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

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Mary Parker Headteacher Chaloner Primary School Wilton Lane Guisborough North Yorkshire TS14 6JA

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Ofsted visit to Chaloner Primary School

Following my visit with Zoe Lightfoot, 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 Chaloner 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 Chaloner 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 Chaloner Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and the deputy headteacher. You are also the leader with responsibility for safeguarding. 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 all pupils on 3 September 2020. Children in the Nursery attend for half days only. In all other year groups, pupils are expected to attend full time.  Attendance is slightly above that at this time last year.  Pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. You have identified what you consider to be ‘essential learning’ in different subjects in each year group. You told us that your teachers will focus on this as you try to fill any gaps in pupils’ knowledge. This is the case for all subjects, including English and mathematics.  As part of your support for pupils coming back to school, you have increased your focus on the ‘Rs’: resilience, reassurance, reflection, routine, revision, rebuilding relationships and reminding pupils of rules.  Pupils have completed assessments in mathematics, reading, writing and phonics so that you can check what pupils remember in these subjects.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 In reading, you have identified that some pupils have gaps in their phonics knowledge. You have noted that some pupils’ fluency in reading is not where you want it to be. There are now additional catch-up groups in place to help these pupils.  In mathematics, you have identified larger gaps in pupils’ knowledge. You told us that teachers were checking how well pupils were doing in mathematics lessons and altering their plans to plug gaps in pupils’ knowledge.  You have a system of remote learning ready should it be needed again in the future. This is based on physical resources but includes some online learning. Your plans are aligned to the whole-school curriculum.

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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 Redcar and Cleveland. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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