Oasis Academy Harpur Mount

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Oasis Academy Harpur Mount continues to be a good school.

The principal of this school is Sally Herbert. This school is part of Oasis Community Learning Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), John Barneby, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Caroline Taylor OBE.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at this vibrant and nurturing school, which is a haven for them. They know that there are always trusted adults who care for them and will help them if they have any concerns.

This helps pupils to feel happy and to have a strong sense... of belonging.

The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement. Pupils are eager to meet these aspirations.

They relish receiving awards for their efforts, such as 'marble' prizes, stickers and 'champions of the week'. Pupils typically achieve well. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils behave well during lessons and across the school. They aim to follow the school's motto to be 'ready, respectful, safe'. Pupils benefit from calm, purposeful learning environments.

They know that people have many differences and they value the diversity in their school. Pupils spoke proudly of their roles as 'young translators', in which they help anyone in school who speaks English as an additional language.

The school provides pupils with a broad variety of experiences.

For example, pupils enjoy clubs in sports, books, art and design, science and history. Visits and residential trips, including to the theatre, museums and art galleries, further enrich their learning.

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

In close partnership with the trust, the school has adopted a suitably ambitious and knowledge-rich curriculum.

It has identified the subject-specific steps of knowledge that pupils should acquire and the order in which this information should be taught. Pupils learn well across a range of subjects, which cover the full breadth of the national curriculum.

Staff have strong subject knowledge.

They benefit from ongoing coaching from the trust. Mostly, staff choose suitable activities that enable pupils to learn curriculum content well. Innovative assessment strategies provide teachers with intelligent information about how well pupils are learning.

However, some staff do not adapt some activities well enough to help pupils to practise and apply what they learn. From time to time, this limits how much pupils learn.

The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND swiftly.

Strong partnerships with parents and carers, and with external professionals, enable staff to adapt the delivery of the curriculum. This helps pupils with SEND to benefit fully from all that the school offers.

Reading has a strong prominence in this school.

High-quality texts have been carefully chosen to support pupils' learning across the curriculum. Pupils use inviting areas that foster their love of reading. They visit the local library and have plentiful e-books at their fingertips.

Pupils excitedly said that they complete quizzes about the books that they have read. They also write book recommendations for their peers and for their parents.

The school has a well-designed phonics programme.

Staff have undertaken training from the school and from the trust in how to implement this. Typically, they deliver it well. In the Nursery class, children listen to and join in with songs, stories and rhymes.

This generally prepares them well for the Reception Year, when they begin to learn letters and the sounds that these represent. Pupils read from books that contain the sounds that they already know. Most pupils become fluent and accurate readers.

Nonetheless, some of the strategies that some staff use to support pupils who struggle in their reading are not fully effective. This means that some of these pupils do not catch up as quickly as they should.

The school is tenacious in its approach to encourage pupils' attendance.

It understands and removes the barriers that prevent a small number of pupils from attending regularly. This has helped to reduce levels of absence across the school. Pupils have positive attitudes towards their learning.

They said that they appreciate learning new things. Pupils are well mannered and polite.

Pupils encounter a well-thought-out programme that supports their wider development well.

This is threaded through all that the school does. Pupils develop their leadership skills through many roles, including eco-councillors, play leaders, health champions and 'academy members of parliament'. They know that these roles help them to improve the school for others.

Pupils also compete in sports tournaments and visit local care homes.

The school and the trust have established a culture of strong relationships and collaboration. They work together remarkably well, with a sharp focus on continuing to improve the quality of education that pupils receive.

Staff work in a close-knit team. Many are long serving. They feel well supported in their roles and know that the school and the trust consider their work-life balance and their well-being.

For instance, the school has introduced new technology to reduce staff's workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• At times, some staff do not implement learning activities consistently well to enable pupils to practise and apply their knowledge.

This means that some pupils, from time to time, do not learn as well as they could. The school should support staff in choosing and adapting learning activities to help pupils to know and remember more of the intended curriculum. ? Occasionally, support for some pupils who are behind in their reading is not as effective as it should be.

This slows these pupils' progress in becoming fluent and accurate readers. The school should ensure that staff use effective early reading strategies consistently well.

Background

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

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 good in October and November 2018.