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

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Martin Farmer Executive Headteacher Bredenbury Primary School Bredenbury Bromyard Herefordshire HR7 4TF

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Ofsted visit to Bredenbury Primary School

Following my visit with Mark Howes, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 15 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 Bredenbury 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 Bredenbury 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 Bredenbury Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the head of school, the senior leader in the partnership responsible for safeguarding and the chair of the governing body. 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 to all pupils on 2 September. You said that you expect all pupils to attend full time and none are on part-time timetables.  You told us that attendance is higher this academic year compared to the similar period in 2019. You communicated the expectation of regular attendance through social media and telephone calls and, where necessary, meetings to address individual parental concerns. You said that no parents have taken holidays during term time so far this academic year, in contrast to previous years.  All pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. Leaders have prioritised more time for teaching English, mathematics and science in the morning. The foundation subjects are taught in the afternoon through themes.  No peripatetic music lessons are taking place at present and there are restrictions in place for group work in drama. Team games have been restricted in physical education. However, pupils in the combined early years

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

and key stage 1 class are proceeding with a planned visit to a castle, as numbers in this class are very small.  Leaders’ checks on pupils’ new starting points have focused on reading, writing and mathematics, where baseline assessments have been carried out.  Leaders have recognised that pupils across all year groups are behind where you would expect them to be with their reading, with just very few exceptions. Pupils are also behind where you would expect them to be with their number work in mathematics. Leaders have also identified large gaps in pupils’ learning in science.  As the number of pupils in the combined early years, Year 1 and Year 2 class is small, individual gaps in learning are being addressed through normal classroom activities.  About a third of the pupils in the larger key stage 2 class are attending additional catch-up activities in reading, writing and mathematics for part of

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

the afternoon. They spend less time than their peers in the foundation subjects. You intend that these pupils will return fully to afternoon lessons after Christmas 2020.  Work was provided to pupils when the school was closed during lockdown. Since it reopened in September, no pupils have experienced remote learning so far. Leaders plan to deliver as much of the curriculum remotely as is feasible, if any pupils isolate or there is another lockdown. Leaders said that they would sequence the curriculum again if taught remotely so that pupils receive the tasks that can be more easily completed at home.

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

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