Oasis Academy Short Heath

School report Oasis Academy Short Heath Streetly Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B23 5JP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The academy is led with great skill by the Principal, supported by a strong team of senior managers and enthusiastic new middle managers. Together, they have succeeded in guiding marked improvement in all aspects of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  Pupils’ progress has accelerated since the academy was formed and is now good. Their achievement has been particularly notable in their learning of phonics (letters and the sounds they make), and in grammar, punctuation and spelling.  Teaching is good and sometimes better throughout the academy, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Teachers have good relationships with pupils, and high expectations for their social and academic achievements.  Pupils behave well and are enthusiastic, cheerful learners. They are respectful and caring to each other and polite to adults. They have full confidence in the staff to keep them safe.  All cultures work happily together in a stimulating

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

and exciting learning environment, which helps to promote a good spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.  The academy council and the academy sponsors have played a strong role in the leadership and management of the academy. This has contributed to the significant improvement of teaching and the achievement of pupils in the last eighteen months.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Too few more-able pupils reach higher levels of attainment because their work is not consistently challenging and sometimes is too easy for them.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 20 lessons. Nine of these were seen jointly with the Principal or members of the academy leadership team.  Meetings were held with pupils, the Principal, other staff with leadership responsibilities, the Chair of the Oasis Academy Council, and a representative of the sponsor.  Inspectors discussed teaching and pupils’ progress with class teachers and teaching assistants. Pupils’ books and records of their progress were examined.  Inspectors listened to pupils reading and talked with them about their reading experiences.  There were 21 responses to Parent View, the online questionnaire for parents. Inspectors also examined responses from the parents to the academy’s own survey of their views from last summer and they spoke to a number of parents in the playground. The inspectors considered the 30 responses to the staff questionnaire.  A range of documentation was examined, including the academy’s self-evaluation and development plan,

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Information about this inspection

and analysis of pupils’ achievement and progress. Safeguarding arrangements, school policies, and records of checks made by leaders and external consultants on the quality of teaching, were also examined.

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Inspection team

Rodney Braithwaite, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The academy is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Oasis Academy Short Heath became an academy school in February 2013, sponsored by the Oasis Community Learning Trust. The governing body is called the Oasis Academy Council and its members are called councillors.  The academy has a Nursery, two Reception classes and twelve other classes; there are two classes in each year group. Most children attend the Nursery part-time but a small number of them are full-time.  Almost two thirds of the pupils are White British, the remainder coming from a range of ethnic heritages. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is lower than that found in most schools.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is well above average. This is additional government funding provided for children who are looked after by the local authority or known to be

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Information about this school

eligible for free school meals.  The school has a higher than average turnover of pupils starting or leaving at times other than entry into the Early Years Foundation Stage. In particular, a significant number of new pupils entered Year 2 in the last academy year.  The academy meets the current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The academy provides a breakfast club and a number of after-school activities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the attainment of more-able pupils by ensuring that they are given consistently challenging work in all subjects across the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The Principal has led very skilfully the school’s establishment as an academy. With the enthusiastic support of other leaders and a highly motivated staff, she has ensured that school improvement is moving strongly ahead.

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The leadership and management are good

 In particular, the Principal and senior leadership team have led the monitoring of teaching and learning very effectively. This has helped considerably in the successful development of the skills of some relatively inexperienced teachers, and others who are new to teaching, who have joined the staff. The result has been a marked improvement in achievement and teaching since the academy was formed.

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The leadership and management are good

 Under the skilled guidance and support of senior leaders, subject and other leaders are successfully contributing to the management of the academy. This has resulted, for example, in more effective checks on pupils’ progress, consistency in the teaching of phonics, and improvement in literacy and numeracy skills throughout the academy.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have a very accurate view of the academy’s performance. Not only do they ensure improvement in priority areas such as teaching, and closing the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and others in the school, but they also identify where progress can be improved. They have, for example, decided that further progress is necessary in the performance of more-able pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The new curriculum is generally contributing positively to pupils’ learning and achievement. Teachers provide many imaginative and enjoyable challenges in all subjects, leading to good achievement in most of them. This is linked to the good promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education and preparing pupils for their future lives in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have been effective in using the additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils to rapidly close the gap between their attainment and that of other pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The additional sports funding is helping pupils to lead healthier lifestyles and to understand the value of good teamwork. This has helped to fund a regular sports coach who also supports staff in developing their skills. Other specialist coaches also visit the academy regularly and pupils are now involved in a wide range of sporting activities with other schools. Sporting resources have also been improved.

