Setting

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

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Teresa Mason Headteacher Haydn Primary School Haydn Road Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG5 2JU

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Ofsted visit to Haydn Primary School

Following my visit with Stephanie Innes-Taylor, 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 Haydn 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 Haydn 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 Haydn Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and 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 to all pupils on 3 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend full time.  Attendance is below that seen normally at this time of year. Leaders are supporting families to help pupils return to school. At the time of the visit, a Year 2 class ‘bubble’ was isolating.  All pupils are studying the usual range of subjects.  Checks on their skills in reading have shown that some pupils are not as secure as they were previously in understanding the meaning of the books they read. Teachers have given pupils more opportunities to talk about the content of the books to help them to develop their ability to infer meaning. Children in Nursery and Reception are having extra lessons in phonics to fill any gaps they may have in their knowledge of sounds.  Teachers have found that some pupils are not as resilient as they were previously when asked to apply their knowledge to solving mathematical

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

problems. Pupils are completing additional problems to develop their ability to reason in mathematics.  Teachers recognise that the standard of presentation in some pupils’ written work is not as strong as it was. They have helped pupils to improve the presentation of their work by focusing on handwriting and spelling. Teachers are also asking pupils to write more detailed and extended pieces of work to improve pupils’ stamina in their writing.  Leaders have planned a programme of remote learning. This is being implemented for any pupils who are absent from school. 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 Nottingham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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