Oasis Academy Wintringham Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 13(5) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires significant improvement.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve pupils’ behaviour further by making sure that:
  • attendance continues to improve for all pupils, including the disadvantaged, and reaches at least the national average
  • the number of exclusions reduces rapidly to below the national average.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that all teaching comes up to the standard of the very best teaching now evident in school.
• Improve outcomes further by ensuring that:
  • the plans in place to secure more rapid progress in history and geography are successful
  • departments continue to focus on securing maximum progress for all pupils, so that the improvements for disadvantaged pupils continue and they make the same or better progress as all pupils nationally with the same starting points
  • teachers continue to focus on key stage 3, so that pupils in Years 7 and 8 make as rapid progress as they do in key stage 4.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The principal inspires and empowers her staff and pupils to realise their potential and she has high expectations of all members of the school community.
• Leaders have taken decisive action to strengthen the quality of teaching and learning and to improve pupils’ outcomes and behaviour. This action has led to clear improvements. Particularly impressive is the way leaders ensure that the whole-school community is in full support of their actions. Staff appreciate the time given to training and the way professional development is bespoke to their needs.
• Leaders put a real emphasis on the importance of strong relationships between staff and pupils. They know their pupils well and have an accurate view of what is working well in the school and where improvements are necessary. Their plans for development focus well on the most important priorities and the targets they set are clearly measureable.
• The trust provides highly effective support and challenge to the school. Middle leaders value the work they do with trust staff and the contact with other schools in the trust. The regional director and other trust staff add an additional, extremely rigorous layer of challenge for school leaders with regular analysis of pupils’ progress. School leaders acknowledge the part this has played in improvements in the school.
• Strong leadership at all levels is at the heart of this school’s improvement. The principal is very ably supported by a very capable team of like-minded senior leaders. Middle leaders are an emerging strength of the school. Like senior leaders, they are ambitious for their pupils and show no complacency. Middle leaders are proud of the school's success, but determined to make further improvements. They use progress data effectively to pinpoint underachievement in each year group and put into place appropriate support to prevent pupils from falling behind.
• Staff morale is high. The many responses to the staff questionnaire were overwhelmingly positive about the changes they have seen in the school over the last three years. Staff are proud of the school and feel valued. The improvements the school has made are clearly the result of a team effort.
• The curriculum is well matched to the needs of the pupils and they are now making good progress. Leaders have a very clear rationale, with defined criteria, for the present curriculum. They are constantly reviewing the impact of the curriculum and they make changes, where appropriate. To cite just one example, leaders could see that pupils were not making the progress they should in mixed-ability classes. They have now moved to a situation where there are more classes where pupils are grouped by ability and progress is now more rapid.
• Staff offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Some are subject based, offering pupils the chance to supplement their learning. Others give pupils opportunities to take part in sport or other activities. Pupils take up these opportunities and activities are well attended.
• Leaders are now spending additional government funding more effectively. The present leadership team acted decisively in changing the way they spend the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils. Inspectors saw clearly with current pupils the impact of these changes on both the attendance of current pupils and the progress they are making.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is central to the ethos of the school. Delivery is well organised through the tutor programme and across the curriculum. Enrichment days give pupils further opportunities to develop this aspect of their education and leaders make effective use of outside speakers to supplement the expertise of school staff.
• Leaders could explain very clearly why the number of both permanent and fixed-term exclusions were higher than the national average in 2017. They could also demonstrate how their strategies had been effective in reducing exclusions. However, they did agree that continued action is required to reduce the number of both permanent and fixed-term exclusions further.
• Leaders’ strategies to raise attendance and reduce the number of pupils who are persistently absent have been successful for all groups of pupils. Leaders recognise there is further work to do and are not complacent. They are determined that school attendance figures will, at the very least, match national averages.

