The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You continue to lead the school with an undiminished commitment to securing the best possible education for the pupils. When you talk about the school and the journey of improvement it has been on, your passion and determination to improve the life chances of the children in the community you serve shine through. This outlook is shared by all who work at the school. You are very clear about the school’s successes and also about the areas it still needs to work on. You and the senior leaders, who ably support you, have a commitment to honest self-evaluation and this provides a secure foundation for further improvement. Since the previous inspection, the school has continued to move forward. The teaching for the most able pupils, for example, has improved, but you are also aware that there is further work to do in this area. Other important changes have occurred since the last inspection. The school took the decision to close its sixth form in 2016 and now has no post-16 provision. Over time, the prior attainment of pupils entering Year 7 has changed. This has brought the average prior attainment closer to the national average in the lower years, although Years 10 and 11 still have significantly lower prior attainment. Oasis Community Learning, the multi-academy trust of which the school is a member, exercises the statutory role of governance through the person of its regional director for the south west. He has a strong understanding of the school and provides a good balance of challenge and support to the school. In this, he is helped by the academy council, which plays an important part in linking with the local community and promoting the ethos of Oasis Community Learning. Overall, therefore, governance is secure. Oasis Academy John Williams is a happy school. Pupils are polite and conduct themselves very well both in and outside lessons. Attitudes to learning are positive and pupils want to do well. The strong relationships between staff and pupils provide the bedrock on which pupils can build success. The responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, indicate that parents are happy with the education and care their children receive. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Indeed, the culture of safeguarding in the school is highly developed. The designated safeguarding lead has a very good understanding of her role and of the particular safeguarding issues that are relevant to the local community. The key message that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility is clearly articulated across the school and well-established systems are in place to refer, record and respond to any concerns staff raise. This ensures that a culture of vigilance is in place. The vast majority of parents, when surveyed, agree that their child is safe at the school. Inspection findings In our discussion at the start of the day, you identified that the school regards the programme of training and support for new and recently qualified teachers and more established staff as a strength of the school. We agreed that this should be a key line of enquiry. Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) feel very well supported by the school. There is a comprehensive programme of support, including subject-specific mentoring and support from senior leaders. Regular sessions for all NQTs together allow them to develop their understanding of teaching and learning. These meetings also provide a useful forum in which they can discuss and reflect on their teaching and learn from each other. For more established staff, training is also good. In particular, senior leaders are quick to identify talent and to develop it. Many of the middle leaders in the school have reached their current positions as a consequence. Taken overall, therefore, school leaders are right to consider the way staff are trained and developed as a strength of the school.