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

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Simon Beswick Headteacher Barton Clough Primary School Audley Avenue Stretford Manchester M32 9TG

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Ofsted visit to Barton Clough Primary School

Following my visit with Adam Sproston, 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 Barton Clough 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 Barton Clough 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 Barton Clough Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and two members of your 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:

 You opened the school to all pupils on 3 September 2020. You expect all year groups to attend full time.  Pupils’ attendance is slightly higher than usual for this time of year.  All pupils are studying the full curriculum this term. You are also providing extra sessions to help pupils to catch up on any learning they have missed.  You explained that staff have carried out checks to find out where pupils are up to with their reading. In Year 3 to Year 6, teachers are working on expanding pupils’ vocabulary. This is because teachers have noticed that some pupils are struggling with this area of learning. In the Reception class, Year 1 and Year 2, teachers are providing additional support to help pupils to catch up with their knowledge of phonics.  Your checks on pupils’ mathematical knowledge have led you to focus on developing their fluency in using numbers. In addition to the usual mathematics lessons, you give pupils daily opportunities to practise

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

calculations. You are also concentrating on developing pupils’ mathematical reasoning.  In other subjects, such as history, geography and science, you said that teachers check what pupils can still remember before starting a new topic. If pupils have missed any learning during the spring or summer terms, your aim is for staff to make time to teach it this term. This is in addition to the school’s usual curriculum.  You have planned to provide remote learning, if required, in different ways. You intend to give packs of paper-based work to individual pupils who are isolating. If an entire ‘bubble’ has to learn at home, you will provide work using the school’s online communication system.

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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 board of trustees, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Trafford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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