Oasis Academy Harpur Mount

Inspection of a good school: Oasis Academy Harpur Mount Alfred Street, Harpurhey, Manchester M9 5XR

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Outcome

Oasis Academy Harpur Mount continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The principal of this school is Sally Herbert. This school is part of Oasis Community Learning Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), John Barneby, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Caroline Taylor OBE.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at this vibrant and nurturing school, which is a haven for them. They know that there are always trusted adults who care for them and will help them if they have any concerns. This helps pupils to feel happy and to have a strong sense of belonging.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement. Pupils are eager to meet these aspirations. They relish receiving awards for their efforts, such as ‘marble’ prizes, stickers and ‘champions of the week’. Pupils typically achieve well. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well during lessons and across the school. They aim to follow the school’s motto to be ‘ready, respectful, safe’. Pupils benefit from calm, purposeful learning environments. They know that people have many differences and they value the diversity in their school. Pupils spoke proudly of their roles as ‘young translators’, in which they help anyone in school who speaks English as an additional language.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with a broad variety of experiences. For example, pupils enjoy clubs in sports, books, art and design, science and history. Visits and residential trips, including to the theatre, museums and art galleries, further enrich their learning.

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

In close partnership with the trust, the school has adopted a suitably ambitious and knowledge-rich curriculum. It has identified the subject-specific steps of knowledge that pupils should acquire and the order in which this information should be taught. Pupils 26 and 27 March 2024

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learn well across a range of subjects, which cover the full breadth of the national curriculum.

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Staff have strong subject knowledge. They benefit from ongoing coaching from the trust. Mostly, staff choose suitable activities that enable pupils to learn curriculum content well. Innovative assessment strategies provide teachers with intelligent information about how well pupils are learning. However, some staff do not adapt some activities well enough to help pupils to practise and apply what they learn. From time to time, this limits how much pupils learn.

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The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND swiftly. Strong partnerships with parents and carers, and with external professionals, enable staff to adapt the delivery of the curriculum. This helps pupils with SEND to benefit fully from all that the school offers.

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Reading has a strong prominence in this school. High-quality texts have been carefully chosen to support pupils’ learning across the curriculum. Pupils use inviting areas that foster their love of reading. They visit the local library and have plentiful e-books at their fingertips. Pupils excitedly said that they complete quizzes about the books that they have read. They also write book recommendations for their peers and for their parents.

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The school has a well-designed phonics programme. Staff have undertaken training from the school and from the trust in how to implement this. Typically, they deliver it well. In the Nursery class, children listen to and join in with songs, stories and rhymes. This generally prepares them well for the Reception Year, when they begin to learn letters and the sounds that these represent. Pupils read from books that contain the sounds that they already know. Most pupils become fluent and accurate readers. Nonetheless, some of the strategies that some staff use to support pupils who struggle in their reading are not fully effective. This means that some of these pupils do not catch up as quickly as they should.

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The school is tenacious in its approach to encourage pupils’ attendance. It understands and removes the barriers that prevent a small number of pupils from attending regularly. This has helped to reduce levels of absence across the school. Pupils have positive attitudes towards their learning. They said that they appreciate learning new things. Pupils are well mannered and polite.

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Pupils encounter a well-thought-out programme that supports their wider development well. This is threaded through all that the school does. Pupils develop their leadership skills through many roles, including eco-councillors, play leaders, health champions and ‘academy members of parliament’. They know that these roles help them to improve the school for others. Pupils also compete in sports tournaments and visit local care homes.

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The school and the trust have established a culture of strong relationships and collaboration. They work together remarkably well, with a sharp focus on continuing to improve the quality of education that pupils receive. Staff work in a close-knit team. Many are long serving. They feel well supported in their roles and know that the school and the trust consider their work-life balance and their well-being. For instance, the school has introduced new technology to reduce staff’s workload. 26 and 27 March 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 At times, some staff do not implement learning activities consistently well to enable pupils to practise and apply their knowledge. This means that some pupils, from time to time, do not learn as well as they could. The school should support staff in choosing and adapting learning activities to help pupils to know and remember more of the intended curriculum.  Occasionally, support for some pupils who are behind in their reading is not as effective as it should be. This slows these pupils’ progress in becoming fluent and accurate readers. The school should ensure that staff use effective early reading strategies consistently well.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October and November 2018.

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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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 26 and 27 March 2024

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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). 26 and 27 March 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 31 October and 1 November 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Oasis Community Learning Trust.  Since the previous inspection, a new principal has been appointed.  The school does not make use of alternative provision for pupils.  The school provides a breakfast club for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school's education provision.  This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken this into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons and spoke with teachers. He spoke with some pupils about their 26 and 27 March 2024

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learning and reviewed samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also considered the curriculum in some other subjects and spoke with some pupils about their learning in those subjects.  The inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read with a familiar adult. He discussed reading with some groups of older pupils.  The inspector spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. He also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and around school, including at breakfast club, at playtime and during lunchtime.  The inspector met with the principal and other leaders of the school. He also held meetings with representatives of the board of trustees, including the CEO and regional and national directors.  The inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central

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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.  The inspector reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation document, improvement plans, minutes of trust board meetings, notes of quality- assurance visits and documents pertaining to pupils’ behaviour and attendance.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff. He spoke with staff about their workload and their well-being.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments.

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Inspection team

David Lobodzinski, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 March 2024

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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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