Setting

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

p.1

Stacey Ward Headteacher Church Langley Community Primary School Church Langley Way Harlow Essex CM17 9TH

p.1

Ofsted visit to Church Langley Community Primary School

Following my visit with Charlie Fordham, 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.

p.1

Ofsted visit to Church Langley Community 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.

p.1

Ofsted visit to Church Langley Community 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.

p.1

Ofsted visit to Church Langley Community Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you as you have oversight of attendance, behaviour, safeguarding and the curriculum. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

p.1

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.

p.1

Context

In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

p.2

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 On 4 September 2020, pupils in Years 1 to 6 returned to school full time. Reception children had a part-time phased return to school and started full time on 5 October 2020. This is the normal organisation for Reception classes at this time of the year.  Attendance is currently above what is typical for this time of year.  During the autumn term, more time is being spent on teaching reading, writing and mathematics. This is to help pupils catch up with the core skills in these areas of learning that they missed last term.  Most of the usual range of subjects are currently being taught. Leaders have changed the order in which subjects are being taught in order to focus on English and mathematics initially. By the end of the academic year, it is intended that all year groups will have been taught all the planned content for all subjects.  Leaders’ checks on what pupils know and can do are showing them that there

p.2

From this visit, inspectors noted that:

are gaps in pupils’ understanding of what they read and their spelling knowledge. Teachers are using different teaching methods and are providing additional support to help pupils catch up in these specific areas.  To help pupils catch up in mathematics, additional time and support are being given to pupils to focus on practising and using their knowledge of multiplication tables in calculations.  For all year groups, leaders have planned for a combination of paper-based home learning packs and online learning for pupils, should there be the need to deliver teaching remotely. Leaders intend for this learning to include the same subject content that pupils would learn if they were in school.

p.2

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.

p.3

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

p.3