Oaks Park High School

Story

Oaks Park High School is an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school situated in Newbury Park, Ilford. Opened in September 2001, Oaks Park now has over 1500 students, with over 300 in the Sixth Form. The Sixth Form has grown rapidly since it opened in September 2006 and offers wide range of courses to students, both from Oaks Park and other schools. Oaks Park became a specialist Music College in September 2006.A Brief History of Oaks ParkOaks Park High School was built under the private finance initiative (PFI) to alleviate the growing shortfall of places in schools within the Borough. The school opened on Friday 7 September 2001 with an initial intake of 180 students. In May/June 2006 the school saw the first cohort of students take their GCSE examinations. The Sixth Form opened in September 2006 and Oaks Park became a Specialist Music School at the same time. Oaks Park is now one of the largest schools in Redbridge. There are 1260 students in the main school and it is heavily oversubscribed. The Sixth Form is over 580 strong and has quickly become established within Redbridge and beyond. In 2011 Oaks Park was designated a Fronter Champion School in recognition of the work we have carried out on their Managed Learning Environment.Sixth FormThe Sixth Form is growing in size and reputation and retains many students and attracts still more from Redbridge and neighbouring boroughs.AchievementsIn recent years the school has won a number of awards reflecting the wide range of initiatives undertaken by students and staff. Most recently the Travel Green Team achieved a Gold Travel Award for Sustainable Travel, which was awarded by Transport for London. In October 2009 the school was awarded ‘Outstanding’ status by Ofsted. Oaks Park has been designated an International School for 3 years from 2011–14, in recognition of the range we have of links developed with countries around the world. These include students and staff visiting schools overseas, schools from abroad visiting Oaks Park and video conferences taking place with schools from a variety of countries. The school is undergoing an expansion programme and will expand to 10 forms of entry in September 2015, which reflects the fact that Oaks Park is a popular school and highly regarded within the local community.