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

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Clive Robinson Headteacher Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School Henshaw Road Wellingborough Northamptonshire NN8 2BE

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Ofsted visit to Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, Wellingborough

Following my visit with Damien Turrell, 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 Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, Wellingborough

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 Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, Wellingborough

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 Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, Wellingborough

During the visit, we spoke to you and the deputy headteacher. 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 full time to pupils on 3 September 2020.  Attendance is similar to what leaders would expect for this time of the school year. All Year 1 pupils were self-isolating at the time of the visit.  Pupils are learning their usual range of subjects. In physical education, leaders have made changes to the subject content. Pupils are not swimming or practising ball sports.  Teachers are checking what pupils know in English and mathematics. Teachers will use this information to identify gaps in pupils’ learning.  In reading, pupils have forgotten some of the phonics sounds. Some pupils have not read a wide enough range of books. Leaders are buying new books to give pupils a greater selection to choose from.  In mathematics, teachers are checking that pupils have remembered how to do written addition, subtraction, division and multiplication calculations.  Pupils in Year 1 are covering some parts of the early years curriculum. This

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

includes developing pupils’ social and emotional understanding.  Leaders have set up an online system to deliver learning remotely should pupils need to take time off school due to COVID-19. This covers learning in English and mathematics. Teachers will set project tasks for other subjects. 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 director of education for the diocese of Northampton, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Northamptonshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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