Governance of the school

• Governors can articulate very clearly how governance has improved since the previous inspection. The academy council now has a range of people with a variety of relevant experience. A focused programme of training has given them the confidence to challenge leaders more effectively and minutes of meetings show how they are now doing this.
• Governors are very ambitious for pupils and staff. They visit the school frequently and talk to pupils and staff. As a consequence, they know the school well. They can see clearly which strategies have brought about improvement and where there is still work to do. They have effective systems in place to ensure that the school is improving.
• Governors talk with confidence about how they ensure that additional government funding for pupils who are disadvantaged, have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities and pupils in Year 7 who need to catch up is supporting good progress. Like school leaders, they saw that the pupil premium funding was not having the desired effect on both the attendance and achievement of disadvantaged pupils and they welcome the changes made and the positive impact they have had.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school sets the safety of pupils as a high priority and leadership of this area is strong. Staff are vigilant and leaders work closely with external agencies in the community to ensure that they keep vulnerable pupils safe. Processes are thorough and carefully documented.
• Staff and governors are very clear about their responsibility to keep children safe and fulfil their safeguarding duties. Governors review the school’s systems regularly to check that they are fit for purpose.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of how to keep safe and assess the risks that they may face. The school engages well with external agencies to provide comprehensive advice on a range of issues which may be a risk to pupils’ well-being. Child sexual exploitation and online safety are just two examples of the topics they cover and leaders also make sure that they cover any particular risks which might be affecting the local community.
• Leaders robustly tackle pupils' absence and are tenacious in chasing up non-attendance. As a result, the improved attendance is contributing well to pupils’ safety and well-being.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have had a major focus on learning and teaching and shown great determination to improve the quality of teaching. Carefully targeted professional development has had a real impact and teachers have responded well to it. In many responses to the staff questionnaire, teachers talk of how they have valued the opportunities to improve their skills. As a result of this better teaching, the progress pupils make has accelerated.
• Teachers have established purposeful classroom routines and pupils’ improved attitudes to learning have contributed significantly to the more rapid progress of pupils. Positive relationships and mutual respect feature strongly and these help lessons flow smoothly.
• In English, for example, collaborative planning is effective and skilled questioning ensures that teachers challenge pupils of all abilities. Pupils benefit from the feedback they receive from their teachers and the model answers they see in class. Lesson observations and close scrutiny of pupils’ books showed good teaching in science and mathematics too.
• School leaders have focused intensively and successfully on improving pupils’ reading skills. The most able pupils read with fluency and feeling. Lower-ability readers have the right techniques to tackle words they find more difficult. The whole-school reading project encourages pupils to read suitably challenging books and pupils talk positively about the scheme.
• Leaders are very clear about the importance all staff developing pupils’ literacy skills and this work is having impact. Similar plans are in place for numeracy, but this work is in its infancy.
• Analysis of pupils’ workbooks across a range of subjects shows that in some subjects, pupils’ progress accelerates in key stage 4. Leaders recognise that there is still more to do to ensure that pupils are consistently challenged to make progress at the same rate across key stage 3.
• Where learning is at its strongest, time is used well to maximise the opportunities for learning and teachers provide pupils with work that challenges them and helps them to make good progress. However, leaders accept that they will need to maintain their focus on teaching to ensure that all teaching comes up to the standard of the best.
• Leaders recognise that the quality of teaching in history and geography has not been consistently good over time and this has resulted in weak outcomes for pupils. Leaders are beginning to get to grips with this and have appointed new staff to teach in history. Clear improvements are already apparent in geography at key stage 4 and in history, but it is too early to discern the full impact of this work on the outcomes achieved by pupils.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are proud of their school and the opportunities it provides for them. They talk about the strength of relationships and clearly value the support of their teachers and staff. Pupils recognise and appreciate the improvements they have seen over the last few years in school.
• Pupils receive comprehensive guidance on how to stay safe in school and within their community. Pupils have great confidence in the staff to deal with any issues that they take to them.
• Pupils are knowledgeable about the different types of bullying and speak highly of the effective way the school deals with any incidents of bullying. The curriculum for personal development has ensured that they do not tolerate racism or homophobia. Pupils are adamant that discrimination has no place in the school.
• Thirteen pupils attend alternative provision off the school site. Leaders ensure that safeguarding procedures are just as rigorous as the school’s own procedures in both institutions. School staff keep in regular contact with the providers and check regularly both on pupils’ welfare and academic progress. Pupils attending alternative provision make good progress.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Staff and pupils agree that behaviour has improved significantly since the previous inspection. Teachers use rewards and sanctions effectively and pupils have responded well to the approach.
• Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is good and this has undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the improvements in the pace of learning over the last year. Pupils also show an increasing pride in the way they present their work.
• Pupils are polite and welcoming to visitors. During the inspection, they responded willingly to inspectors’ questions and were clearly proud of their school and the way it is improving.
• The atmosphere around school is calm and purposeful. Inspectors did see some boisterous behaviour on corridors, but this was very much in the minority.
• Leaders clearly recognise the negative impact poor attendance can have on pupils’ learning. They now have in place highly effective, rigorous systems to monitor and improve attendance. As a result, attendance for all groups of pupils is improving and is moving towards the national average.
• The number of exclusions has started to reduce, but leaders accept that the number of students who are excluded is still too high.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Achievement across the school has improved considerably over the last two years as a result of the improved quality of teaching. Lesson observations and detailed scrutiny of pupils’ work showed this improvement to be continuing with current pupils. Teachers now expect more of pupils in terms of the progress they are making. A strong emphasis is placed on the quality and presentation of work produced by pupils, and the quality of their work is good.
• Over time, outcomes have been good in art, physical education and health and social care. Across different subjects, including English, mathematics and science, pupils currently make strong progress.
• After the 2016 GCSE results, leaders put a great focus on accelerating the progress of high-ability pupils. The impact of this work is clear in the much-improved outcomes for those Year 11 high-ability pupils who left in 2017.
• Leaders, including governors, accept that the progress of disadvantaged pupils in Year 11 was weak in both 2016 and 2017, when compared to pupils nationally with the same starting points. As a result, they changed the way they used the extra government funding for disadvantaged pupils and current pupils are making much better progress. Leaders and teachers have a clear focus on this group of pupils and this is communicated effectively across the school. Indeed in some subjects now, with current pupils there is no noticeable difference between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making progress that is as good as others nationally with the same starting points. Well-trained staff support these pupils very well and focus carefully on individual needs. Careful consideration is given to identify individual pupil’s needs, to allow tailored support. This then leads to further good progress.
• Leaders, including governors, accept that in 2016 and 2017, outcomes for Year 11 pupils in both history and geography were poor, when compared to pupils nationally with the same starting points. Senior leaders and trust staff have provided effective support in both history and geography and current pupils are making much better progress.
• Careers education and guidance is a strength of the school and this is helping to raise the aspirations of pupils. As a consequence, the vast majority of pupils now go on to appropriate further education or training. Provisional information about those pupils who left the school at the end of 2017 show that very few pupils are not in employment, education or training.
• Leaders are aware that pupils do make good progress in key stage 3, but it is not as strong as the progress pupils make in key stage 4. Leaders have plans in place to address this issue.

