Setting

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

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Daniel Cowling Headteacher Oak Wood School Sutton Court Road Hillingdon Middlesex UB10 0EX

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Ofsted visit to Oak Wood School

Following my visit with Lucy Bruce, Her Majesty's Inspector (HMI), to your school on 4 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 visit to Oak Wood 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 Oak Wood 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 Oak Wood School

During the visit, we spoke to you, senior leaders including the leader with responsibility for safeguarding, the attendance officer, the safeguarding support officer and the school business manager. 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:

 The school opened to all pupils full time on 7 September 2020. Pupils in Year 7 attended an induction day on 4 September 2020.  Attendance is slightly lower than usual for this time of year. To encourage better attendance, you regularly provide parents with information based on government guidance and explain your expectations for attendance.  Pupils are studying the full range of subjects usually offered at the school. You have made some changes to how some subjects are taught. For example, in design and technology, pupils have started doing coursework earlier than in the past and make use of available space in workshops. In science, most pupils watch online demonstrations rather than carrying out practical work in class. You intend to return to your usual plans for the curriculum by the summer term 2021.  You have used a range of testing methods to check pupils’ new starting points in all subjects and year groups. In Years 7, 8 and 9, teachers have identified

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

where there are gaps in pupils’ recall of prior learning. They have adapted subject planning to go over specific knowledge that pupils need to know and understand before moving on to new content.  Your checks also show that pupils in Year 10 and Year 11, and students in the sixth form, need additional help to recall how to apply key facts and evaluate the quality of their work. You are running extra sessions for pupils who need to catch up, prioritising across all year groups those who need support with literacy and numeracy.  Leaders have developed remote education, including online learning, so that small numbers of pupils who are isolating at home can access the same curriculum as their peers. You have recently acquired additional computer resources to enable larger numbers of pupils to access the school’s remote education provision if needed.

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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 Hillingdon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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