Setting

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

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Darren Foulke Headteacher Windmill CofE (VC) Primary School Upper Batley Lane Batley West Yorkshire WF17 0NP

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Ofsted visit to Windmill CofE (VC) Primary School

Following my visit with Michael Wardle, 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 Windmill CofE (VC) 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 Windmill CofE (VC) 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 Windmill CofE (VC) Primary School

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. 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 has been open to pupils from 9 September 2020. Pupils in Reception attended school part time for the first two weeks of term. This was part of a planned transition process.  You told us that attendance is lower than usual for your school at this time of year. Leaders are working with partners from their geographical hub of schools, ‘BBEST Hub’, to improve pupils’ attendance.  During September, the curriculum was centred around developing pupils’ emotional well-being and resilience. Since October, teachers have been delivering all subjects in your usual curriculum.  Teachers are using ongoing assessments in English to check what pupils know and remember from the period when school was partially closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. You said that phonics and reading are a priority and additional teaching is taking place each afternoon to help pupils catch up quickly.  In mathematics, you are undertaking similar checks on pupils’ knowledge. You

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

have a focus on place value in Year 1 and Year 2. In Years 3 to 6, your focus is the rapid recall of number bonds and times tables.  Leaders said that some adaptions have been made to the wider curriculum as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. For example, a geography unit of work based around a field trip outside the local area has been moved to later in the year.  You have a system of remote learning in place. Daily learning is posted online, and each pupil has a textbook to work through at home. You are considering how remote learning could be further improved. 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 Leeds, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Kirklees. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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