Oasis Academy Woodview Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve the quality of teaching in reading, writing and mathematics by ensuring that teachers:
  • set work at the right level for pupils of different abilities and challenge the most able pupils
  • model good reading habits and check that pupils read widely and often
  • provide pupils with regular opportunities to write at length and independently
  • improve pupils’ accuracy in using grammar, punctuation and spelling
  • develop pupils’ reasoning skills in mathematics.
• Continue to improve the quality of leadership and management by:
  • securing the accuracy of teachers’ assessment of pupils’ work and use this knowledge to improve outcomes
  • developing the skills of new subject leaders to strengthen the monitoring and improvement of teaching.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive principal is driven by a strong belief in pupils and the community the school serves. She has set a clear direction for the school to regain quickly its good status and ensure that all pupils achieve their potential. New procedures and revised systems are moving the school forward at a pace.
• The newly appointed senior leadership team and the regional director from the trust work together well as an effective team. They know the school well. Clear and well-formulated development plans are in place. Leaders acknowledge that there are areas in the school where teaching has not been strong enough. Together, they continually monitor the school’s work, identify individuals who need support, and provide coaching and training to improve their practice.
• Regular testing, in line with trust practice, is carried out to assess the proportion of pupils working at age-related expectations in reading and mathematics. However, assessment methods are not reliable. Results fluctuate greatly and show that progress is inconsistent. Predicted reading results for Year 6 in 2018 were not achieved. Checks made of pupils’ books during the inspection showed that teacher assessments of writing are often overgenerous.
• Although new to post, leadership of English, mathematics and special educational needs is effective. Subject leaders are knowledgeable and have a good understanding of where improvements are needed. They have led staff training and introduced appropriate initiatives, for example reading programmes, mastery in mathematics and intervention work, to aid teaching and raise achievement. Leaders check pupils’ books but are not involved in observing teaching or providing individual feedback. This reduces their contribution to improving teaching and holding staff to account.
• Leaders have reviewed and strengthened the curriculum. They have ensured that pupils receive teaching in all subjects across the curriculum. High-quality reading texts have been incorporated into all topics to help improve pupils’ literacy levels. For example, the book ‘Shackleton’s Journey’ is linked to the topic ‘Frozen’, to develop pupils’ geographical knowledge and literacy skills simultaneously. Displays around the school showcase pupils’ high-quality artwork and science books contain some excellent examples of investigative work. The curriculum is enriched well through a good range of extra-curricular clubs, visits and visitors.
• Pupil premium funding is spent well. It is used to support pupils’ personal, social and academic development. Swimming lessons and breakfast club are fully funded, and school trips and uniforms are subsidised for eligible pupils. Additional staffing also ensures that pupils receive individual or small-group support. As a result, disadvantaged pupils are fully included in school life and make progress in line with that of their peers.
• Leaders have spent the sport premium funding wisely. Specialist coaching is provided for pupils and used to train staff. This ensures that staff are confident and competent to teach physical education and that pupils learn a wide range of skills. The range of clubs and activities available has led to increased pupil enjoyment and participation.
• Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development has resulted in this becoming a strength of the school. Monthly values, known as the ‘9 habits’, underpin the school’s ethos. Values such as compassion and honesty are taught regularly in assemblies. Pupils appreciate and celebrate diversity within their school. As one pupil said, ‘We are all different and need to find out about each other.’ During the inspection, pupils learned about the life of Ida B. Wells, an African-American female activist who fought for civil rights. This demonstrates leaders’ commitment to equality of opportunity and aids pupils’ knowledge of British values, such as individual liberty and respect and tolerance.