School details

Unique reference number 135209 Local authority North East Lincolnshire Inspection number 10042182 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary comprehensive School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 11 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 783 Appropriate authority Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Board of trustees Kathryn Bruning Heidi Stennett 01472 871 811 www.oasisacademywintringham.org/ Heidi.Stennett@oasiswintringham.org Date of previous inspection 14–15 June 2016

Information about this school

• The school is part of the Oasis multi-academy trust.
• Local governance is delivered by the academy council and national governance is delivered through the national office and the regional director, on behalf of the board.
• The school is smaller than the averaged-sized secondary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. Few pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• A lower than average proportion of pupils have an education, health and care plan compared to the national average.
• The school uses two alternative providers for nine pupils, Phoenix Park Academy and Sevenhills Academy.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed a range of teaching and learning in parts of lessons, with three sessions jointly observed with senior leaders. They also conducted a scrutiny of pupils’ work jointly with middle leaders. Inspectors observed form time and an assembly.
• Throughout the two days of the inspection, inspectors spoke with pupils, both informally and formally, about their learning and safety.
• Inspectors listened to pupils reading.
• The lead inspector held a meeting with two governors and with the regional director as a representative of Oasis Academies Trust. Inspectors also held meetings with senior and middle leaders and other staff.
• Inspectors reviewed leaders’ evaluations of the performance of the school, the school improvement plan and minutes of governing body meetings. They considered a range of documentation in relation to child protection, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors analysed the 34 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire for parents and carers (Parent View), the 20 pupil questionnaire responses and the 79 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

David Pridding, lead inspector Lynn Kenworthy Gordon Watts Patricia Head

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector