Oasis Academy Lord's Hill

Inspection of Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill Romsey Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 8FA

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good 26–27 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly school. In the main, pupils get on well together. Most pupils say they feel safe. They are tolerant of others’ differences. There are respectful relationships between staff and pupils. If bullying happens, most pupils feel confident that it will be dealt with.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that their teachers want them to do well. In the past, pupils have not achieved as well as they should. Some pupils, especially in key stage 4, feel let down because of frequent changes of teachers. This has left pupils with significant gaps in their knowledge and understanding. Key stage 3 pupils feel more confident because the curriculum is helping them to know and remember more. Nevertheless, many pupils still need to catch up.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders’ expectations of pupils’ behaviour have increased. Many pupils have responded well to the new rules, particularly in key stage 3. Pupils say that behaviour has improved in lessons. Around school, most pupils behave sensibly. However, a few pupils, particularly older pupils, still need to improve their behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils appreciate the wide range of opportunities on offer. These develop their talents and interests. For example, several pupils spoke enthusiastically about performing in ‘Matilda’ recently.

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better?

Leaders are determined to improve pupils’ education. Recent challenges in staffing resulted in weaknesses in the way the curriculum was planned and taught. Pupils did not achieve well across a range of subjects. New senior and middle leaders have implemented a range of strategies to bring about improvements. There is now a stable team of specialist teachers in place. Staff receive strong support and training from the Oasis Community Learning multi-academy trust.

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better?

Pupils study the full range of subjects in key stage 3. At key stage 4, the English Baccalaureate subjects are at the heart of the curriculum. Increasing numbers of pupils are choosing to study history, geography, modern foreign languages and the separate sciences at GCSE level.

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better?

Most curriculum leaders have detailed plans in place, showing which topics should be taught and when. Some plans, such as in history and mathematics, are delivered well. However, in other subjects, such as modern foreign languages and science, pupils do not learn the intended curriculum quite so well. In some cases, teachers do not check well enough that pupils have grasped key ideas before moving on. Sometimes this results in pupils losing focus and disrupting learning. Similarly, some pupils do not remember knowledge over time. This is because they do not always have enough opportunities to revisit previous learning. 26–27 February 2020

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Leaders have high expectations of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils access the full curriculum. Some of these pupils have extra support with their literacy and reading. This builds their vocabulary and helps them to tackle harder work. However, some pupils with SEND feel they need more support to help them learn better.

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Leaders have worked hard to improve pupils’ behaviour. The proportion of pupils who receive fixed-term exclusions remains high. However, there are signs that pupils are learning to modify their behaviour through the school’s ‘reset’ system. This has been particularly successful for pupils in key stage 3.

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Over time, pupils’ attendance has been too low. This has recently improved. Leaders have been successful in improving some pupils’ attendance. However, many pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, still do not come to school often enough. This hinders their learning.

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There is an impressive range of activities and trips on offer to pupils. These develop pupils’ wider skills, such as in sports and the arts. For example, some pupils recently participated in a boys’ dance workshop. Pupils have timetabled lessons covering personal, social, health and economic education. The careers programme is comprehensive. It includes ‘Futures’ week, which focuses on different careers. This prepares pupils well for life after school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities. They report any concerns they may have about pupils’ safety promptly. Leaders are quick to follow up concerns. There are strong systems in place across the school.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work closely with other agencies to ensure pupils get the help they need. Specialist staff in school work with vulnerable families. Staff understand the safeguarding risks pupils may face in the local area. They make sure pupils learn how to reduce the risks they may encounter. Pupils feel confident they will get help from school adults if they have concerns.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum plans are well designed in most subjects. Some teachers are effective in implementing these plans, breaking down key knowledge and making sure pupils have understood it. However, this is not the case in all subjects. Leaders should ensure that the intended curriculum is implemented consistently well across all subjects so that pupils know and remember more over time. 26–27 February 2020

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 Pupils sometimes struggle to remember what they have learned in the past. This is limiting the standards pupils achieve in school. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum enables pupils to remember and recall knowledge as they move through the year groups.  Pupils’ behaviour is improving because of new behaviour systems introduced by leaders. However, some pupils, particularly in key stage 4, do not behave well enough. Leaders should ensure that all pupils behave consistently well.  Leaders have rightly identified attendance as an area for improvement. Some pupils’ attendance has recently improved. However, there are a number of pupils, especially some disadvantaged pupils and some with SEND, who are still missing too much school. Leaders should improve the systems they have in place so that pupils’ attendance improves.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 26–27 February 2020

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School details

Website www.oasisacademylordshill.org Date of previous inspection 22–23 March 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The principal took up post in November 2018.  Four members of the senior leadership team were appointed from September 2019.  The school is part of the Oasis Community Learning multi-academy trust.  A small number of pupils attend the Compass School, a local authority pupil referral unit.  A small number of pupils attend The Southampton Hospital School.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the school’s principal and senior leaders and the regional director and chief executive officer of Oasis Community Learning multi-academy trust.  We had a phone call with the head of education and learning at the local authority. 26–27 February 2020

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 In order to inspect safeguarding, we looked at the school’s records of checks on staff, the school’s safeguarding policy and the way leaders record any concerns about pupils. We held meetings with the school’s designated safeguarding lead and pastoral staff. We spoke to pupils and staff to get their views on safeguarding.  We telephoned the alternative providers used by the school.  We spoke with pupils in meetings and around the school site.  We spoke with a wide range of staff, including teachers and support staff.  We considered the views of staff from three meetings and from the 54 staff who responded to Ofsted’s confidential questionnaire.  We considered the views of 53 parents who responded to the confidential Ofsted parental questionnaire, Parent View, and 51 parents who provided free-text responses.  We considered the views of 26 pupils who responded to Ofsted’s confidential pupil questionnaire.

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 We did deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, science, history, and modern foreign languages. For each of these subjects, we held meetings with the curriculum leaders, visited lessons with leaders, talked to pupils about their work, looked at those pupils’ books and talked to teachers whose classes we had visited.

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Inspection team

Paula Sargent, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Richard Carlyle Ofsted Inspector 26–27 February 2020

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