Governance of the school

• The trust, through the regional director, provides a good balance of challenge and support to leaders. Minutes of meetings show that leaders are suitably questioned about outcomes for different groups.
• Good use is made of the effective teaching resource available within the trust itself. All teachers have benefited from working alongside teachers from other schools and observing good practice. The early years leader is also a strategic leader working across two academy schools. She has coached and supported staff in the early years to help them improve provision and their practice.
• The regional director acknowledges that the school has not been as successful as the trust would have liked. A whole school review was carried out in November 2018. This identified a number of areas for immediate action, including safeguarding procedures. Leaders’ response to the recommendations made was swift and effective. A further review in February 2019 showed that many of the issues identified were resolved but that further work was needed. This honest appraisal is helping the school identify and tackle areas of weakness quickly.
• An academy council provides an opportunity for ‘community voice’. This council does not, however, have any delegated or legal responsibilities for the school. Unfortunately, no one was available from the academy council during the inspection to provide an overview of its work.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff have received appropriate training in safeguarding, including in preventing extremism and radicalisation. As a result, staff have a good understanding of the school’s policy and arrangements in place. They know what steps to take if they have any concerns about a pupil. Updates and key information, including statutory guidance, are regularly cascaded to staff. Staff sign to say they have received this information.
• The school’s designated safeguarding leader is new to post but has a good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding requirements. She has already established clear and effective procedures for recording any concerns. All incidents are stored on the school’s electronic recording system and a clear chronology of events and actions is readily available. Referrals are made when needed and are followed up to ensure that no child is at risk. Leaders work closely with other agencies and families to help keep children safe.
• Leaders ensure a safe environment for pupils through regular risk assessments and site checks.
• Arrangements for carrying out checks on new members of staff are rigorous. All vetting and barring checks are completed to ensure that adults are fit to work with pupils. The school maintains an up-to-date, accurate record of all staff appointments.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Until recently, pupils in key stages 1 and 2 have made insufficient progress because there has been a lack of consistency in the quality of teaching over time. Some teachers do not set work at the right level for pupils with different abilities because they have not assessed pupils accurately or thoroughly enough. They have not challenged pupils sufficiently, particularly the most able, or they have provided work which is too difficult for lower-ability pupils.
• Phonics is taught well in the early years and Year 1. Pupils have a good grasp of early sounds and most can use their phonics skills to read successfully.
• Progress in reading has been hampered as pupils move through the school, because teachers do not encourage or model good reading habits. Some pupils, including lower-ability pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not have reading books to take home. Teachers do not check pupils’ reading records to ensure that pupils read widely and often or change their books systematically.
• Leaders have introduced new strategies and initiatives to improve the teaching of reading. Daily guided reading lessons are used to develop pupils’ higher-order skills, such as scanning, comprehension and inference. Pupils also regularly complete ‘quizzes’ on the computer to assess their understanding of books read and check that books chosen are at the right level. Whole-class texts have also been selected to link with curriculum topics. This work is helping improve pupils’ attainment and progress in reading but further development is needed to develop pupils’ enjoyment and willingness to read.
• Teachers have recently raised their expectations of pupils’ presentation and handwriting. Many pupils write in pen but some are still struggling to master a neat and cursive style or present their work neatly. There is good coverage of writing for different purposes. Pupils are creative and use imaginative vocabulary in their work. This is most successful when their writing links to the class text, such as writing a diary account based on ‘Pig Boy’. However, the quality and coherence of pupils’ writing is restricted by their poor grammar, spelling and punctuation. Some teachers also limit pupils’ opportunities to develop writing stamina and to write independently through the use of writing frames and overly structured activities.
• Leaders have supported teachers in improving the delivery of mathematics. Resources and training have been provided, including mastery training for staff in Years 1 to 4. Tasks are set at three different levels in all year groups and Year 6 pupils work in ability sets. This is helping teachers challenge the most able and meet the needs of lower-ability pupils more effectively in mathematics. However, due to weaknesses in assessment, teachers have not identified where pupils have gaps in their learning. For example, very few pupils are able to tell the time competently in Year 2 or Year 3. Additionally, pupils’ reasoning skills are not well developed. This limits pupils’ ability to explain how they reach their answers and reach the higher standards.
• Support staff make a good contribution to learning. They provide additional help for small groups and individuals and run intervention programmes. This is particularly successful in helping disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND make progress.
• Homework tasks are often creative and allow pupils to follow up work taught in class. Some impressive 3-D models, made at home but displayed in classrooms, demonstrate pupils’ commitment to learning and their enjoyment of topics taught.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development is good.
• Pupils have positive attitudes and say they like their teachers and enjoy school. Members of staff are supportive and caring and, as a result, pupils gain confidence. The school community is very diverse, with pupils from a wide range of cultures and faiths. At breaktimes and in lessons, pupils play and work together happily, due to the school’s strong promotion of cohesion and inclusivity.
• Pupils have a good understanding of good health. Sports activities and healthy snacks contribute to their physical well-being. Work in science gives them a strong understanding of how the body works. For example, pupils could give a detailed description of how food is digested following a practical experiment which recreated its journey through the body. Pupils know which foods are healthy and which are not. Projects such as ‘Roots for shoots’ involve pupils in growing crops and vegetables to make their own food.
• Pupils enjoy and readily take on additional responsibilities in school. For example, the ‘safeguarding squad’ are on hand to help pupils feel safe and help resolve any problems. Global awareness is promoted through the school’s ‘Green giants’ or eco councillors in key stage 2. School council members are involved in decision making and are proud of their efforts in raising money for different charities.
• Pupils feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe. All parents and carers who responded to the online survey agree their children feel safe. Pupils have a good understanding about road safety and stranger danger, as these are taught well. Pupils are aware of the dangers involved in using the internet and the importance of e-safety. They are confident to report any concerns to a member of staff.
