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

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Matthew Fox Interim deputy headteacher Falmouth School Trescobeas Road Falmouth Cornwall TR11 4LH

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Ofsted remote visit to Falmouth School

Following my remote visit with Jennifer Gibbs, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 5 November 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 remote visit to Falmouth 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. Following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, we made this visit remotely to reduce pressure on the school.

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Ofsted remote visit to Falmouth 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 remote visit to Falmouth School

During the visit, we spoke to you, members of the senior leadership team, the chief executive officer and chair of the board of trustees. We did not speak to pupils.

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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:

 The school reopened fully to all pupils on 7 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend on a full-time basis.  Since September, pupils’ attendance has been lower than seen typically for this time of year. You have allocated more of leaders’ time to monitor attendance and take actions to improve it.  All pupils are studying the school’s usual range of subjects. In the first half term, most pupils did not have access to specialist teaching rooms, which limited some of the activities they could complete. Since the start of this half term, all pupils have their lessons in specialist classrooms.  Teachers have used assessments to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. From their findings, teachers devised a four-week programme that prioritised the teaching of the most important knowledge that pupils need to know.  Pupils in Years 7 and 8 continue to study all the subjects in the national curriculum. Teachers have prioritised addressing gaps in pupils’ knowledge to

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

ensure that pupils are prepared to progress to study for qualifications in Year 9 onwards.  Pupils in Years 9, 10 and 11 continue to study the full range of subjects. A few pupils, with specific needs, have reduced the number of qualifications they are working towards.  A higher number of students joined the Sixth Form this year. The number of Year 12 students who have continued their studies into Year 13 has also increased. Leaders continue to support students to apply to university, engaging them in a range of preparation activities.  Staff have developed an online learning platform which will allow pupils to access the school’s curriculum should they need to stay at home.

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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 board of trustees and the chief executive officer of The Roseland multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Cornwall. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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