— Oakes Park School
_____________ Inspection report
Better
education
and care
Unique Reference Number 107174
Local Authority Sheffield
Inspection number 277723
Inspection dates 26—27 April 2006
Reporting inspector Michael McDowell
This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

 

 

Type of School	Special	School address	Hemsworth Road
School category	Community special		Norton
Age range of pupils	2—19		Sheffield South Yorkshire 58 8LN
Gender of pupils	Mixed	Telephone number	0114 255 6754
Number on roll	57	Fax number	0114 2S5 4533
Appropriate authority	The governing body	Chair of governors	Mr E Williams
Date of previous inspection	November 1999	Headteacher	Mrs P Johnson
Age group I Published	I Reference no.
2—19 May 2006	277723

 

Inspection Report: Oakes Park School, 26—27 April 2006
Introduction
The inspection was carried out by an Additional Inspector.
Description of the school
The school provides for pupils who have physical disabilities or medical disorders associated with learning, sensory or communication difficulties. About half of the pupils are from minority ethnic groups, chiefly Pakistani; however, only a few are at an early stage of learning English. The needs of pupils have become much more complex over the past five years and attainment on entry is well below average. A local authority plan to reorganise provision has identified the school for closure. No action has been taken to implement this plan over the last six years and this has led to uncertainty affecting all associated with the school.
Key for inspection grades
Grade 1 Outstanding
Grade 2 Good
Grade 3 Satisfactory
Grade 4 Inadequate

 

Inspection Report: Oakes Park School, 26-27 Apr11 2006 2
Overall effectiveness of the school
The school rated its overall effectiveness as good and the inspector agrees. It was too cautious when judging pupils’ personal development and the quality of care, guidance and support it provides. Parents have a very high opinion of Oakes Park, while pupils think it is ‘fantastic’. Overall, learners make good progress and achieve well. Owing to their learning difficulties and/or disabilities, they work at levels significantly below those in mainstream schools. Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is good and they make good progress. The school judged pupils’ personal development to be good, but it is outstanding. Care, guidance and support are also outstanding and provide a safe environment in which over time, learners become confident, independent and considerate young people. They are taught well and given a wide range of interesting and relevant things to do. Teachers are beginning to gather more detailed data about pupils’ progress in order to provide opportunities to analyse their strengths and weaknesses even more closely. The school does not yet provide older learners with direct experience of the world of work outside the school. It does, however, arrange internal work experience placements. Pupils do not have their achievement in some subjects accredited by outside agencies. Leadership and management are rigorous in evaluating the quality of the school and are good overall. The school has improved well since the last inspection. For instance, the achievement of learners is now consistently good across the age range. Despite its uncertain future, the school has good capacity to improve further. It gives good value for money.
Grade: 2
Effectiveness and efficiency of the sixth form
The school grades this as good and the inspector agrees. The post-16 group is well led and the quality of education offered is good. Learners are taught well and benefit from an extra year or two to complete their work for externally examined courses. They need this extra time because their difficulties severely limit the speed at which they can complete tasks. Post-16 students play a vital part in the social life of the school and contribute fully to the welfare of others. Their learning experiences are good, overall. However, the careers education and guidance they receive is not yet supplemented by real experience in the work place.
Grade: 2

 

Inspection Report: Oakes Park School’, 26—27 April 2006 3
What the school should do to improve further
Continue to improve the system by which pupils’ progress is tracked, making full use of the data collected in order to improve their progress.
• Broaden the work experience programme so that learners get out into work places beyond the school.
• Extend the range of accredited courses offered at Year 11 and beyond.
Achievement and standards
Achievement is good overall. Challenging targets are set for all (earners, and most of these are met. The most vulnerable learners, including those with multiple physical and sensory impairments, benefit from the expert and specialised teaching and support that they are given and make notable gains. Pupils from minority ethnic groups whose home language is not English achieve as well as others.
Assessment shows that attainment on entry is very low. Children join the Nursery and Reception classes with significant physical, sensory, medical and learning difficulties. However, by the end of the Foundation Stage they are more physically confident and have made good progress towards the learning goals expected of children of this age. In Years 1 to 6, learners continue to make good progress. Achievement in English is often particularly good and speaking, listening, and reading skills develop significantly. Writing poses difficult physical challenges to many but progress remains good. Achievement in mathematics is also good.
This good progress continues throughout the secondary phase. Learners who join the school in Year 7 sometimes need a period of consolidation, but they go on to make good gains. Those in Years 10 and 11 and in the post-16 group, have much of their work externally accredited; for example, through the Unit Award Scheme; certificates in adult literacy and adult numeracy; and Entry Level certificates En English, mathematics, and information and communication technology (ICT). They improve their performance by gaining additional awards and successively higher scores in the literacy and numeracy tests that can be taken at any time of the year.
Grade: 2
Personal development and well-being
Pupils’ personal development is outstanding. The happy sounds of laughter that are so often heard throughout the day show how much pupils enjoy their education. For many, whose lives are constrained by their learning difficulties

 

