Angel Oak Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Angel Oak Academy continues to be an outstanding school.

The headteacher of this school is Claire Mitchell. This school is part of STEP Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Paul Glover, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Ross Gardner. There is also an executive headteacher, Tim Mills, who is responsible for this school and two others.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are looked after very well in this school.

Staff at all levels make pupils feel cared for and valued. Pupils are encouraged and empowered to let staff know if the...y have any concerns or worries. They are confident that adults are there to help them, and to keep them safe.

They enjoy coming to school every day and learning new things about the world that they live in.

The school has the highest expectations of its pupils to 'work hard and be kind'. Pupils know this and respond with enthusiasm to what is expected of them, including in learning the ambitious curriculum.

They give their best in lessons. As a result of the school's work, pupils learn the curriculum extremely well. Their outcomes in national assessments are typically very strong.

The school community, including parents and carers, speaks highly of pupils' excellent manners. Pupils' behaviour is exceptional. They are confident and articulate as they learn and play.

Equally, being courteous and friendly are the norm here. Pupils attend school regularly. In the very few instances where pupils are at risk of not attending well, the school intervenes promptly and effectively.

Pupils are supportive of each other. They celebrate each other's differences. Pupils appreciate the large playground and the variety of equipment available.

They co-operate with and help each other. Pupils are trusted to assume positions of responsibility. They apply to become house captains and 'head academicians', performing tasks like leading assemblies.

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

The school is relentless in its aim to deliver excellent education for its pupils. It has designed a curriculum with highly ambitious endpoints. The subject content taught is carefully ordered, with pupils consistently building well on what they already know and can do.

In geography, for example, children in early years start by learning how to use and follow simple maps in contexts that are familiar to them, such as using a map of the school to go on a treasure hunt. This prepares them effectively for when they look at maps of the local area in Year 1. By the time pupils reach Year 6, they are competent at using and interpreting more complex geographical information, like ordinance survey and relief maps.

The curriculum is delivered expertly. The school places a high importance on pupils acquiring a deep knowledge of the subjects that they are studying. This aim is underpinned by absolute clarity on what significant knowledge pupils need to know and remember in the long term.

This knowledge is delivered to a consistently high standard across subjects and across all year groups. Staff are skilled at making any required adaptations to enable pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to learn the curriculum well. This is because these pupils' needs are identified accurately and promptly.

Reading is a priority in this school. Staff have received high-quality training to deliver the phonics curriculum. Early reading is taught effectively.

Children begin to learn phonics as soon as they start in Reception. Pupils get plenty of opportunities to practise and consolidate their phonics knowledge. Pupils' reading fluency and accuracy is also well supported through reading books which contain the letter-sounds that they already know.

Assessment is used effectively to identify pupils who need extra help. In phonics, those who are falling behind the programme are identified at the earliest opportunity. They receive effective support and catch up quickly.

Pupils love reading. They enjoy hearing adults read to them daily.

Pupils' attitudes to learning are typically exceptional.

They work hard in lessons. They follow adult instructions promptly and effectively. Their positive attitude contributes greatly to successful learning.

Pupils collaborate well with one another.

The school provides many opportunities for pupils to develop beyond the formal curriculum. Pupils enjoy many educational visits, including to wildlife centres, museums, and galleries.

They gain knowledge of the world around them, including the different beliefs and religions of others. Pupils visit places of worship at least once termly to enrich their understanding. Pupils also enjoy taking part in a variety of sports competitions with other schools within the trust.

Support and oversight from the trust have been instrumental in the school's success. The academy committee perform their delegated responsibilities diligently. The school uses advice and purposeful challenge from trust experts, as well as collaboration with other academies to improve the school even further.

This work is all firmly rooted in making a positive difference to the pupils the school serves, regardless of their background or their starting points.

Staff appreciate the support that they receive to ensure their workload remains manageable. The school is sensitive to staff's well-being.

New initiatives are assessed before they introduced to ensure that they are not burdensome.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding.

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.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in October 2017.