Oasis Academy Bank Leaze

Inspection of a good school: Oasis Academy Bank Leaze Corbet Close, Lawrence Weston, Bristol BS11 0SN

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Outcome

Oasis Academy Bank Leaze continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Oasis Academy Bank Leaze is a welcoming and exciting place for pupils to learn. There is a strong sense of community spirit. Pupils love coming to the ‘blue school on the hill’ and they thoroughly enjoy learning. They are encouraged to develop positive ‘habits’. This month’s habit, ‘joyful’, is very much in evidence in the happy buzz of activity as pupils work and play.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are a credit to the school. They respect staff and have a good sense of right and wrong. Pupils are polite and behave well. They feel safe at school. Adults care deeply for them. Pupils trust staff and say that they always have someone to turn to.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff are ambitious for pupils. They believe that everyone can succeed if they are supported well. Adults carefully explain their expectations. This inspires pupils to listen attentively and work hard. Pupils’ achievements are proudly displayed and celebrated throughout the school. For example, pupils are thrilled to see their writing on the ‘best work ever’ board.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are delighted with the school. Typical comments include ‘the school could not do more for us’ and ‘staff are amazing’.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The co-principals have formed a highly effective working partnership. They provide strong leadership and staff follow their lead well.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have designed a high-quality curriculum. This sparks pupils’ curiosity and motivates them to learn well. The school’s vision, ‘enjoy, explore, encourage’, is central to all that the school does. For example, Year 4 pupils visited a water recycling centre where they learned about water pollution and treatment. Leaders carefully plan and sequence building blocks of knowledge. Teachers explain and demonstrate knowledge carefully. Teaching builds on pupils’ prior knowledge so that, over time, pupils know and remember 1 and 2 December 2021

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more. Leaders and teachers regularly check pupils’ knowledge. They provide effective additional teaching for pupils who need help to catch up. In the early years, teachers plan exciting, purposeful activities in the outdoor environment. These motivate children to explore and find things out. For instance, children take part in ‘messy play’ and gardening. Children enjoy these well-thought-out activities.

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Leaders have a good understanding of the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders work closely with staff, parents and specialists to plan extra support for pupils. As a result, pupils with SEND progress well through the curriculum.

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Children learn to read as soon as they start school. They enjoy activities which develop their early reading skills well. Leaders have recently introduced a new phonics curriculum. However, they are still in the process of adapting this so that it precisely matches pupils’ needs. Older pupils learn to develop a love of reading and read regularly. Adults provide extra support for pupils who need help to catch up. This helps them to become more confident readers. Pupils become absorbed when teachers read stories to them.

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In mathematics, teachers provide pupils with regular opportunities to use their knowledge and practise their skills. For example, Reception children can count objects up to 10 and match them with numbers. Older pupils use their knowledge to solve more complex problems well.

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Adults’ support for pupils’ well-being and wider development is well thought out. Pupils explain confidently that being kind and caring helps to ‘fill our buckets’. Pupils raise money for charities, attend sports clubs and enjoy forest school.

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Leaders and staff forge caring, supportive relationships with pupils and families. Pupils and parents feel valued and listened to.

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Staff are proud to work at the school and relish taking on new challenges. Most staff have good subject knowledge. Leaders have plans in place to develop the roles of staff further. However, a few staff are new to the role of subject leader and do not yet evaluate the quality of the curriculum precisely.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and staff prioritise safeguarding. Appropriate recruitment checks are in place. Staff fully understand that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. Leaders provide training updates, which help staff to identify when a pupil might be at risk of harm. Staff consistently follow the school’s procedures for referring and reporting concerns. Leaders make timely referrals to external agencies when pupils need extra help. They work closely with families to support them.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, they learn about the dangers of drugs and how to stay safe online. 1 and 2 December 2021

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have recently begun to implement a new phonics curriculum. They are in the process of adapting their approach to meet the needs of all pupils. Leaders must now embed the new phonics curriculum fully so that there is a consistent approach across the school.  Subject leaders are enthusiastic and most have good subject knowledge. Nevertheless, some staff are new to the subject leader role. This has affected their ability to evaluate the impact of the curriculum precisely. Senior leaders need to ensure that new subject leaders continue to be supported to improve the quality of the curriculum further.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 1 and 2 December 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10199858 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 and 16 June 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is led by two co-principals who were recruited for these roles in September 2019 and September 2020 respectively.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation.  The inspector held several meetings with the co-principals, one of whom is the early years foundation leader and the acting SENCo.  The inspector had a meeting with the chief executive officer and the national and regional directors from the multi-academy trust.  The inspector completed deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics and geography. The inspector also reviewed subject plans and pupils’ workbooks in 1 and 2 December 2021

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science. For each of the deep dives, the inspector held discussions with subject leaders and reviewed curriculum plans.  Together with the co-principals, the inspector visited several lessons in both key stages. The inspector also talked to pupils and teachers.  The inspector discussed safeguarding procedures with the designated safeguarding leaders. The inspector also reviewed examples of the school’s safeguarding records and checked the school’s single central record. The inspector spoke to pupils and staff about safeguarding.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at other times of the school day, including breaktime and lunchtime.  The inspector spoke to pupils, staff and parents to gather their views. The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s pupil and staff surveys. The inspector also took account of responses to the school’s most recent questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Catherine Beeks, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 December 2021

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regulates and inspects to 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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