Setting

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

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Matthew Yandell Headteacher Cossington Church of England Primary School Main Street Cossington Leicester Leicestershire LE7 4UU

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Ofsted visit to Cossington Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 29 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 Cossington Church of England 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 Cossington Church of England 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 Cossington Church of England Primary School

During the visit, I spoke to you and the deputy headteacher. I 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, Her Majesty’s Inspectors (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 all pupils on Wednesday 26 August 2020.  Since the beginning of term, attendance has been in line with normal attendance for this time of the school year.  This term, teachers are using a ‘recovery curriculum’. This focuses on English; mathematics; physical education (PE); and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. Leaders plan to return to the school’s usual curriculum in the spring term.  Staff have checked what pupils can remember in English and mathematics. Teachers have identified pupils’ gaps in knowledge. Leaders say that the content of the ‘recovery curriculum’ targets these gaps.  In mathematics, teachers are supporting pupils to use arithmetic when solving problems. Some pupils have not remembered all the times tables they knew before.  In English, some pupils have gaps in their spelling and phonics knowledge. When pupils are reading, teachers give them more support to retrieve

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

information from texts. Some pupils do not have as much stamina to write for long periods as they used to.  Teachers are focusing on PSHE and PE to support pupils’ physical and mental health and well-being. In each class, other subjects are taught at the discretion of the class teacher.  The school’s system for remote learning is the same as that for sharing homework. Pupils and parents are very familiar with it. The content of the work for pupils to do at home would be very similar to what they would complete in school.

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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 director of education for the Diocese of Leicester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Leicestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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