• Pupils say that bullying hardly ever happens in school but if it did, they would tell an adult and it would be sorted out. They know that bullying can occur in different forms, including cyber, physical or verbal bullying.
• Breakfast club is fully funded by the school. This provides a nutritious breakfast for pupils who attend and a valuable resource for parents. Pupils enjoy the activities offered, such as dancing and colouring. Pupils are carefully supervised. They behave well and socialise freely with different age groups. This aids their social development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and at breaktimes. They move around school sensibly.
• Staff manage pupils’ behaviour well. They record incidents on the school’s electronic recording system and follow these up with appropriate sanctions.
• Pupils know and adhere to the school policy. Incidents of unacceptable behaviour are rare and, consequently, fixed-term and permanent exclusions are reducing.
• The school monitors pupils’ attendance very closely. A range of incentives are in place to reward and encourage good attendance. Absence is carefully tracked and appropriate steps are taken when a pupil’s attendance falls below particular levels.
• Leaders are continuing to monitor and work with the small minority of parents whose children are persistently absent or who take holidays during term time. As a result, attendance for all groups is now at least in line with the national average. This is an improvement on historical figures, which were below average.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over the past three years, the attainment of pupils at the end of key stage 2 has been below the national average in combined reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, some pupils have been ill prepared for the demands of secondary school.
• In 2017 and 2018, pupils made average progress in writing, but their attainment in grammar, punctuation and spelling was below average. Progress in reading and mathematics has declined over the past three years. In 2018, progress was below average in mathematics and well below in reading. Very few pupils achieved the higher standard in these subjects.
• The attainment of pupils at the end of key stage 1 has risen steadily over time. In 2018, attainment was above the national average in reading and writing but average in mathematics. However, some of these pupils, who are now in key stage 2, still have significant gaps in their knowledge and skills. For example, a considerable number of pupils are not able to tell the time correctly and cannot use their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills accurately.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve similar standards at the end of key stages 1 and 2 to their peers in school but do less well than other pupils nationally. However, over time, pupils have made steady progress from very low starting points.
• Outcomes in the Year 1 phonics screening check are broadly in line with the national averages. In 2018, only two pupils left Year 2 unable to use phonics to the required standard. While pupils are given a good grounding in phonics in the early years and key stage 1, transference of their phonics skills into general reading and writing is less successful.
• The school’s own assessment information is not secure. Data provided during the inspection suggests that higher numbers of current pupils are working at age-related expectations than was evident in pupils’ books. However, given the low starting points seen in pupils’ books in September, inspectors agree that pupils are making progress and the vast majority are moving towards age-related expectations in reading, writing and mathematics in all year groups.
• While there are some differences in the attainment of boys and girls in some classes, there is not a set pattern. There are no discernible differences between the attainment or progress of disadvantaged pupils and those of others in the school.
• The most able pupils do not make consistently good progress, because teachers do not challenge them well enough. Too few build on their key stage 1 results to reach the higher standards at the end of key stage 2.
• Pupils with SEND are supported effectively by teaching and support staff. This enables them to make progress from their individual starting points. The SEN leader knows this group of pupils well and is effective in ensuring that their individual needs are met through external specialist agency support or targeted interventions.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership and teaching in the early years are effective. Leadership has recently been strengthened by support from an early years leader from within the trust. Working across two schools, the leader has provided training and coaching for staff. This has had a positive impact on their work. Best practice is shared and the learning environment utilised to good effect. The leader has a clear overview of where strengths lie and a clear action plan pinpoints where other improvements can be made.
• Most children join Reception Year with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age in most areas of the curriculum. The vast majority of children are at age-related expectations in their physical development but below in their literacy, communication and language skills. As a result of good support, nurture and effective provision, they gain confidence and independence and make good progress in all areas.
• Outcomes in Reception have risen year on year. In 2018, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development was above the national average.
• The quality of teaching is good. Staff know children and their families well. Teachers have high expectations, based on sound assessments of children’s abilities. They model language well and question children effectively to help develop their communication and language skills. All areas of the early years curriculum are well planned and there is a suitable balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning. Activities are exciting and capture children’s imagination and interest.
• Children’s individual development is captured in well-presented literacy and numeracy books and in learning journeys. The evidence contained within these records highlights the good progress that children make. The learning journeys provide a mix of evidence, for example photographs, notes on focused observations and examples of children’s work. These are shared with parents, along with individual learning plans which identify ‘next steps’ for children. This partnership ensures that parents are involved in their child’s education from the outset.
• The learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, is well resourced. Staff plan activities well and provide children with a wide range of experiences which cover all areas of their learning. Staff develop children’s interests effectively and are attentive to their needs.
• Behaviour is good. Children happily share equipment and take turns. Strong relationships between adults and children and among children themselves, together with high levels of care and respect, are established from the outset. A good example of this was seen during the inspection when children spontaneously cheered each other on in a race on the playground.
• Effective induction arrangements, prior to children starting school, lead to children settling extremely well into school life and routines. Children are happy and show good levels of perseverance, even when they find things difficult, such as using scissors to cut things out.
• Welfare requirements are met. Classes are appropriately staffed. It is a safe environment and all statutory school policies are in place, ensuring that children are safe and feel safe. Parents have very positive views of the school and value the support that teachers and leaders provide.

