Oakley College

Oakley College is:

Inspected by the NABSS inspection system Certified by the British Council, and Authorised by the Gobierno de Canarias

Licencias de apertura: San Quintin - Num 1266. Zuloaga - Num 2369

INSPECTION

Oakley College is proud to publish our last inspection report. All British schools in Spain get inspected by the British authorities but are not obliged by law to publish their reports.

We strongly believe that every school should publish the Inspectors findings and we urge you the parents, to ask for full details of inspections, before selecting a school for your child.

School improvement is a continual developing process. We recognise that we have a lot to do, but we are also very proud of all we have achieved to date.

Last inspection report:

Report of Inspection visit to Oakley College.
Date of visit: 5th November 2010.
Inspectors: Adrian Massam (lead).
Roy Fieldhouse


1. History and context of the school.

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1.1 Oakley College was founded in 1989 and is owned by the married partners who were its founders. The school moved to its current site in 2005 and has recently completed a new building project, which has allowed it to extend both the age range and the capacity of the school.

1.2 The intake is mainly Spanish children from local towns and villages. The school teaches the English National Curriculum throughout and has recently expanded into Years 12 and 13. There are currently 503 pupils on roll.

1.3 The last inspection took place in November 2005 at which point the school was authorised as far as Year 11. The purpose of this inspection visit is to re-authorise all phases and extend the authorisation to Years 12 and 13.

2. Accommodation and Resources.

2.1 Oakley College is housed in a combination of an attractive older building, which has been suitably converted, and a visually impressive new extension, which offers further classroom space and indoor sports facilities. The foundation stage is housed on a separate site close to the school and a third site provides outdoor sports facilities.

2.2 Classrooms are of adequate size and suitably furnished although many classrooms do not have access to new technologies such as interactive boards or projectors. This is, however, an area of development that the school is already in the process of addressing.

2.3 Specialised rooms are provided for information and communications technology (ICT), science and music but not for art. The music and ICT rooms are fully equipped with suitable up to date resources, and the science laboratories are adequate but could be improved by providing more suitable furnishing and installations. The available art resources also cover essential requirements, but the subject is accommodated within two classrooms that are also used for other subjects. This limits the possibilities for creating a suitable work environment specific to art.

2.4 The school has a good range of sports facilities, with outdoor provision on a separate site close to the main school premises and a brand new gymnasium with changing facilities on the main site. The latter also serves as a hall for school assemblies and presentations. Outdoor play areas are suitable and sufficient, and one of these areas is also marked out for sports use. The proximity of one of the play areas to some of the new classrooms creates an occasional noise problem for lessons.

2.5 Other accommodation requirements such as kitchen and dining facilities, toilets, office space and staff room are all adequately provided for.

2.6 The Foundation stage, which is housed in a separate converted house close to the main site, provides well-resourced classrooms and a spacious, safe outdoor area with appropriate playground materials. The design of the building does not allow direct access to the outdoor area , but good curricular use is made of the outdoor facilities.

2.7 The school is generally well equipped with a good range of written and practical resources, which are adequately chosen to meet the requirements of the curriculum. This includes the library and reading resources. The school is also developing and improving its use of technology and educational software by introducing projectors or interactive boards into more classrooms.

3. Health and Safety.

3.1 The school provides a safe environment and complies with local fire and health and safety requirements.

3.2 Policies and procedures are in place to cover all aspects of health and safety including evacuation and first aid procedures. There are full time members of staff on site with first aid training.

4. Staffing

4.1 The teaching staff is appropriately qualified to deliver the National Curriculum, and the school has employed a good mix of younger and more experienced teachers. The use of a Spanish speaking music teacher, however, results in this subject not being delivered in the correct language.

4.2 Good use is made of available teaching support staff although support is limited as there is only one assistant shared between the two Reception classes and another shared between the four Key Stage 1 classes. The responsibilities of the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) have been assigned to one of the teachers and this improves the monitoring of, and catering for, children with specific learning difficulties.

4.3 Teachers benefit from a sophisticated and well structured professional development policy which combines the school’s own system for individualised target setting and peer appraisal with plenty of access to external guidance or training. The staff is well motivated and positive about the school. A structure of incentives is in place to promote staff retention.

