Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Miss D Gobbi Headteacher Oasis Academy Oldham Hollins Road Oldham Greater Manchester OL8 4JZ

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Ofsted visit to Oasis Academy Oldham

Following my visit with Alyson Middlemass, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 29 September 2020, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the visit’s findings. Thank you for the time you made available to discuss your actions since September 2020, when the government expected all schools to open fully to all pupils.

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Ofsted visit to Oasis Academy Oldham

This visit was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended) and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for visiting schools while routine inspections are temporarily suspended.

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Ofsted visit to Oasis Academy Oldham

Ofsted’s visits to schools during the autumn term are not inspections. We are not giving graded judgements. We did not undertake the usual range of inspection activities and were unable to check other sources of evidence, such as visits to lessons or looking at pupils’ work. The content of this letter gives an overview of our discussions about what has happened in your school this term.

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Ofsted visit to Oasis Academy Oldham

During the visit, we spoke to members of the senior leadership team. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

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Context

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s education system is managing the return to full education for pupils following an extended break in formal schooling due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

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Context

 approximately 1,200 schools across all Ofsted grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate)  maintained schools, academies and free schools, special schools and centres of alternative provision, including those in cities, and coastal, town or rural communities.

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Context

The information from this visit will feed into Ofsted’s national reporting so that the insights can be shared with the government and the education sector. We did not find any significant concerns during the visit. In such a case, an inspection report would be published on our website and available to parents and carers.

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Context

We did not consider your response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer terms 2020, when the school was not open to all pupils.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 You opened the school to all pupils on 7 September 2020. Pupils are expected to attend on a full-time basis.  So far, pupils’ attendance has been below what it was for the same period last year. At the time of our visit, pupils from one of the class ‘bubbles’ in Year 8 were self-isolating. All pupils in Years 10 and 11 have returned recently from a two- week period of self-isolation.  You have decided to teach all pupils in tutor groups for the first part of this term. You believe this strategy will help to reduce the risk of infection at a time when Oldham is under local restrictions. At present, pupils are taught all subjects in the same classroom. This means that there are some topics and activities that pupils cannot complete at the moment. For example, there are some aspects of design and technology that cannot be delivered without access to specialist equipment. You are confident that pupils in all year groups will be able to study the usual

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

curriculum by April 2021.  Pupils in Years 9 to 11 are not taught all of their optional subjects currently. You intend for these pupils to learn the full suite of subjects by the middle of October. You plan to give these pupils extra teaching time for their optional subjects to compensate for the time that has been lost.  At present, pupils in Years 7 and 8 are studying all but one of the usual range of subjects. Pupils are not studying music currently because you have found it difficult to recruit a music teacher.  Your subject leaders have modified their curriculum plans to make sure that pupils have a secure knowledge and understanding of the most important prior learning in subjects. Teachers use quizzes and other strategies to check whether pupils’ prior learning is secure. Subject leaders intend to make further adjustments to curriculum plans in response to what their assessments of pupils tell them.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 You have already road-tested your plans for remote learning with the different groups of pupils who have had to self-isolate this term. You have developed systems for pupils to learn the usual curriculum via ‘live’ lessons. These systems align with pupils’ normal timetables and your curriculum plans.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Thank you again for contributing to this important national work. The views and experiences you have shared will help to inform future policy.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

I am copying this letter to the regional director and chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Oldham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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