Ofsted praises progress made at Outwood Academy Ormesby

Ofsted has today praised the progress being made at Outwood Academy Ormesby in Middlesbrough.

Inspectors said the academy and Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT), which leads the school, had made a number of important changes to support the school’s ongoing improvement. The visit by Ofsted was a monitoring inspection, which checks on progress made to date and cannot change a previous grade.

Ofsted said that a new academy improvement board, with members from both within and outside the school and the trust, has played a key role in designing the action plan and reviewing progress, with leaders understanding the issues to be addressed and staff “positive” about the steps taken to move the school forward. Senior leaders from across OGAT have been spending considerable time in the school since the previous inspection to add leadership capacity.

A new policy was also introduced last year to ensure that students’ positive behaviour is recognised through rewards and praise. Alongside this, a personal development centre has been opened to work with specific students and help avoid suspensions. Ofsted said “this work is beginning to have an impact”, with the number of suspensions falling, and that the atmosphere around the school and in lessons is “calm”, with relationships between students “positive”.

Inspectors also praised the strong focus placed on improving attendance, with a much larger attendance team ensuring the improvements are sustainable. Ofsted said this was also having a positive effect – persistent absence is falling, with a “significant” decrease for Year 11 students.

To further improve engagement with parents, a new forum for gathering the views of parents has been set up and a dedicated staff role has been created so parents have a specific point of contact when students return after suspension. There are also plans in place to work with families as part of the “thrive” model that the school has adopted.

In terms of teaching and learning, the school has set up the “five pillars” approach in lessons, which is designed to ensure teachers focus on the ways in which they introduce new information to students and link it to previously taught content. Ofsted said that the addition of a second special educational needs coordinator is providing extra capacity to identify and support the needs of the most vulnerable pupils, with a “particularly successful” aspect of this work seeing the creation of the Year 7 “elevate” group to support students identified as needing extra help in lessons.

Gemma Trattles, the associate executive principal of Outwood Academy Ormesby, said:

“We are pleased with the progress made to date – the journey of school improvement is ongoing and we need to keep working hard so that all areas of school life are as good as possible. I would like to thank the staff team for their excellent approach, and the support from parents and students, as we have put in place changes that are having a real impact, as Ofsted recognises. This work is being further enhanced following the appointment of Chris Drew as our excellent new principal, who is already having a really positive impact.”