4.4 Staff employment practice includes appropriate CRB checking.


5. Curriculum

5.1 The school offers a broad and balanced education, which covers the requirements of the English National Curriculum. The different subjects are distributed adequately on the weekly timetable. Students have access to an adequate range of options for GCSE and ‘A’ level qualifications.

5.2 The curriculum is enriched throughout the primary school by the inclusion of themes or projects across subjects; this idea is also being implemented in Key Stage 3. A range of extra-curricular activities is available and time allocated to these has been incorporated into the normal school day.

5.3 Detailed planning documents have been produced for all subjects and these are closely adhered to as the main framework for teaching and learning.

5.4 A personal, social and health education programme (PSHE) is in place throughout Primary and Key Stage 3. However, there is no time allocated to this area in Key Stage 4 or beyond and, while some aspects of PSHE are covered through other subjects, some dedicated time would be useful to facilitate the guidance of the older pupils.

5.5 Music classes are taught in Spanish, which is not appropriate as this subject forms part of the National Curriculum.

6. Teaching and Learning.

6.1 The standard of teaching throughout the school is generally good and sometimes very good. No unsatisfactory teaching was observed. There is good communication with students, teachers use appropriate methods and make good use of resources. Pupils participate enthusiastically and non-native speakers make a good effort to use and improve their English. They are well behaved, and their levels of knowledge and understanding are in line with the expectations of the curriculum.

6.2 Pupils’ work is generally well organised, well presented and is of the required standard. In the majority of cases, teachers provide constructive feedback to pupils via the marking process. There is regular assessment, records of which are kept in tracking files, and clear references to National Curriculum objectives are made throughout this process.

6.3 External examination results are generally of a good standard and whenever exceptions to this occur, the school implements a well organised process of review and establishes strategies for improvement.

6.4 Individual needs are well catered for, particularly in Primary lessons where differentiated learning activities are included in lesson planning to challenge all the pupils appropriately. The recently appointed SENCO also develops individual education plans to help teachers to cater for pupils with learning difficulties.

6.5 In most classrooms an attractive learning environment has been established, with useful displays and good examples of pupils’ work. In some of the school corridors there is room for further improvement in the use of displays.


7. Organisation and Management.

7.1 The school benefits from the strong and dedicated leadership of both the owners and the Head. The management structure is being developed in line with growth and new posts, such as that of coordinator for the upper secondary section, have recently been created. The management team participate adequately in the development of school policies and review.

7.2 The school has clear and well-developed written policies covering every aspect of its organisation. Management decisions are quickly and effectively recorded and incorporated into the policy documents. Teachers have access to clear written guidance on procedures, and job descriptions include very detailed profiles of the personal skills and characteristics that are expected to carry out each role effectively. There is good ongoing communication via staff meetings.

7.3 School development planning covers both immediate high priorities and more general longer-term improvement. Target setting is extended to each individual member of the staff or management, along with the opportunity to identify their professional development needs. The school management has established a sophisticated system for monitoring this process and this is considered by the staff to have been a very positive step.

7.4 Information for parents is well organised through handbooks, newsletters, the school website and frequent meetings. Parents have many opportunities to be involved in special events. Individual pupil reports use a computer-generated format and provide parents with clear information about their children’s progress.

8. Conclusions

8.1 Oakley College is providing education which fulfils the expectations of the English National Curriculum. Pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum, and the school has suitable teaching staff and resources for its effective delivery. The management structure and ethos are in line with good British educational practice,

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9. Recommendations.

Full authorisation for is recommended for the complete age range from Pre-Nursery to Year 13 .
The school has a capacity for up to 750 students.
Specific recommendations: the school should:
9.1 ensure that music classes are delivered in English.

9.2 provide a suitable specialised classroom for the teaching of art.

9.3 provide a specific programme and allocate time for PSHE in Years 10 to 13.

9.4 complete existing plans to improve access to ICT resources throughout the school.

9.5 look for ways to alleviate the problem of noise from the playground which affects some secondary classrooms.