School details

Unique reference number 139128 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 10058536 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 387 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Keith Dennis Executive principal Emma Johnson Telephone number 0121 440 4202 Website www.oasisacademywoodview.org

Email address office@oasiswoodview.org

Date of previous inspection 3–4 December 2014

Information about this school

• This school is larger than the average-sized primary school. It is one of 52 schools within the Oasis Academies Trust, which operates across five regions in England. The trust board is responsible for overall governance. Executive leadership is delegated to other members, including the chief executive officer and regional directors.
• There has been considerable turnover of staffing in the past year in both leaders and teachers. The executive principal and deputy principal were appointed in September 2018. The executive principal is also principal at Oasis Academy Foundry.
• The vast majority of pupils are from a diverse range of mixed ethnic groups. Less than 10% are White British. However, almost all pupils speak English.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is average. The proportion of pupils with education, health and care plans is also average.
• The school manages a breakfast club.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed teaching and learning in all classes with either the principal or deputy principal. Inspectors also looked at pupils’ books with senior leaders.
• Inspectors observed two assemblies, playtime, lunchtime and small groups of pupils working with support or teaching staff.
• Meetings were held with the executive principal and deputy principal, other staff with leadership responsibilities and the regional director from the academy trust.
• Inspectors took account of the 31 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and comments made by parents as they brought their children to school. Pupils’ views were collected by talking to pupils informally during the school day and from the 14 responses to the pupils’ inspection survey. Inspectors also considered the survey responses from 17 staff.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, talked to them about their learning and reviewed the work in their books.
• Inspectors reviewed a number of documents, including the school’s own evaluation on how well it is doing, academy development plans, data on current achievement, reports by the trust about the school, minutes of academy committee meetings and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Heather Simpson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Amarjit Cheema Ofsted Inspector Graeme Rudland Ofsted Inspector