Setting

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

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Joanne Welch Headteacher St Catharine’s Catholic Primary School Lower High Street Chipping Campden Gloucestershire GL55 6DZ

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Ofsted visit to St Catharine’s Catholic Primary School

Following my visit with Elizabeth Farr, 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 St Catharine’s Catholic 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 St Catharine’s Catholic 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 St Catharine’s Catholic Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the headteacher. 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:

 You opened the school to all pupils on 3 September 2020. All pupils are attending full time.  Since September, attendance has been in line with normal attendance figures for this time of year. At the time of our visit, no class or year group ‘bubbles’ were isolating.  All pupils are studying the full curriculum. The daily timetable has been adjusted so that more time each day is allocated to helping pupils to catch up with reading, mathematics and spelling.  Teachers in all year groups have checked where pupils are with learning to read and spell. These assessments have shown teachers the precise learning that pupils now need. Teachers are supporting some pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 who need to revisit the phonics learning they had secured before March 2020.  Checks have also been made to understand pupils’ new starting points in mathematics. Using these checks, teachers organise learning so that some

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

mathematical content is changed and some additional content is added.  In other subjects, such as science, teachers are noting the knowledge that some pupils have remembered, and some have lost. Teachers are adapting their curriculum plans with this in mind. You expect that by the summer term 2021, all pupils will have recovered any lost learning.  You told us that a priority this year is to build on the remote learning you already have in place. You are exploring new ways of making sure that pupils and their teachers can share learning content while working remotely. You want teachers to have a clear picture of what pupils have understood as well as knowing which activities they have completed.

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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 director of education for the diocese of Clifton, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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