Oasis Academy Henderson Avenue

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Oasis Academy Henderson Avenue

Following my visit to the school on 13 November 2018 with Brian Stillings, Ofsted Inspector, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2014.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Oasis Academy Henderson Avenue is a school that is an attractive and welcoming place for pupils to learn.

The new school building gives a real sense of pride and high expectation. Displays o...f pupils' work around the school are of a high quality and the environment is well organised and well cared for. You and your leadership team have created a culture that demonstrates high aspirations for your pupils.

You are determined to continue to improve the quality of education that your pupils receive and leaders and teachers work hard to make these improvements. You have detailed plans in place to develop a wide range of areas. The school's actions for raising achievement are listed within these plans and it is important that you maintain your focus on these priorities.

Adults greet pupils as they arrive at school. From the moment pupils start the school day to the moment they leave for home, your pupils are well cared for. Parents agree.

The vast majority of parents would recommend your school to other families and one parent said, 'The children are happy, valued and well cared for.' Your pastoral support team provide a good link between home and school and pupils recognise the benefits of your pastoral support room, the den. Pupils say that behaviour is good.

Pupils move around the school in a calm and orderly manner. Your 'children's champions' help adults to maintain the good behaviour you expect. In classrooms, pupils are keen to contribute to discussions and support each other well.

During your previous inspection, inspectors identified that you should further raise the achievement of children in the early years by ensuring that the resources you provide outside enable children to experience all areas of the early years curriculum. You have invested in new resources for the outdoor area in the early years and children now have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. A wide range of activities are available for children in the outdoor area and these are very well planned to meet their needs.

Children are set challenges each week to stretch their learning. The approaches you have introduced to raise standards further up the school are used from the earliest ages. For example, writing opportunities in the outdoor area are linked closely to a good-quality book that captures the children's interests.

As a result, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of the early years has increased steadily over the past few years and is now in line with the national average. Following the last inspection, inspectors also found that you needed to raise the attainment of the most able pupils by providing more challenging work, moving them on more quickly within lessons and developing strategies to make them think more deeply about their learning. Some teachers now plan activities that enable the most able pupils to really grapple with their tasks to get the right answer.

However, this is not consistently the case across the school. Some planned activities still do not provide enough challenge for the most able pupils. Pupils sometimes finish their work quickly and do not get the opportunity to really extend their thinking.

Their learning is sometimes slowed as they wait for others to complete tasks. You recognise that making sure that the most able pupils are provided with the appropriate level of challenge is an important area for improvement. Safeguarding is effective.

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding requirements are fit for purpose. As a result, staff are vigilant and know what they need to do should they have any concerns about pupils. Staff understand their need to report any concerns to you or your safeguarding lead and know who to talk to should they have any concerns about the conduct of adults.

You liaise well with the local authority should you need any advice. You make appropriate checks to ensure that newly appointed staff are fit to work with children. A detailed recruitment checklist helps to ensure that you have all relevant information about new staff.

Those responsible for governance provide you with appropriate challenge to ensure that your safeguarding procedures are adhered to. Pupils say that they feel safe in school. Pupils understand that there are different forms of bullying but say that this is rare in school.

They know that you will act swiftly if they come to you with any concerns they may have. Pupils speak with confidence when talking about how to stay safe online. You provide the pupils with a wide range of information about how they can stay safe through planned opportunities in the curriculum.

Pupils' attendance declined last year and was below the national average. Similarly, the proportion of pupils who were persistently absent increased. You have recognised this as something you need to improve this year.

You have appointed a new member of staff who is responsible for increasing the rates of attendance. There are clear procedures in place to ensure that families do not take holidays during term time. You have reviewed what the school does to encourage pupils to attend and introduced a range of different strategies, including rewards.

Your attendance adviser is determined to raise attendance and is rigorous in her approach. As a result, attendance has begun to improve this year. You recognise that it is essential that these improvements continue.

Inspection findings ? Published outcomes show that not enough pupils have reached the higher standards in reading in key stage 1 or in key stage 2 in recent years. The progress that pupils make across key stage 2 in reading has been average and not as rapid as the progress they make in writing or mathematics. I wanted to find out what leaders have done to ensure that pupils make better progress in reading and to help more pupils to reach the higher standards.

