Oasis Academy Nunsthorpe Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 13(4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve the quality of teaching, so that it is consistently good or better, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics, to ensure good progress for all groups of pupils by ensuring that: work set for pupils is appropriately challenging for all abilities, particularly low-prior-attaining pupils assessment is used skilfully to plan sequences of learning, address pupils’ misconceptions and strengthen their understanding pupils’ phonic knowledge is secure pupils’ spelling is accurate and contributes to improving the quality of writing more opportunities are provided to develop handwriting and improve sustained writing in literacy lessons as well as in other curriculum areas opportunities are given for pupils to use and apply mathematics in different subjects.
• Rapidly improve outcomes for all groups of pupils to make sure they are at least good by: accelerating pupils’ progress so that it is at least in line with national figures in reading, writing and mathematics diminishing differences in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• Further improve provision in the early years through: continuing to develop staff knowledge and skills to secure children’s rapid progress in early reading and writing.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The principal is driven by a strong belief in pupils and families and is keen for all to achieve their potential. She is highly visible around the school and leads by example to reinforce high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and learning. The principal has worked closely with the trust to recruit the right staff for Nunsthorpe so that this term, for the first time in her tenure, all teachers are enthusiastic, committed and capable of delivering lessons to an appropriate standard.
• The vice-principal has proved to be an inspirational coach and mentor, helping teachers to improve and refine their teaching to enable more pupils to make the progress of which they are capable. The assistant principal keeps a close eye on pupil progress information, assisting leaders in robustly holding teachers to account for the progress of every pupil in school.
• Supported by senior leaders, middle leaders are regularly monitoring and evaluating learning in their subjects. Middle leaders are beginning to make recommendations to the whole staff and the quality of teaching, although still variable overall, is much improved since the last inspection.
• The key stage 2 leader for mathematics has secure subject knowledge, helping her to secure improvements in teaching. For example, teachers have recently introduced more opportunities for pupils to develop reasoning skills. The leader for reading has overseen the introduction of a reading scheme that enables him to track closely pupils’ progress through a series of reading books well matched to pupils’ ability. Collectively, pupils have read 6,500 books in the last term, proof that pupils read widely and often. However, leadership of phonics is less effective and pupils’ progress in phonics continues to be sporadic as a result.
• The leader with responsibility for provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities ensures that funding for pupils is spent appropriately. She liaises effectively with external agencies to ensure that their advice is followed in school and her careful tracking of pupils’ progress is enabling her to advise teachers and teaching assistants to help pupils make secure progress.
• Pupil premium funding is used to provide additional teaching and some individual support for disadvantaged pupils. The impact of this work is that the difference between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and others in school is much reduced, although this group of pupils is still attaining lower levels than all pupils nationally.
• Leaders have reflected on the needs of pupils and worked with intent to ensure that pupils receive rich experiences and exciting learning in areas other than English and mathematics. They have carefully selected themes that have ignited pupils’ love of learning and exploited links to develop the most urgently needed skills. Pupils’ engagement in their learning has improved beyond recognition as a result. Most recently, teachers have delivered the curriculum through the arts, enabling pupils to practise their skills in art, poetry, dance and music, while concurrently developing communication, use of language and fine motor skills along the way.
• Leaders have spent the school sports funding wisely to develop effective partnerships with local schools that enable pupils to participate in a wide range of sports and competitions. Pupils really love taking part in football and yoga extra-curricular clubs, for example. Older pupils are looking forward to taking part in a residential visit where they will experience adventurous outdoor activities such as abseiling and high rope walking. This funding has also been used to improve teachers’ ability to lead physical education lessons; inspectors observed both boys and girls responding with enthusiasm and flair to a dance lesson.
• Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ awareness of social, moral, spiritual and cultural issues has resulted in this becoming a strength of the school. Every opportunity to discuss the importance of the school’s values, ‘we work hard, we work together’, is used well by staff. Pupils told inspectors that children who were disabled or those of different races are welcome in school because ‘it doesn’t matter’, ‘they would still fit in’.

