Setting

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

p.1

Emma Anderson Headteacher Newfield Secondary School Lees Hall Road Sheffield South Yorkshire S8 9JP

p.1

Ofsted visit to Newfield Secondary School

Following my visit with Chris Cook, 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.

p.1

Ofsted visit to Newfield Secondary 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.

p.1

Ofsted visit to Newfield Secondary 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.

p.1

Ofsted visit to Newfield Secondary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and other members of your senior leadership team, including those staff responsible for safeguarding. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

p.1

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.

p.1

Context

In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

p.2

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 The school was open fully to all pupils on 7 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend on a full-time basis.  You informed us that attendance is broadly in line with the school’s normal attendance for this time of year.  In years 7 to 9, pupils are studying their usual range of subjects and the amount of lesson time allocated to each subject has not changed. However, subject leaders have considered the order of topics to be studied, taking account of pupils’ extended absence from school when it was not open to all pupils during the spring and summer terms 2020.  In years 10 and 11, pupils are studying all their exam subjects. You intentionally over-staffed some subjects so that pupils have access to extra support. You have undertaken informal assessments to check for knowledge gaps that may have opened up when the school was partially shut.  The school are supporting the mental well-being of all pupils and this has been

p.2

From this visit, inspectors noted that:

a priority for leaders, tutors and pastoral staff since pupils returned to school on a full-time basis.  You are currently providing remote learning for children who are isolating. You have plans to expand this if entire ‘bubbles’ need to access their learning remotely in the future due to further restrictions. You explained that in all cases you are providing work that matches the content pupils would be covering if they were in school.

p.2

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.

p.3

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 Mercia Learning Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Sheffield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.3