South Ossett Infant Academy

Inspection of South Ossett Infant Academy Vicar Lane, Ossett, West Yorkshire WF5 0BE

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Overall effectiveness Good

Ofsted has not previously inspected South Ossett Infant Academy under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. However, Ofsted previously judged South Ossett Infant School to be outstanding, before it opened as South Ossett Infant Academy as a result of conversion to academy status. 5 and 6 December 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand the importance of being kind and considerate. They treat each other with respect. Pupils consider the feelings and opinions of others. They build strong relationships with staff. Pupils learn to consider the impact of their actions on other pupils in their class and the school community. Staff help pupils to recognise their own emotions. Pupils learn routines that allow them to move around school calmly and with focus. Staff deliberately teach these routines and give pupils the opportunity to practise them. The teaching of these routines begins in the early years, helping children to develop independence and maturity. They develop learning habits that will support them with their future education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite and well mannered. They enjoy helping each other. For example, Year 2 ‘lunchtime servers’ value the opportunities they are given to help their younger friends during lunchtimes. When asked what they would do if other pupils forgot to say please or thank you, one Year 2 helper responded, ‘We have never had to do that, everybody says please and thank you here.’ Pupils are enthusiastic in their lessons. They are keen to learn. Leaders are alert to supporting families when pupils’ attendance is lower than it should be.

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better?

Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum. They have identified clearly what pupils should learn and the order in which they should learn it. Leaders have identified the subject specific vocabulary that they want pupils to learn. Leaders have taken recent action to make this clearer for children. Pupils enjoy their learning. In some subjects, staff do not provide pupils with enough opportunities to practise and apply what they have been taught.

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better?

Staff and leaders are alert to pupils who may need support with their learning. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have any barriers to learning identified accurately. However, the precise learning adaptations required for these pupils to access the curriculum are not clear. This has an impact on how well some pupils with SEND achieve across the curriculum.

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better?

The phonics curriculum is well established. Pupils build their phonics knowledge over time. They are given books to read that enable them to practise the sounds that they have been taught. Pupils who need help with reading get regular support. Pupils enjoy reading. They enjoy listening to poetry and stories. In the early years, children have regular opportunities to hear stories and rhymes that help them to understand language and learn new vocabulary.

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better?

Pupils learn about the wider world, with regular opportunities to experience the community in which they live. Children in the early years, for example, learn about their local environment by visiting the local church and learning about road safety. Pupils learn to be aware of, and respect, different groups of people in society. Pupils learn the importance of treating everybody with kindness. Pupils learn about the 5 and 6 December 2023

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benefits of eating healthy snacks and drinking water. Children in the early years excitedly tell adults what their favourite fruits and vegetables are. Pupils learn about how to stay safe online. They use the phrase ‘stop, close, tell’ to explain what they do if they see anything unsafe or inappropriate online. Children in the early years learn to develop their independence and self-esteem.

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Leaders consider the workload and well-being of staff. Staff say that they feel well supported. Governors understand the role that they play in helping the school to develop. Governors offer challenge to the school leaders about the school’s performance. School leaders seek advice from governors and other sources and welcome their challenge and support.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff are alert to pupils who may be at risk of harm. They receive training that keeps them informed about safeguarding issues. Staff know who to report safeguarding concerns to. Although leaders take prompt action to keep pupils safe, the way that leaders record the actions taken by the school sometimes lack precision. This means that some actions taken by leaders are more difficult to evaluate.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the curriculum does not provide sufficient opportunities to revisit learning. Pupils do not have enough occasions to practise and deepen the knowledge they have been taught. This has an impact on all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. The school should ensure that the curriculum sequencing in all subjects provides all pupils, with the best chance of building their knowledge over time.  The school’s support strategies for pupils with SEND are not precisely matched to their needs. This has an impact on how well some pupils with SEND achieve. The school should ensure that the information they gather about the needs of pupils with SEND is used to inform the support that they receive to access high-quality learning.  Although pupils are not at risk of serious harm, the school’s recording of the actions it takes to protect them sometimes lack precision. The decisions that the

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

school makes about how to keep pupils safe are not fully analysed to inform future action. The school should ensure that leaders’ actions to keep pupils safe are sufficiently detailed to enable leaders to evaluate their impact carefully. 5 and 6 December 2023

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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). 5 and 6 December 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.southossettinfantsacademy.co.uk

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Information about this school

 The school is part of a group of schools called Education Ossett Education Trust (EOCT).

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  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 spoke to senior leaders, including members of the governing body.  Inspectors spoke to a representative from the local authority. 5 and 6 December 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: mathematics, early reading and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors evaluated responses from parents to Ofsted’s online survey. They spoke with some parents bringing children to school. Inspectors also evaluated the responses that staff and pupils made to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Liam Colclough, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Melissa Milner Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 December 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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