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The leadership and management are good

 This multi-cultural academy promotes equal opportunities well, benefiting from the contacts and schools of the worldwide Oasis Academy Trust. This results in no discrimination, helps pupils to show respect for others and take pride in their work and the academy.

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The leadership and management are good

 The Oasis Academy Trust has provided very effective and highly valued support to the academy’s development. In particular, the Regional Director is constantly on hand to offer guidance, as well as setting leaders a demanding pace for academy improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has a good partnership with parents, including some who are very hard to reach. Parents’ responses to Parent View, their response to the academy’s own survey, and their discussions with inspectors, were nearly all positive. Many comment on the improvement they have seen over the past 18 months.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The experienced and knowledgeable Chair of the Academy Council leads a strong team of councillors, some of whom are new members. They bring a range of complementary skills to the academy, and have a good working knowledge of the academy’s performance. They are particularly keen to ensure that the academy is a vibrant and welcoming centre for the local community. Councillors challenge academy leaders rigorously about the performance of pupils and teachers.  Councillors have a good knowledge of the links between teachers’ pay in relation to their identified targets for improving pupils’ learning. Their pay panel considers very carefully all evidence provided by leaders before deciding on pay awards. They also monitor rigorously the use of additional government funds to improve the performance of eligible pupils. Councillors have a good working knowledge of how the extra sports funding is being used and the outcomes for pupils. They also ensure that safeguarding

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The leadership and management are good

arrangements meet requirements and they regularly review the effectiveness of academy policies.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive in all year groups. They behave well in lessons, are polite and always prepared to help each other.

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Behaviour

 Virtually all pupils say they enjoy coming to school. They talk with great enthusiasm about their learning in ‘India week’, the ‘Roman day’, painting the Oasis mural and their residential trips in Years 5 and 6. They also greatly enjoy their after-school sports clubs and, for example, the glee and cheerleading clubs.

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Behaviour

 Pupils take much pride in the academy’s environment with the help of their litter monitors. They take equal pride in their uniform and in the presentation of their work. They move around a very large school with staircases quietly and calmly, and behave well at lunchtimes in the hall.

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Behaviour

 Pupils think that behaviour in the academy is good, although most can recall incidents of disruption at some time. Only a small number have difficulty in concentrating on their learning, and very few are excluded from school. Almost all parents and staff say that behaviour is good.

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Behaviour

 Attendance has much improved over the last year and is now slightly above the national average. The academy’s procedures on attendance are rigorous. Parents have ensured that the punctuality of their children for school has also greatly improved.

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Behaviour

 The wide variety of learning opportunities and experiences, some provided by the Academy Trust, are making a positive contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.

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Safety

 The academy’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils express great faith in the adults who look after them. The academy works effectively with external professionals and agencies in supporting families and children who may be at risk of not doing so well.

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Safety

 Pupils have a good understanding of bullying. They say that there is very little, and, ‘Anyway, the teachers always sort it out quickly.’ They understand the dangers to them on the internet and through social media.

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Safety

 The school is thoroughly multi-cultural, and the pupils report hardly any examples of racism, as they all get on well together. They firmly state that, in all their practical and physical activities, ‘Everyone behaves safely.’

