Oasis Academy Skinner Street joined Oasis Community Learning in October 2013.
Ofsted visited in June 2016 and the Academy was graded good. The academy is a
two-form entry based in Gillingham, Kent. Skinner Street sits in the ward of Gillingham
North which in 2019 was in the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country in
terms of income and employment.

The area is also in the top 28% most deprived from child poverty according to the
most recent index of deprivation. Half of the neighbourhood areas in Gillingham North
are in the most deprived 20% of areas nationally for access to housing. Medway is
ranked in the 17% most deprived local authorities in England for crime – this is below
(worse than) Medway’s overall position for multiple deprivation, being in the 37% most
deprived local authorities in England. There are currently 367 pupils on roll at present
the student cohort is as follows: 59% disadvantaged, 19% SEN and 32% EAL.

The leadership team was looking for a system that was intuitive for staff to use and that also reduced staff workload when reviewing assessments and writing reports. As a bonus we were also looking for a system that parents could have access to so that they were more
involved in their child’s learning. Having a high percentage of EAL pupils, we also wanted to be able to translate everything into their native language so that we could engage more effectively with them. As an academy, we were also looking at our environmental impact so
wanted to remove our reports system to a paperless system. Learning Ladders and our previous system were like night and day. Working with Learning Ladders, we set up our curriculum and the language we used to ensure clarity across the academy. Following
the training, staff were quickly able to begin adding assessments and to use the gap analysis and subject monitoring features. These have been invaluable as we tailor our teaching to the needs of our children. The assessments were then used to feed into reports,
greatly reducing the time the teacher spent writing reports. We were also able to add examples of pupils’ work relating to the assessment points. As the reports are sent electronically, there is no limit as to what is included and the reports allow detailed information to be given to parents.

Teachers are happy to use Learning Ladders as they can use the assessment effectively in several ways, being able to work efficiently has reduced teacher workload.

Parents have enjoyed being able to login and see real time assessments and links as to how to support their child. In the time of the pandemic, it has supported parents to find how to help their children and enabled us to share contact less information between the academy and home.