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

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Tessa Coulthard Acting Executive Headteacher Modbury Primary School Barrack Road Ivybridge Devon PL21 0RB

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Ofsted visit to Modbury Primary School

Following my visit with Susan Aykin, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 8 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 Modbury 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 Modbury 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 Modbury Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the acting head of school, and the chair of governors, the designated safeguarding leaders and the special educational needs coordinator. 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 7 September 2020. All pupils on the school’s roll have returned to school and are attending full time.  Pupils’ attendance has been above the level it was at the same time last year. During the second week of term, there was a bout of seasonal coughs and colds, which resulted in a decrease in pupils’ attendance due to fears about COVID-19. Leaders provided additional guidance for parents about COVID-19 symptoms.  Pupils are studying all subjects in the school’s curriculum. Leaders have asked teachers to put more focus on supporting pupils’ personal, social and health education, including those in the Reception class. In subjects such as physical education and food technology, leaders have changed the order of the curriculum.  Teachers carried out phonics assessments to find out whether pupils in Years 1 and 2 have gaps in their knowledge. They identified that some pupils are

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

further behind in their learning than they normally would be at this time of year. Leaders are providing extra support to help these pupils catch up with the phonics programme.  Leaders have identified a greater need to support pupils’ mathematical knowledge in the areas of number fluency and place value, particularly in Year 3. Leaders intend to provide additional support for these pupils.  Leaders are aware that in subjects such as geography and history pupils missed learning when the school was not fully open. Teachers have adapted their curriculum plans so that pupils have a chance to tackle this missed learning before moving on to something new.  Leaders are not currently providing remote learning. Leaders are confident that they will be able to provide pupils with remote learning immediately, should the need arise. Going forward, leaders plan to provide teaching videos so that pupils can complete work successfully from 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 Devon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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