Governance of the school

• The chair of the academy council is a frequent visitor to school and has a rounded and realistic view of the effectiveness of leaders and teachers. He is keen that there should be no ‘quick fixes’ and is determined that any improvements are sustainable into the future.
• Governors work closely with the academy trust and have a well-developed understanding of their duties within the trust’s structure. They are able to hold leaders to account due to an open and honest working relationship forged between the chair and principal.
• Governors’ work within the community is effective. Governors channel the views of parents through the parents’ forum, enabling leaders to understand issues and to deal with them more effectively as they arise. Governors and leaders are working successfully to engage more members of the community and, together, are enhancing the reputation of the school as a safe and supportive haven.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The safeguarding officer is highly effective in her role and has a deep understanding of challenges faced by pupils. She is not afraid to take on difficult issues and works extremely well with local agencies, including the police, to intervene when pupils are unsafe. She has developed exemplary practice within school and regularly supports other schools in improving their responses to extremism.
• All policies and procedures support effective safeguarding and all staff are trained appropriately to deal with safeguarding issues as they arise. Staff teach pupils how to keep safe when using the internet and how to ensure their personal safety.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Until very recently, pupils have made insufficient progress because there has been a lack of consistency in the quality of teaching over time. Pupils have not made enough progress in reading, writing and mathematics. While some teachers have had high expectations of what pupils will learn, this has not been evident in all classes.
• Some teachers have not paid enough attention to assessment information and have not adapted their teaching swiftly enough to prevent pupils continuing to fall behind. Tasks given to pupils have not been matched well enough to their skills and abilities. Some teachers have not planned sequences of learning well enough for pupils to learn and consolidate new skills, leaving them with gaps in their understanding that make future learning difficult. This has led to low-prior-attaining pupils, in particular, struggling to keep up in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Over time, learning in English has not been planned sufficiently well to enable pupils to acquire and practise their basic skills. This has led to too many pupils being unable to form letters correctly, to use phonics efficiently or to spell accurately. Teachers have not ensured enough opportunity for pupils to develop sustained writing in English lessons or in other areas of the curriculum.
• The teaching of mathematics is helping pupils to secure basic skills in number and calculation but until recently, teachers have planned too few opportunities for pupils to develop their reasoning skills and to use and apply those skills to mathematical problems in other subjects.
• Teaching is improving. There is a growing consistency in the quality of teaching across the school. Some teaching is leading to strong learning and middle- and high-prior-attainers are making secure progress. There are emerging strengths in the quality of teaching over time, particularly in early years and at upper key stage 2.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and respectful, enabling teachers to do their job and pupils to learn in a safe-to-fail environment. Teachers regularly praise pupils and some give precise praise that acknowledges pupils’ efforts in their learning. Staff use the school behaviour policy consistently, which underpins pupils’ consistently good behaviour on display through school.
• Teachers have embraced the new curriculum and some teaching successfully captures pupils’ interests so pupils are keen to learn. Pupils have really enjoyed practical, investigative science lessons, for example. Pupils’ work in a wide range of subjects is celebrated in displays and shows the success of learning in history, geography and art in particular. Year 4 pupils were observed learning to use taiko drums with a specialist music teacher, learning to call out their names to a pulse before using the drums to beat out a traditional Japanese rhythm. During lessons such as these, pupils were very engrossed in new learning and making rapid progress.
• Pupils, in danger of falling behind, are now receiving ‘precision teaching’, additional teaching given as soon as a pupil is observed struggling to learn new concepts. These interventions are relatively new, but early signs show they are having an effect on pupils’ learning, enabling them to rejoin lessons with renewed confidence.
• Provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is having a positive effect on meeting pupils’ social and emotional needs and academic progress. Teachers and teaching assistants, working alongside the leader for special educational needs, provide sensitive and effective support for these pupils.
• Teachers ensure that pupils receive regular homework. Homework is carefully planned so that all pupils are able to participate in research or exploration that supports their learning in class. Homework books and home-school diaries provide a good record of this learning. Parents are well informed about how their child is doing through the ‘settling in’ report sent out at the start of the year, and a more detailed annual report.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. In lessons, pupils respond well to receiving a purple token from their teacher in acknowledgement of kind behaviours or good attitudes to learning. Pupils take care in their work and books are neat and well kept. Pupils wear their uniform with pride.
• The school’s work to promote pupils’ physical and mental well-being is a strength. For example, the recent whole-school theme of ‘Rights Respecting Schools’, linked to pupils’ creation of a whole-school art exhibition, has enhanced pupils’ ability to express when they feel safe or unsafe. Pupils wrote to the local press and acted as tour guides for visitors to the ‘gallery’. The overall impact of the project has been to create a sense of pride and belonging for both staff and pupils.
• Pupils benefit from taking part in healthy eating and fitness programmes that help them to make the right choices and lead an active lifestyle. Forest school lessons are helping pupils to learn how to enjoy being outside and to care for the environment. Older pupils take part in ‘bikeability’ to enable them to stay fit while using the roads safely. Pupils are taught about road safety, drug abuse and the dangers of gang crime. Pupils report feeling safe in school as a result of the lessons they have but also because of the care provided by school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. A calm and purposeful atmosphere pervades the school and inspectors observed very little low-level disruption. Pupils move about school in a quiet and controlled manner, only letting off steam when they reach the playground. Pupils said that they enjoy playtimes and that the fighting that used to happen ‘doesn’t happen any more’.
• The behaviour and inclusion officer has been instrumental in achieving and sustaining the good behaviour that is now the norm at the school. He is patient and determined and has a calming effect on pupils. As a result of liaison with parents, careful planning and consistent support for pupils, he has ensured that serious breaches of behaviour have been eradicated and minor incidents are much reduced. He has now turned his attention to supporting pupils’ behaviour for learning to ensure that pupils have the best chance of succeeding academically.
• Pupils spoken to, were adamant that no one would bully them in school. One pupil said: ‘That’s not how we do it here,’ echoing the words regularly used by the principal to reinforce high expectations of pupils’ behaviour.
• Regular attendance is promoted frequently around school and in assemblies. Pupils receive recognition for their good attendance, resulting in 85% of pupils attending every day in summer 2017. The focused work of the entire school team has ensured that attendance has continued to improve so that attendance is above national figures and the proportion of pupils persistently absent from school is below the national average.

