Setting

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

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David Sidaway Headteacher Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy Baildon Road Scunthorpe Lincolnshire DN15 8BU

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Ofsted visit to Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy

Following my visit with Carl Sugden, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 7 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 Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy

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 Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy

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 Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy

During the visit, we spoke to members of the senior leadership team. 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 for pupils on 3 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend school full time.  You have communicated with parents about the importance of their children attending school if they are well. Attendance of pupils is broadly in line with the attendance at this time last year.  At the start of term, pupils studied the full range of subjects. Teachers reported that pupils had gaps in their English and mathematics learning. Leaders are increasing the time spent on studying these subjects and reducing the time spent on foundation subjects and science. You plan to return to the full curriculum as soon as possible, and definitely by September 2021.  Teachers have assessed pupils’ knowledge of phonics in Years 1 to 3. They found that some pupils need extra teaching to reinforce and embed previous phonic knowledge they had grasped. You told us that the range of vocabulary used by pupils has reduced during the period when schools were only open to

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

some children due to COVID-19 restrictions. Additional lessons are planned to improve pupils’ language and communication.  Pupils’ learning in mathematics has been assessed. Additional teaching is under way to help pupils fill identified gaps in their arithmetic.  Pupils who are self-isolating are completing online work. Leaders plan to provide ‘live lessons’ online if larger numbers of pupils are unable to attend school. Pupils will also undertake tasks set by the teacher to support their online learning. 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 interim executive committee (IEC), the chair of the board of trustees, and the chief executive officer or equivalent of the multi-academy trust, the director of education for the diocese of Nottingham, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for North Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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