You have recognised that this needs to be addressed and have reviewed the actions you have taken in recent years. ? The resources which teachers use to support the teaching of reading have improved. Pupils now have a wider range of high-quality texts that they study in lessons.

In addition to this, pupils now have a broader range of texts to read at home. Parents say that these provide their children with more challenge and it encourages them to read for longer periods of time. Pupils say that they enjoy the texts that you provide and that this has encouraged them to read more often.

The school environment clearly demonstrates that reading is a priority for the school. Reading areas are attractive and well resourced. A range of initiatives have been introduced, such as the book club where pupils enjoy talking about the books they read and recommending texts to their friends.

• Leaders now use assessment information more precisely to identify exactly what it is that pupils need to do to make better progress. Teachers use this information to plan interesting activities for pupils. You have provided good support for teachers in order to improve the quality of the teaching of reading.

The English leaders and your phase leaders support teachers well to help them to improve the quality of teaching in classrooms. You have recognised that many pupils lack the vocabulary they need to improve their writing further. When we watched writing lessons, we could see pupils beginning to use more complex language, such as 'navigator' or 'flying solo', that they had learned from different areas of the curriculum.

However, this work is in its infancy and it is too early to judge the impact this will have upon outcomes. ? In 2017, published outcomes indicated that the proportion of pupils reaching the expected and higher standards in writing at the end of key stage 1 was below the national average. I wanted to find out what leaders did last year to raise pupils' attainment in writing at the end of key stage 1.

You and your leadership team identified that outcomes needed to improve and have taken steps to address this. ? The English leaders have reviewed the expectations for pupils in different year groups. There are now higher expectations for pupils to reach.

Teachers and other adults ask questions that prompt pupils to think more deeply and extend their answers. Teaching assistants work closely with small groups and individuals and provide good support. There is still some inconsistency in the levels of challenge for pupils of different abilities.

Evidence in books shows that the most able pupils are not always sufficiently challenged and could complete tasks that are more difficult. On the other hand, the work that teachers plan for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is sometimes too difficult for them to complete independently. Opportunities for pupils to write at length during English lessons are limited in key stage 1.

They do not get enough opportunities to build upon the writing they have done previously and produce well structured pieces of writing. As a result, provisional outcomes show that the proportion of pupils reaching the expected and higher standards in writing at the end of key stage 1 in 2018 did not improve. You recognise that this is an important area for improvement.

• Provisional outcomes for 2018 indicate that pupils with SEND made slow progress across key stage 2. I wanted to find out how effectively leaders provide support for these pupils. There are good systems in place to identify those pupils who may need additional support.

The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with the leader of the early years setting so that plans are in place to support children as soon as they enter the school. She provides opportunities for teachers to learn about different ways to provide help for pupils with specific needs. ? The plans that are in place for pupils with SEND ensure that additional support is well matched to their needs.

These pupils are well supported by teaching assistants. However, sometimes the tasks that they are given are not well matched to their needs and so they struggle to complete these activities or are too reliant on adult support. Nevertheless, the majority of pupils with SEND are now making better progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? efforts to improve attendance are continued ? teachers plan tasks more carefully so that they provide the appropriate level of challenge for all groups of pupils, including the most able and those that need additional support ? the proportion of pupils reaching the expected and higher standards in writing at the end of key stage 1 increases so that it is at least in line with the national average. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for North Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Jaimie Holbrook Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, we met you and other senior leaders and explained my lines of enquiry. We also met with members of the governing body, a representative from the academy trust, the subject leaders for English and the designated safeguarding leader. There were 34 responses to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, and 17 free-text comments.

There were 44 responses to Ofsted's questionnaire for staff and 59 for pupils. We visited classes together in the early years, key stage 1, and key stage 2. We observed pupils' behaviour in lessons, met with a group of pupils, listened to pupils read and looked at samples of pupils' work.

We viewed a range of documents, including leaders' evaluation of the school's current performance and its plans for further improvement. I considered a number of policy documents, including those for safeguarding. I examined the school's website to check that it meets statutory requirements on the publication of specified information.

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