of a school trying to manage improvement through clear lines of responsibility rather than informal fixes.

Oak Academy’s most useful academic snapshot comes from the FindMySchool rankings and metrics provided. For GCSE outcomes, Oak is ranked 3,586th in England and 13th in Bournemouth (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), placing it below England average and within the bottom 40% of schools in England for this measure.

The underlying performance indicators align with that positioning. The school’s Attainment 8 score is 35.6, and its Progress 8 score is -0.63, indicating that, on average, students make less progress than pupils with similar starting points nationally.

Those numbers are important, but they need interpreting alongside the school’s current direction. Official reporting describes a curriculum review intended to make learning more ambitious and coherent, and suggests this is beginning to address low published outcomes, although the changes were too recent at the time of inspection to have full impact. The practical implication is that parents should think in “trajectory” terms: if your child needs a settled classroom environment and a consistent behaviour culture, Oak’s recent improvements may be reassuring; if your priority is proven, sustained exam outcomes over several years, you will likely want to probe hard on evidence of progress across departments.

The most recent Ofsted inspection (19 and 20 November 2024) graded Quality of Education as Requires Improvement and Leadership and Management as Requires Improvement, alongside Good judgements for Behaviour and Attitudes and for Personal Development. That split judgement usually reflects a school that has stabilised conduct and culture faster than it has secured consistently strong classroom practice and curriculum quality.

Curriculum planning is described as having been mapped out year by year, with a push toward a broader curriculum. The challenge is implementation. External reporting identifies inconsistency in checking what pupils understand and in matching work to starting points, which can lead to some students repeating content while others are set work that is too hard without enough support. In practical terms, this is the difference between a curriculum “on paper” and one that lands reliably in every classroom.

Reading is a notable priority. The weakest readers are described as being identified quickly and supported to improve accuracy and confidence, which is crucial in a secondary setting where gaps in literacy can block progress across the whole curriculum. The most parent-relevant question to ask is how this support works in practice: how students are assessed on arrival, how often interventions run, and how the school tracks improvement for students who start below age-related expectations.

Where Students Go Next

Oak Academy is an 11 to 16 school, so post-16 pathways are a central part of its value to families. Rather than publishing headline destination percentages, the school’s careers information focuses on processes: a structured careers education programme aligned to the Gatsby Benchmarks, individual careers interviews delivered by professionally qualified careers advisers, and an emphasis on exposing students to a range of routes.

The careers pages also signpost practical destination routes for Year 11, including apprenticeships and training providers, and guidance on employability basics such as building a CV. For families, the implication is to look for evidence that this guidance translates into sustained destination support, for example, how the school tracks Year 11 leavers, what follow-up looks like for students at risk of becoming NEET, and how quickly careers teams intervene when a plan changes after GCSE results.

If you are comparing local options, FindMySchool’s Local Hub and Comparison Tool can help you benchmark Oak’s outcomes and context against nearby schools, then use open events and conversations with staff to test which setting best matches your child’s needs.

For main secondary entry, applications are coordinated through the local authority. In the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area, the published timeline for September 2026 entry includes an on-time deadline of 31 October 2025, with National Offer Day set as 2 March 2026 for on-time applications. Late applications, submitted between 1 November 2025 and 23 January 2026, receive outcomes on 25 March 2026, and very late applications are processed from April onwards.

For in-year entry, the school advises families to apply via the local authority, supported by an application form and background information process involving the student’s current school. This is relevant for families moving into the area or seeking a managed move, and it also signals that the school expects structured information transfer to support placement decisions.

The school encourages prospective families to visit during a normal working day, and notes that organised tours can run at certain points in the year, including Year 5 open mornings, while other tours are by appointment. If you are trying to judge how realistic admission is for your family, FindMySchoolMap Search can help you understand your location context alongside local authority criteria, then you can validate the details directly through the council’s coordinated admissions information.

Pastoral systems matter most in schools that are improving, because consistency and safeguarding culture determine whether academic change can stick. Oak’s published safeguarding information sets out named safeguarding roles and the expectation that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, backed by a dedicated safeguarding contact route.

From an improvement perspective, the recent narrative emphasises raised expectations, calmer learning conditions, and work to reduce derogatory language, alongside a recognition that culture change takes time to embed. The school also describes student leadership roles, which can be effective when linked to real responsibility rather than tokenism.

Ofsted previously reported that safeguarding arrangements were effective (May 2022). For parents, the practical focus should be on how the school handles behaviour incidents day to day, how communication works when concerns arise, and what support looks like for students who need additional help with attendance, anxiety, or social dynamics.

Oak’s extracurricular offer is one of the more concrete, verifiable strengths in the available evidence. External reporting lists a range of activities including drama and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, plus chess club, coding club, podcast club, and a broad sports programme that includes newer opportunities such as girls’ football. That mix matters because it caters for different student identities: some pupils find belonging through performance, others through structured team sport, and others through quieter, skills-based clubs.

The school’s enrichment information also highlights an IT3 space offering home learning support before school, at break, and at lunchtime. This is a practical intervention rather than a glossy extra. For students who do not have a quiet study environment at home, or who need structured support to organise homework, that kind of supervised access can be disproportionately valuable.

When weighing extracurriculars, it is worth asking how participation is encouraged for students who are not already confident joiners, and whether staff actively guide students toward activities that can build resilience, routine, and friendships. Schools often list clubs; the stronger ones can explain who attends, how barriers are removed, and how participation supports attendance and behaviour.

The school day starts with tutor time at 08:30, and students are expected to be in classrooms by 08:25. A free breakfast club is available from 07:30. For visits, the school states that families can arrange tours during the normal working day, with some organised tour periods (including Year 5 open mornings) and other tours by appointment.

Oak Academy is in the Kinson area of Bournemouth, and families typically evaluate travel by local bus routes, walking distances, and how safe the journey feels at the start and end of the day. For students travelling independently, it is sensible to rehearse the route before September and confirm expectations around arrival time and equipment.

• Academic outcomes are still a challenge. The school’s GCSE performance indicators and England ranking position it below England average, and Progress 8 is negative. Families prioritising proven academic performance should scrutinise departmental consistency and evidence of improvement over time.

• Curriculum change can create uneven experience. External reporting describes recent curriculum reform, with older cohorts potentially carrying gaps from previous approaches, and inconsistency in checking understanding. This can mean students’ experience varies by subject and year group.

• Improvement relies on sustained consistency. Behaviour is described as calmer, but leadership and management were still graded Requires Improvement in November 2024, suggesting systems were not yet fully secure at that point.

• In-year admissions require careful handling. The school directs in-year applicants through the local authority process, which can involve information sharing with a student’s current school. Families considering a mid-year move should ask how transition support works in practice.

Oak Academy is best understood as a school on an improvement journey. The strongest evidence points to a calmer culture, clearer expectations, and an extracurricular offer that gives students several routes to belonging, from chess and coding to drama, podcasting and sport. Academic outcomes remain the main area to watch, with results and progress indicators that lag behind many schools in England. For families whose child needs structure, predictable routines, and a school that is actively working to raise standards, Oak may suit; for families seeking consistently high exam outcomes already embedded across subjects, it is sensible to compare options carefully and ask for detailed, department-level evidence of impact.