Oasis Academy Arena

Inspection of Oasis Academy Arena Albert Road, South Norwood, London SE25 4QL

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The principal of this school is Jeanette Bell. This school is part of Oasis Community Learning, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the interim chief executive officer, John Barneby, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Caroline Taylor. 1 and 2 November 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and parents and carers have noticed improvements in their experiences of this school. Leaders have brought consistency to many aspects of the school’s work. Pupils feel safe and are interested in their lessons. They behave respectfully and treat each other well. They appreciate the new expectations and routines for behaviour, and it is clear that these are working.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has a secure curriculum in place that is ambitious for what pupils should learn. However, the teaching of the curriculum is not consistently leading to good learning in the classroom. Lessons can move on quickly, and this leads to gaps in some pupils’ understanding of key knowledge. Teaching routines are not securely in place to ensure that pupils benefit from the learning opportunities available.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has a positive focus on pupils’ well-being and mental health. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. They are given the advice needed to plan their next steps in education or employment. Pupils take part in the clubs and other activities provided by the school. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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better?

The curriculum in place is ambitious and broad. It is set out in a way that ensures that the work provided to pupils builds on what they have been taught before. Resources from the trust have been used to strengthen curriculum thinking. Teachers are knowledgeable about their subject and receive further support and training from the trust.

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better?

Leaders check how well pupils can read when they join the school. They accurately identify those who need additional help with their reading and provide appropriate support to build up these pupils’ fluency. However, this work does not securely transfer to other subjects and into adaptations to help weaker readers access the curriculum.

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better?

Pupils’ experiences in the classroom vary. Sometimes, subjects are delivered well, with teachers checking pupils’ understanding at each stage. At other times, understanding is not routinely checked and then acted on in class. When this happens and misconceptions are not addressed, learning moves on quickly and before pupils are ready. This means that important learning is not embedded in pupils’ memory.

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better?

The school makes efforts to improve pupils’ attendance. Leaders have set out clear strategies to help minimise time missed from school. They work with external agencies to address any cases of poor attendance. The school has established policies to improve pupils’ attitudes and behaviours. Clear systems, which are well understood by pupils, are leading to positive behaviour in the classroom. When disruption does occur, it is dealt with well by teachers. This helps everyone to focus 1 and 2 November 2023

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on learning. On occasion, pupils quietly opt out of learning activities, and this is sometimes not identified or challenged. Bullying incidents are rare, and the school takes effective action to respond to any reported incidents. Pupils feel safe. Staff take a caring approach when pupils have any concerns.

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The school provides clubs and activities to meet pupils’ interests. Many pupils benefit from this provision. For pupils in the specially resourced provision, these activities provide a caring environment in which specific interests can be explored with guidance from skilled teachers. Pupils are introduced to the ‘nine habits’ to develop their character through the school’s personal development curriculum. Activities and trips are planned to celebrate these traits, such as humility, honesty and being considerate. Pupils enjoy the personal development programme and confidently talk about how they have been taught key skills, including for keeping themselves safe when online.

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Leaders have reduced the proportion of pupils who do not go on to meaningful opportunities following their time at the school. The school has established a careers development programme that includes work experience and mentoring from qualified experts. This helps pupils to make successful decisions about their next steps.

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Trustees have a clear understanding of their roles. However, some of the systems in place to provide oversight of important areas of the school’s work are not working as well as they could. This means that trustees do not consistently have the information they need to challenge leaders’ actions.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are safe. However, statutory requirements are not consistently met for reporting pupils missing from education to the local authority. Safeguarding records have gaps, and systems do not have rigorous oversight to check that actions are routinely completed.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school and trust do not consistently ensure that systems relating to the oversight of safeguarding are in place, embedded and effective. This means that records have gaps, and statutory requirements are not met for reporting on children missing from education. The school should ensure that safeguarding processes are rigorous, and oversight systems for trustees are strengthened.  Pupils’ misconceptions are not consistently responded to in lessons. This leads to gaps in their understanding and knowledge. The school should ensure that 1 and 2 November 2023

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misconceptions are accurately and swiftly identified and addressed before teaching moves on to more complex ideas.  The needs of weaker readers are not routinely addressed across curriculum subjects. This means that these pupils do not make rapid progress in improving their reading skills and using these to access the full curriculum. The school should embed effective strategies to support readers across subjects.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 1 and 2 November 2023

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 6 and 7 November 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The current principal took up post in September 2023.  The school is part of Oasis Community Learning, a multi-academy trust.  There is a specially resourced provision for supporting pupils with autism with nine pupils.  The school uses two unregistered alternative provisions to support pupils.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 1 and 2 November 2023

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 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the principal and other senior leaders of the school. Additionally, discussions were held with trust leaders, including the regional director, the chief executive officer and the chair of trustees.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in English, art, geography and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum and visited lessons in some other subjects.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors visited the specially resourced provision and observed lessons in this area.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including leaders’ school evaluation, the school development plan, information about pupils’ personal development, records for behaviour and attendance, and reports to those responsible for oversight.  Inspectors met with groups of pupils to understand their experience of the school. They also considered responses to parent and staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Karim Ismail, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

David Booth Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 November 2023

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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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