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

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Miss Lucy Riley Headteacher Gunter Primary School Gunter Road Erdington Birmingham West Midlands B24 0RU

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Ofsted visit to Gunter Primary School

Following my visit with Deb Jenkins, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 22 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 Gunter 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 Gunter 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 Gunter Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and your deputy headteacher. You are the senior leader responsible for safeguarding at the school. 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:

 All pupils returned to school on 9 September 2020 following a phased start.  Attendance is broadly in line with where you would expect it to be for this time of year.  Pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. You have adjusted the curriculum and increased the amount of time pupils have in English, mathematics and science because you want to close any gaps in learning. At the moment, curriculum time for some subjects such as art, music and modern foreign languages has been reduced. You plan to return to your usual curriculum by summer term 2021.  Teachers have carried out assessments to check what pupils have remembered. You told us that the biggest gaps are in reading and writing. Teachers are using this information to provide additional opportunities in other subjects for pupils to practise these skills. You told us that pupils who have fallen furthest behind are getting extra help to catch up at the start of the day.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 You continue to emphasise the importance of reading. You said that baseline checks show that pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 need some additional help to catch up and you have put this in place.  In mathematics, teachers are focusing on topics such as number and reasoning to address the gaps you have identified. Your aim is to develop pupils’ proficiency in these areas.  You are prioritising personal, social and health education in the wider curriculum. This is because you want to re-establish routines and build pupils’ resilience.  Pupils who are self-isolating are given paper-based work packs which include details of online learning resources. You also have plans in place to develop remote learning should further local restrictions be introduced. Your aim is to provide similar work to that of your current curriculum.

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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.

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

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