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Safety

 Parents’ responses also indicate that pupils are safe in school. Staff members too agreed that pupils are well-behaved and safe in school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is consistently good across the academy. There are examples of teaching that is outstanding. Teachers have benefited from effective and continuous monitoring and support by senior staff in order to develop teaching skills to a high level. This is why the achievement of pupils has risen rapidly since the academy was formed.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The improvement of teaching over time is evident in pupils’ books and in the many colourful displays of their work around the school.  The learning of pupils is enhanced by the care and pride they are encouraged to take in their work. In all year groups, pupils’ presentation of their work shows that they follow closely teachers’ guidance on the importance of presenting their work neatly and accurately in order to avoid making careless mistakes.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers ensure that pupils listen carefully to instructions and understand their learning targets. This results in an urgency by pupils to learn and complete activities. Pupils have also learned that teachers are always willing to support them with explanations if they do not understand the tasks they have been set.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ marking helps pupils’ achievement accelerate. Comments are well balanced between praise for good learning and advice on how to improve. A strong feature of teaching is the way teachers’ questioning skills identify the depth of learning of the pupils. This was observed many times during the inspection in every year group.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Relationships between teachers and pupils are particularly good, and this greatly encourages the positive learning attitudes of pupils. Teaching benefits effectively from the contributions of very competent teaching assistants throughout the school, who work closely in teams supporting and guiding the progress of all pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers promote homework consistently in all years, mark it regularly and use the outcomes to move pupils’ learning on.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Literacy skills are promoted well through all subjects, and pupils’ rapidly rising reading skills help them to widen their knowledge by using library reference books from school and locally.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Although teachers try to ensure consistent progress by all groups of pupils, this is not always achieved with more-able pupils. These pupils are sometimes set problems which they can solve easily, and they are not moved on quickly enough to learning activities which stretch them.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Shortly after becoming an academy in 2013, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was below that expected nationally at the end of Year 2. This picture was similar in 2014. However, in 2014, a high number of new pupils joined Year 2, some with very little knowledge of English. Since joining the academy these pupils have made increasingly rapid progress in all areas of their learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The number of pupils reaching above-average standards has risen significantly since 2013, showing the effect of more consistent teaching in Years 1 and 2. Inspection evidence confirms that most pupils in Key Stage 1 are now working at or above the levels expected for their age.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Observations of pupils at work, their work in books and academy data indicate that good progress is now being made by pupils throughout Years 1 and 2. This includes disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, pupils from minority ethnic groups, those who speak English as an additional language and disadvantaged pupils.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Since becoming an academy, teachers have enabled pupils to reach standards consistently above the national average in the national phonics screening. This is reinforcing the good progress of pupils in their reading skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The high number of disadvantaged pupils on roll who are supported by additional funding are reaching higher standards than other pupils in writing by the end of Year 2, and similar levels in reading and mathematics, although fewer are reaching above-average levels than others in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Almost all pupils in Years 3 to 6 are making good progress. Leaders recognise, however, that an even greater number of more-able pupils are capable of reaching the very highest standards. Some reach Level 3 by the end of Year 2 and Level 5 by the end of Year 6, but very few do better than that.  Pupils attain especially well in their learning of grammar, punctuation and spelling, where their attainment is consistently above average. This is as a result of well planned teaching, based upon regular checks on the progress being made by every pupil throughout the academy. This is contributing to the rapid progress being made by pupils in reading and writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All groups in Key Stage 2 in 2014 made good progress. This was true especially of disadvantaged pupils supported by government funding. These pupils were attaining in English and mathematics similar to all other pupils nationally in 2013. Their progress throughout Years 3 to 6 was higher than that of other pupils. The gap in attainment between this large group and other pupils in the school has closed considerably so that it is now very narrow.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Effective support has also helped strongly the progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, so that their progress is similar to that of other pupils. This is also the case for pupils from minority ethnic groups and pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils are enthusiastic readers and an increasing number are reaching above-average standards. Their progress is carefully tracked by teachers and parents, and they enjoy reading to adults. Pupils in Year 6 talked about their favourite authors and books such as The Suitcase Kid, Oliver Twist, and At Least Once, ‘about Nazis destroying books in the War’. Several said that some of their reading had inspired them to write poetry.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils learn and achieve well in a range of other subjects, such as art, French and history.

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The early years provision is good

 Children start in the Nursery with skills and experience well below those typically seen for their age. A growing number have skills well below those normally seen in language and social development, some of them being in the early stages of learning English.

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The early years provision is good

 Children make good progress in the Nursery and Reception classes, although their attainment in their reading, writing and number work is just below national expectations by the time they enter Year 1.

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The early years provision is good

 Good teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is enabling children to make increasingly rapid progress. Children are provided with many stimulating and exciting learning opportunities in the classroom and outside. Their thirst for knowledge and intense curiosity are constantly encouraged, especially when they regularly visit the ‘forest school’ at the end of the playground.

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The early years provision is good

 Teachers and their teaching assistants work very effectively in their teams. Their accurate assessment of children’s progress and its use in planning is enabling children to catch up quickly in their social and emotional development.

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The early years provision is good

 Children in all classes in Nursery and Reception learn rapidly how to share and how to help each other. They learn to follow instructions carefully. Their behaviour is good and sometimes outstanding as they gain confidence and learn how to make choices, and work and play together.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. Leaders consistently encourage good learning and social habits, resulting in children making good progress in all aspects of their development.

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The early years provision is good

 All staff work effectively with parents, who are encouraged into the academy to talk with staff and discover how to support their children’s development.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing

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Grade Judgement Description

to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 139125 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 447855

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 484 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Gloria Childs Principal Michelle Lee Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0121 373 6056 Fax number 0121 382 1086 Email address info@oasisshortheath.org guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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