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

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Kristy Wharton Headteacher Mason Moor Primary School Helvellyn Road Millbrook Southampton SO16 4AS

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Ofsted visit to Mason Moor Primary School

Following my visit with Alison Bradley, 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 Mason Moor 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 Mason Moor 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 Mason Moor Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, other members of the senior leadership team and the special educational needs coordinator. 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:

 You opened the school to pupils in Years 1 to 6 on 3 September 2020. Reception children started part time from 21 September 2020 and moved to full time on 12 October 2020. The vast majority of pupils are expected to attend full time.  Pupils’ attendance so far this term is broadly in line with that of the same time last year.  Pupils are learning their normal range of subjects. You have made some changes to the order in which activities are taught in physical education. You hope to return to the school’s usual curriculum by the summer term 2021.  Teachers are spending more time teaching phonics after their checks showed that pupils had forgotten some of their early reading skills. With older pupils, they are focusing on rebuilding their fluency. Teachers have also found that pupils need to practise their handwriting skills and writing for longer periods of time.  In mathematics, teachers are going over learning from the summer term to

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

make sure that pupils understand it. They have found that, across the school, pupils need more practise with number and place value.  In other subjects, you have asked teachers to include learning missed during lockdown, where they can, when they revisit topics this year. Teachers spent more time teaching personal, social, health and economic education at the start of term to help pupils settle back into school.  When individual pupils are self-isolating you provide work for them to do at home. You will extend this to include live lessons if whole-year groups or all pupils have to work from home. Your aim is for these lessons to mirror what pupils would be learning 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 regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Southampton City Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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