Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy praised by Ofsted for its high ambitions

  1 December, 2023

Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy (OSCA) has been praised for its “high ambitions” for students following a recent Ofsted visit which confirmed the school’s continued success.

Maintaining its grading as a good school, inspectors commended OSCA’s teaching and learning provision, supported by a “well-sequenced” curriculum, alongside its positive culture where students feel “happy and safe”.

Within its latest report, Ofsted also noted the strong emphasis the academy places on the personal development of students, who engage “enthusiastically” with its comprehensive careers programme, and benefit from “rich and diverse” extra-curricular activities.

Amongst the other strengths in the report include:

• Leaders’ actions to improve the curriculum have led to consistently positive outcomes being achieved by students by the end of Key Stage 4
• Students understand and follow the successful Team OSCA values of Opportunity, Scholarship, Compassion and Aspiration
• Teachers’ pedagogy and subject knowledge is a strength, with the school securing training to help staff in their roles. The school also carefully considers staff workload, which colleagues are appreciative of
• Governors and trustees know the school extremely well, providing support and challenge to leaders through meetings and visits to ensure high standards
• Leaders ensure that all students benefit from its “highly ambitious” curriculum, with particularly strong support for students with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) who successfully access learning and achieve well
• Students value being able to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and school productions, reflecting the wide range of clubs and activities on offer
• Students show positive and respectful behaviour during lesson times, with staff making their “high expectations” clear
• Safeguarding is effective and students speak positively about the support they receive

To support OSCA’s continued positive trajectory, leaders and staff will be continuing efforts to raise expectations for student behaviour throughout the school community, so that all students have a consistently positive experience of learning.  Leaders will also be ensuring that standardised approaches to assessments are used across the board to further enhance student learning, alongside developing additional systems to support and monitor students with improved reading.

Adrian Price, interim principal at Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy said: “We are extremely proud that the continued hard work and efforts of everyone within our school community have been recognised with this positive Ofsted report. This includes the ongoing improvements and enhancements that are being implemented across the school, our ambitious curriculum, our diverse range of personal development opportunities, and most importantly the positive and safe environment we foster for our students to be able to flourish.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our staff, students, parents/carers and wider community for their continued collaboration and support, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with everyone as we build on this latest achievement”.

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Category: News

Tags: High ambitions, Ofsted Good, Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy, OSCA