Setting

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

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Edward Whitehead Headteacher Lees Primary School Haworth Road Cross Roads Keighley West Yorkshire BD22 9DL

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Ofsted visit to Lees Primary School

Following my visit with Jean Watt, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 20 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 Lees 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 Lees 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 Lees Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the assistant headteacher, the senior leader with responsibility for the curriculum and the CEO of Bronte multi-academy trust. 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:

 Pupils in Reception and Years 1 to 6 were expected to attend school from 7 September 2020. Children in Nursery were expected to attend school from 14 September 2020.  Attendance is slightly higher than it was at the same time last year.  Pupils are studying the same range of subjects as usual.  In Reception and Years 1 and 2, leaders have identified gaps in phonics knowledge. The teaching of phonics has therefore been prioritised in these year groups. To address gaps identified in Year 3, pupils are spending more time working on word recognition. Older year groups are spending more time developing inference and writing skills because of gaps identified. In all years, leaders have ensured that there is more time in the school day for pupils to read books with their teacher.  In mathematics, leaders are using in-class assessment to allow them to identify gaps in pupils’ learning. Leaders are using this information to ensure

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

that curriculum plans address these gaps in knowledge.  In the wider curriculum, leaders identified social development as an area to work on following COVID-19 restrictions. To address this, leaders have prioritised playground games in physical education and the personal, social, health and economic curriculum has focused on friendship since September.  Leaders have plans to deliver the curriculum remotely. The curriculum for remote learning is aligned to the work that pupils do in school. 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 chair of the board of trustees, the chief executive officer of the Bronte multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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