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

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Ian Bussey Headteacher Moorfield Primary School Wellington Road Newport Shropshire TF10 7QU

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Ofsted visit to Moorfield Primary School

Following my visit with Lesley Yates, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 6 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 Moorfield Primary 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 Moorfield Primary 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 Moorfield Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to the headteacher, who is also the senior leader responsible for safeguarding, members of the senior leadership team and the business 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 2 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend full time.  Pupils’ attendance is below the usual attendance for this time of year. You told us that you are working with some families to encourage and support attendance.  Pupils in all year groups are studying their usual subjects. Teachers have changed some of the content of the curriculum in music and physical education (PE). You told us that you have done this to ensure that pupils can socially distance when playing sport and learning music. For example, in PE, pupils are currently doing athletics rather than team games. You plan to return to the usual curriculum by summer 2021.  Since returning to school, teachers have been making checks in lessons to identify pupils’ starting points and gaps in knowledge. You stated that you have identified pupils who have fallen behind in their reading because of the period when schools were only open to some children due to COVID-19

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

restrictions. Adults are providing these pupils with additional help. Your aim is that this additional support will help pupils to catch up.  Leaders told us that teachers’ checks on pupils’ mathematical knowledge show that pupils’ understanding of place value is what you would normally expect at this stage of the term.  Currently, you are not delivering remote education. You said that you are ready to put remote learning in place for all classes, 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 Telford and Wrekin. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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