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

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Christine Fraser Headteacher The Jane Lane School, A College for Cognition & Learning Bentley Walsall West Midlands WS2 0JH

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Ofsted visit to The Jane Lane School, A College for Cognition & Learning

Following my visit with Wayne Simner, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 8 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 The Jane Lane School, A College for Cognition & Learning

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 The Jane Lane School, A College for Cognition & Learning

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 The Jane Lane School, A College for Cognition & Learning

During the visit, we spoke to you, members of the senior leadership team, the senior leader responsible for safeguarding, and your attendance officer. 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 3 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend full time.  Attendance is currently below what it was at this time last year. Staff are supporting any families who are anxious about sending their children to school.  Pupils in all year groups are studying their usual subjects. Teachers have changed some of the content of the curriculum in physical education, music and food technology. For example, in physical education, pupils are doing more outdoor activities than they would normally do at this time of the year. You plan to return to the usual curriculum by the summer term 2021.  Teachers’ checks have shown that pupils’ understanding across all subjects, including mathematics, is at a level that would be expected at this stage in their learning. The exception to this is reading. Prior to COVID-19, teachers’ checks had identified that reading was an area in which pupils needed extra

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

work. Leaders say that this continues to be the case. Consequently, all staff have been trained in the delivery of phonics.  All pupils in Years 10 and 11 are continuing to study their full suite of accredited courses. Some changes have been made to the course content. For example, staff are planning a virtual work experience so that pupils do not miss out.  Currently, you are using remote learning to support pupils’ home learning when they are absent from school. Should there be a need for pupils to be taught remotely in the future, you will have a system in place that includes the use of online virtual classrooms. 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 governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Walsall. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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