Setting

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

p.1

Mr Paul Rust Headteacher Morley Place Academy Old Road Conisbrough Doncaster South Yorkshire DN12 3LZ

p.1

Ofsted visit to Morley Place Academy

Following my visit with Kate Rowley, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 1 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 Morley Place Academy

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 Morley Place Academy

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 Morley Place Academy

During the visit, we spoke to the assistant principal, executive principal and associate executive principal. 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:

 The school opened to all pupils on a full-time basis on 2 September 2020.  Attendance is slightly higher than usual for your school at this time of year. If parents have been worried about returning their children to school, you told us that you have taken time to explain the protective measures in place.  All pupils are studying the usual range of subjects that make up the school’s curriculum. You explained that you have made changes to the way some subjects are taught, for example music, to take account of your risk assessments.  Since pupils returned to school full time, teachers have checked how well pupils have remembered their phonics knowledge. Teachers identified that some pupils have forgotten some of the sounds they were taught previously. You told us that you have changed the curriculum to help pupils rebuild their fluency in reading.  In mathematics, pupils are currently revising the curriculum from the previous

p.2

From this visit, inspectors noted that:

academic year. You have asked teachers to check what pupils know and remember, as lessons are taught, and then adapt the teaching accordingly. You told us that you aim for pupils to have caught up in this subject by the end of the academic year.  During lessons, teachers are checking for gaps in knowledge that pupils may have in other subjects, such as history and geography. You explained that you intend to use the information from teachers’ assessments to adapt your curriculum in these subject areas.  You have plans in place to deliver your full curriculum remotely if required. You told us that you have checked that all pupils have access to the equipment they need to participate in these remote lessons.

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 board of trustees and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Doncaster. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.3