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

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Mrs Tabitha Smith Headteacher Offmore Primary School Wordsworth Crescent Kidderminster Worcestershire DY10 3HA

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Ofsted visit to Offmore Primary School

Following my visit with Eve Morris, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 20 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 Offmore 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 Offmore 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 Offmore Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the deputy headteacher and other senior leaders, including the leader responsible for safeguarding. 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:

 The school opened fully to all pupils on 14 September 2020. Pupils in Years 1 to 6 attended from 1 September.  Attendance is above the school’s normal attendance for this time of year.  All pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. An introductory whole- school theme called ‘This is me’ was added to the beginning of the autumn term. Pupils have now returned to the planned curriculum.  For two weeks at the beginning of term, teachers worked with the pupils they had taught last year. They checked pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics and noted what pupils could do. Each day, teaching assistants work with small groups of pupils who need extra help to remember things they have previously been taught.  A new system for taking reading books home is in place and the school library has reopened. Additional phonics sessions are provided to pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 who need to catch up. Helping pupils to read fluently is a priority at the

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

moment.  In mathematics, teachers are focusing on place value and calculation work. They use quick quizzes to check what pupils know when adding, subtracting and multiplying.  The way some parts of the curriculum are taught has changed. For example, instead of going to visit a museum, an archaeologist talked to the pupils online and showed them objects associated with Ancient Egypt.  A new digital learning platform has recently been bought. It is used currently to set some home learning tasks. Staff are being trained in how to use it to deliver remote learning. You plan to replicate the school timetable on the platform should pupils have to work at home as a result of COVID-19.

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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 Worcestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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