Academy opened to meet demand for places in Sheffield is rated as inadequate

Inspectors said that having three head teachers in just over a year has had a negative impact on teaching at Oasis Academy Fir Vale in Sheffield.

And the report found that weak teaching of phonics had meant that too few pupils were able to read and write independently.

Oasis Academy Fir Vale was one of two primary schools opened by the academy chain in the city in 2014 because of a rising demand.

Now it has been rated as inadequate in all the main inspection areas. However the Ofsted report does say that the school’s new principal and vice principal have been the driving force behind recent improvements.

The school was created after Sheffield Council identified the need for more places in the Burngreave area. Under the Government’s free school and academies presumption councils who identify the need for a new school have a “duty to seek proposals to establish an academy.”

The school, in Burngreave, is rated as inadequate for leadership and management, teaching and learning, pupil outcomes, the personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils and early years provision. The Ofsted report says: “Until very recently the academy trust has failed to provide the academy with the strong leadership that it needed.” The report notes that in the school’s first 16 months it has had three principals. It says this resulted in the school failing to provide the quality of teaching needed for pupils to make adequate progress.

However Ofsted do praise the new principal for the impact she has had. A spokesman for Oasis said: “The areas for improvement identified by Ofsted are ones we were previously aware of, and as the report has noted, we have already put in place able leaders who have begun to embed real and lasting change.”

The spokesman said Ofsted highlighted that some young people who attend the school face personal, social and emotional barriers to learning. He said the academy’s relationship with Sheffield Council, stakeholders and community partners was helping to overcome these challenges.

He added: “Oasis is confident the academy is taking the robust action necessary to provide the pupils the excellent education that they deserve, enabling them to realise their full potential.”