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

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Victoria Abbott Headteacher Moss Lane School Moss Lane Godalming Surrey GU7 1EF

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Ofsted visit to Moss Lane School

Following my visit with Daniel Lambert, Her Majesty's Inspector (HMI), to your school on 13 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 Moss Lane 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 Moss Lane 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 Moss Lane School

During the visit, we spoke to you, a senior leader, the home-link worker and the school 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:

 You opened the school to Years 1 and 2 on 2 September 2020. These pupils have attended full time since the beginning of term. As is your normal practice, Reception children started on 3 September 2020 on a phased basis for the first three weeks.  Attendance of pupils since the beginning of term is slightly higher than for the same period last year.  All pupils are studying their normal subjects. Teachers have had to make some adaptations to subjects such as music, computing and physical education. Your hope is that by summer 2021 the curriculum will be delivered as usual.  Pupils have been assessed in reading, writing, grammar, punctuation, spelling and mathematics. Teachers have used the information from these checks to plan for what pupils now need to learn.  There are some pupils whose reading is not where it should be at the start of the year, because they have missed part of their phonics programme.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Teachers have put support in place to help pupils catch up. Throughout the school, reading has been prioritised to refresh pupils’ comprehension and spoken language skills.  In mathematics, teachers have picked up on some pupils’ reduced fluency with number and have adapted what they teach to help pupils regain previous understanding and skills.  In the wider range of subjects, you made the decision that teachers would pick up where they stopped teaching before lockdown. Teachers are assessing how much knowledge pupils have retained. What they learn from this information will help shape what they teach next.  Leaders and teachers are ready to deliver learning remotely should the need arise in the future. Resources are available in digital and paper formats. These follow the school’s 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 governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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