Oasis Academy Fir Vale

Oasis Academy Fir Vale is a highly inclusive and caring school that is performing well overall, with inclusion identified as a particular strength. It serves a disadvantaged and highly mobile community: many pupils join, leave and return during the year, some arrive with no previous education, and many speak English as an additional language. Despite these challenges, pupils are happy, safe and well cared for, behave well, and benefit from a broad curriculum and strong pastoral support. Safeguarding standards are met. Published outcomes remain below national averages in reading, writing and mathematics, including for disadvantaged pupils, and attendance and persistent absence are significant ongoing concerns, although both are improving. Inspectors found the curriculum is carefully designed but not yet taught consistently well in every lesson; in some lessons, explanations are unclear and assessment is not used sharply enough to close gaps. The school is part of Oasis Community Learning, and leaders, trust leaders and trustees have an accurate understanding of the school's context and are focused on the right priorities for improvement. Inclusion support, early years provision, personal development and leadership are positive features of the school. There is no resourced SEND provision, SEN support is well above average, and no pupils had an EHC plan at the time of inspection. Continued work is needed on attendance and on consistent teaching and assessment so that achievement improves further.

Strengths

• Inclusion is at the heart of the school and pupils' needs are identified and supported rapidly.
• Staff are highly skilled at adapting learning for pupils with a wide range of needs and abilities.
• The Oasis Hub model provides innovative support to remove barriers for the whole school community.
• Pupils are happy, safe, well cared for and trust staff to help them.
• Behaviour is calm and respectful, with positive relationships and purposeful lessons.
• The curriculum is carefully designed to build knowledge step by step, with strong prioritisation of language, oracy, phonics and mathematics.
• Early years provision builds children's knowledge sequentially and prioritises family engagement and language development.
• Personal development is comprehensive, with wide-ranging clubs, visits, leadership roles and strong pastoral support.
• Leaders are passionate, have an accurate understanding of the school's context, and are well supported by the trust.
• Staff feel valued, parents are positive, and attendance is improving consistently over time.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

Areas for Improvement

• Published outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics remain below national averages, including for disadvantaged pupils.
• High pupil mobility and very high disadvantage continue to negatively affect outcomes.
• Overall attendance and persistent absence remain well above national averages, although improving.
• In some lessons, teachers do not always check learning and address gaps effectively enough.
• In some lessons, teachers do not always explain learning clearly enough.
• Curriculum teaching is not consistently strong, and precise modelling is not always used to develop detailed knowledge.
• Assessment approaches are not applied consistently in lessons to reduce gaps in learning.
• Leaders need to continue communicating the importance of attendance and provide high-quality support to improve it for all pupils.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Oasis Academy Fir Vale attended 85.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 56.8% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 2.5% of pupils at Oasis Academy Fir Vale were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). 3 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Oasis Academy Fir Vale had 15.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 12.9% of pupils at Oasis Academy Fir Vale were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Oasis Academy Fir Vale received £9,071 and spent £9,223 for each of its 410 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £359,000 (£877 per pupil).

Across all 56 schools of Oasis Community Learning, income was £9,249 and spending £9,031 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Sheffield · Sheffield local authority: places and applications

Oasis Academy Fir Vale is part of Oasis Community Learning, which runs 57 schools. The nearest others:

• Oasis Academy Don Valley Sheffield
• Oasis Academy Watermead Sheffield
• Oasis Academy Broadoak Ashton-Under-Lyne
• Oasis Academy Leesbrook Oldham
• Oasis Academy Clarksfield Oldham
• Oasis Academy Limeside Oldham
• Oasis Academy Oldham Oldham
• Oasis Academy Aspinal Manchester
• Oasis Academy Lister Park Bradford
• Oasis Academy Harpur Mount Manchester

What is Oasis Academy Fir Vale's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Oasis Academy Fir Vale is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Oasis Academy Fir Vale last inspected by Ofsted?

Oasis Academy Fir Vale was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Oasis Academy Fir Vale have?

Oasis Academy Fir Vale has 389 pupils on roll.

What age range does Oasis Academy Fir Vale cover?

Oasis Academy Fir Vale for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Oasis Academy Fir Vale's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 37% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Oasis Academy Fir Vale?

Oasis Academy Fir Vale is at Owler Lane, Fir Vale, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S4 8GA.