Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mr Steve Edmonds Headteacher Hasland Hall Community School Broomfield Avenue Hasland Chesterfield Derbyshire S41 0LP

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Ofsted visit to Hasland Hall Community School

Following my visit with Roary Pownall, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 1 October 2020, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the visit’s findings. Thank you for the time you made available to discuss your actions since September 2020, when the government expected all schools to open fully to all pupils.

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Ofsted visit to Hasland Hall Community School

This visit was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended) and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for visiting schools while routine inspections are temporarily suspended.

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Ofsted visit to Hasland Hall Community School

Ofsted’s visits to schools during the autumn term are not inspections. We are not giving graded judgements. We did not undertake the usual range of inspection activities and were unable to check other sources of evidence, such as visits to lessons or looking at pupils’ work. The content of this letter gives an overview of our discussions about what has happened in your school this term.

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Ofsted visit to Hasland Hall Community School

During the visit, we spoke to you, members of the senior leadership team, leaders from the multi-academy trust the school is to join, who have been working at the school since the start of the academic year, and the school’s family and student support manager. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

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Context

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s education system is managing the return to full education for pupils following an extended break in formal schooling due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

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Context

In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

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Context

 approximately 1,200 schools across all Ofsted grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate)  maintained schools, academies and free schools, special schools and centres of alternative provision, including those in cities, and coastal, town or rural communities.

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Context

The information from this visit will feed into Ofsted’s national reporting so that the insights can be shared with the government and the education sector. We did not find any significant concerns during the visit. In such a case, an inspection report would be published on our website and available to parents and carers.

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Context

We did not consider your response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer terms 2020, when the school was not open to all pupils.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 The school opened to all pupils on 7 September 2020. Year 7 pupils started to attend from 4 September. Pupils are attending full time.  Currently, attendance is slightly lower than that seen at this time last year. Leaders are providing support to families when it is needed so that pupils return to school. At the time of the visit, no pupils in year-group ‘bubbles’ were isolating.  In Years 7 to 9, pupils are studying the normal curriculum. In some subjects, leaders have changed the order in which pupils study topics, for health and safety reasons, or due to the demand on resources. This is the case, for example, for the practical topics that pupils study in science, physical education, and design and technology. Leaders have plans in place to ensure that pupils will study all the topics they should in these subjects before the end of the academic year.  In Year 10, all pupils are studying all the subjects they are taking for their GCSE

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

and other examinations. In Year 11, the majority of pupils have dropped one subject so that they can spend more time studying English and mathematics. This change has been made with parents’ knowledge.  In all year groups, teachers are currently checking pupils’ knowledge across the different subjects. They are adapting what they teach to cover any content that pupils may have missed when they were not in school. Leaders have plans in place to provide one-to-one support in English, mathematics, science and humanities to pupils in any year group to help them catch up.  Leaders are providing remote education for the small number of pupils who are absent. The curriculum these pupils study matches that which they would study were they in school. Leaders are developing an online resource that all pupils will be able to access to continue their learning at home should it be needed.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Thank you again for contributing to this important national work. The views and experiences you have shared will help to inform future policy.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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