Outcomes for pupils

Requires improvement

• In 2016 and 2017, the attainment of pupils at the end of key stages 1 and 2 was below national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. The proportion of pupils who attained the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined at the end of key stage 2 increased from one third in 2016 to a half in 2017 but remained below the national average.
• In 2016, the progress of Year 6 pupils was above the national average in writing and mathematics, but below in reading. In 2017, pupils’ progress was broadly in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. There was little difference between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and others in school but these pupils made much less progress when compared to other pupils nationally.
• Some low- and middle-prior-attaining pupils did less well when compared to similar pupils nationally but high-prior-attaining pupils achieved the standards expected.
• Outcomes in Year 1 phonics have been erratic over a three-year period. Last year phonics declined to 51%. The school has achieved outcomes in phonics by the end of Year 2 that are consistently closer to the average: in 2017, 93% of pupils had achieved the phonics screening check.
• Work in pupils’ books shows that their progress accelerates as they move up through the school, with the greatest amount of progress made in upper key stage 2. Overall, middle- and high-prior-attaining pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are now making secure progress.
• The school’s own assessment information shows that, this academic year, with some minor exceptions, pupils are making much better progress in all year groups in reading, writing and mathematics. In all year groups, disadvantaged pupils are making similar rates of progress to other pupils.

Early years provision Good

• Almost all children enter the Nursery with skills and knowledge below those typically seen for their age. Children are particularly challenged by low levels of communication and language development. As a result of effective provision enabling children to gain in confidence and to acquire social and self-care skills, around 40% enter Reception with typical levels of development.
• Around one third of children enter Reception having attended the school Nursery class. Some children arrive in Reception with no experience of pre-school provision. Despite this, children settle quickly into the Reception class because of the sensitive care and attention provided by adults. Outcomes at the end of Reception have increased year on year and in 2017, 70% of children left with a good level of development. This represents good progress from children’s low starting points.
• The principal has been the temporary leader for early years. She has a clear view of the strengths and weaknesses of the setting and has used this information to urgently improve provision. The outdoor area has been entirely remodelled since the last inspection and new resources have made the setting clean, bright and inviting. Staff have responded well to the support commissioned by the trust to help develop their practice.
• All staff are trained appropriately to safeguard children and work in tandem with the school’s safeguarding officer if concerns arise. Staff conduct a daily sweep of indoor and outdoor provision, making sure that equipment and resources are safe to use. Staff ensure that statutory welfare requirements are met.
• Staff meet frequently to discuss the progress of individual children. Staff regularly observe learning and use this information to plan experiences that will help children to acquire new skills. Activities provided for children are successfully helping children to listen, to play cooperatively and to develop a broad range of physical skills. Children were observed taking part in a ‘dough disco’ to help them develop control over muscles in their arms and hands, for example.
• Funding provided to help disadvantaged children to make a good start is spent well to provide additional support, including weekly speech therapy with a specialist. Some early years practitioners were observed questioning children well to develop their understanding and accurately modelling language for children to imitate.
• Teachers and early years practitioners have successfully engaged parents in their child’s learning. Parents are provided with much information to help prepare their child for school and home-school books show that parents are guided by staff to encourage activities, for example learning a series of nursery rhymes, that will help children when in school.
• Teachers’ planning and provision to help children acquire skills needed for early reading and writing are having less impact than in other areas of the early learning goals. The teaching of phonics is not sufficiently effective to enable children to make the rapid progress they need in order to get off to a quick start.

School details

Unique reference number 138237 Local authority North East Lincolnshire Inspection number 10044168 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 463 Appropriate authority The academy council Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Simon Cross Katie McGuire 01472 310013 www.oasisacademynunsthorpe.org office.oasisnet@oasisnunsthorpe.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Oasis Academy Nunsthorpe is larger than an average-sized primary school.
• The school is part of the Oasis Academy Trust.
• Sixty-five percent of pupils are eligible for support through the pupil premium. This is over twice the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• Ninety-four percent of pupils come from White British backgrounds.
• Mobility is above average. Up to a third of pupils join or leave the school during key stages 1 and/or 2.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics.
• Children in the Reception class attend full time. Children attend the Nursery part time.

Information about this inspection

• Together with the principal, vice-principal and behaviour and safeguarding leads, inspectors looked at pupil progress data, documents relating to behaviour and safety and documents relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 26 parts of lessons throughout the two days, some alongside senior leaders.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, and observed pupils’ learning in small groups. They spoke with pupils in lessons, at lunchtime and at playtimes and talked with groups of pupils from all classes.
• Meetings were held with the principal, senior and middle leaders and chair of the academy council. A conversation was also held with the regional director of learning for the trust.
• Inspectors considered the opinion of 14 parents through Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents) and also took into account results from the school’s questionnaire to parents and pupils.

Inspection team

Lesley Butcher, lead inspector Angela Harper

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector