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

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Alison Hill Executive Headteacher Wilton Primary Academy Pasture Lane Lazenby Middlesbrough TS6 8DY

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Ofsted visit to Wilton Primary Academy

Following my visit with Carl Sugden, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 13 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 Wilton Primary 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.

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Ofsted visit to Wilton Primary 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.

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Ofsted visit to Wilton Primary Academy

During the visit, we spoke to you and your 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 opened to all pupils on 2 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend full time.  Attendance levels are above those seen at the same period last year.  With the exception of French, pupils are following all other subjects in the school’s usual curriculum. Leaders plan to reintroduce French teaching later in the year. A specialist music teacher provides pupils with music lessons through an online link into the classroom.  Staff have identified that children in the early years are less used to school routines. They are providing additional help for children’s personal development.  Teachers are using assessment to check pupils’ phonics knowledge. You explained that teachers have identified areas where pupils’ phonics knowledge is less secure than it was previously. Teachers are providing extra support for pupils who have fallen behind.  In mathematics, leaders are focusing on areas such as multiplication and

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

division where they have noticed some gaps in pupils’ knowledge.  Teachers are providing additional opportunities for pupils to develop their writing skills. This is because you have found that some pupils did not write regularly during the period when schools were only open to some pupils due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Teachers are developing ways to deliver the curriculum remotely. They provide pupils with packs of work and reading books when they work at home. Leaders are developing an online system to enable pupils to access school work from home. Pupils are learning to use this system to share their work with their teachers.

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

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