Setting

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

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Paul Mitchell Executive Principal Havergal CofE Primary School Shareshill Wolverhampton West Midlands WV10 7LE

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Ofsted visit to Havergal CofE Primary School

Following my visit with Wayne Simner, 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 Havergal CofE 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 Havergal CofE 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 Havergal CofE Primary School

During the visit we spoke to you, the head of school, senior leaders responsible for safeguarding and the curriculum leaders for English, mathematics and early years. 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. 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.  Attendance is currently above what it was this time last year. Staff have supported families who were nervous about sending their children to school.  Pupils are studying the full range of subjects. Staff have adapted the usual curriculum to cover some of the curriculum content that was missed during the period when schools were only open to some children due to COVID-19 restrictions. You expect pupils to return to their usual curriculum before the summer term 2021.  Teachers’ checks have shown that reading comprehension is an area in which some pupils need extra work. Consequently, teachers in Years 3 and 4 are planning opportunities, through subjects such as history, to give pupils extra reading practice. Phonics checks have shown that pupils in Year 1 and children in the Reception class have gaps in their phonic knowledge.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Consequently, staff have modified the curriculum and provided additional support for pupils and children who need it.  In mathematics, teachers’ checks have found that pupils have gaps in their knowledge and understanding in some aspects of number work, such as place value. These gaps vary from class to class. Teachers have used this information to amend the curriculum.  In other subjects, teachers have needed to make some changes to what is taught. For example, in geography teachers are making use of the school’s outdoor space to develop pupils’ mapping skills.  Currently, staff are using remote learning to support pupils’ home learning, mainly in English and mathematics. Should there be a need for pupils to be taught remotely in the future, you plan to use an online learning platform to deliver lessons across the curriculum. Leaders say that this will be in line with the usual curriculum.

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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 board of trustees and the chief executive officer, the director of education for the Diocese of Lichfield, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Staffordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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