Inspection Report: Oakes Park School, 26—27 April 2006 4
and/or disabilities, school provides their social and friendship network. Attendance is good and learners are very keen to come to school. However, their physical frailty means that sometimes they cannot. From the outset, learners are taught to challenge their physical limitations and to become more self-reliant and sociable. In lessons, they do their best and work very hard to understand and complete what is asked of them. They are interested in others and contribute to making their school community considerate and happy. They do this through the elected school forum, but also in many unprompted small gestures, such as holding a standing frame steady for a friend. They show courage in confronting their difficulties, are thoughtful in considering the values and beliefs of others and are confident and generous of spirit. Behaviour is outstanding. Pupils are keen to ensure their own safety and that of others and to adopt healthy lifestyles. They are also very proud of taking their tests and examinations that they are sure will help them achieve future economic independence.
Grade: 1
Quality of provision
Teaching and learning
Teaching is of good quality and ensures that pupils learn effectively and achieve well. Lessons are regularly observed by senior staff and the outcomes of this monitoring show that teaching is predominantly good with no lessons less than satisfactory. Teachers know a great deal about their pupils’ learning difficulties and/or disabilities and use this knowledge, together with a very clear understanding and assessment of their prior learning, in order to plan effective learning experiences. They also have good knowledge of the subjects they teach and promote enjoyment in learning very well. However, consistent tracking of the progress made by groups of learners, other than in English and mathematics, is underdeveloped. Teachers fully understand the features of effective lesson preparation, the importance of specifying the purposes and learning outcomes of lessons in their planning, and sharing these with learners at the outset. Very good use is made of information and communication technology to help pupils gain access to lessons and to take an active part. Electronic and low technology communication aids, such as Big Mac switches and symbol books are used well. Suitable adaptations to keyboards and devices such as tracker balls are employed regularly to enable pupils to use computers for themselves. The work done by teaching and care assistants is of high quality and is crucial in helping many learners to sustain attention.
Grade: 2

 

Inspection Report: Oakes Park School, 26-27 April 2006 5
Curriculum and other activities
The curriculum and other activities cater for the range of learners’ needs well and fully meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. Accredited courses offered match pupils’ capabilities and provide sufficient challenge. However, more opportunities are needed in subjects such as art and music, in order to fully recognise pupils’ achievements. There are many additional learning opportunities. The School for Parents and motor skills programme in the Nursery are outstanding and get young learners off to a very good start. There is an exciting range of residential visits. Visitors add extra interest to teaching in art, music, and religious education. College link courses enhance the experiences of all pupils in the 14 to 19 age group. Work related education through careers lessons is good. However, the school has found it impossible to offer an external programme of work experience through its existing partnerships. Pupils are encouraged to stay safe and be healthy. A large proportion of the pupils in the secondary classes takes an active part in competitive sports.
Grade: 2
Care, guidance and support
This aspect is outstanding. The pupils feel safe and flourish because staff promote their personal development and well-being extremely well. As a result, learners form abiding friendships within the school and stable, beneficial, relationships with the staff. They know that their voice is heard and their ideas are acted upon. The school takes positive steps to help learners develop as well as they can. They are taught how to minimise risks to themselves and others; good behaviour is encouraged by a merit award system. Learners are prepared for the world beyond school with good guidance about careers and by such work experience as can be offered within the school. The school tracks academic progress effectively and is beginning to use the data gathered from more finely-grained assessment to address apparent barriers to learning and progress. Attendance is kept under close review and parents are guided about the need for their children to attend school. Procedures to ensure child protection and the health and safety of pupils and staff are followed meticulously.
Grade: 1
Leadership and management
The leadership and management of the school are good and contribute well to the school’s capacity to improve. The school is led very effectively by its headteacher. She is strongly aided by the deputy head and by other staff with

 

voi, 6—27 ApilI 2006 6
specific responsibilities. In its self-evaluation the school takes the views of parents and pupils fully into account. It is frank, and mostly accurate in assessing its strengths and limitations. However, it underestimates the quality of its own work in some instances. The performance of individual pupils is well known but the performance of groups is insufficiently analysed. The longstanding public intention of the local authority to close the school poses a threat to the morale of all who work and learn within it. It is greatly to the credit of the headteacher, the governors, and senior managers that the school still has a sense of purpose and is making plans to move forward. The governors are more directly involved in planning, in setting targets and in holding the school to account than previously. They now contribute well to the leadership of the school and give the support it needs. Liaison with outside agencies, particularly with health authority staff who are based in the school, is first rate. Commitment to inclusion is outstanding. Resources are efficiently and effectively managed. The school operates within its budget but still manages to extend and improve its resources and accommodation.
Grade: 2

 

Inspection judgements

 

Annex A

 

1 Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none sign ificantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4- Exceptionally low. The grey boxes are used wherever the inspection team has sufficient evidence to come to a secure judgement.

 

-

 

 

Key to judgements: grade 115 outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate.

School Overall

16—19

 

Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of

education, integrated care and any extended services in

2

2

meeting the needs of learners?

How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners’ well-being?

2

2

The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage

2

•

The effectiveness of the school’s self-evaluation

2

2

The capacity to make any necessary improvements

Yes

Yes

Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

Yes

Yes

Achievement and standards

How well do learners achieve?

2

2

The standards’ reached by learners

4

4

How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners

2

2

How well learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make progress

2

:

Personal development and well-being

How good is the overall personal development and well- being of the learners?

.

The extent of learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development The behaviour of learners The attendance of learners

1 I 2

:‘‘‘

How well learners enjoy their education

1

The extent to which learners adopt safe practices The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles

1

1.

,•

The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community

1

•::.

How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

2

The quality o